Empty Netter Assists - 03-24-11

Penguins

-Matt Cooke (above) has been given a few days away from the team to mentally reset (PG+).

-Brooks Orpik isn't quite ready to return to the lineup.

-Welcome back Eric Tangradi... to practice.

-"Every day it feels like it's getting a little better, but you have to wait until you're 100 percent. I'm not really sure what percent it is, but I'm starting to feel better." - Mike Comrie on his hip injury. (PG+)

-Is it too early to evaluate the production of Alex Kovalev and James Neal. (PG+)

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Ben Lovejoy speaks, smiles:

-Shemp Howard Alex Kovalev speaks:

-Orpik speaks:

-Are you in New York? Looking for someone to watch the Penguins games with? Here you go:

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-Shootout goals by Keven Veilleux and Bret Sterling gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 2-1 win against Albany Devils. Brad Thiessen made 22 saves in the victory.

-Highlights courtesy of The Wilkes-Blog:

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-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tied a franchise record with its 51st win of the season.

-A goal and an assist by Joey Haddad led the Wheeling Nailers to a 3-1 win against the the Florida Everblades. Patrick Killeen made 22 saves in the victory.

-Happy 56th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Pat Price. Acquired at the 1981 trade deadline from the Oilers in exchange for Pat Hughes, Price spent parts of three seasons with the Penguins. He finished 1980-81 by playing in 13 games for the Penguins and recording 10 assists. In five postseason games that spring, he scored two points. Price's only full season in Pittsburgh was 1981-82. He saw action in 77 games and scored 38 points. He appeared in five playoff games that season and failed to record a point. After 38 games and 12 points in 1982-83, Price was claimed off waivers by the Noridques.  In 128 regular season games with the Penguins, he scored 60 points and recorded 459 penalty minutes.

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-Happy 38th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Philippe Boucher. Acquired early in the 2008-09 season in a trade which sent defenseman Darryl Sydor to the Stars, Boucher's Penguins career amounted to 25 games and six points that season. In nine postseason games that spring, he scored four points and even netted the game-winning goal in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, a 3-2 home win against the Hurricanes. He retired in the 2009 offseason. He is a partial owner of Club de Golf la Tempete, a golf course in Quebec.

-Happy 30th birthday to former Penguins forward Ramzi Abid. Acquired at the 2003 trade deadline from the Coyotes along with Dan Focht and Guillaume Lefebvre in exchange for Jan Hrdina and Francois Leroux, Abid, the first Muslim NHL player of Middle Eastern descent, spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. He finished 2002-03 by playing in three games for the Penguins and failing to record a point. During 2003-04, injuries limited him to 16 games and five points. After spending the 2004-05 lockout with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Abid joined the Thrashers as a free agent. Abid, the first player on the franchise's all-time roster in alpabetical order, appeared in 19 games for the team and scored five points. He is currently a member of EC Salzburg of the EBHL in Austria.

Atlantic Division

-“It takes everybody’s effort, but somebody has to lead, and I will try to do that for sure.” - Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk on his team's dwindling playoff hopes.

Northeast Division

-The Bruins and Canadiens face off tonight for the first time since...

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-Bruins forward and former Penguin Mark Recchi actually accused the Canadiens of embellishing Max Paxcioretty's injury. Recchi said: "He does obviously have a fractured vertebra, but the concussion is obviously really a non-factor. In maybe a day or two -- maybe a day he felt it -- but he was fine a couple days later. They were trying to get Zdeno suspended and they embellished it a little bit. In terms of that side, they're doing whatever they could to get him suspended. I think the league sent a message that it was a hockey play. That's the important thing and people have to understand. If they deemed it something that was serious, they suspended Matt Cooke up to 17 games for a head shot. They're serious about protecting the players now. That was an interference play at worst. The partitions got in the way. I don't think Zdeno is to blame for that."

-Thinking Out Loud: How exactly do you embellish a broken neck?

-The Bruins signed undrafted free agent Brian Cantin to an entry-level contract. Terms were not disclosed.

Southeast Division

-Hurricanes captain Eric Staal (right) is dealing with a "lower-body" injury.

-Panthers forward Stephen Weiss is dealing with a leg injury.

-The Capitals are going to offer standing-room only season tickets for $60 a game next season.

-Leave it to a fine organization like the Capitals to integrate Charlie Sheen into their marketing.

-Florida demoted forward Patrick Rissmiller to Rochester of the AHL.

-The Panthers are good people. They donated $10,000 towards relief efforts in Japan.

Central Division

-Corey Crawford made 23 saves for the Blackhawks in a 4-0 shutout of the Panthers. Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook each had a goal and an assist for Chicago while teammates Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews each recorded two assists.

-Goal of the Night: Check out this pass by Toews to set up Victor Stalberg for a score:

-Slovakian Goal of the Night: Check out this passing by Chicago's Marian Hossa and Michal Frolik to set up Tomas Kopecky for a goal:

-Crawford didn't appear to appreciate the placement of Panthers forward Ryan Carter:

-Chicago's Troy Brouwer > Florida's Mike Weaver:

-Happy times for Crawford and Kopecky:

-Happy times for Toews and Kane:

-We're not goaltending experts or anything, but we're not sure Florida's Tomas Vokoun played the right angle here:

-Crawford gloved this puck:

-Florida's Tomas Vokoun got a skate on this puck:

-Kane and Toews being popular:

-The Red Wings placed goaltender Chris Osgood (sports hernia) on long-term injured reserve and recalled goaltender Joey MacDonald from Grand Rapids of the AHL.

-The Blue Jackets recalled forward Maksim Mayorov from Springfield of the AHL.

-The Blues demoted defenseman defenseman Tyson Strachan to Peoria of the AHL.

Northwest Division

-Two goals by Daniel Sedin led the Canucks to a 2-1 win at Detroit. Captain Henrik Sedin recorded two assists for Vancouver while Roberto Luongo made 39 saves in the victory.

-Check out the wild sequence which led to Daniel Sedin's second goal:

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-Detroit's Jimmy Howard didn't appear to be happy about Vancouver's Jannik Hansen invading his personal space:

-The Canucks tied a franchise record and recorded their 105th point of the season.

-The Oilers demoted forward Alex Giroux to Oklahoma City of the AHL.

Pacific Division

-An overtime goal and an assist by Cam Fowler gave the Ducks a crazy 4-3 win at Dallas. Lubomir Visnovsky added a goal and an assist for Anaheim while teammates Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf each recorded two assists. Ray Emery made 23 saves in the victory. Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richard each netted two assists for the Stars.

-Anaheim's Teemu Selanne scored with 5.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime:

-Ducks forward and former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu had issues with Dallas' Trevor Daley:

-Stars forward Loui Eriksson returned to the lineup after missing two games due to a head injury.

-Two goals each by Patrick Marleau and Torrey Mitchell led the Sharks to a 6-3 defeat of the Flames. Joe Pavelski each recorded two assists for San Jose while Antti Niemi made 22 saves in the victory.

-Happy times for Mitchell:

-Calgary's Cory Sarich and San Jose's Ryane Clowe had issues:

-We don't want to accuse Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff of having a delayed reaction to this puck... but:

 

-A good look at Marleau beating Kiprusoff:

-San Jose's win and Detroit's loss moved the Sharks within a point of the Red Wings for a second place in the Western Conference.

-The Ducks activated goaltender Jonas Hiller (vertigo) from injured reserve.

-The Kings recalled forward Oscar Moller from Manchester of the AHL.

Smythe Division

-Former Islanders coach Scott Gordon will coach Team USA in next month's IIHF World Championships.

-Not Hockey Related: If you haven't seen this video yet, we can only conclude you don't have Internet access:

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(Photos: Cooke-Jamie Squire/Getty Images; Staal-Harry How/Getty Images; Panthers/Blackhawks-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Canucks/Red Wings-Paul Sancya/Associated Press; Ducks/Stars-LM Otero/Associated Press; Flames/Sharks-Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press and Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)