Mario Lemieux recently sat down with ESPN hockey analyst Darren Pang and discussed everything from the status of his comeback to the Matthew Barnaby situation to playing in next month's All-Star Game. Following is the first part of the interview:

Pang: You said at the very beginning that you were going to be patient because you weren't going to get five or six points in your first couple of games back. Well …

	As fans everywhere will attest, no story topped Mario Lemieux's return.

Lemieux: The plan when I came back was to play at a high level, and that's something I wanted to do right from the start. Of course playing with (Jaromir) Jagr certainly helps a lot – he's the best player in the world. He's able to carry the puck for me at times so I have time to jump in the play and it's been a big difference for me.

Pang: Maybe the biggest difference is that you didn't just add you to lineup, I think you've added twin players – yourself and Jan Hrdina, a player who wants the puck again. And obviously Jaromir Jagr, we're seeing his smile and we're seeing him bounce on his skates, which is great to see.

Lemieux: He struggled quite a bit early in the season and he wasn't happy with himself and he was really down on himself. But since I announced the good news to him a couple of months ago, he really turned his game around. It took some time, but since I came back he's very happy again and he's excited to play. It's great to see because he's our leader and we're certainly going to need him down the stretch to lead us to the Stanley Cup and he's a big, big part of our team.

Pang: I guess before you didn't want or you wouldn't take the "C" from Jaromir. Has he made any motions to give it back to you?

Lemieux: No, and I told him right from the start that he was the captain, he's the leader of our team – and the same thing with the assistant captains. These guys have been here since training camp, from day one, and they certainly deserve to be the captain and the assistant captains.

Pang: The minutes that you've played so far – and we've talked about one two-minute shift during a power play – are there times on the ice when you go down the offensive zone, you come back and then go back to the offensive zone and say, "Oh, boy, I'm out of gas?"

Lemieux: Not too often. I think it's only happened a couple of times so far. I've been thinking about that on the ice. If I start to get a little tired, I just head for the bench right away. I don't want to get caught out there and deplete my energy for the rest of the game.

Pang: After the second game we were talking with Jaromir about your shift lengths and he said, "Well, he doesn't do anything. He stands over there, then he stands over there. Jan Hrdina is going to kill himself doing all the work."

Lemieux: I've been getting that quite a bit in the dressing room, especially from Marc Bergevin. Marc stayed at my house and that's what he said: "You don't even work on the ice, you don't do anything." But I always end up with three or four points.

Pang: So how has it been going so far, aside from the points?

Lemieux: I've started to feel a lot more comfortable on the ice with the plays that I'm making, especially the decision making on the ice. And that's going to take time, but I feel a lot more comfortable each game.

Pang: Playing on the left side and being a right-handed shot, wouldn't that be the hardest transition to make after being off for 3½ years?

Lemieux: Not really because I played with Jagr and Ronnie Francis my last year …

Pang: But that was 3½ years ago, Mario.

Lemieux: But you don't lose because you were off for 3½ years. Once you start playing again and practicing, it comes back pretty quickly. If your hands are there and your vision is there, you can accomplish a lot of things on the ice.

Pang: While you were up in the owner's box and you were watching, did you find yourself picking up anything about the game?

Lemieux: I think so. Having been up there for the last two years and seeing the play from on top, it really gave me a good feel for the game and it's only going to help my game in the long run.

To be continued …