Empty Netter Assists - 01-29-10
Penguins
-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. "Maybe we didn't play our best game." - Marc-Andre Fleury.
-The Ottawa Citizen's recap. The Senators have won eight consecutive games.
-The Associated Press' recap. "We didn’t play a tough enough game." - Sidney Crosby (above).
-NHL.com's recap. The Senators looked totally different compared to their Dec. 23 appearance at Mellon Arena.
-Mike Lange's goal calls:
-Highlights courtesy of EN contributor GhostWalker 40:
-Crosby, Fleury and Mark Eaton speak:
-Chris Neil's hit on Mark Eaton deserves its own clip:
-Jordan Staal getting down low:
-Pointy times for Dan Bylsma:
-Brian Elliott kept his eyes on this puck:
-Jordan Staal can barely buy a drink legally yet he has 300 career games in the NHL already.
-If the Penguins need an enforcer to fill in for Eric Godard, could they turn to Wade Brookbank?
-The Penguins are good people.
-Mario Lemieux is good people.
-You probably shouldn't pre-order a Rod Brind'Amour Penguins jersey.
-We're a little late with this, but Flyers forward Daniel Carcillo is a fan of Bill Guerin's moustache:
-Happy 31sth birthday to former Penguins forward Robert Dome. On of the bigger first-round busts in team history, Dome was drafted by the Penguins in 1997. Over the course of two seasons, he appeared in 52 games for the Penguins and recorded 14 points. He left the Penguins organization for good following the 2001-02 season and signed with the Calgary Flames.
-Happy 24th birthday to former Penguins forward Chris Bourque. Claimed off waivers from the Capitals prior to the start of this season, Bourque appeared in 20 games for the Penguins this season and recorded three assists. He was placed on waiviers in early December and re-claimed by the Capitals.
Atlantic Division
-The Devils assigned forward Ilkka Pikkarainen to CSKA Moscow of the KHL.
-The Islanders agreed to terms on a two-way contract with forward Trevor Gilles.
Northeast DIvision
-After missing eight games due to a knee injury, Bruins forward Marc Savard is expected to return to the lineup tonight.
-Canadiens forward and former Penguins Georges Laraque's attempted move to AIK Stockholm in Sweden has been blocked by the NHL for the time being.
-Is Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller a candidate for the Hart Trophy?
Southeast Division
-Jim Slater scored two goals and led the Thrashers to a 4-3 win at Philadelphia. Teammate Evander Kane added two assists while former Penguin Johan Hedberg (above) made 34 saves in the win, Atlanta's third in a row. FIre Craig Patrick. Claude Giroux led the Flyers with a goal and an assist.
-Check out this funny "turtle" save by Hedberg:
-A pretty cool series of photos from the save:
-Check out Giroux's goal:
-Thrashers forward and former Penguin Chris Thornburn had issues with Philadelphia's Arron Asham:
-Thrashers forward and former Penguin Colby Armstrong didn't appear to crazy about being near the butt of Philadelphia's Daniel Briere:
-Happy times for the Geico caveman Flyers forward Daniel Carcillo:
-Odd Stat of the Night: Carcillo, 25, became the fourth Flyer to score a goal on his birthday this season.
-Matt Cullen and Eric Staal each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes in a 4-1 defeat of the Islanders. Cam Ward made 26 saves in the victory which was Carolina's third consecutive.
-Ward had issues with this shot from Islanders forward and former Penguin Matt Moulson:
-Fire Ray Shero.
-Since being named captain Jan. 20, Staal has eight goals.
-With goaltender Jose Theodore ready to return from a hip flexor, the Capitals demoted goaltender Braden Holtby to Hershey of the AHL.
-"If the trade deadline was tomorrow, we wouldn't do anything." -Washington general manager George McPhee.
-"Obviously, more time that goes by, it doesn't bode well and it's not encouraging, but I'm still holding out hope that we can get him signed." - Thrashers general manager Don Waddell on contract talks with forward Ilya Kovalchuk.
Central Division
-Troy Brouwer (above, being mobbed by his teammates) scored two goals, including on in overtime, and led the Blackhawks to a thrilling 4-3 win at San Jose. Cristobal Huet made 34 saves in the victory. Joe Pavelski led the Sharks with two goals.
-Brower's overtime goal:
-Happy Captain Morganish times for Chicago's Dustin Byfuglien:
-Chris Mason made 24 saves in a 2-1 win at Edmonton. The Oilers have lost 12 consecutive games and 19 out of their past 20 games. They are approaching the franchise record of 14 consecutive games without a win set in 1993-94.
-Oilers goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers had issues with this puck:
-Red Wings forward Justin Williams is expected to return to the line up tonight after being sidelined since November due to a knee injury.
-The Predators recalled forward Andreas Thuresson from Milwaukee of the AHL.
-"I'm 21 years old. It's probably time I grow up a little bit. It's not the way we want to represent the team." - Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane on photos of him and other Blackhawks showing them in the back of a limo without shirts and women.
Northwest Division
-Josh Harding (above) made 29 saves and led the Wild to a 1-0 shutout win at Colorado. The victory was Minnesota's third in a row and fifth in six meetings this season with the Avalanche. Colorado had a six-game winning streak snapped.
-Check out the pass by Kyle Brodziak to set up Martin Havlat for this game's only goal:
-Harding recorded his first shutout since Oct. 14, 2007.
-Wild forward Owen Nolan suffered a hand injury last night.
-"It seems like they don't even try to go on the offense at all." - Avalanche forward Matt Duchene on the Wild's defense.
-With goaltender Niklas Backstrom dealing with a wonky back, the WIld recalled goaltender Wade Dubielewicz from Houston of the AHL. Additionally, former Penguins forward Petr Sykora officially cleared waivers and became an unrestricted free agent.
-The Canucks demoted forward Jannik Hansen to Manitoba of the AHL.
-The Oilers are one loss away from losing every game in January.
Pacific Division
-Shootout goals by former Penguin Robert Lang and Lauri Korpikoski (above) led the Coyotes to a 3-2 win against the Flames. Fire Craig Patrick. Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves in the victory. Calgary suffered its ninth consecutive loss.
-The shootout. Check out Lang's goal at the 1:10 mark:
-Bryzgalov kept his eyes on this puck despite a haze of ice:
-Bryzgalov stretched to make this save on Calgary's Mikael Backlund:
-We're assuming Phoenix's Petr Prucha lost this conflict with Calgary's Robyn Regehr:
-Phoenix's Shane Doan laid down to block this shot by Calgary's Dion Phaneuf:
-Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff has issues with this puck:
-Flames captain Jarome Iginla chasing down a puck:
-This photo pretty much explains the Flames perfectly at this point:
-Anze Kopitar scored two goals and led the Kings to a 4-1 win at Columbus. Teammate Ryan Smyth added a goal and an assist while Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in the victory which was Los Angeles' fourth in a row.
-Even if he's at the end of his career, forward Mike Modano is still vital to the Stars.
-Dallas defenseman Mark Fistric was fined but not suspened for fighting Flames forward Eric Nystrom and hitting him with his own helmet.
-The Coyotes have the most goals in the NHL from defensemen with 31.
-Check out the mask Sharks and Team Russia goatender Evgeni Nabokov had made up for the Olympics:
Norris Division
-Former Hurricanes/Avalanche/Capitals/Maple Leafs forward Bates Battaglia has joined Jokerit in Finland.
-Michigan will host rival Michigan State Dec. 11 at Michigan Stadium, AKA, The Big House.
-Happy 97th birthday to former Pittsburgh Hornets forward Fred Hergerts.
(Photos: Senators/Penguins-Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press; Thrashers/Flyers-Al Bello/Getty Images and Matt Slocum/Associated Press; Islanders/Hurricanes-Gerry Broome/Associated Press; Blackhawks/Sharks-Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press; Blues/Oilers-Canadian Press; Wild/Avalanche-Jack Dempsey/Associated Press; Flames/Coyotes-Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press and Christian Petersen/Getty Images)