Seven points in his first two games back and Mario Lemieux says he's just warming up?

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A perfect pair, so far The Penguins are 65-13-5 when both Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr score a goal, 3-0-0 this season. Don't forget Jan While the Lemieux-Jagr pairing has resumed it's potency of years past, Jan Hrdina has contributed plenty in the lines' first two games. Lemieux is 2-2-4, Jagr is 2-3-5 and Hrdina is 1-2-3 when all three are on the ice. Hockey talk "I would have passed him if he wouldn't have played the last two years of his career. I had my best years ever, but he was too good." – Jagr comparing his three scoring titles to Lemieux's six Mark the calendar Fri., Jan. 12 vs. N.Y. Isles Sat., Jan. 13 at N.Y. Isles: Only an empty net has given up as many goals to Lemieux (30) than Isles goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. While Beezer isn't the type to feign ill, he may want to get a note from Epstein's mother just in case. Wed., Jan. 17 at Phoenix: Mario pays a visit to Wayne. Question: If the sale isn't finished by then, will current owner Richard Burke at least let Gretzky in the visitors' locker room?

"I think we can be a lot better," Lemieux said after Tuesday's practice. "The more conditioning I get in the next couple of weeks, I can take my game to another level."

The whole concept even scares Jaromir Jagr and he's on the same team.

"Of course, I'm surprised," said Jagr, who is 4-3-7 in two games with Lemieux. "I didn't want to get too excited because I know the game is very hard. The practices are different from the games, and some guy missing 3½ years, it's pretty tough to play. So it's surprised me a lot.

"I didn't know he was going to play that well. With every practice and every game, he's getting better and better, and it's even more scary."

And if Lemieux's game rises to another level, no doubt Jagr's will tag along for the ride.

Mario the Owner or Mario the Player?
In response to Matthew Barnaby's request to be traded after he and Aleksey Morozov sat in the middle of the bench for the entire game against Ottawa on Saturday night, Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he thinks Barnaby is the type of player the Penguins need. "We have to utilize all the players who are dressed. That's something Ivan (Hlinka, the head coach) is aware of and, hopefully, he's going to change in the near future." Lemeiux's comments were made soon after Hlinka said he'd try to find ice time for Barnaby.

From the sympathy department
Teams have been victimized by the schedule this year in a number of ways – lengthy road trips, too many games in too short of a time, too much time

	The comeback king
	Mario Lemieux's career statistics in the first 10 games back after an injury or illness:
	1986-87	12-9-21
	Missed 13 games with knee injury
	1990-91	7-14-21
	Missed first 50 game recovering from back surgery
	1992-93	14-14-28
	Missed 23 games to receive treatments for Hodgkin's Disease
	1995-96	13-19-32
	Did not play in 1994-95 season

between games, etc. How about too many games against Mario Lemieux?

The N.Y. Islanders, who have yet to play the Penguins, face them five times between now and the end of the season, the most of any NHL team. The other members of the Atlantic Division – New Jersey, Philadelphia and the Rangers – face the Penguins three times.

The Washington Capitals, the only other team not to face Pittsburgh before Dec. 27, plays the "retooled" Penguins four times.

	Lemieux game-by-game
	Game	G-A-P	+/-	Shots	Min.
	Dec. 27 vs. TOR	1-2-3	+3	5	20:46
	Dec. 30 vs. OTT	1-3-4	+3	7	24:59
	Totals/Avg.	2-5-7	+6	12	22:52

Losing his touch?
Yes, Lemeiux's return has boosted ticket sales for games at Mellon Arena, but not all are sellouts. As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,000 tickets were still available for Wednesday's game against Washington and 500 were left for Friday against Montreal. Monday's game at Washington, Lemeiux's first on the road, is sold out.

Information from ESPN.com news services and newspapers were used in compiling this report.