Empty Netter Assists - 10-29-09

Penguins

-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. Remember how Chris Kunitz couldn't play with Sidney Crosby (above)?

-The Montreal Gazette's recap. The Canadiens' four-game winning streak was snapped.

-The Associated Press' recap. Crosby has 36 goals in his past 55 games (including the postseason).

-NHL.com's recap. Crosby must like Oct. 28.

-Highlights courtesy of EN cotributor GhostWalker 40:

-Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz speak:

-Welcome back Hal Gill.

-The Canadiens care not for your hats (or the Whalers jersey):

-"I think those guys are too young to have hangovers." - Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri on the Penguins avoiding a Stanley Cup hangover.

-Shootout goals by Pierce Norton, Joey Haddad and Andrew Lord gave the Wheeling Nailers a 6-5 road win against the Trenton Devils.

-Former Penguins prospect Moises Gutierrez signed with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL.

-Happy 65th birthday to former Penguins forward Stan Gilbertson. Gilbertson led the 1975-76 team in playoff scoring with two points (one goal, one assist).

Atlantic Division

-Dwayne Roloson's butt (above) made 34 saves for the Islanders who beat the rival Rangers, 3-1. Jack Hillen led the Islanders with two assists.

-In a stunning development, Rangers forward Marian Gaborik did not play due to a right leg injury.

-"I don’t care about John Tavares — I only care about my team." - Rangers coach John Tortorella getting mad at a question about the Islanders rookie forward.

-A night on Long Island means a night full of great photos.The Rangers' Ryan Callahan reacting poorly to the defense of the Islanders' Radek Martinek:

-Kyle Okposo busting out a really strange celebration:

-Ales Kotalik cares not for freedom of the press:

-Frankly, is there any other way to leave Nassau Coliseum than without the assistance of six security guards:

-Bad times for Henrik Lundqvist:

-Marc Staal cares not for the face of former Penguins forward Jon Sim:

-Devils forward Patrik Elias expect to begin practicing next week. A groin injury has sidelined him all season.

-It was revealed that Islanders captain Doug Weight missed some games due to the swine flu.

-The Flyers officially placed forward Simon Gagne on injured reserve due to two hernias and placed defenseman Randy Jones on re-entry waivers with the hopes of recalling him from Adirondack of the AHL.

Northeast Division

-Jason Pomiville had a goal and an assist for the Sabres who won at New Jersey, 4-1. Steve Montador added two assists while Ryan Miller made 31 saves in the victory. The Devils dropped to 1-4-0 at home this season.

-New Jersey's Martin Brodeur did what he could on this shot by Clark MacArthur:

-A goal and an assist by captain Daniel Alfredsson helped the Senators win at Florida, 4-3. Teammates Chris Campoli and Filip Kuba each recorded two assists. Nathan Horton and Jordan Leopold each led the Panthers two two assists.

-Senators forward and former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu forced this puck by Florida's Tomas Vokoun:

-Florida's Kamil Kreps had a bit of a train wreck with Ottawa's Brian Elliott and Anton Volchenkov:

-Kuba returned to the lineup after missing eight games due to a "lower-body" injury.

Southeast Division

-Capitals forward Quintin Laing was diagnosed with swine flu.

-Washington activated forward Tomas Fleischmann from injured reserve and demoted him to Hershey of the AHL for conditioning purposes. He had been dealing with a blood clot in his leg.

-Thrashers forward Nik Antropov is dealing with a hamstring injury.

-Hurricanes forward Eric Cole has resumed skating for the first time since Oct. 3 when he broke his leg.

Central Division

-David Perron had two goals and an assist for the Blues in a 5-2 win at Carolina. Chris Mason made 34 saves in the victory. Carolina's Cam Ward had a rough night giving up four goals on only 17 shots.

-Carolina's Tim Conboy mashing the nose of St. Louis' Cam Janssen:

-A goal and an assist by Shea Weber helped the Predators win at Minnesota, 4-3. Teammate Steve Sullivan added two assists. Former Penguins forward Petr Sykora was a healthy scratch for the Wild.

-Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom pulled out this save on Nashville's Marcel Goc:

-The Blue Jackets demoted defenseman Mathieu Roy to Syracuse of the AHL.

-Former Penguins forward Marian Hossa practiced with the Blackhawks for the first time since offseason shoulder surgery.

Northwest Division

-Craig Anderson (above) made 30 saves for the Avalanche which won again by defeating the rival Flames, 3-2. Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff had a rough night giving up three goals on only 14 shots.

-A cracked rib will sideline Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo for at least a week.

-With Luongo dinged up, Vancouver recalled goaltender Cory Schneider from Manitoba of the AHL.

-Are Flames fowards Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen too much alike to work well together?

Pacific Division

-James Neal's overtime goal gave the Stars a 4-3 win against the Maple Leafs. Neal also contributed an assist while teammate Brad Richards scored two goals. Dallas' Mike Ribeiro also recorded a goal and an assist. Nikolai Kulemin led Toronto with two goals.

-Neal's goal:

-Check out this scramble by Toronto's Jonas Gustavsson last night:

-Happy times for Neal (No. 16) and Karlis Skrastins:

-Marty Turco stacking things up on Toronto's Matt Stajan:

-Three assists from Keith Yandle helped the Coyotes win at Columbus, 4-1. Jason LaBarbera made 31 saves for Phoenix.

-Coyotes forward and former Penguin Paul Bissonnette had a fight with Columbus' Jared Boll:

-We're not experts on the rules, but we're going to assume Columbus' Derrick Brassard was called for goaltender interference for this collision with LaBarbera:

-Shootout goals by Dany Heatley and Ryane Clowe gave the Sharks a 2-1 win against the Kings. Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves in the victory.

-Nabokov being good people:

-Los Angeles' Jonathan Quicks and San Jose's Benn Ferriero keeping their eyes on the puck:

-Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle has been playing the entire season with a broken right thumb.

-The Ducks signed former Kings forward Kyle Calder and assigned him to Bakersfield of the ECHL.

(Photos: Crosby and Canadiens-Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press; Roloson, Martinek, Okposo, Kotalik, fan, Lundqvist and Staal-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Brodeur-Rich Schultz/Associated Press; Ruutu and Kreps-Joel Auerbach/Getty Images; Conboy-Gerry Broome/Associated Press; Backstrom-Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press; Anderson-Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press; Neal-Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press; Turco-Ronald Martinez/Getty Images; Brassard-Paul Vernon/Associated Press; Nabokov and Quick-Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)