The Pittsburgh Penguins are battling, trying to win the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Kevin Stevens — a vital cog in the Pens’ run to their first two Cups — is in a different battle these days.

Now 51, Stevens and another man face charges in federal court for conspiring to sell oxycodone with the intent to distribute. The charges were filed in Massachusetts as Stevens now lives just outside of Boston.

Such news is sobering to a Penguins franchise that is trying to recapture glory days that Stevens once enjoyed on a regular basis in Pittsburgh.

He scored 17 goals in the playoffs during the Penguins’ run to the 1991 Stanley Cup. He added 13 postseason goals in 1992 as Pittsburgh repeated as champion.

It was during that 1991-92 season that Stevens scored a career-high 123 points, becoming just the third player to outscore Wayne Gretzky during an NHL regular season.

During his prime, Stevens was as effective a power forward as the league has ever seen. He scored 190 goals in four seasons — from 1990-94 — and became one of four players in NHL history to score 50 goals while attaining 200 penalty minutes in the same season.

Now years after his playing career — he retired in 2002 — Stevens continues to live in physical pain and has fought drug abuse for a long time. Hockey fans in my generation remember Stevens’ collision with the New York Islanders’ Rich Pilon in the 1993 playoffs, a collision that knocked Stevens out cold before he landed face-first on the ice.

Major reconstructive surgery on many broken bones in his face required more than 100 stitches to close.

Stevens returned to score 41 goals for the Pens in 1993-94, but that was his last big season in the league.

So as the Penguins look for a euphoric end to their year, Stevens looks to avoid a disastrous turn in his life.

How much that injury had to do with Stevens’ ultimate substance abuse issues will be forever unknown. But once again, it shows the price some pro athletes pay once their time in sport’s limelight is finished.

A number of retired NFL players have died early from brain issues. A few hockey players have gone down that same tragic path.

Pro wrestlers — who are athletes — have died young as well. Pro boxers have experienced dementia and other mental issues as a result of the head trauma they took on for so long.

The timing of Stevens’ charges make his case particularly disturbing. Here we are trying to celebrate hockey and here comes a former hockey hero to remind us of the negative aftermath a pro sports career can create.

Hopefully, the Penguins will go on to win the Stanley Cup.

Hopefully, Kevin Stevens will bounce back and stay well.

I guess winning off the ice can be just as challenging as on it.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.