Sunday, May 2, was a special sports day for the city of Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Marathon was run under near-perfect weather. At the same time, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are celebrating their move to a new stadium in three years, were beating up on the Colorado Rockies.

And in the Civic Arena, Jaromir Jagr led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a come-from-behind, 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Jaromir Jagr by Meredith Martini

Jagr scored two goals on the afternoon, including the last one in overtime. It was an impressive game for Jagr, who had missed the previous four games with a severe groin injury that left him unable to play or even work out, for that matter. Jagr, who was questionable up until game time, played through the pain and turned in a Mario Lemieux-like performance to lead his team to victory.

Jagr's overtime winner, a one-timer off a smooth pass from teammates Martin Straka, could have proved to be a memorable goal for the people of Pittsburgh in more ways than one. Had the Penguins lost Game 7, that goal could have been the last one at the Civic Arena in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise.

The Penguins, in case you haven't heard, are bankrupt. If a new buyer isn't found by May 31, the NHL has said it could move or dissolve the franchise, leaving hockey fans in Pittsburgh out in the cold.

While Jagr was producing magic on the ice against the Devils, his former teammate and mentor, Mario Lemieux, was in attendance watching it all. But Lemieux is more than an average fan these days. He's trying to weave a little magic of his own by finding the right offer to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Lemieux retired from the NHL just a few years ago after saving the NHL franchise once. The man called Le Magnifique is trying to do it again.

Lemieux and a group of investors have offered the current Penguins owners $50 million for the team that is riddled with debt. That might seem like a small amount of money for an NHL franchise (the price is actually less than an expansion team), but there are some special circumstances surrounding this Penguins team.

First of all, the debt. The Penguins own a lot of money to a lot of people. Lemieux is no exception. The franchise owes him $32 million dollars in deferred salary from his playing days. Money is owed to other creditors, as well, but none more than Lemieux.

The second strike against the Penguin franchise is the arena lease. Currently, the lease from the city is set somewhere between $5- and $6-million per season. That amount is staggeringly high for any stadium or arena in the country. It is considered to be the highest lease in the NHL. If Lemieux's bid is to be accepted, it depends on his ability to decrease the amount of the lease. Lemieux would like it to be somewhere around $500,000 per season. He has met once already with the arena lease owners, SMG. Both sides said the talks were cordial, but not much more.

Issue No. 3 is the arena itself. With the closing of Maple Leaf Gardens midway through this season, the Civic Arena took over as the oldest arena in the league. While the arena itself is still useful, and new improvements have been made during the last couple seasons, it is still a detractor to potential investors because of its age.

The city recently passed a plan to build new stadiums for both the Pirates and Steelers, but nothing was ever mentioned for the Penguins. Lemieux would like that to change. A baseball only stadium will be built for the financially strapped Pirates by the year 2003. Same for the Steelers, who seem to lose have its team to free agency each season. But the Penguins, who are quite possibly in the worst financial situation of all three teams, haven't received much more than a cold shoulder from the city. This despite the fact that the Penguins won the last championships for Pittsburgh - with Lemieux leading the way.

Within the next few weeks Pittsburgh will find out if the city will see its last National Hockey League game. At the same time, Lemieux will find out if he'll be able to call himself an NHL owner and perhaps do some good for the "garage league" he has despised for so long. He'll also find out if he's any closer to recovering the $32 million dollars of back wages that are owed to him.

And speaking of wages, Jagr and the rest of the Pens will have to wait and see who will be signing their checks next season. Jagr knows, however, that Lemieux would be a damn good choice.

"No more deferred salaries," Jagr said with a grin.

Jagr can grin all the way to the bank. He's scheduled to make between $9- and $10-million next season.

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