Empty Netter Assists - 01-15-11

Penguins

-A left over from the Winter Classic which apparently didn't make it on "24/7:"

{youtube width="480" height="295"}VNXddsqLjq0{/youtube}

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Jordan Staal speaks, needs a hair cut:

-Evgeni Malkin speaks:

-Sidney Crosby apparently plays for the Calgary Flames these days:

-Brad Thiessen made 20 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 2-0 shutout of the Providence Bruins.

-Joe Haddad scored two goals for the Wheeling Nailers in a 6-3 defeat of Cincinnati Cyclones. Nick Petersen and Ben Street each netted a goal and two assists for Wheeling while teammate Kyle Bushee recorded two assists. Patrick Killeen made 25 saves in the victory.

-Happy 36th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Martin Strbak. Acquired along with Sergei Anshakov early in the 2003-04 season in a deal which sent Martin Straka to the Kings, Strbak's Penguins career amounted to 44 games and 14 points with the Penguins that season. During the 2004-05 lockout, he joined HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. He currently plays for OHK Dynamo Moskva of the KHL.

Atlantic Division

-Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux each netted a goal and an assist for the Flyers in a 5-2 win at Atlanta. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves in the victory. Niclas Bergfors had two assists for the Thrashers.

-Check out this "save" by Carter after a turnover by Bobrovsky to Atlanta's Evander Kane:

-Check out this wonderfuly brutal and clean hip check by Philadelphia's Sean O'Donnell on Kane:

-We don't want to question the skating ability of Philadelphia's Nikolay Zherdev, but...:

-Briere has 11 points in his last six games.

-Two goals by Ilya Kovalchuk led the Devils to a 5-2 win at Tampa Bay. Brian Rolston and Travis Zajac each added a goal and an assist for New Jersey while teammate Andy Greene recorded two assists. Martin Brodeur made 30 saves in the victory. Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos each netted a goal and an assist for the Lightning.

-Ick. The Devils won their first road game since Nov. 3.

-It wasn't all bad for the Lightning. Check out the play by St. Louis to jam up Brodeur and the pass to set Stamkos for his goal:

-If you thought that was good, St. Louis' goal was even better:

-Tampa Bay's Steve Downie and New Jersey's Matt Corrente had issues:

-Assuming he clears waivers, Islanders forward and former Penguin Jon Sim is expected to join a team in Switzerland.

-The Islanders also placed defenseman and Upper St. Clair native Dylan Reese on waivers.

Northeast Division

-Maple Leafs forward Mike Brown was suspended three games for a hit to the head of Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski Thursday:

-The Maple Leafs demoted goaltender James Reimer to Toronto of the AHL and recalled forward Marcel Mueller.

Southeast Division

-The Thrashers activated forward Evander Kane ("mid-body") from injured reserve and demoted forward Tim Stapleton to Chicago of the AHL.

-The Hurricanes demoted forward Zac Dalpe to Charlotte of the AHL.

-The Capitals demoted defenseman Tyler Sloan to Hershey of the AHL.

-The Penguins have events such as alumni games featuring hall-of-famers like Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy. The Panthers? They have night honoring "Heroes" such as Bill Lindsay.

Central Division

-Antoine Vermette's shootout goal gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 win against the Red Wings. Steve Mason made 26 saves in the victory which was the 300th in franchise history.

-Cool Photo of the Night: The Blue Jackets taking the ice:

-Columbus captain Rick Nashin being popular:

-The Red Wings lost two important players to injury in this game. Forward Tomas Holmstrom (hand) and goaltender Jimmy Howard (knee) each were dinged up.

-Detroit, already without forwards Dan Cleary (foot), Pavel Datsyuk (wrist), Mike Modano (wrist), goaltender Chris Osgood (groin) and defenseman Brad Stuart (jaw), faces the Penguins Tuesday.

-A really cool story out of this game. Blue Jackets fans Tyler Schweinfurth tweeted a pledge of $20 to the Columbus player who could score a game-winning goal against Detroit. His "on the board" pledge picked up steam. Eventually, over 150 people, including Red Wings fans, also offered to "put money on the board" to the point that their bounty grew to $5,327. The Blue Jackets' players vowed to match that sum. Both bounties ended up being donated to a charity.

-Prior to the game, the Blue Jackets honored former forward and former Penguin Tyler Wright. He currently serves as an executive with the Blue Jackets.

-Predators defenseman Shane O'Brien was suspended two games for high sticking Panthers forward Stephen Weiss Thursday:

-The Blues recalled defenseman Ian Cole from Peoria of the AHL.

Northwest Division

-Daniel Sedin scored two goals for the Canucks in a 4-2 win at Washington. Alexander Edler and Christian Ehrhoff each added a goal and an assist for Vancouver while teammate Jannik Hansen recorded two assists. Roberto Luongo made 25 saves in the victory.

-What in the world was Capitals "defense"man Mike Green doing on this goal by Sedin:

{youtube width="480" height="295"}LFxkNjru6eI{/youtube}

-Happy times for Hansen (left) and Edler:

-We don't want to suggest the Capitals have a bad defense, but Daniel Sedin had a pretty easy time with this goal:

(Yes, it was a an empty-net goal. We know. It's a joke. Work with us.)

-Washington's Semyon Varlamov stretched out for this save:

 

-David Moss scored two goals for the Flames in a 3-2 win at Ottawa. Teammate Anton Babchuk recorded two assists while Henrik Karlsson made 33 saves in the victory. Nick Folingo had a goal and an assist for the Senators.

-We're willing to bet Karlsson didn't appreciate the placement of Senators forward Chris Kelly's skate here:

-Happy times for the Flames. Not so much for the Senators:

-Ottawa's Brian Elliott had issues with this puck:

-Intense times for Ottawa's Milan Michalek:

-The Nordiques are still popular:

-Craig Anderson made 32 saves for the Avalanche in a 4-1 win at Minnesota. The Wild has lost three consecutive games.

-Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly was briefly hospitalized following this scary collision into the boards:

-Wild defenseman Marco Scandella left the game after taking a puck to the ear.

-The Wild recalled goaltender Matt Hackett and defenseman Jared Spurgeon from Houston of the AHL and demoted forward Patrick O'Sullivan to Houston.

Pacific Division

-The Kings will be rocking their purple and gold era throwback uniforms tonight to honor former goaltender Rogie Vachon (right).

Adams Division

-Nathan Longpre had a goal and an assist for the Robert Morris men's team in a 3-1 defeat of Connecticut.

-Ryan Zapolski made 36 saves for the Mercyhurst men's team in a 3-1 defeat of Holy Cross.

-Jennifer Kindret scored two goals for the Robert Morris women's team in a 5-2 loss to Syracuse.

-Hillary Pattenden made 16 saves for the Mercyhurst women's team in a 6-0 shutout of Brown.

(Photos: Flyers/Thrashers-Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images; Devils/Lightning-Chris O'Meara/Associated Press; Red Wings/Blue Jackets-John Grieshop/Getty Images; Canucks/Capitals-Greg Fiume/Getty Images; Flames/Senators-Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press; Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images; Vachon-eBay)