Empty Netter Assists - 10-24-10
Penguins
-Shelly Anderson's recap from last night's game. Jaroslav Halak still owns the Penguins.
-The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's recap. The Blues have won 10 consecutive home games.
-The Associated Press' recap. Erik Johnson (above, right) was playing some of his best hockey of the season even before his overtime goal.
-Highlights:
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-Erik Johnson's game-winning goal deserves its own post:
-Brent Johnson stopping St. Louis' Andy McDonald in tight:
-Brooks Orpik > St. Louis' Carlo Colaiacovo:
-So what exactly is this "rover" position Alex Goligoski is manning on the power play?
-Shootout goals by Chris Conner, Keven Veilleux and Dustin Jeffrey gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 2-1 win against the Binghamton Senators. John Curry made 37 saves in the victory.
-Highlights courtesty of The Pensblog's Eric Politowski:
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-Two goals by Joey Haddad led the Wheeling Nailers to a 4-1 win against the Trenton Devils. Andrew Lord added a goal and two assists for Wheeling while teammate Doug Roger contributed a goal and an assist. Mattais Modig made 29 saves in the victory.
Atlantic Division
-Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves and led the Rangers to a 3-2 win at Boston. Nathan Horton led Boston with a goal and an assist.
-Check out this breakaway goal by New York's Marc Staal:
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-Check out this save by Lundqvist on Boston's Jordan Caron:
-Who would ever think you'd see this happen? Rangers forward defended teammate and former Penguins forward Rusan Fedotenko after he was run over by Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart:
-If you recall, Avery and Fedotenko weren't exactly all that chummy last season:
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-Boston's Milan Lucic and New York's Brandon Prust had issues:
-Lucic got a little bloody from the encounter:
-We don't want to say Lundqvist invaded the personal space of Boston's Jordan Caron, but...:
-Stretchy times for Boston's Tuukka Rask:
-Happy times for the Rangers. Not so much for Boston's David Krejci:
-A goal and two assists by Mike Richards led the Flyers to a 5-2 defeat of the Maple Leafs. Brian Boucher was forced to make all of 12 saves in the victory.
-Flyers forward Daniel Briere managed to hit both posts with a shot:
-Check out this tough play by Toronto's Clarke MacArthur to record a goal:
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-Check out this hit Toronto's Mike Komisarek stuck on Philadelphia's Ville Leino:
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-Toronto's Jean-Sebastien Giguere kept his eyes on this puck:
-Flyers forward Scott Hartnell isn't all that bad of a person. He cut off that rats nest on top of his head and donated the hair to Locks of Love, a charity which provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss.
-After nearly being killed along with his son in a car wreck in the offseason, Flyers forward Daniel Briere doesn't take hockey too seriously.
-The Devils recalled forward Alexander Vasyunov from Albany of the AHL.
Northeast Division
-Thomas Vanek had two goals and led the Sabres to a 6-1 rout of the Devils. Tyler Ennis added a goal and an assist for Buffalo whilte teammates Derek Roy and Rob Niedermayer each recorded two assists. Ryan Miller (above) made 26 saves in the win.
-The story of this game was who didn't play in it. Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk, one of the biggest free agent signings ever this past offseason, was a healthy scratch.
-Devils goaltender and former Penguin Johan Hedberg was booed off the ice by all 48 of the Devils fans after he gave up four goals on 15 shots.
-Ennis being popular:
-Buffalo's Paul Gaustad was a little less popular:
-Angry times for New Jersey's Martin Brodeur:
-And an angry Moose:
-Devils forward Rod Pelley suffered a broken nose when he was hit in the face by a deflected shot.
-Carey Price made 19 saves and led the Canadiens to a 3-0 shutout of the rival Senators. Andrei Kostitsyn had two goals for Montreal.
-Check out this laser Kostitsyn scored on:
-Check out this hit by Montreal's Lars Eller on Ottawa's Peter Regin:
-Carey Price recorded his first shutout since 2008.
-"To be honest with you, I think he’s one of the best goalies in the NHL right now. I don’t see too many guys who are better. " - Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban on Price.
-The Senators recalled forward Zack Smith from Binghamton of the AHL.
Southeast Division
-A goal and an assist by Mike Weaver (above, with Mike Santorelli) helped the Panthers defeat the Islanders, 4-3. Teammate Keaton Ellerby recorded two assists while Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves in the victory. John Tavares led New York with a hat trick.
-Tavares' first career hat trick:
-Prior to the game, the Panthers raised a banner in honor of their orginal general manager, Bill Torrey:
-Tomas Fleischmann's overtime goal gave the Capitals a 4-3 win against the Thrashers. Alexander Semin had a hat trick for Washington while teammate Mathieu Perreault recorded two assists. Michal Neuvirth made 29 saves in the victory. Evander Kane led Atlanta with two goals.
-Semin's hat trick:
-Washington's Alex Ovechkin > Atlanta's Andrew Ladd:
-Happy times for Semin (right) and Perreault. Not so much for Atlanta's Chris Mason:
-The Capitals have eight consecutive home wins against the Thrashers.
-Anton Babchuk's overtime goal gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 win at Phoenix. Jussi Jokinen added a goal and an assist for Carolina while teammate Joni Pitkanen recorded two assists. Cam Ward made 36 saves in the victory. Kyle Turris led the Coyotes with two goals and an assist.
-Confused times for Phoenix goaltender Jason LaBarbera and forward Eric Belanger:
-With Semyon Varlamov dealing with an undisclosed injury, the Capitals recalled former Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin from Hershey of the AHL.
-Also, with forwards Marcus Johansson (hip flexor) and Matt Bradley ("lower body") dinged up, the Capitals recalled forwards Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle from Hershey.
-Former Penguins equipment manager Steve Latin now holds the same position with the Charlotte Checkers, the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate.
-He's only 30, but Lightning forward and former Penguin Dominic Moore has already played for six teams in his NHL career.
Central Division
-Henrik Zetterberg (above) had two goals and two assists for the Red Wings in a 5-4 defeat of the Ducks. Tomas Holmstrom added a goal and an assist for Detroit while teammate Niklas Lidstrom added three assists. Jimmy Howard made 21 saves in the victory. Bobby Ryan led Anaheim with a goal and an assist.
-Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk scored a goal with 12 seconds left to win the game:
-If you can imagine such a thing, Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall targeted the head of an opponent and stuck a shoulder in the face of Ducks forward Teemu Selanne:
-It didn't lead to a goal, but check out this little bit of nifty skating by Datsyuk:
-Anaheim's Danny Syvret ripped a pretty good shot for this goal:
-Selanne tied Bobby Hull for 15th place on the NHL's career goal-scoring list with his 610th goal:
-Angry times for Ducks coach and former Penguins captain Randy Carlyle:
-"If we played 80 games against them, they would probably have 200 points, those guys." - Selanne on Datsyuk and Zetterberg.
-Pekke Rinne made 30 saves for the Predators in a 1-0 shutout win at Dallas. It was Rinne's 15th career shutout.
-Antoine Vermette had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets in a 3-2 defeat of the Blackhawks. Teammate Marc Methot added two assists while Steve Mason made 30 saves in the victory. Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist for Chicago.
-With forward Tomas Kopecky dealing with an "upper-body" injury, the Blackhawks demoted forward Evan Brophey from Rockford of the AHL.
-The Predators recalled defenseman Teemu Laakso from Milwaukee of the AHL.
-Miami, Ohio defenseman Will Weber, a Blue Jackets prospect, was injured when he took a skate blade to the neck. He underwent surgery and is in stable condition.
Northwest Division
-The Calgary Herald ranks the best Flames of all-time by jersey number. Guess who's No. 10.
Pacific Division
-A hat trick by Brad Richardson led the Kings to a 6-4 win at Colorado. Jonathan Quick (above) made 28 saves in the victory. Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny each had two goals and an assist for the Avalanche.
-Richardson's hat trick:
-Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan led the game due to a head injury.
-Kings forward Wayne Simmonds and Avalanche forward Chris Stewart are BFFs.
-A goal and two assists by Joe Pavelski led the Sharks to a 6-1 win at Edmonton. Teammate Joe Thornton recorded three assists while Antero Niittymaki made 21 saves in the victory.
-Edmonton's only goal by Jordan Elerbe was pretty nice:
-Check out this hit San Jose's Scott Nichol stuck on Edmonton's Andrew Cogliano:
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-Oilers forward Taylor Hall apparently doesn't believe in a traditional back scratcher:
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-With defenseman Matt Greene finally recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, the Kings demoted former Penguins defensive prospect Jake Muzzin to Manchester of the AHL.
-The Kings terminated the contract of goaltender Erik Ersberg after he cleared waivers.
Smythe Division
-Former Flyers/Predators/Blue Jackets defenseman Andy Delmore has joined Lørenskog of the Get Ligaen in Norway.
-Daneca Butterfield made 34 saves for the Robert Morris women's team in a 9-1 loss to Cornell.
(Photos: Penguins/Blues-Bill Boyce/Associated Press; Rangers/Bruins-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images and Winslow Townson/Associated Press; Maple Leafs/Flyers-Paul Bereswill/Getty Images; Sabres/Devils-Tim Larsen/Associated Press and Mike Stobe/Getty Images; Islanders/Panthers-Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press; Thrashers/Capitals-Nick Wass/Associated Press; Hurricanes/Coyotes-Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press; Ducks/Red Wings-Carlos Osorio/Associated Press; Kings/Avalanche-Jack Dempsey/Associated Press)