Empty Netter Assists - Western Conference - 2-13-09

Central Division

-Chris Osgood made 21 saves for the Red Wings in a 4-2 win against the Wild. Former Penguin Marian Hossa had two assists for the Red Wings. Fire Ray Shero. Antti Miettinen led Minnesota with two assists.

-Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said "Hossa is playing at a whole 'nother level." Fire Ray Shero.

-Check out this hit Detroit's Brett Lebda put on Minnesota's Cal Clutterbuck last night:

-Steve Sullivan's shootout goal gave the Predators a 4-3 win against the Blues. Sullivan also scored a goal in regulation, his first in nearly two years. David Legwand had two assists for Nashville. David Backes and Brad Winchester each had a goal and an assist for St. Louis.

-Nashville's Wade Belak wrecked all sorts of havoc on the Blues last night. First on David Perron then on Cam Janssen's face:

-The Blackhawks have begun talks with the agent of forward Martin Havlat. He is scheduled to become a free agent after the season.

-With goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, Chicago recalled goaltender Antti Niemi from Rockford of the AHL.

-The Blue Jackets put defenseman Rostislav Klesla on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury and activated forward Jiri Novotny from injured reserve.

-Columbus goaltender Steve Mason no longer has mononucleosis.

-Is Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk (right, with the Selke Trophy) the top candidate for the Hart Trophy?

Northwest Division

-Mikka Kiprusoff made 36 saves and led the Canucks to a 2-0 shutout win at Los Angeles. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Kings.

-Flames coach Mike Keenan passed up Pat Quinn for fourth place on the all-time coaching wins list.

-Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo and Daniel Sedin each had two assists for the Canucks in a 4-3 win at Phoenix. Vancouver has won four consecutive games.

Pacific Division

-The Coyotes demoted forward Kyle Turris to San Antonio of the AHL and recalled defenseman David Schlemko.

-Forward Jere Lehtinen has really sparked the Stars since returning from various injuries.

-Stars coach and former Penguin Dave Tippett needs to grow his porn 'stache back.

-This is completely trivial after last night's tragedy, but cruddy weather prevented the Sharks from flying out of Pittsburgh to Buffalo Wednesday night.

Norris Division

-Monday's Sharks-Bruins game drew the highest ratings ever for an NHL game on Versus.

-NHL commissioner Gary Bettman paid a visit to the new Yankee Stadium.

(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)