Empty Netter Assists - 05-25-10

Penguins

-Mellon Arena's roof might be opened for the first time since that unfortunate helicopter accident during the Penguins-Blackhawks Stanley Cup final in the mid 1990s.

-Pittsburgh drew the third-best television rating in in the United States for Saturday's Game 4 of the Flyers-Canadiens series.

-Happy 49th birthday to former Penguins forward Pat Graham. A sixth-round pick in 1980, Graham spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. In 1981-82, he appeared in 42 games and recorded 14 points. The following season, he was limited to 20 games and six points. In the 1983 offseason, he was traded to the Maple Leafs along with Nick Ricci in exchange for Rocky Saganiuk and Vincent Tremblay. Graham and teammate Randy Boyd were passionate picnic enthusiasts:

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Playoff Stuff

Flyers-Canadiens

-Jeff Carter had two goals and led the Flyers to a 4-2 series-clinching win against the Canadiens. Captain Mike Richards added a goal and two assists while Michael Leighton made 25 saves for Philadelphia which won the series, 4-1. Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez led Montreal with a goal and an assist.

-Check out Richards' effort on this shorthanded goal:

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-Check out this goal by Philadelphia's Arron Asham:

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-End of game and handshake lines:

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-Richards had no issues accepting the Prince of Wales Trophy from deputy commissioner Bill Daly:

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-Anthem time:

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-If you feel like throwing up this morning:

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-Happy times for Richards:

-Happy times in Philadelphia:

-Richards molesting the Prince of Wales Trophy:

-Steely glare time for Leighton:

-Thirsty times for Leighton:

-Sad times for the Canadiens:

-Philadelphia's Braydon Coburn kicked up some ice in this collision with Montreal's Scott Gomez:

-Montreal's Benoit Pouliot got the drop on Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen here:

-Cool Photo of the Night: A faceoff:

-Funny Face of the Night: We would love to know what made Carter react this way:

-Leighton had issues with this puck:

-Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak kept his eyes on this puck:

-Not so much with this puck however:

-Halak had tons of support from Philadelphia fans:

-Gomez and Asham having a moment:

-Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell tossing a stick into the stands:

-"I thought a little about it last night and my first instinct was to grab it. We haven't done anything conventional all year -- especially in these playoffs -- so might as well go against the grain one more time." - Richards on grabbing the Trophy.

-"I saw Pittsburgh two years ago not do it and they lost and did it last year and they won. Who knows. I think it’s the right thing to do." - Flyers forward Simon Gagne on Richards grabbing the trophy.

-Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has won seven consecutive playoff series.

-Flyers forward Ian Laperriere is the Flyers' designated old grizzled veteran who has never won the Stanley Cup. Or... this year's Ray Bourque/Dave Andreychuk/Rod Brind'Amour.

-Richards and Carter are already drawing comparisons to Flyers greats Bill Barber (right) and Bobby Clarke. Maybe they should win a Cup title first before those can begin.

-Carter admitted his damaged foot is still not at full strength.

-"I think when you look at past experiences, not just on our team, but Pittsburgh went all the way to the final and all they talked about was how much it stung and how much they learned from it." - Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges comparing his team to the 2007-08 Penguins.

-"I wasn’t ready for summer." - Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri.

-Canadiens forward Tom Pyatt did not play due to an "upper-body" injury.

Sharks-Blackhawks

-Blackhawks forward Dustin Byfuglien (right) is going to get used to Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger.

-The Blackhawks and Flyers have each lost their last five Stanley Cup Final appearances.

-This whole Marian Hossa and the Blackhawks vs. the Flyers thing isn't exactly ideal for Penguins fans.

-Where exactly did the Blackhawks get goaltender Antti Niemi?

-The NHL got lucky with a Chicago-Philadelphia match-up.

-Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has a long way to do before he can match the 11 Stanley Cup rings of his dad, former Penguins coach Scotty Bowman.

-Four years ago, the Blackhawks were a 65-point team which had Kyle Calder as its leading scorer with 59 points.

-Will the Sharks be able to hang on to forward Patrick Marleau and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov (right) when the become unrestricted free agents July 1?

-The Sharks revealed forward Dany Heatley had been dealing with a groin injury.

Kelly Cup

-We're a few days late with this, but the Cincinnati Cyclones beat the Idaho Steelheads, 2-1, Friday and claimed the ECHL's Kelly Cup championship series, 4-1.

Non-Playoff Stuff

Atlantic Division

-The Islanders cancelled plans to stage part of their training camp for next season in China.

Southeast Division

-Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos is offering a 49 percent share of his team in order to replace investor Thomas Thewes who died two years ago.

Central Division

-The Red Wings re-signed forward Jiri Hudler (right) to a two-year deal with an annual cap hit of $2.875. Hudler left the team last season to join Moscow Dynamo in the KHL.

Jarmo Kekalainen will resign as the Blues' assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting following this summer's draft to take the general manager position with Jokerit in Finland.

Pacific Division

-The bankruptcy of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers is not expected to impact the sale of the Dallas Stars. Both teams are currently owner by Tom Hicks.

-The Coyotes signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson (right), a first-round pick in 2009, to an entry-level contract.

Patrick Division

-The Supreme Court's ruling in favor of American Needle Inc. against the NFL benefitted the NHLPA quite a bit.

-Former Penguins defenseman prospect Ondrej Nemec, a second-round pick in 2002, joined Severstal Cherepovets in the KHL.

-Today would've been the 116th birthday of Hockey Hall of Fame member Mickey "The Wee Scot" MacKay, a former defenseman with the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates.

-Today would've been the 89th birthday of former Pittsburgh Hornets forward Wally Wilson.

(Photos: Sudden Death-Photobucket; Flyers/Canadiens-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images, Jim McIsaac/Getty Images and Matt Slocum/Associated Press; Barber-eBay; Byfuglien-Jonathan Daniel; Nabokov and Marleau-Gregory Smith/Associated Press; Hudler-Jamie Squire/Getty Images; Ekman-Larsson-Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)