Empty Netter Assists - 02-23-11
Penguins
-In his debut with the Stars, former Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski (above) logged 23:34 of ice time but took two penalties, including one which led to a power play the Devils scored the game's only goal on. Fire Joe Niewendyk.
-Goligoski had some issues traveling from Pittsburgh to Dallas on account of the weather.
-Goligoski also had some issues keeping his old number on account of Stephane Robidas:
-Dan Bylsma speaks:
-Happy 52nd birthday to former Penguins forward Mike Meeker. A second-round pick by the Penguins in 1978, Meeker's entire NHL career consisted of four games and no points with the 1978-79 Penguins. He was released from the organization in the 1982 offseason.
Atlantic Division
-Wojtek Wolski's shootout goal gave the Rangers a 4-3 win at Carolina. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves in the victory. Jussi Jokinen scored two goals in regulation for the Hurricanes.
-Staal on Staal violence:
-New York's Marc Staal left the game due to a knee ailment.
-The Devils can not be stopped. Former Penguin Johan Hedberg made 19 saves and led the Devils to a 1-0 shutout of the Stars. Fire Craig Patrick. The Devils are are 16-1-2 in their last 19 games.
-Check out this "save" by New Jersey's Anton Volchenkov:
-Bloody times for New Jersey's Adam Mair:
-Hedberg kept his eyes on this puck:
-The Devils are now nine points out of a playoff spot.
-Islanders defenseman Milan Jurcina left last night's game against the Maple Leafs due to a groin injury.
Northeast Division
-Two goals by Milan Lucic led the Bruins to a 3-1 win at Calgary. Teammate David Krejci recorded two assists while Tim Thomas made 28 saves in the victory.
-Thomas got very lucky with this shot:
-Cool Photo of the Night: Calgary captain Jarome Iginla kicking up a lot of ice:
-Happy times for Thomas:
-Thomas reached back for this puck:
-The Bruins won in Calgary for the first time since Oct. 18, 1997.
-Carey Price made 37 saves for the Canadiens in a 3-2 win at Vancouver. Former Penguin Mikael Samuelsson had a goal and an assist for the Canucks. Fire Craig Patrick.
-Check out the placement on this shot by Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin:
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-Funny Face of the Night: Vancouver's Ryan Kesler:
-Price stretched out for this puck:
-Price and former Penguin Hal Gill having a moment:
-James Reimer made 28 saves for the Maple Leafs in a 2-1 win against the Islanders. Toronto has gone 7-2-2 since the all-star break.
-Maple Leafs forward and former Penguin Colby Armstrong performed a public service with this hit on New York's Micheal Haley:
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(We assume Islanders general manager Garth Snow has already begun drafting up revenge plans.)
-Check out the placement on this shot by Toronto's Clarke MacArthur:
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-It wasn't all bad for the Islanders. Check out this save by New York's Al Montoya against Toronto's Joffrey Lupul:
-"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup." - Terry Pegula, who was formally introduced as the Sabres' new owner yesterday.
-Pegula actually started crying when he began to talk about former Sabres captain Gilbert Perreault:
-The Sabres hired former Penguins president Ken Sawyer as a senior advisor.
-The Maple Leafs demoted goaltender Jonas Gustavsson and forward Christian Hanson to Toronto of the AHL.
Southeast Division
-The Capitals had no comment on reports of forward Nicklas Backstrom fracturing his thumb.
Central Division
-Steve Mason made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets in a 4-0 shutout of the rival Predators. Antoine Vermette had a goal and two assists for Columbus while captain Rick Nash added two goals.
-Save of the Night: Mason on Nashville's Jordin Tootoo:
-Check out Nash's first goal:
-The Blue Jackets activated forward Derek Dorsett (concussion) from injured reserve.
-The Predators recalled goaltender Mark Dekanich and defenseman Jon Blum from Milwaukee of the AHL and demoted goaltender Anders Lindback to Milwaukee.
-The Blues recalled defenseman Tyson Strachan from Peoria of the AHL and demoted forward Dave Scatchard to Peoria.
-Red Wings forward Patrick Eaves lefts last night's game with the Sharks due to a knee injury.
Northwest Division
-A goal and two assists by Paul Stastny led the Avalanche to a 4-3 win against the Blues. Teammate John-Michael Liles recorded two assists while Peter Budaj made 42 saves in the victory. Colorado snapped a ten-game losing streak.
-St. Louis' Chris Stewart and Colorado's Erik Johnson, the primary players in last week's big trade between the Blues and Avalanche, each scored a goal.
-Stewart's goal:
-Johnson's goal:
-This game was full of funny faces. Blues goaltender and former Penguin Ty Conklin:
-St. Louis' Barrett Jackman and Colorado's Philippe Dupuis:
-Johnson chasing former teammate Andy McDonald:
-Colorado's Ryan Wilson and St. Louis' Brad Winchester taking a spill:
-Stastny and Budaj each kept their eyes on this puck:
-Pierre-Marc Bouchard had a goal and two assists for the Wild in a 4-1 win against the Oilers. Nicklas Backstrom made 20 saves to earn the victory.
-Check out this dazzling spin-o-rama goal by Bouchard:
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-This wasn't the first time Bouchard pulled a spin-o-rama on Edmonton's Nikolai Khabibulin. He did it back in 2006 when Khabibulin was with Chicago:
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-We don't want to say Oilers forward Dustin Penner's elbow invaded the personal space of Minnesota's Marek Zidlicky, but...:
-The Wild wore camouflage jerseys in warm-ups:
-“It was sort of cool (to score on an Oilers TV game) so everybody back home could see it.” - Minnesota rookie Jared Spurgeon on scoring his first career NHL goal against his hometown team.
-With defenseman Keith Ballard (knee) back in the lineup, the Canucks demoted defenseman Yann Sauve to Manitoba of the AHL.
-Wait... there's four Sedin brothers?
Pacific Division
-And the Coyotes keep rolling. Shane Doan's overtime goal gave the Coyotes their eighth consecutive win, a 3-2 victory at Philadelphia. Radim Vrbata recorded two assists for Phoenix while goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made 37 saves in the victory.
-Flyers forward Jody Shelley needed 60 stiches after this fight with Phoenix's Nolan Yonkman:
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-A few good looks at the fight:
-And the aftermath:
-Doan > Philadelphia's Chris Pronger:
-Doan being popular:
-Happy times for the Coyotes. Not so much for Philadelphia's Sergei Bobrovsky:
-Phoenix's Lee Stempniak > Philadelphia's Matt Carle:
-Flyers defenseman Oskars Bartulis was injured on a wreckless hit by Phoenix's Scottie Upshall.
-Upshall even admitted the hit was late via Twitter.
-Coyotes captain Shane Doan broke former defenseman Teppo Numminen's franchise record for regular season games played (1,099).
-A goal and an assist by captain Joe Thornton led the Sharks to a 4-3 win at Detroit. Teammate Devin Setoguchi added two goals while teammate Logan Couture recorded two assists. Antti Niemi made 35 saves in the victory. Danny Cleary scored two goals for Detroit which had a five-game winning streak snapped.
-Check out this clutch save by Niemi on Detroit's Johan Franzen:
-Check out this snazzy save by Detroit's Jimmy Howard on San Jose's Ryane Clowe:
-The Coyotes recalled forward Kyle Turris and defenseman David Schlemko from San Antonio of the AHL.
Norris Division
-Coors will be the official cruddy beer of the NHL for seven years.
(Photos: Devils/Stars-Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press and Ronald Martinez/Getty Images; Bruins/Flames-Dave Sandford/Getty Images; Canadiens/Canucks-Rich Lam/Getty Images; Avalanche/Blues-Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images; Oilers/Wild-Jim Mone/Associated Press; Coyotes/Flyers-Tom Mihalek/Associated Press and Mike Stobe/Getty Images)