Empty Netter Assists - 05-23-10
Penguins
-Happy 69th birthday to former Penguins forward Bryan Hextall, Jr (right). Acquired in the 1969 offseason in a trade which sent Paul Andrea, John Arbour and Andy Bathgate to Vancouver of the WHL, Hextall, a member of one of hockey's great families, spent parts of five seasons with the Penguins. His first full season in Pittsburgh saw him help the Penguins reach the postseason for the first time in franchise history as he appeared in 66 games and recorded 31 points. The following season, Hextall's numbers increased to 76 games and 48 points. Hextall appeare in 78 games and had two goals in each of his next two seasons. Midway through the 1973-74 season, Hextall was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Flames. The son of Rangers hall-of-Famer Bryan Hextall, Sr. and father of a future Penguins rival, Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall, Dennis Hextall, Jr. appeared in 335 games for the Penguins and scored 186 points, 37th most in franchise history.
-Happy 44th birthday to former Penguins forward Gary Roberts. Acquired at the 2007 trade deadline in a deal which sent Noah Welch to the Panthers, Roberts spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. After scoring 13 points in 19 regular season games to finish the 2006-07 season, Roberts recorded four points in five postseason games. After re-signing in the following offseason, Roberts appeared in only 38 games and scored 15 points due to various injuries. He recovered in time to appear in 11 postseason games and recorded four points as the Penguins advanced to the Stanely Cup final for the first time in 16 years. In the 2008 offseason, the rights to Roberts and Ryan Malone were traded to the Lightning in exchange for a draft pick. One of the most popular players in team history, Roberts appeared in 57 games for the Penguins and recorded 28 points.
Playoff Stuff
Flyers-Canadiens
-Michael Leighton (above) made a whopping 17 saves and led the Flyers to a 3-0 shutout of the Canadiens. Claude Giroux had two goals for the Flyers who have a 3-1 series lead.
-Check out Giroux's first goal:
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-Check out this goal by Philadelphia's Ville Leino:
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-Montreal's Jaroslav Halak has issues with this puck:
-Lighting it up in Montreal:
-No idea what's going here:
-Leighton became the first goaltender in franchise history to record three shutouts in one series.
-Flyers forwards Jeff Carter (foot) and Ian Laperriere (head) each returned to the lineup after being sidelined since the first round.
-"I took a couple of punches to the face, and that got me going; I knew I could take a hit." - Laperriere.
-In order to make room for Carter and Laperriere, the Flyers had to bench Daniel Carcillo.
-"We had too many guys trying to do it by themselves. We didn’t support the defence and they didn’t support us." - Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec.
-The Flyers had some skate issues after some sort of mystery substance was allegedly spilled in the tunnel between their locker room and bench.
-Dating back to 2006 during his time with the Hurricanes, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has won six consecutive playoff series.
-CBC, NBC and RDS got into a tiff about which network got to put a reporter between the benches.
Sharks-Blackhawks
-Today's obligatory "the last team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit was the Islanders in 1975 against the Penguins the Flyers in 2010 against the Bruins" is brought to you by the San Jose Mercury News.
-The Sharks are on the verge of being swept for only the second time in franchise history.
-The Blackhawks are trying to downplay of the Stanley Cup.
-Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is drawing comparisons to Bears legend Mike Ditka. In terms of moustaches.
-Another Bears legend, current 49ers head coach Mike Singletary, is rooting for the Sharks.
IIHF World Championships
-Evgeni Malkin (above) and Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal for Russia in a 2-1 semifinal defeat of Germany. Sergei Gonchar added an assist while Vasili Koshechkin made 26 saves in the victory.
-Happy times for Malkin, Gonchar, New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk, left, and Datsyuk:
-Datsyuk, Kovalchuk and Malkin all celebrating:
-Germany defenseman Robert Dietrich kept his eyes on this puck. Goaltender Robert Zepp, not so much:
-Germany's Felix Schultz > Russia's Sergei Fedorov:
-Sad times for Germany defenseman and former Penguin Sven Butenschon:
-And for Germany's Daniel Kreutzer:
-Cool Photo of the Day: A scramble in Russia's goal crease:
-Shootout goals by Lukas Kaspar and Jan Marek gave the Czech Republic a 3-2 win against Sweden. Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves in the victory.
-"Two weeks ago nobody gave us a chance." - Czech forward and former Penguins captain Jaromir Jagr.
-Happy times for the Czech Republic:
-Happy times for Czech captain Tomas Rolinek:
-Jagr shooting wide on Sweden and Maple Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson:
-Jagr having issues with an offiical:
-Jagr resolving said issues in the penalty box:
-Happy times for Sweden's Johan Harju:
Non-Playoff Stuff
Northeast Division
-Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference (groin) and goaltender Tim Thomas (hip) each underwent surgery.
-Senators coach Cory Clouston took the road less traveled en route to the NHL.
Central Division
-Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader is still working on his degree from Michigan State.
-Unrestricted free agent to be forward Tomas Holmstrom wants to end his career with the Red Wings.
Adams Division
-Happy 81st birthday to former Pittsburgh Hornets forward Vic Stasiuk.
(Photos: Hextall, Jr.-Penguins Hockey Cards; Flyers/Canadiens-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images and Dave Sandford/Getty Images; IIHF World Championships-Frank Augstein/Associated Press, Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images, Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images, Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images and Juergen Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)