It’s Good, Bad but Unlikely to Get Uglier for Penguins

If the Penguins are playing after May 31--the deadline the NHL has set for knowing whether they will be extricated from bankruptcy--no one will storm their locker room to repossess their skates and sticks.

The NHL wants this mess resolved quickly. It wants Mario Lemieux’s group to emerge with control of the team, because it believes Lemieux has the name, contacts and backers to make it work. But when the clock hits 12:01 a.m. June 1, the NHL won’t turn the Penguins into pumpkins and melt the ice out from under them in the middle of a playoff series.

Those fears have arisen because the Penguins’ playoff run is proceeding more swiftly than the reorganization of their finances. Today is a key day on both fronts: U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Bernard Markovitz will conduct a hearing on the NHL’s motion to move up a June 24 creditors’ hearing on Lemieux’s plan. Hours later, the Penguins will play Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Maple Leafs at the Civic Arena.

The NHL claims it must know the club’s fate by June 1 so it can draw up next season’s schedule, but Markovitz last week said he doesn’t consider the Penguins’ case deserving of special attention.

“The NHL is just trying to keep the pedal to the metal,” said Howard Baldwin, one of the club’s co-owners and a supporter of Lemieux. “They want to keep everybody’s feet to the fire and keep pressure on the judge. Anything can be extended. It’s really a good thing the NHL’s doing that.”

The Penguins are paying players and bills out of a $20-million loan they took out early this season. The more home playoff games they have, with gates of about $500,000 a game, the better off they will be.

“The team has performed beautifully,” Baldwin said. “Financially, that has made a huge difference. If everyone does what they’re meant to do, this will work out.

“This is sort of like the [NHL] lockout. Everybody told me it was going to go right to the deadline and that’s what happened. Getting a mediator in there [as happened last week] will be extremely helpful. If you get people in a room, they can hammer it out.”

Lemieux’s plan is the only one presented to the court. Majority owner Roger Marino reportedly has talked to Mark Cuban, founder of broadcast.com, about backing another plan, but Cuban has also been in touch with Lemieux. Another prospective buyer, Florida investment banker Charles Gesner has said he will file a reorganization plan if he gets agreements on a new lease and other details.

In the meantime, the Penguins are tied with the Maple Leafs, 1-1, and deserve credit for playing well in an unsettling situation.

THIS BILL WAS OVERDUE

Goalie Bill Ranford was almost a footnote to the Red Wings’ deadline-day deals. Chris Chelios, Ulf Samuelsson and Wendel Clark filled needs for toughness on defense and up front, but they appeared to be adding a spare part when they got Ranford from Tampa Bay to back up Chris Osgood.

When Osgood sprained his knee in the finale of Detroit’s first-round sweep of the Mighty Ducks and couldn’t start against Colorado, Ranford stepped in to do an impressive job. He hadn’t played in more than three weeks when he made 37 saves in the opener Friday. Then he had 28 saves Sunday in his first playoff shutout since 1992, sending the Red Wings home for Game 3 today with a 2-0 series lead.

“I was lucky,” he said. “The guys played unbelievably in front of me.”

The improvement in his game is a bigger factor than luck. Ranford gets more defensive help than he did with the Lightning, but he helps himself by flopping less and standing up more, which keeps him in position to stop the few rebounds his defense doesn’t clear.

The Avalanche played well in Game 1 but had shockingly little spark in Game 2. Colorado’s power play (one for 12) and penalty killing (11 for 15) were awful. Claude Lemieux is taking bad penalties and Milan Hejduk and Sandis Ozolinsh haven’t fought through Detroit’s persistent checking.

The Red Wings were impressive against the Ducks, but it was difficult to gauge their strength against a clearly inferior opponent. The Avalanche is 3-0 on the road, so Games 3 and 4 will offer a good measurement of the Red Wings’ abilities. It’s not over, but the Red Wings seem determined to end it quickly.

FEELING A DRAFT

Center Patrik Stefan of the Long Beach Ice Dogs was rated the top North American-based prospect for the NHL entry draft, despite a concussion that idled him for more than half the season.

Ranked second was Czech-born Pavel Brendl of Calgary of the Western Hockey League.

The top European-based prospects were twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who play for the Swedish team Modo. Daniel is a left wing and Henrik plays center. They want to play together and have said they may stay in Sweden another year until they can find a way to end up on the same team.

The drawing to determine the top 12 picks will be held Sunday and will include the 11 non-playoff teams and the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. No team can move up more than four places or drop more than one in the draft order. Tampa Bay, which had the NHL’s worst record, has a 26% chance of getting the first pick in this weighted lottery. The Kings have a 4.8% chance of getting the top pick, but could only move up as high as third.

SAD DUTY

Steve Chiasson was buried Saturday in Peterborough, Canada, and eulogized as a caring teammate and family man at a service attended by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Wayne Gretzky and Chiasson’s Hurricane teammates.

Chiasson died May 3 when his truck overturned as he drove home from Gary Roberts’ house, where players had gathered to commiserate over their playoff elimination. According to players’ accounts, Kevin Dineen tried to take Chiasson’s keys and called a cab to pick him up, but Chiasson became impatient and drove off. Dineen and Ray Sheppard grew alarmed when Chiasson didn’t get home and searched for him. They found the wreck.

In his eulogy, Dineen said Chiasson was too eager to see his family to wait for the cab. Sadly, it was a product of impaired judgment. The state Medical Examiner’s Office found that his blood-alcohol level was 0.27, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 in North Carolina. Chiasson wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was driving about 74 mph in a 55 zone.

How bad is waiting 20 minutes compared with leaving an anguished widow and three children without a father? It may sound harsh, but the blessing is that Chiasson didn’t kill anyone else. It’s a tragedy that didn’t have to happen.

SLAP SHOTS

Despite efforts to keep Reunion Arena’s ice in good condition, it was slushy and watery during the first two games of the Dallas Stars’ series against the St. Louis Blues. “Terrible. Just terrible,” St. Louis Blue defenseman Al MacInnis said of the soft spots and uneven surface. Toronto’s Air Canada Centre also has bugs to work out in its ice maintenance. . . . The Boston Bruins developed an inferiority complex after repeatedly being asked why it’s tough to score on Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek. “I think he let some goals in this year,” Coach Pat Burns said sarcastically. “His goals-against was not 0.00.”

Signs on highways around Toronto urged fans to wear blue and white--the Maple Leafs’ colors--last Friday. Mayor Mel Lastman got into the act by issuing the same plea. If figures. As soon as a team wins some games, a politician leaps onto the bandwagon and hopes for success by association. . . . Of 44 first-round games, 23 were decided by one goal (52.3%) and 35 were decided by one or two goals (79.6%). That’s the highest percentage of close games since the NHL changed its first round to best-of-seven in 1987.

Dallas right wing Pat Verbeek got off lightly with a one-game suspension for a two-handed slash of Pierre Turgeon’s knee in the Stars’ opener against the Blues. Verbeek said it was retaliation for Turgeon’s having tapped goalie Ed Belfour’s glove after Belfour had made a save, but Verbeek’s reaction was worse than Turgeon’s action. Jamal Mayers’ one-game suspension for a retaliatory slash on Darryl Sydor was also light.

Former King Kevin Stevens, who has deferred money coming from the Penguins, on the prospect of Lemieux owning the team and leading it out of bankruptcy: “I love Mario.”

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Alive and Well

Although the Kings didn’t make the playoffs, several former Kings are doing well on teams that are still competing. Each of the eight remaining teams has at least one ex-King:

* Goalies--Byron Dafoe, Boston; Grant Fuhr, St. Louis.

* Defense--Larry Murphy, Detroit; Darryl Sydor, Dallas; Alexei Zhitnik, Buffalo.

* Forwards--Dmitri Khristich, Boston; Robert Lang, Pittsburgh; Yanic Perreault, Toronto; Warren Rychel, Colorado; Dixon Ward, Buffalo.