No player on the Pittsburgh Penguins feels the urgency of Game 5 more than Gary Roberts.

PITTSBURGH -- To a man, there isn’t a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins who doesn’t feel the urgency of Monday’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

It’s just that Gary Roberts, the 42-year-old forward who’s an alternate captain and, in some ways, the father figure of a team that is mostly made up of kids, feels it more than most.

After all, a Pittsburgh loss in the Joe Louis Arena and the Detroit Red Wings are Stanley Cup champions. The kids, well, deep down in their collective hearts, you just know they believe there will be a second chance, maybe even a third or fourth if they can keep the core of the team together.

Not so for Roberts.

"Deep down I know this is probably the last time for me," Roberts said in the hours before the team plane departed for what could be the last game of the season and possibly Roberts’ career.

It’s not a given that this break-the-mold player will retire this summer (though there is reason to speculate that given the toll the game has taken on his body the time might be now). Roberts steadfastly refuses to discuss his future what with the very reason for his professional existence still within his reach. But this could well be as far as he goes with the Penguins. He’s an unrestricted free agent come July 1 and even if he wants to stay in Pittsburgh the reality of a salary-cap world makes the odds on par with the Pens coming back from their current three-games-to-one deficit.

Roberts is aware that youth must be served and the reality that in the off-season that "service" comes in the form of dollars to players who are the future of the franchise. That means offers, substantial offers, to players like Marian Hossa, whose rights were obtained from Atlanta for three players and a prospect at the trade deadline. Hossa, considerably younger than Roberts, also is about to become unrestricted. The Pens have to make a decision on whether or not to keep him. They also must make a substantial qualifying offer to Evgeni Malkin, who like Sidney Crosby has emerged as a franchise player even if his play has fallen off somewhat in the final games of this extended season.

Couple that with a prolonged bout with injury -- not uncommon for a player his age even if his conditioning program is superior to players a decade younger -- and the youth that must be served in the form of an American Hockey League affiliate franchise that is right now contending for the Calder Cup and Roberts knows the numbers are against him.

His comments, spoken with a hint of reality, reflect the reality that is closing fast.

"I’ve enjoyed playing here," he says reflecting on the time since he agreed to leave the Florida Panthers in a 2007 deadline deal. The people have treated me great. It’s been a little embarrassing at times because I haven’t been as big a part of this season as I would have liked."

There might be a little more to that statement than meets the eye. Injuries robbed Roberts of a substantial portion of the season, but there’s also a buzz around the Mellon Arena that Roberts and Pens coach Michel Therrien didn’t see eye to eye when Therrien made Roberts a healthy scratch for the first game in this series.

Noting is being said for public consumption and it’s likely Roberts will come to understand the coach’s decision should he look at game tape that showed him struggling at times to keep up with the pace set by both his teammates and the Red Wings.

But Roberts could also counter with the fact that he had an impact in the games at Mellon, especially the first one when the Pens had come home facing a 2-0 deficit and Roberts was creating havoc all over the ice but especially in front of Wings goalie Chris Osgood when Adam Hall scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.

It’s a given he has the respect of his teammates. The associate’s A on his sweater acknowledges that.

"His intensity, sometimes it scares us," said Hall. "When you see that look in his eyes, it makes you want to get out of his way and we’re on the same side."

That look, along with a power game that sees no obstacle that can’t be overcome en route to an opponent’s net, is what draws the comparisons to power forward extraordinaire Cam Neely. Roberts, like Neely near the end, doesn’t score like in the early days of his career, but he still plays his physical game and he leads like few others in the game today. The Penguins may not be able to afford that down the road, but it’s likely some other team will at least consider a bid for his services.

His skills have eroded a bit and with a team as talented as Pittsburgh that might cause Therrien to not even dress him Monday evening. The coach needs to find more scoring to have a chance of keeping this thing alive and fresh legs can sometimes bring that. Still, Roberts’ passion for the game, and especially the physical aspects of the game, haven’t dimmed.

Lots of teams will recognize that and one or two will likely make him an offer. Free to sign wherever he pleases, Roberts may entertain the offers. One or two might even be from a Cup contender. But Roberts knows the road to a championship is as hard as it is long. He knows this is likely his and that it may not come again.

Tough spot given that at his age, failure is not an option.