One of the familiar sounds in the Penguins' locker room after a practice or game is a high-pitched ripping as players unwrap the reams of tape they use to keep their hockey socks tight.

Not from Pascal Dupuis' stall.

The left winger pulls out a small cutter, pushes the blade out of one end and quickly slices the layers of clear tape without damaging the socks, making for easy and fast removal.

"Smart kid," Dupuis said with a wide grin yesterday at Mellon Arena after the Penguins went through their final practice before learning who they will meet in the second round of the playoffs.

Smart, good, lucky -- something is working for Dupuis, a guy who wasn't drafted by an NHL team but now finds himself on a world-class line playing with a team seemingly with unlimited potential.

Dupuis might have been the asterisk in what instantly became known as the Marian Hossa trade in February, but he hardly has been an afterthought.

He's playing with Hossa and center Sidney Crosby, bringing speed and a surprising comfort level for someone who is playing with his fourth team in the past 14 months.

"It's easy when you win. Everybody's fitting in at the right spot at the right time," said Dupuis, who had two goals, 10 assists in 16 games with the Penguins following the Feb. 26 trade, which sent forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and a 2008 first-round draft pick to Atlanta.

In the Penguins' first-round playoff sweep of Ottawa, Dupuis had two assists in four games.

"It's always good to be playing hockey at this time of year, especially on a really, really good team like we have right now, and I've got the chance to play with two great players," Dupuis said.

Things have aligned well for him.

After the trade, he had to leave behind his very pregnant wife, Carole-Lyne, and two young children. Zoe was born March 24, and Dupuis' family since has been able to join him in a local apartment.

"It makes it way, way, way easier," he said. "It makes it easier for my wife, for everybody, and I don't miss them so much."

The move here not only gave Dupuis a chance to participate in the playoffs, but it brought him back to a hockey town.

He grew up in Quebec province steeped in hockey after his father played briefly with the Quebec Nordiques while they were part of the World Hockey Association.

Dupuis signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 2000, got a taste of the NHL that season and remained with the Wild until he was traded to the New York Rangers late in 2006-07. After 18 days, he was dealt to Atlanta -- not exactly a hockey hotbed. The Penguins' place in the city's heart added another element of comfort when he arrived.

"It's been great for me. I needed that big-time," Dupuis said "I had it growing up in Quebec. I had it in Minnesota when I played there. I was missing it some in Atlanta. "As soon as I got here, I saw all the people and all the interest in hockey, and it got to me."

Penguins coach Michel Therrien might not know all the off-ice whys, but he saw how easily Dupuis slipped into the lineup, making it simple to put him on one of the top two lines -- the one with Evgeni Malkin, Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone is the other -- and the penalty-killing corps.

"This is a guy that right away when he got here felt comfortable with the way we play," Therrien said. "He learned a system that's similar with Jacques Lemaire [in Minnesota]. He's doing a good job."

Dupuis, who has 83 goals and 174 points in 435 career games, feels no different as an undrafted player surrounded by first-round picks and stars.

"It's what you bring to the team and what you can do right now," he said. "How you got here, it's just a story."

Dupuis played with the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the old International Hockey League in 2000-01, his first season as a pro after playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He didn't gain an understanding of the rivalry between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, mostly because he didn't understand much.

"I was there by myself. I could barely speak English," he said in what is now a light French accent. "I just worked on my game."

His English then consisted of yes, no, and his usual meal of same thing. As in, pointing to the guy next to him and ordering the same thing. Now everyone is pointing to the guys next to him.

"Playing with those two guys, I just have to do my job," Dupuis said.

First Published: April 23, 2008, 8:00 a.m.