Empty Netter Assists - 04-25-10

Playoff Stuff

Penguins-Senators

-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. "I didn't know it was in until everybody starting [jumping] on me." - Pascal Dupuis on his game-winning goal.

-The Ottawa Citizen's recap. Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson revealed he played the entire series with an abdominal tear.

-The Associated Press' recap. The Penguins have won eight of their past nine playoff series.

-NHL.com's recap. "Craig Adams stepped up and said, ‘Boys, we can do this.'" - Chris Kunitz.

-Highlights:

-Dupuis's goal, hand shakes, etc.:

-Dupuis, Sidney Crosby, Mark Eaton, Matt Cooke and Marc-Andre Fleury speak:

-Hockey Night in Canada's pregame montage:

-Happy times for Dupuis and Cooke:

-Happy times for the Penguins. Not so much the Senators:

-Happy times for Crosby:

-Happy times for Cooke:

-Cooke screening Ottawa's Pascal Leclaire:

-Matt Cooke being popular:

-Crosby grabbing his lid:

-Adams having issues with Ottawa's Matt Carkner:

-Ottawa's Matt Cullen being popular:

-Happy times for the Senators. Not so much for Fleury:

-Alfredsson saying good bye for the summer:

-You know what's worse than watching your team lose in overtime? Dressing up like this to watch your team lose in overtime:

-"I think I shot them a total of 6 feet, and the goalie was nowhere in sight for both of them." - Matt Cooke on his two goals.

-Welcome back Chris Conner.

-Have we seen the last of Ruslan Fedotenko (PG+)?

-What is it about the Penguins, Game 6s and three-goal deficits?

-"They were a desperate hockey club, but we showed we are back." - Dupuis.

-"It’s so disappointing. One goal away from being in a Game 7." - Senators defenseman Chris Phillips.

Capitals-Canadiens

-Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau is considering some significant lineup changes.

-Capitals forward Eric Belanger lost eight teeth in Game 5.

-When is Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (right) going to grow up?

Devils-Flyers

-Flyers forward Ian Laperriere will not need surgery to repair a broken bone in his face.

Sabres-Bruins

-"To be honest with you, I wasn’t even worried." - Bruins coach Claude Julien on the potential suspension of captain Zdeno Chara following a brawl at the end of Game 5. The NHL opted not to suspend Chara.

-Julien sort of, kind of suggested Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was whining about Chara.

Sharks-Avalanche

-Joe Pavelski (above) had two goals and an assist for the Sharks in a 5-2 series-clinching win at Colorado. Douglas Murray had a goal and two assists for San Jose while teammate Dan Boyle recorded a goal and an assist. Evgeni Nabokov made 16 saves in the victory for the Sharks who won the series, 4-2.

-Check out this goal scored by Colorado's Marek Svatos:

-The game was held up when Nabokov got a stick caught up in his gear:

-Handshake line:

-San Jose captain Rob Blake greeting a former teammate in Colorado, Avalache captain Adam Foote:

-Colorado's Craig Anderson and Nabokov exchanging greetings:

-Happy times for the Sharks. Not so much for Foote:

-Happy times for San Jose's Joe Thornton and Nabokov:

-Anderson peeking out from the net:

-Boyle, Nabokov and Penguins trainer Colorado's Chris Stewart kept their eyes on this puck:

-San Jose's Scott Nichol > Colorado's T.J. Galiardi:

-"I can officially put it behind me now." - Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle on his own goal in game 3.

-"We made the playoffs and silenced a lot of people. We should be proud of what we've done." - Avalanche forward Matt Duchene.

-After leading Colorado in goal scoring this past season, Stewart, scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer, is going to cash in.

Blackhawks-Predators

-Former Penguins forward Marian Hossa (above) had an overtime goal and an assist and led the Blackhawks to a wild 5-4 win against the Predators. Niklas Hjalmarsson and Patrick Kane each added a goal and and an assist for Chicago while teammate Jonathan Toews recorded two assists. Antti Niemi made all of 17 saves in the victory which gave Chicago a 3-2 series lead. Martin Erat led Nashville with two goals.

-This game had a crazy ending. With 1:03 left in regulation, Hossa took a five-minute boarding major when he hit Nashville's Dan Hamhuis from behind. Despite being shorthanded, the Blackhawks were able to tie the game, 4-4, on a goal by Kane with 14 seconds left. The Blackhawks were able to kill of the rest of Hossa's penalty in the first overtime period. Ten seconds after he emerged from the box, Hossa scored the winning goal.

-Hossa's hit:

-Kane's goal:

-Hossa's goal:

-A good look at Hossa's goal:

-"What a relief." - Hossa.

-Happy times in Chicago:

-Happy times for Kane:

-Nashville's Ryan Suter > Chicago's Bryan Bickell:

-Nashville's Pekke Rinne kept his eyes on this puck:

-Predators coach Barry Trotz compared Hossa's hit to one by Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin which injured Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell last month. Ovechkin was suspended for two games for that hit.

-Hamhuis was not injured on the play.

-Niemi lost a puck:

-Make your own caption:

-An error by Erat led to Kane's goal.

-The Predators have failed to score a goal on 21 power play chances.

-"We just can't score. I don't have an answer for you. I don't know.

-The Blackhawks recalled goaltender Corey Crawford from Rockford of the AHL.

Canucks-Kings

-Despite his struggles, the Kings are sticking with goaltender Jonathan Quick (right).

-The Canucks recalled defenseman Lawrence Nycholat from Manitoba of the AHL.

-Canucks defenseman Shane O'Brien sort of apologized for his showboating act after a fight with Kings forward Wayne Simmonds in Game 5.

-"It (expletive) me off, big time." - Canucks forward Pavol Demitra on being demoted to the fourth line in Game 3.

-Bob Miller is the Kings' version of Mike Lange.

Coyotes-Red Wings

-"We're going to have to be a team that never quits. We're going to go in there, and we'll be ready to go. We feel we can compete with anybody." - Coyotes coach and former Penguins forward Dave Tippett on his team which trails in the series, 3-2.

-"Yeah, we need to finish it off as soon as possible." - Red Wings forward Darren Helm.

Non-Playoff Stuff

Penguins

-Former Penguins enforcer Georges Laraque (right) is keeping himself more than busy off the ice.

-Soo Greyhounds defenseman Jake Muzzin, a former Penguins prospect, won the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL's top blue liner.

-Happy 37th birthday to former Penguins forward Alek Stojanov. Acquired at the 1996 trade deadline in a deal which sent future all-star Markus Naslund, Stojanov spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. He finished the 1995-96 season by appearing in 10 games for the Penguins and scored one goal. The following season saw him play in 35 games and score five points. After a serious car accident, he he spent the 1997-98 season with Syracuse of the AHL. Following that season, the Penguins released him. Stojanov spent 45 and scoring six points with the Penguins. The trade with Vancouver is considered one of the worst in franchise history.

-Happy 57th birthday to former Penguins forward Bob Stumpf. Acquired midway through the 1974-75 season in a deal which sent Bernie Lukowich to the Blues, Stumpf finished his only NHL season by appearing in three games for the Penguins that campaign. He retired from professioinal hockey after spending the following season with Hershey of the AHL. He spent this past season with Binghamton of the AHL and Elmira of the ECHL.

-Happy 27th birthday to former Penguins goaltender Andy Chiodo (right). A seventh-round pick in the 2003 draft, Chiodo's only NHL season saw him spend eight games with the 2003-04 Penguins. He had a record of 3-4-1 during that span and had a goals against average of 3.64. Chiodo's biggest claim to Penguins fame was the fact he was the winning goaltender in a 4-3 overtime win at Phoenix, Feb. 25, 2004. That win snapped a franchise record 18-game winless streak for the Penguins. After spending the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling, Chiodo signed with Jokerit Helsinki in Finland during the 2006 offseason.

Southeast Division

-With his girlfriend, tennis star Elena Dementieva, in Birmingham, Ala. playing a tournament, Thrashers forward Maxim Afinogenov just showed up at some adult rec hockey league and scored 17 goals in a game.

(Photos: Penguins/Senators-Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images; Price-Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images; Predators/Blackhawks-Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images and Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press; Sharks/Avalanche-Doug Pensinger/Getty Images and Marc Piscotty/Getty Images; Quick-Stephen Dunn/Getty Images; Laraque-Dave Sandford/Getty Images; Chiodo-eBay)