Empty Netter Assists - 01-07-11
Penguins
-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. Sidney Crosby missed his first game of the season due to a mild concussion.
-The Montreal Gazette's recap. “I used to do it in juniors and it always worked out pretty good.” - Benoit Pouliot (above, beating Brent Johnson) on his winning shootout move.
-The Associated Press' recap. “You don’t want to see a guy go down like this, especially him, but we have to regroup and play better, that’s it.” - Kris Letang on Crosby.
-NHL.com's recap. The Canadiens were the last team in the NHL to go to a shootout this season.
-Mike Lange's goal calls.
-Highlights:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}19Xmq0wJcHo{/youtube}
-Pouliot's "Forsberg" move deserves a second look:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}kxQ_sJcchPo{/youtube}
-Crosby sort of, kind of has his old locker stall from the Civic Arena. Or does he?
-The Penguins aren't going to cry any tears over the Canadiens trading forward Maxim Lapierre to Anaheim last week.
-"I mean, the traditional way to end the game is to shake hands, and they left the ice, so I thought that was kind of childish." - Capitals defenseman Mike Green on the Penguins leaving the ice at the Winter Classic without shaking hands.
-Do yourself a favor and read this fun story about the career of Penguins goaltending coach Gilles Meloche.
-Happy 50th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Rod Buskas (right). A sixth-round pick in 1981, Buskas spent parts of nine seasons with the Penguins. As a rookie in 1982-83, Buskas saw action in 41 games and scored four points. He followed that up in 1983-84 by playin gin 47 games and collecting six points. In 1984-85, Buskas appeared in 69 games and scored nine points and recorded a career-high 191 penalty minutes. The 1985-86 seasons saw Buskas play in 72 games and score nine points. In 1986-87, Buskas appeared in 68 games and recorded a career-high 18 points. During 1987-88, he set a career-high with 76 games while scoring 12 points and leading the team with 209 penalty minutes. He was limited to 52 games and six points in 1988-89 but was able to play in the postseason for the first time in his career. Early in the 1989-90 season, he was traded to the Canucks in exchange for for a draft pick. Midway through that season, he returned to the Penguins in a trade which also brought Barry Pederson and Tony Tanti to Pittsburgh in exchange for Dave Capuano, Andrew McBain and Dan Quinn. All together in 1989-90, Buskas appeared in six games for the Penguins that season and failed to record a point. Prior to the start of the 1990-91 campaign, Buskas was claimed off waivers by the Kings. Buskas appeared in 431 career regular season games for the Penguins, 18th-most in franchise history, scored 64 poitns and recorded 959 penalty minutes, third-most in franchise history.
{youtube width="480" height="385"}9yRF-j8FzWk{/youtube}
-Happy 61st birthday to former Penguins defenseman Larry Bignell. A third-round pick in 1970, Bignell's Penguins career amounted to 20 games and three assists in 1973-74. After spending all of 1974-75 in the AHL, Bignell was released from the organization.
Atlantic Division
-Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell each scored two goals for the Flyers in a 4-2 defeat of the Devils. Ville Leino added three assists for Philadelphia while teammate Matt Carle recorded two assists. Brian Boucher made 18 saves in the victory. New Jersey has lost six out of seven games under new/old coach Jaqcues Lemaire.
-It wasn't all bad for the Devils. Check out this save by former Penguins goaltender Johan Hedberg on Philadelphia's Andreas Nodl:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}yZFtR9-r_sA{/youtube}
-Fire Ray Shero.
-Philadelphia's Oskars Bartulis not being popular:
-We don't want to question the skating abilities of Philadelphia's James van Riesmdyk (left) or Mike Richards, but...:
-"Kovalchuk? Yeah, we're stuck with him for 14 more years."
-The Devils traded captain Jamie Langenbrunner to the Stars in exchange for a conditional draft pick in 2011.
-Islanders defenseman and former Penguin Mark Eaton will be sidelined indefintely following hip surgery.
-Rangers defesneman and former Penguin Michal Rozsival (ribs) and forward Brandon Prust (shoulder) are dinged up.
-The Flyers recalled defenseman Danny Syvret from Adirondack of the AHL.
Northeast Division
-Shootout goals by Mikhail Grabovski, Kris Versteeg and Tyler Bozak gave the Maple Leafs a 6-5 win against the Blues. Teammate Phil Kessel had two goals in regulation while former Penguin Colby Armstron and Versteeg each had a goal and an assist in regulation for Toronto. Fire Ray Shero. Jonas Gustavsson made 39 saves in the victory. David Backes and Matt D'Agostini each had a goal and an assist in regulation for St. Louis.
-Check out Graboski's shootout goal:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}zdcshpIKcuU{/youtube}
-Check out D'Agostini's goal:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}RTE2SGq8zx8{/youtube}
-Funny Face of the Night: Toronto's Kris Versteeg getting dumped by St. Louis' Carlo Coliacovo:
-St. Louis' Brad Winchester didn't apear to appreciate the placement of Maple Leafs defenseman Francois Beauchemin's stick here:
-Ryan Miller made 36 saves for the Sabres in a 3-0 shutout of the Sharks. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff earned his 500th career win.
-Happy times for Buffalo's Andrej Sekera (left) and Jochen Hecht:
-A right knee injury will sidelined Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges for the rest of the season.
-Senators goaltender Pascal Leclaire is dealing with an undisclosed injury.
Southeast Division
-The NHL apologized to the Panthers for a non-call on a potential goal by captain Bryan McCabe in a game against the Thrashes Wednesday.
-The Lightning demoted defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron to Norfolk of the AHL.
-The Hurricanes recalled forward Jon Matsumoto from Charlotte of the AHL.
-Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin received a cortisone shot in his left arm.
Central Division
-Andrei Kostitsyn and Colin Wilson each had a goal and two assists for the Predators in a 5-2 defeat of the Kings. Patric Hornqvist scored two goals for Nashville while teammate Ryan Suter and captain Shea Weber each recorded two assists. Anders Lindback made 24 saves in the victory which was the Predators fourth in a row. Anze Kopitar recorded two assists for Los Angeles which has lost five consecutive games.
-Nashville's Francis Bouillon got bloodied up in a fight with Los Angeles' Wayne Simmonds:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}dUI-nGUq_7M{/youtube}
-A good look at the aftermath:
-The Blue Jackets placed defenseman Mike Commodore and forward Kyle Wilson on waivers, placed forward Ethan Moreau (ribs) on injured reserve and recalled forward Matt Calvert from Springfield of the AHL.
-After requesting a trade, Commodore ripped head coach Scott Arniel.
-The Blackhawks demoted defenseman Jassen Cullimore to Rockford of the AHL.
-Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula is dealing with a groin injury.
Northwest Division
-A goal and an assist by Cal Clutterbuck led the Wild to a 3-1 win at Boston. Jose Theodore made 35 saves in the victory. The Wild has never lost a game in Boston.
-Check out this hit by Minnesota's Greg Zanon on Boston's David Krejci:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}0ExPnx4yWAM{/youtube}
-It wasn't all bad for the Bruins. Check out this save by Boston's Tuukka Rask on Minnesota's Kyle Brodziak:
{youtube width="480" height="295"}J5_lBjHhGpg{/youtube}
-Scary Photo of the Night: Boston's Johnny Boychuk blocking a shot by Minnesota's Cam Barker which hopped up near his face:
-A goal and an assist by Dustin Penner helped the Oilers edge the Islanders, 2-1. Andrew Cogliano recorded two assists for Edmonton while Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves in the victory.
-Linesman David Brisebois got caught up in the wash here:
-Oilers forward Jordan Eberle was hospitalized due to an appendectomy.
Pacific Division
-Jason LaBarbera made 34 saves for the Coyotes in a 2-0 shutout of the Avalanche. Taylor Pyatt scored both of Phoenix's goals.
-LaBarbera kept his eyes on this puck:
-With goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov attending to a family medical situation, the Coyotes recalled goaltender Matt Climie from San Antonio of the AHL.
-Former Stars forward Sean Avery said he was "100 percent responsible" for his failure as a member of that franchise.
IIHF World Championships
-Following its gold medal victory against Canada, Team Russia was kicked off a flight back to Russia for essentially being too drunk.
(Photos: Penguins/Canadiens-Paul Chiasson; Flyers/Devils-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Blues/Maple Leafs-Abelimages/Getty Images; Sabres/Sharks-Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images; Predators/Kings-Harry How/Getty Images; Wild/Bruins-Elsa/Getty Images; Islanders/Oilers-Ian Jackson; Coyotes/Avalanche-Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press)