Empty Netter Assists - 5-25-09
Playoff Stuff
Penguins
-The first 100 days of Dan Bylsma's tenure as Penguins coach have gone well.
-One area of the playoffs Sidney Crosby isn't excelling in is with his playoff beard.
-The Penguins don't want this series to last more than one more game.
-The Penguins could pull in some serious coin if they did lose tomorrow night.
-The Staals are brothers.
-Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are putting up some serious numbers.
-"We know this team is not going to quit." - Dan Bylsma on the Hurricanes.
-Ruslan Fedotenko (right) compared this Penguins team to the 2004 Lightning squad he won the Stanley Cup with.
Hurricanes
-Forward Erik Cole is digging life as a Hurricane once again.
-Cole and forwards Tuomo Ruutu and Scott Walker skipped practice.
-Are the Hurricanes just spent?
Red Wings
-Did you know forward Marian Hossa used to play for the Penguins?
-The Red Wings overcame the losses of forwards Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom yesterday.
-Hossa picked his game up in light of Detroit's injuries.
-Chris Chelios "replaced" Lidstrom in the lineup.
-Lidstrom's streak of 228 consecutive playoff games played came to an end.
-Despite some adversity, the Red Wings responded like a true champion.
-Detroit embarrassed Chicago.
-Former Penguins goaltender Ty Conklin made an appearance yesterday when he replaced starter Chris Osgood at the start of the third period. Osgood was suffering from dehydration.
-Forward Johan Franzen cares not for Chicago forward Patrick Kane's mouthguard:
-Don Cherry thought the officials made the right call on defenseman Niklas Kronwall's big hit against Chicago forward Martin Havlat in Game 3:
Blackhawks
-"We witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sport." - coach Joel Quenneville over reacting juuuust a tad over call against defenseman Matt Walker.
-"They ruined the whole game." Quenneville on the officials.
-Goaltender Cristobal Huet put his future in Chicago in doubt with his lackluster performance yesterday.
-Forward Martin Havlat returned to the lineup after being injured in Game 3. He played nearly eight minutes before leaving in the second period.
-"It's do or die, I guess." - forward Jonathan Toews (right).
-The Blackhawks had a mental breakdown and had 56 minutes in penalties.
Norris Division
-"Versus treats hockey the right way, not second fiddle as it was on ESPN." - NBC overlord Dick Eborsol.
-Frankly, the idea of anyone from NBC pointing their finger at ESPN or any other entity for treating the NHL poorly is disgusting.
Non-Playoff Stuff
Penguins
-How big of a loss was former assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher?
Norris Division
-The Windsor Spitfires, coached by former Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner, beat the Kelowna Rockets, 4-1, and claimed their first Memorial Cup title.
(Photos: Fedotenko-Jamie Sabau/Getty Images; Toews-Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)