NEW JERSEY VS. CAROLINA OTTAWA VS. TORONTO WASHINGTON VS. PITTSBURGH PHILADELPHIA VS. BUFFALO COLORADO VS. VANCOUVER DETROIT VS. LOS ANGELES DALLAS VS. EDMONTON ST. LOUIS VS. SAN JOSE

Thursday, April 26 Defense, goaltending may negate Lemieux Rob Parent Special to ESPN.com They have so much scoring flair and are so heavily Euro-styled, that the Pittsburgh Penguins often are portrayed as the NHL's version of futureshock. Try as he will, Mario Lemieux may not be enough to sustain a Penguins' playoff run. What they're counting on as they prepare for the start of the playoffs, however, is one more blast from the past. So when they embark Thursday night against the Washington Capitals, the Penguins will have Mario Lemieux back to revive that decade-old Stanley Cup feeling, and their most familiar playoff opponent of the 1990s with which to drive crazy. And don't you just feel that somehow, all will be well again? Hmmm? Think again, nostalgists. And that includes you, Mssr. Lemieux. "I've been waiting almost four years to get in the playoffs again," the franchise center-turned-retired icon-turned-owner-turned franchise center again said. "And I want to do something good." What he's done these last several months is indeed remarkable. Mario, with only a handful of practices under his belt, comes back and turns the NHL into his playground again at age 35. Although he finished the season with his back reminding him why he retired in the first place, Lemieux scored 35 goals and 73 points in 42 games. He was the sports story of the winter. A heralded hero of All-Star weekend, the celebrated ambassador offering to take one for the league by getting down and dirty again. But to what playoff lengths can he extend this remarkable rerun of glory? "We still have a lot of good memories from winning the Cup," said Lemieux. "We know what it takes to win the Cup. I'm anxious to get going, obviously. It's been a while. It's something that I've been looking forward to. I just like the excitement of trying to compete for the Cup. I've tried to do it my whole career. That's what drives me. "The playoffs is the main reason why I came back, to compete for the Stanley Cup and have a chance to win it again. I know how great a feeling it was when I won it twice. It would be a great feeling once again, probably better than the first two times." This isn't the Penguins of 1991 or 1992. Sure, they've got Jaromir Jagr and even a shadow of Kevin Stevens to put by Lemieux's side, but Ron Francis' assistance is sorely missed. Beyond that, their defense is much more pliable than in the old days, and goaltender Tom Barrasso is no longer here, although he could have been if Lemieux had directed general manager Craig Patrick to bring him in before the trading deadline. As a result, Lemieux is left to direct an offensively explosive team that can't defend with an unproven goaltender -- (Johan Hedberg, acquired instead of Barrasso) -- in tow. It's a team that won six of its last eight regular-season games, but one that hardly looks prepared for the postseason grind. Then again, no other team has Mario. “ He's always stepped his game up to even another level in the playoffs, which is kind of scary, you know. ” — Penguins winger Kevin Stevens "He's the best player out there and when it comes time to shine, that's what (great players) like, the spotlight," Stevens said of his old friend Lemieux. "He's always stepped his game up to even another level in the playoffs, which is kind of scary, you know? "It's going to be a lot of fun to see. He seems to be feeling good, ready to go. He's one of a kind. He doesn't always say a ton but when he says things, it means a lot, especially at playoff time. He's a winner, he knows what it takes. When he speaks, people listen." The advice Penguins fans should take from their resurrected hockey hero is simple: Ignore the warnings of critics who see a Penguins team too prone to allowing goals. "I'll be ready for the next two months," Lemieux said. "I expect this team to surprise a lot of teams in the playoffs, and I want to make sure everybody's on the same page and trying to achieve the same thing." He could not lift this club of supreme skill -- yet one with a newfound edge that led the league in penalty minutes -- to better than a sixth-place finish in the East. But that is hardly something to dwell on. After all, the Penguins won the consolation prize -- a matchup with the third-seeded Capitals, who have fallen victim to the Penguins in five of their six playoff meetings. Once more, history is on Pittsburgh's side. But the guess here is that the Capitals, who struggled mightily over the last month, are nonetheless primed to take this Mario nostalgia tour and close it down without as much as a seven-game look. The reason is simple: The Capitals have Olaf Kolzig in net. The Penguins are best left to not to look at who's behind them. It may not mean much, but just look how the Penguins nailed down that "fortunate" sixth seed at a time everyone else was building momentum for the postseason. At Philadelphia on April 7, their second to last game of the season, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead before rolling over and allowing the Flyers to rally and win it. The very next day, the Pens again went up with three fast goals against Carolina, and once more blew that lead in the blink of a blind defensive eye. That they rallied for victory against the Hurricanes was far less meaningful than what these two games indicate. This supposed blast from Pittsburgh's past is actually an anti-playoff team. Forwards with firepower who don't have a backchecking clue. A defense without consistency; goaltending problems to burn. Inactivity and a loss of confidence born of management's loss of faith in him have rendered supposed goalie-of-the-future Jean-Sebastien Aubin useless. Injuries and a penchant for allowing crucial goals have returned Garth Snow to backup material. So the playoffs come down to Hedberg, a former ninth-round draft pick (1994) of the Flyers who never played in the NHL until being plucked by the Pens. "Overall, we have the talent that we need to go all the way," said Lemieux. "It's just a matter of playing good defense as a team and having a hot goalie in the playoffs. I feel comfortable with the players we have here." Hedberg, 27, can be that hot playoff goalie. He played nine games down the stretch, going 7-1-1 with a 2.65 GAA and .905 saves percentage. But with a rise in pressure in the postseason and the predictable letdowns on defense, reality should intrude on Hedberg's heady start. Ah, but this is Pittsburgh. This is the playoffs. There's no looking ahead when it comes to the Penguins now. It's the past that provides the blast. Mario said so. "Everybody looks up to Mario," defenseman Marc Bergevin said. "I mean, there's one player like Mario Lemieux, and when you have him on your team, there's nothing else you can do but look up to him." Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories