Empty Netter Assists - 11-07-10
Penguins
-Shelly Anderson's recap from last night's game. "Marc(-Andre Fleury) has been a big-time goaltender and has got to be a big-time goaltender. He's got to find that." - Dan Bylsma on Fleury.
-The Arizona Republic's recap. "I thought we competed hard. I thought we did some really good things. We got to keep pounding away. When you don't get rewarded for that, it's frustrating." - Coyotes coach and former Penguin Dave Tippett.
-NHL.com's recap. To say the least, Mark Letestu (above) probably wasn't the player most folks would expect to net the shootout winner.
-The shootout:
-Deryk Engelland versus Coyotes forward and former Penguin Paul Bissonnette:
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-Happy times for the Penguins:
-Not so happy times for Marc-Andre Fleury:
-Brent Johnson getting a poke check in on Phoenix's Radim Vrbata:
-A pretty intense battle near the Phoenix net:
-Heads-up times for Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik:
-Happy times for Phoenix's Lee Stempniak. Not so much for Johnson:
-Bryzgalov alone in the dark:
-Zbynek Michalek is optimistic hockey can work in Phoenix.
-The locker stalls of Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby are up for bid.
-Brett Sterling had two goals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 4-3 loss to the Syracuse Crunch. It was the Penguins' first lost of the season. Tim Wallace added a goal and an assist for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
-The Penguins actually had a late collapse which led to the loss.
-Highlights:
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-Mattais Modig made 14 saves for the Wheeling Nailers in a 2-0 loss to the Cincinnati Cylones.
Atlantic Division
-Here are two teams going in absolutely two different directions. Mike Richards had a goal and an assist for the Flyers in a 2-1 win against the Islanders. The win was Philadelphia's sixth consecutive victory. Sergei Borovsky (above, with New York's Radek Martinek) made 31 saves for Philadelphia. The Islanders have lost seven consecutive games.
-Check out this incredible "save" by Flyers defenseman Matt Carle:
-Injured Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur (elbow) is expected to resume practicing Sunday.
-The Devils demoted forwards Patrick Davis, Brad Mills, goaltender Jeff Frazee and defenseman Alexander Urbom to Albany of the AHL.
Northeast Division
-Two goals by former Penguin Alex Kovalev led the Senators to a 3-2 win against the rival Canadiens. Fire Craig Patrick (and Bob Gainey). Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin each had two assists for Ottawa while Brian Elliott made 21 saves in the victory. Jaroslav Spacek led Montreal with a goal and an assist.
-Funny Face of the Night: Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn getting hit by Ottawa's David Hale:
-Ottawa's Chris Neil flashing a nice hockey smile:
-Shootout goals by Thomas Vanaek and Tyler Ennis gave the Sabres a 3-2 win at Toronto. Derek Roy had a goal and an assist for Buffalo in regulation while Jhonas Enroth made 23 saves in the victory. Mikhail Grabovski had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs in regulation.
-"Their effort is a little off. They are not producing goals because they are not working hard enough." - Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson calling out his top line of Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Kris Versteeg.
-Prior to the game, a ceremony was held to honor honour the recent inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Former Penguins forward/assistant coach Bryan Trottier and former Penguins coach Scotty Bowman and Red Kelly took part:
-Toronto's Mike Brown mashing Buffalo's Rob Niedermayer into the boards:
-Buffalo's Steve Montador > Toronto's Kris Versteeg:
-Ennis beating Toronto's Jean-Sebastien Giguere in hte shootout:
-Reflective times for Toronto's Mike Komisarek:
-Buffalo's Tim Connolly battling with Toronto's Francois Beauchemin in front of the net:
-We don't want to say the Maple Leafs were playing like Betty White out there, but...:
-Toronto's Luke Schenn > Roy:
-"Oohhh" times for Toronto's Fredrik Sjostrom:
-With forward Drew Stafford dealing with an "upper-body" injury, the Sabres recalled forward Matt Ellis from Portland of the AHL.
-The Senators recalled forward Zack Smith from Binghamton of the AHL.
-"The whole left shin pad was caved in." - Maple Leafs forward and former Penguin Tim Brent on blocking a slap shot by Captials captain Alex Ovechkin.
Southeast Division
-Two goals by Eric Staal led the Hurricanes to a 3-2 win against the Panthers. Jeff Skinner added a goal and an assist for Carolina while Cam Ward (above) made 18 saves in the victory.
-It quickly became apparent to Florida's Dmitry Kulikov that the skills of Carolina's Patrick Dwyer probably don't require a double-team defensive effort along with teammate Shawn Matthias:
-Panthers forward Cory Stillman is dealing with a shoulder injury.
"They got rid of the poison up top, and that's what they were. Those guys were poison. So, I'm thrilled. I'm happy for the city. I still have a place back there and my folks are down there all the time. I couldn't be happier for the organization and the people who are still back there that they've turned it around." - Sharks defenseman and former Lightning Dan Boyle on former Tampa Bay owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules.
-The Capitals demoted forward Marcus Johansson to Hershey of the AHL.
Central Division
-Shootout goals by Andrew Ladd and Viktor Stalberg led the Blackhawks to a wild 5-4 win at Atlanta. Jonathan Toews had two goals and two assists in regulation for Chicago while teammate Patrick Kane contributed two goals and an assist. Marty Turco made 33 saves in the victory. Nikolai Antropov led Atlanta with a goal and an assist in regulation.
-Shootout goals by T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes gave the Blues a 2-1 win at Boston. Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves in the victory.
-St. Louis' Vladimir Sobotka being popular:
-Ditto Oshie:
-Boston's Mark Stuart and St. Louis' B.J. Crombeen had issues:
-Bruins defenseman and former Penguin Andrew Ference battling for a puck with St. Louis' Andy McDonald:
-Ference had a pretty good scrap with St. Louis' David Backes:
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-Boston's Matt Hunwick sticking St. Louis' Alexander Steen into the boards:
-Happy times for the Blues. Not so much for Stuart:
-Bruins forward David Krejci left last night's game after being hit in the head by Oshie.
-Painful times for Krejci:
-With defenseman Barrett Jackman (knee) on injured reserve, the Blues recalled forward Nick Drazenovic and defenseman Ian Cole from Peoria of the AHL and activated defenseman Nikita Nikitin (wrist) from injured reserve.
-Blackhawks foward and former Penguin Marian Hossa is expected to return to the lineup tonight after being sidelined since Oct. 27 due to an "upper-body" injury.
-The Blue Jackets activated forward Andrew Murray (knee) from injured reserve.
Northwest Division
-Peter Budaj made 31 saves for the Avalanche in a 5-0 shutout of the Stars. Kevin Porter had two goals for Colorado while teammate Phillipe Dupuis (above, no relation to Pascal) added a goal and two assists.
-Happy times for for Colorado Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene:
-Concentration times for Colorado's Kevin Shattenkirk:
-Happy times for the Avalanche. Not so much for Stars captain Brenden Morrow:
-Brent Burns scored two goals and led the Wild to a 3-2 win at Columbus. Miikko Koivu added two assists for Minnesota while Jose Theodore made 35 saves in the victory.
-Burns' first goal was pretty smooth:
-Check out this hit and goal by Minnesota's Cal Clutterbuck:
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-Columbus' Marc Methot had issues with Wild captain Mikko Koivu:
-As did Columbus' Jared Boll and Minnesota's Matt Kassian:
-Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist for the Canucks in a 6-4 win against the Red Wings. Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin each had two assists while Roberto Luongo made 24 saves in the win which was Vancouver's sixth consecutive. Niklas Kronwall led Detroit with two goals.
-Check out the 1,402 moves (approximately) Malhotra used in this move:
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-Vancouver's Andrew Alberts > Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk:
-Detroit's Justin Abdelkader had issues with Vancouver's Keith Ballard:
-Happy times for Kronwall (right) and teammate Henrik Zetterberg. Not so much for one Canucks fan:
-Luongo being popular:
-Canucks forward Rick Rypien returned to the lineup following a six-game suspension for making contact with a fan in Minnesota last month.
Pacific Division
-Two goals by Patrick Marleau helped the Sharks beat the Lightning, 5-2. Logan Couture and Dany Heatley each had a goal and an assist for Jose while teammate Dan Boyle contributed two assists. Antero Nittymaki made 33 saves in the victory. Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay.
-Check out this save by Nittymaki on his former teammate Stamkos:
-Lightning forward and former Penguin Ryan Malone had issues with San Jose's Jamie McGinn:
-Couture was elevated to the top line in place of suspended captain Joe Thornton.
-A goal and an assist each from Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar led the Kings to a 4-1 win against the Predators. Teammate Justin Williams recorded two assists while Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves in the victory.
-Happy times for the Kings. Not so much for Nashville's Pekke Rinne:
-Bernier kept his eyes on this puck:
-Rinne staring down Los Angeles' Drew Doughty:
-Bernier having a moment with teammate Michal Handzus:
-Rinne having a moment by himself:
-Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell, who missed much of last season due to a head injury, suffered an "upper-body" injury last night.
-Los Angeles forward Ryan Smyth appeared in his 1,000th career game.
-Prior to the game, Brown and teammate paid tribute to Smyth's hair:
-Ducks forward Dan Sexton was given medical clearance to resume practicing after having his nose surgically reconstructed. Yeesh.
-The Sharks recalled forward forward Benn Ferriero from Worcester of the AHL.
Adams Division
-General manager will discuss a challenge system such as the NFL has with regards to to instant replay.
-Brooks Ostergard made 25 saves for the Robert Morris men's team in a 3-2 overtime loss to Holy Cross.
-Hillary Pattenden made 25 saves for the Mercyhurst women's team in a 4-3 overtime loss to Niagara.
(Photos: Penguins/Coyotes-Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press and Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Flyers/Islanders-Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press; Senators/Canadiens-Graham Hughes/Canadian Press and Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images; Sabres/Maple Leafs-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images and Chris Young/Canadian Press; Panthers/Hurricanes-Gerry Broome/Associated Press; Blues/Bruins-Winslow Townson/Associated Press and Elsa/Getty Images; Stars/Avalanche-Marc Piscotty/Getty Images and Chris Schneider/Associated Press; Wild/Blue Jackets-Terry Gilliam/Associated Press and John Grieshop/Getty Images; Canucks/Red Wings-Darryl Dyck; Lightning/Sharks-Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press; Predators/Kings-Victor Decolongon/Getty Images and Gus Ruelas/Associated Press)