Empty Netter Assists - Eastern Conference - 12-31-08
Penguins
-Dave Molinari's game recap from last night. A players-only meeting was held by the Penguins after the game.
-The Boston Globe's recap. A switch-up in line combinations led to a win for the Bruins.
-The Associated Press' recap. Boston hasn't won nine games in a row since 1982-83.
-Hal Gill came back last night.
-Michel Therrien is no Mike Tomlin.
-Here's Tim Wallace throwing with Milan Lucic:
-For comparison's sake, here's NESN's broadcast of the fight:
-If you were blind, you'd think you were listening to two different fights.
-PittsburghHockey.net spotted a pretty blatant jersey foul:
-We're getting a headache looking at that one.
-We spotted this optimistic jersey foul:
-Ben Lovejoy had two goals and an assist for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 6-4 defeat of the rival Philadelphia Phantoms. Bill Thomas added a goal and an assist for the Penguins while teammates Luca Caputi and Jeff Taffe each had two assists. John Curry made 29 saves in the win.
-Thomas has picked up his game as of late.
-The AHL Penguins have a five-game winning streak.
-Life is good right now for Penguins prospect Casey Pierro-Zabotel.
Atlantic Division
-Jeff Carter had a goal and an assist for the Flyers in a 3-2 win at Vancouver. Philadelphia forward Simon Gagne left after his first shift of the game when he suffered an "upper-body" injury. Martin Biron made 29 saves in win.
-Two goals from Zach Parise helped the Devils claim a 4-3 win at St. Louis. Jamie Langenbrunner had two assists for New Jersey. Scott Clemmensen made 28 wins in the win.
-Check out this effort by Parise for one of his goals:
-Injured Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur has resumed off-ice workouts.
-Former Flyers captain Eric Lindros is having some issues with his job with the NHLPA.
-Rangers forward Petr Prucha cares not for healthy scratches.
Northeast Division
-Pavel Kubina's overtime goal gave the Maple Leafs a 4-3 win against the Thrashers. Jonas Frogren and former Penguins forward Dominic Moore each contributed two assists for Toronto. Fire Ray Shero. Curtis Joseph made 29 saves and recorded his 450th career win. Ex-Penguins forward Colby Armstrong had a goal for Atlanta while another former Penguin, Johan Hedberg made 43 saves in the loss. Fire Ray Shero and Craig Patrick.
-Check out this pass by Mikhail Grabovski that set up a goal by Nikolai Kulemin:
-Check out one of Hedberg's saves:
-Shootout goals by former Penguins forward Alex Kovalev and Maxim Lapierre gave the Canadiens a 2-1 win at Tampa Bay. Fire Craig Patrick. Carey Price made 21 saves in the win. Montreal forward Alex Tanguay suffered an "upper-body" injury.
-Habs forward and former Penguin Tom Kostpoulos tried to fight Tampa Bay forward Evgeny Artyukhin last night. Ummm... not a good idea:
-Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza each had a goal and an assist for the Senators who claimed a 3-2 win at Edmonton. The win broke a 12-game road losing streak for Ottawa. Shawn Horcoff had two assists for Edmonton.
-The Senators really needed a win last night.
-Are the Maple Leafs ever going to get around to naming a captain?
-The Bruins are figuring out this puck possession thing.
Southeast Division
-Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist for the Capitals in a 4-2 win at Buffalo. Jose Theodore made 31 saves in the win while Viktor Kozlov added two assists for Washington. Capitals forward Chris Bourque, the son of hall-of-fame defenseman Ray Bourque, scored his first career NHL goal.
-The Capitals recalled defenseman Tyler Sloan from Hershey of the AHL.
-Washington's powers-that-be are a little peeved at Alex Ovechkin (right).
-Hurricanes defenseman Frantisek Kaberle cleared waivers.
-The Panthers activated defenseman Cory Murphy off injured reserve and demoted him to Rochester of the AHL for conditioning purposes. The team recalled forward Shawn Matthias from Rochester.
-Lightning defenseman Andrej Meszaros, a player who left Ottawa in part due a contract dispute, has yet to score a goal this season.
(Photo: Lawrence Jackson/Associated Press)