Penguins
-Has anyone seen Martin Skoula?
-Why doesn't Chris Bourque get more of a chance on the top two lines?
-The Staals (above) are brothers. And their dad was in Raleigh to watch them play Wednesday.
-ESPN's John Buccigross blogged Monday's game against the Senators.
-Eric Tangradi's shoulder injury has bumped forward Luca Caputi to the first line in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
-Former WIlkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Wheeling Nailers forward Tommy Goebel joined a team called the Bietigheim Steelers in Germany. Hier gehen wir Steelers. Hier gehen wir.
-Happy 37th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis. "Kasper," a physical defenseman with limited offensive abilities, scored one of the team's most famous goals when he netted a series-clinching overtime score in a 3-2 win in Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference semifinals against Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres:
-Kasparaitis currently plays for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
-Speaking of Kasparaitis, a knee injury may bring an end to his career.
-Happy 44th birthday to former Penguins forward German Titov. Acquired in a 1998 trade that sent Ken Wregget and Dave Roche to the Flames, Titov was the third-leading scorer on the 1998-99 Penguins with 56 points (11 goals, 45 assists) and led the team with a plus-18.
-Happy 54th birthday to former Penguins forward Wilf Paiement. A former all-star with the Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies franchise (now currently known as the Devils), Paiment finished his NHL career by appearing 23 games for the 1987-88 Penguins.
Atlantic Division
-Islanders owner Charles Wang shot down a report that he was abandoning the Lighthouse Project.
-The Islanders are going to use captain Doug Weight (right), normally a center, on the wing.
-Flyers forward Simon Gagne is still looking for his first goal.
-From the "Only the Flyers" department, former goon Dave "The Hammer" Schultz held a press conference on being inducted into the team's hall-of-fame in the penalty box at the Wachovia Center. Sigh.
Northeast Division
-Milan Michalek's first career hat trick helped the Senators romp the Lightning, 7-1.
Former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu recorded a goal and two assists while
captain Daniel Alfredsson contributed three assists. Fire Ray Shero.
Another former Penguin, Ryan Malone, scored Tampa Bay's only goal.
Double fire Ray Shero.
-Former Penguins forward Alex Kovalev scored a goal for the Senators courtesy a pretty nice pass by Alfredsson:
-Fire Craig Patrick.
-Lightning forward Steve Downie is still not a popular fellow in Ottawa. Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman Matt Carkner put a beating on him last night:
-There was a pretty big scrum at the end of the second period with Tampa Bay's Zenon Konopka and Ottawa's Chris Phillips in the middle of it:
-This game was just full of nastiness. Ottawa's Chris Neil and Tampa Bay's Matt Walker:
-After his fight, Matt Carkner asked linesman Steve Barton to check his teeth for poppy seeds:
-We think.
-Chris Neil. Big fan of the Village People:
-We think.
-Since the lockout, the Sabres are 19-4-1 in the first five games of a season combined.
-The Maple Leafs are 0-5-1? So what did coach Ron Wilson have them do in practice yesterday? Why.... play dodgeball of course!
-Unavailable for comment:
-That scene is even better in Italian.
-The Maple Leafs demoted forward Tyler Bozak to their AHL affiliate also located in Toronto.
-The honeymoon is over for Toronto defenseman Mike Komisarek.
-It was opening night in Montreal:
-We love how the camera man had to go from 5-foot-11 Scott Gomez, pan the shot up about two miles for 6-foot-7 Hal Gill, then come back down to sea-level for 5-foot-9 Mike Cammalleri.
-Speaking of Gill, check out this shot of the former Penguin getting down to block this puck for goaltender Carey Price:
-Do yourself a favor and check out this quality story by the legendary Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette on former Canadiens captains.
Southeast Division
-A day after being moved to a line with Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison, Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and led the Capitals to a 4-1 win against the Sharks. Knuble and Morrison each recorded two assists. Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov combined to make 27 saves in the win, Washington's first in 11 tries against San Jose. Theodore was pulled after the first period due to a back ailment.
-Prior to last night, the Sharks were the only NHL team Ovechkin had not scored a goal against.
-The Capitals recalled forward Keith Aucoin from Hershey of the AHL.
-Washington is still having a little trouble selling out the Verizon Center.
-We know sometimes there are a ton of Philadelphia fans in the Verizon Center, but why in the world was Slapshot, the Capitals' mascot, wearing a Flyers jersey last night?
-New Thrashers defenseman Christoph Schubert had some immigration issues cleared up.
Central Division
-Brian Rafalski had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings in a 5-2 win against the Kings. Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom recorded two assists as well as his 1,000 career point. He is the first European-born defenseman to reach that milestone. We assume Kris Draper made everyone shake his hand.
-Lidstrom got his 1,000th point off a nifty re-direction by Henrik Zetterberg:
-Lidstrom joined Gordie Howe (1,809), Steve Yzerman (1,755) and Alex Delvecchio (1,281) as the only players to record 1,000 points with the Red Wings.
-Two assists by Brent Seabrook helped the Blackhawks claim a 3-1 win at Nashville. Christobal Huet made a "whopping" 12 saves in the victory which was Chicago's fourth in a row. The Predators lost their fourth consecutive game.
-Nashville's Pekke Rinne went all out on this save attempt against Chicago's Dave Bolland:
-Chicago's Cristobal Huet chose an odd time to ask teammate Tomas Kopeck to check out his razor burn:
-The Penguins Predators are having trouble on the power play.
-Forward J.P. Dumont (head) returned to the lineup for Nashville. Additionally, the team recalled forward Cal O'Reilly from Milwaukee of the AHL and demoted forward Mike Santorelli.
Northwest Division
-Kyle Cumiskey had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 3-2 win at Montreal.
Craig Anderson (above) made 29 saves in the win which was Colorado's third in a
row. Tomas Plekanec had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens.
-The Habs actually finished the game with seven men - one being Hall Gill - on the ice, but weren't penalized.
-How much blame does coach Todd Richards, formerly of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, deserve for the Wild's poor start.
-The Flames are reuniting forwards Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla on the same line.
Pacific Division
-Ed Jovanovski's overtime goal gave the Coyotes a 3-2 win against the Blues. Jovanovski also recorded an assist. Ilya Bryzgalov made 22 saves for Phoenix which moved into first place in the Pacific Division.
-After selling out their home opener, the Coyotes only drew an announced attendance of 6,899 last night.
-Cool Photo of the Night: Phoenix's Petr Prucha shooting on St. Louis' Chris Mason:
-We know times are tough for Ilya Bryzgalov and the Coyotes, but you'd think they'd find other ways to save money than with the electric bill:
-A +1 goes to the first person to spot the three Pittsburgh connections in this shot of Blues forward Paul Kariya:
-With defenseman Douglas Murray (flu) dinged up, the Sharks recalled defenseman Derek Joslin from Worcester of the AHL.
-The Ducks finally let former Penguins forward Erik Christensen get a crack at the lineup this season.
-Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Adam Henrich signed with the Ontario Reign, the Kings ECHL affiliate.
Norris Division
-Today would've been the 110th birthday of Sam Rothschild, a forward with the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates.
(Photos: Staals-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Weight, Carkner and Neil-Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images; Gill and Anderson-Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images; Slapshot-Greg Fiume/Getty Images; Rinne and Kopecky-Mark Humphrey/Associated Press; Prucha, Bryzgalov, Kariya-Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Posted
Oct 16 2009, 04:26 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh