Empty Netter Assists - 04-15-12

Playoff Stuff

Penguins - Flyers

-"In Philly, some of the stuff you hear, you just can't believe it. And then you turn around, and it's a guy with his 3-year-old next to him." - Brooks Orpik.

-Welcome back Matt Niskanen?

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Niskanen speaks:

-Sidney Crosby speaks:

-"Just limit his offense and not give him too much time and space, and, so far, we've done a good job. But it's going to get tougher and tougher." - Flyers forward Sean Couturier on facing Evgeni Malkin.

-"We have to look at it as if the series was 0-0. We still have a lot better hockey to play, and I think we can do that at home." - Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds.

-Welcome back Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk... to practice.

Rangers - Senators

-Chris Neil's overtime goal gave the Senators a 3-2 win against the Rangers in Game 2. Craig Anderson made 27 saves for Ottawa which tied the series, 1-1.

-Neil's goal:

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-Neil fell on the back of Rangers' defenseman Ryan McDonagh's neck after being shoved by New York forward Brian Boyle:

-Early in the first period, Senators defenseman Matt Carkner attacked Rangers forward Brian Boyle. A scrum ensued. Carkner and Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky were each ejected. Dubinsky was called for being the third man in a fight:

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-Carkner attacking Boyle:

-Carkner will have a disciplinary hearing with the NHL over the attack.

-EN Says: Carkner should be suspended indefinitely. He assaulted Boyle. That wasn't a fight. The term "fight" would be indicate two willing combatants. Carkner assaulted Boyle.

-"Boyle's just getting sucker-punched. No one's [officials] doing anything." - Rangers defenseman Marc Staal on the attack.

-This game saw two ugly hits. In the first period, Ottawa's Chris Phillips tagged New York captain Ryan Callahan in the head:

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-Callahan did not leave the game.

-And New York's Carl Hagelin elbowed Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson in the head during the second period:

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-Painful times for Alfredsson:

-Alfredsson did not return to the game. Hagelin will have a disciplinary hearing today with the NHL. Phillips will not.

-EN Says: The fact that Phillips is escaping any sort of supplementary discipline is disgusting. He essentially preformed the same action. Thankfully for Callahan, there was a different result in that there wasn't an injury. Why should an injury be a primary qualifier for the league to take any action?

-Rangers coach John Tortorella said if Hagelin deserved a suspension, Phillips did too.

-Getting up close and personal with McDonagh and Ottawa's Colin Greening:

-Boyle also had issues with Neil:

-New York's Brandon Prust go an elbow up here on Ottawa's Erik Karlsson:

-Neil flashing a classic hockey smile:

-Happy times for Rangers forward and former Penguin Ruslan Fedotenko:

-"That’s old-time playoff hockey and there’s going to be a lot of stitches and blood before this is done.” - Senators forward Zenon Konopka.

Bruins - Capitals

-Nicklas Backstrom's goal in double overtime gave the Capitals a 2-1 win against the Bruins in Game 2. Braden Holtby made 43 saves for Washington which tied the series, 1-1.

-Backstrom's goal:

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-Washington's Jeff Schultz blocked a one-timer from Boston captain Zdeno Chara with his visor and lived to tell about it:

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-Boston's Patrice Bergeron got the drop on Washington captain Alex Ovechkin here:

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-“He’s so calm back there, it’s very impressive to see. He’s 22, so it’s very impressive to see him out there. He brings his calmness, such a good confidence too, I think. If he keeps playing like this we’re going to help him as much as we can and take care of our chances when we get them.” - Backstrom on Holtby.

Panthers - Devils

-“It’s pressure on them now. We won the first game and (Game 2) is a big test for us. They’re going to bring their ‘A’ game for sure because they were a little slow from the start, maybe a little nervous. But they’ll be ready.” - Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk on having a 1-0 series lead on the Panthers.

-"No ill feelings, no extra jam there. I'm happy for them to make the playoffs. It's good for the game, good for the market. The crowd showed up last night and it was fun to see. They were loud, they were into it. The atmosphere was intense. It was fun playing." - Devils forward Ryan Carter on being waived by the Panthers in October.

Canucks - Kings

-Canucks forward Daniel Sedin did not travel with his team to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4. He has been sidelined due to a concussion.

-Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault is being coy on if he's starting Roberto Luongo (right) or Corey Schneider in net for Game 2.

-"We’ve just got to play as if the series if just starting and we’ve got home-ice advantage. It’s Game 1. We’re not up two-nothing. If anything, we’ve got to act like we’re down a couple (games). We can’t go in there relaxing, or taking them too easy, because they’re going to come even harder. This is going to be the hardest game for us." -Kings defenseman Drew Doughty on having a 2-0 series lead heading into tonight's Game 3 at home.

Blues - Sharks

-Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott combined to make 29 saves for the Blues in a 3-0 shutout of the Sharks in Game 2. T.J. Oshie recorded two assists for St. Louis which tied the series, 1-1.

-Pass of the Night: Check out these moves by Oshie then the pass to set up captain David Backes for a goal:

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-Ugly Goal of the Night: St. Louis' Vladimir Sobotka was credited with a goal after San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic tapped this puck into his own net:

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-"I'll do it nine more times, and it won't go in." - Vlasic.

-Halak left the game in the second period due to a "lower-body" injury after being run over by teammate Barrett Jackman.

-“He came in like a good relief pitcher, tossed a shutout.” - Blues coach Ken Hitchcock on Elliott.

-This got ugly too. San Jose's Brent Burns elbowed St. Louis' Scott Nichol in the back of the head in the second period:

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-EN Says: Burns is not scheduled for any disciplinary hearing. How in the world does that get ignored?

-San Jose's T.J. Galiardi charged St. Louis' Andy McDonald, a player with a history of head injuries:

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-The end of the game featured a line brawl:

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-Sharks forward and former Penguin Dominic Moore suffered a broken nose when he was punched by Sobotka.

-Moore and Sobotka going at it:

-Happy times in St. Louis:

-Sobotka had all sort of issues in the San Jose net:

Coyotes - Blackhawks

-Two goals by Bryan Bickell, including one in overtime, gave the Blackhawks a 4-3 win against the Coyotes in Game 2. Corey Crawford made 30 saves for Chicago which tied the series, 1-1. Antoine Vermette scored two goals for Phoenix.

-Bickell's goal:

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-Goal of the Night: Chicago's Patrick Sharp tied the game with 5.5 seconds left in regulation with a re-direction goal:

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-Save of the Night: Crawford on Phoenix's Antoine Vermette in overtime:

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-Hit of the Night: Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson on Phoenix captain Shane Doan:

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-Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith, who has a history of concussions, was knocked down after this hit to the head from Chicago forward Andrew Shaw behind the Phoenix net:

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-Painful times for Smith:

-Smith did not leave the game.

-Shaw will have a disciplinary hearing over the hit.

-Smith proclaimed himself 100 percent.

-Happy times for the Blackhawks. Not so much for the Coyotes:

-Happy times in the desert:

-"As ugly and painful as it looks, we all recognize that it's one game. We thought it was going to be a long series, and it's going to be a long series." - Doan.

-Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata returned to the lineup after missing most of Game 1 due to an "upper-body" injury.

-Phoenix forward Martin Hanzal left the game in the first period due to a "lower-body" injury.

Predators - Red Wings

-The Predators' top line of Sergei Kostitsyn, Mike Fisher (right) and Martin Erat has been held without a point thus far this series.

-“I don't know why they're not calling anything, but you know, it's getting a little old right now. I guess you've got to go down and scream loud to get penalties. I don't know." - Red Wings forward Johan Franzen.

Non-Playoff Stuff

Penguins

-Brad Thiessen made 22 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-2 defeat of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

-Steve MacIntyre snapped a 125-game goalless streak.

-The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins recalled forwards Chris Barton, Cody Chupp, Ryan Schnell, defenseman Andrew Hotham and  goaltender Patrick Killeen from Wheeling. Additionally, defenseman Peter Merth was signed to a professional try-out contract.

-Happy 47th birthday to the best power forward in Penguins history:

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-Happy 32nd birthday to former Penguins defenseman Micki DuPont. Acquired at the 2003 trade deadline along with Mathias Johansson in a deal which sent Shean Donovan to the Flames, Dupont's Penguins career amounted to three game and one assist with the 2006-07 team. In the 2007 offseason, he joined the Blues as a free agent. He currently plays for Kloten of the NLA in Switzerland.

IIHF World Championships

-Flames defenseman Chris Butler will play for the United States in next month's World Championships.

-Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov, Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin, Blue Jackets defenseman Nikita Nikitin, Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski and Jets forward Alexander Burmistrov will play for Team Russia.

(Photos: Niskanen-Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Senators/Rangers-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Luongo-Doug Pensinger/Getty Images; Sharks/Blues-Jeff Roberson/Associated Press and Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images; Coyotes/Blackhawks-David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic/Associated Press and Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Fisher-Jeff Gross/Getty Images)