Empty Netter Assists - 10-27-10
Penguins
-With this recent benching, has Marc-Andre Fleury's (above) workload in practice changed at all (PG+)?
-Dan Bylsma speaks:
-Happy 44th birthday to former Penguins forward Brad Lauer. A free agent signing in the 1995 offseason, Lauer's Penguins career amounted to 21 games and five points in 1995-96. He played in 12 postseason games in 1996 and scored two points. He was released in the 1996 offseason. He currently serves as an assistant coach with the Senators.
-Happy 32nd birthday to former Penguins forward Toby Petersen (right, with a slightly taller former teammate). A ninth-round pick in 1998, Petersen spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. As a rookie in 2000-01, he saw action in 12 games and scored eight points. In 2001-02, Petersen set career-highs in games (79) and points (18). After spending all of 2002-03 and 2003-04 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Petersen joined the Oilers as a free agent in the 2004 offseason. In 91 games with the Penguins, Petersen scored 26 points. He is currently a member of the Stars.
-Happy 41st birthday to former Penguins defenseman Corey Foster. A free agent signing in the 1995 offseason, Foster's Penguins career amounted to 11 games and four points in 1995-96. He saw action in three postseason games in the 1996 playoffs and failed to record a point. In the 1996 offseason, Foster was claimed off waivers by the Islanders.
-Happy 45th birthday to former Penguins forward Larry DePalma. Claimed off waivers from the Islanders late in the 1993-94 season, DePalma appeared in seven games for the Penguins that season and scored one goal. In that spring's postseason, he saw action in one game and failed to record a point. After spending all of 1994-95 with the Penguins' IHL affiliate in Cleveland, DePalma was released in the 1995 offseason.
Atlantic Division
-A goal and two assists by Jeff Carter led the Flyers to a 6-3 rout of the Sabres. Teammates Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux each added a goal and an assist while Sergei Bobrovsky (above) 32 saves in the win. Thomas Vanek led Buffalo with a goal and an assist.
-Check out this goal by Philadelphia's Nikolay Zherdev:
-A good look at Bobrovsky's lid:
-Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher is so jealous of Bobrovsky's playing time, he attempted to break the rookie's neck:
-We think.
-Buffalo's Ryan Miller and former Penguins defenseman Jordan Leopold kept their eyes on this puck:
-Miller found a way to hang on to this puck:
-Buffalo's Tyler Myers unleashing hell:
Northeast Division
-Two goals and an assist by former Penguin Alex Kovalev (above) lifted the Senators to a 5-2 defeat of the Coyotes. Fire Craig Patrick. Captain Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist for Ottawa while teammate Peter Regin recorded two assists. Brian Elliott made 28 saves in the win.
-Check out this pass by Kovalev to set up Alfredsson for his goal:
-"It was one of those games, finally luck turned around and started going my way." - Kovalev on getting his first two goals of the season.
-Prior to the game, Senators defenseman and former Penguin Sergei Gonchar was honored for appearing in his 1,000th career game:
-Fire Ray Shero.
-Happy times for Gonchar and family:
-And for Gonchar and Alfredsson as well:
-Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 21 saves and led the Maple Leafs to a 3-1 win against the Panthers.
-A non-call on Maple Leafs forward Colton Orr for interfering with Panthers goaltender Scott Clemmensen led to the game-winning goal by Orr who took a shot of the foot from former Penguins forward Tim Brent:
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-How bad was the non-call? Even Toronto coach Ron Wilson said the officials messed it up.
-"$3 million a year for Colby Armstrong? Get real!"
-Speaking of the devil, Maple Leafs forward and former Penguin Colby Armstrong left the game in the first period due to an arm injury.
-Funny Face of the Night: Toronto's Luke Schenn following a collision with Florida's David Booth:
-With forward Rob Niedermayer attending to the birth of his daughter, the Sabres recalled forward Luke Adam from Portland of the AHL.
-How long has Bruins forward and former Penguin Mark Recchi been playing? When he made his NHL debut, Ronald Reagan was still president.
Southeast Division
-The Thrashers demoted goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (right) to Chicago of the AHL for conditioning purposes and recalled former Penguins defenseman Noah Welch and former Pittsburgh Forge goaltender Peter Mannino from Chicago.
-The Hurricanes recalled forward Jiri Tlusty from Charlotte of the AHL.
-The Capitals recalled defenseman Brian Fahey from Hershey of the AHL.
-Alex Ovechkin. A Mario Lemieux fan?
Central Division
-The Blue Jackets demoted former Penguins defenseman and Hopewell native Nate Guenin to Springfield of the AHL.
-Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is off to a brutal start with only two goals and a minus-7 in nine games.
Northwest Division
-An overtime goal by Mason Raymond (above, left, with Ryan Kesler) gave the Canucks a 4-3 overtime win against the rival Avalanche. Christian Ehrhoff led Vancouver with two assists while Roberto Luongo made 36 saves in the victory. Milan Hejduk led Colorado with two assists.
-Raymond's goal:
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-Colorado's Peter Budaj made a pretty clutch save on Vancouver's Manny Malhotra late in regulation to send the game to overtime:
-Avalanche goaltender Craig Anderson suffered a right knee injury during warmups:
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-The Green Men paid Colorado's Cody McLeod a visit in the penalty box:
-Prior to the game, the Canucks added former captain Orland Kurtenbach to the team's ring of honor honour:
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-Vancouver's Raffi Torres kept his eyes on this puck:
-As did Budaj:
-Coloroado's Chris Stewart looking to take a shot:
-Alex Tanguay's shootout goal gave the Flames a wild 5-4 win against the rival Oilers. Brendan Morrison led Calgary with two regulation goals while Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves in the victory. Magnus Paajarvi led Edmonton with a goal and an assist.
-Check out this pass by Tanguay to set up Jay Bouwmeester for a goal:
-Completely Bizarre Fight of the Night: Edmonton's Sam Gagner and Calgary's Olli Jokinen:
-Calgary's Mark Giordano > Edmonton's Taylor Hall:
-We don't want to accuse Edmonton's Dustin Penner of invading the personal space of Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff, but...:
-Former Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney is racking up some serious minutes for the Oilers. Fire Ray Shero.
-Oilers defenseman in exile Sheldon Souray, currently playing for the Hershey Bears, the Capitals' AHL affiliate, broke his hand in a fight.
Pacific Division
-Two goals from Bobby Ryan helped the Ducks beat the Stars, 5-2. Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry reach added a goal and an assist for Anaheim while teammates Ryan Getzlaf, Lubomir Visnovksy and Toni Lydman each recorded two assists. Jonas Hiller made 35 saves in the victory.
-Check out this pass by Perry to set up Selanne for his 800th career point as a Duck/Mighty Duck:
-Absolutely Unlikely Goal of the Night: Ducks enforcer and Washington, Pa. native George Parros beating Dallas' Kari Lehtonen on a breakaway:
-We know Dallas' antagonist Steve Ott likes to get under the skin of opponents, but he took things a little to far here with Anaheim's Troy Brodie:
-Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen appeared to have a pretty rough night. First, he went all Tim "Dr. Hook" McCracken on Brodie:
-Then he appeared to bust out some MMA moves on Ryan:
-Went it was all said and done, Lehtonen just needed a moment alone:
-Dallas's Mark Fistric and Brodie went tooth and nail for a puck:
-Dallas' Matt Niskanen busted out a pretty rough-looking karate kick to Anaheim's Todd Marchant:
-Cool Photo of the Night: Hiller and Dallas captain Brenden Morrow keeping their on a puck controlled by Niskanen:
-Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas drew an automatic one-game suspension for taking a boarding major against Ducks forward Matt Beleskey. It was Robidas' second boarding major in his last 41 games.
-Kings captain Dustin Brown will not be suspended for his hit to the head of Wild forward Antti Miettinen Monday.
-The Sharks are still trying to figure out if Antti Niemi (right) or Antero Niittymaki is their No. 1 goaltender.
Patrick Division
-Remember how the 2004-05 lockout was staged so the NHL could keep ticket prices down? Yeah... we don't remember that either. Ticket prices have risen by an average of 4.4 percent from last season.
(Photos: Fleury-Justin K. Aller/Getty Images; Petersen-Peter Diana/Post-Gazette; Sabres/Flyers-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Coyotes/Senators-Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images; Panthers/Maple Leafs-Abelimages/Getty Images and Canadian Press; Pavelec-Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images; Avalanche/Canucks-Rich Lam/Getty Images; Oilers/Flames-Canadian Press; Ducks/Stars-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Niemi-Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)