Great at the top - 11-24-08

So we took a look at Dave Molinari's story about the great Mike Zigomanis' impact on the Penguins in the faceoff circle and we figured this would be a great opportunity to do some fancy list with a table and bullets and names and numbers and everything else. We moseyed on over to the NHL's site and started digging through the statistics for some information on faceoffs.

We then saw this:

-We don't need a fancy list to illustrate this. No funky math. It's there in plain sight. The great Mike Zigomanis is really great. He's the top faceoff guy in the NHL.

EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS

Penguins

-Does Michel Therrien realize Kris Letang is righthanded?

-Chris Minard and Jeff Taffe scored goals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 4-2 loss at Lake Erie.

-The AHL Penguins probably should've won this game.

-Paul Bissonnette managed to get into another fight. This time it was with Lake Erie's Jesse Boulerice:

-Bissonnette dropped the gloves with Toronto's Phil Oreskovic on Saturday:

(Kudos to EN contributor Eric Politowski for the heads up.)

-What's it like catching a Penguins game at Mellon Arena in a luxury suite?

-Paige Pietrangelo, the daughter of former Penguins goaltender Frank Pietrangelo, is playing hockey at Robert Morris.

(Kudos to EN reader "War Penguin" for the heads up.)

Atlantic Division

-Danius Zubrus tied a franchise record by scoring four goals for the Devils in a 7-3 win at Tampa Bay.

-The Devils recalled defenseman Jay Leach from Lowell of the AHL.

-Devils coach Brent Sutter felt the two-game suspension of defenseman Mike Mottau for hitting Islanders forward Frans Nielson was justified.

-With Nielsen injured, the Islanders might keep rookie forward Josh Bailey instead of sending him back to his junior team.

Northeast Division

-The Maple Leafs need to stop raising banners for players and start raising them for championships.

Southeast Division

 -Lightning forward and former Penguin Ryan Malone scored on a penalty shot yesterday:

-Despite that goal, Malone finished a minus-4 yesterday.

-As you could tell from the above video, the Lightning and goaltender Olaf Kolzig (right) unveiled their new third jersey:

-We know we've really ridden a lot of these third jerseys hard, but this one is just like the Senators' new duds. It just looks very minor-leaguish (is that word?) with "BOLTS" across the front. Use the team's real, full name and not a nickname. Heck, we'll even take the geographically-illiterate approach of putting the city's name across the front like Dallas and Vancouver have over this. The white piping down the sides makes it look like Reebok is going for a cheap, loud NFL feel to it as well.

-Good to see that new ownership is helping the Lightning so much. Attendance must be hurting because if you buy a new third jersey, you get free tickets.

-The Lightning recalled defenseman Jamie Heward and goaltender Karri Ramo from Norfolk of the AHL.

-Several Pathers players weren't happy to see enforcer Wade Belak put on waivers.

Central Division

-Jason Arnott and Shea Weber each had two goals for the Predators in a 5-2 win at Carolina.

-Blackhawks goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin (right) is making a case to stay in Chicago.

-A three-game benching helped straighten out Red Wings defenseman Brett Lebda's game.

-Four AHL players have given the Blues a boost.

Northwest Division

-Edmonton forward Sam Gagner (ankle) and defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky (knee) are dealing with injuries.

-The Oilers recalled Tim Sestito from Springfield of the AHL.

-The Wild demoted defenseman Tomas Mojzis to Houston of the AHL.

-Colorado forward Wojtek Wolski is no Vincent Chase.

-With Roberto Luongo injured, goaltender Cory Schneider, the Canucks' 2004 first-round draft pick, is ready to step up.

Pacific Division

-Here's the dangerous hit Kings forward and Pittsburgh native John Zeiler put on Colorado defenseman Adam Foote Saturday:

-We're sure the NHL will really come down hard on Zeiler and suspend him for something like two games.

-The Stars recalled forward Chris Connor from Peoria of the AHL.

-The Ducks made forward Brendan Morrison, a free agent acquisition this past offseason, a healthy scratch on Saturday.

-Former Penguins defenseman Darryl Sydor says his current team, the Stars, could learn something from the Penguins about team defense.

-Even after blasting the Capitals Saturday, 7-2, Sharks coach Todd McLellan wasn't happy with his team.

Patrick Division

-What are the risks and rewards of locking up young players to long-term deals?

-Something tells us Patrick Roy's kids weren't told "no" a great deal when they were children.

-Robert Morris' women's hockey team will host the Skate For the Cure event this weekend. All proceeds go towards breast cancer research.

(Photos: Kolzig-Mike Carlson/Associated Press; Khabibulin-Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

NOTE: We are discontinuing the use of tags for the time being. We think we broke them.