Penguins
-"He makes our defense run." - Mark Eaton on Sergei Gonchar.
-Bob Smizik suggests the injury is a good thing for Gonchar.
-Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin (above) are BFFs.
-The Post-Gazette's Robin Rombach caught a fantastic shot of Dan Bylsma at yesterday's press conference:
-Should Sidney Crosby get some time on the point with the power play while Gonchar is on the mend?
-If the Penguins do recall someone from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to replace Gonchar on the roster, who will it be?
-There's nothing about the phrases "Superstar" and "New A&L Motors commercial" that we dont' like.
-Say what you will about Versus, but they do have some solid commercials starring the Penguins. This one features Evgeni Malkin:
-Being a healthy scratch has motivated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Keven Veilleux.
-The AHL is giving a free preview of it's Game Center Live-esque online viewing package Friday. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins host the rival Hershey Bears that night at 7:05 p.m.
-Happy 35th birthday to former Penguins forward Miroslav Satan. Satan came to the Penguins as a free agent prior to last season and helped the team claim its third Stanley Cup title. He is currently a free agent.
-Happy 42nd birthday to former Penguins goaltender Ron Tugnutt. Tugnutt came to the Penguins along with defenseman Janne Laukkanen in a 2000 trade that sent goaltender Tom Barrasso to the Senators. Tugnutt holds the franchise record for saves in a playoff game. He made 70 in the epic 2-1 five-overtime loss to the Flyers, May 4, 2000. He is currently a goaltending coach for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.
Atlantic Division
-Shootout goals by Jeff Tambellini, Frans Nielsen and John Tavares (above, beating Carolina's Cam Ward) gave the Islanders a 4-3 win against the Hurricanes. It was their first win of the season. New York's Andy Sutton had a goal and an assist in regulation while Dwayne Roloson made 35 saves in the win. Eric Staal led Carolina with a goal and an assist.
-The shootout:
-Sergei Samsonov getting stopped by Roloson:
-Carolina's Scott Walker and New York's Brendan Witt pounded the tar out of each other:
-We don't know what will happen to Nassau Coliseum, but we hope they still find ways to get good pictures out of there. Every Islanders game seems to produce sterling images. New York's Mark Streit, Freddy Meyer and their shadows:
-Rangers forwards Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik are dealing with illnesses.
-Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky is getting consideration for the the United States' Olympic roster.
-Former Flyers goaltender Robert Esche wants some consideration to make the United States' roster.
-The Flyers are giving scrappy Arron Asham (right) time on a line with Mike Richards and Simon Gagne.
-Philadelphia fans can tour that big smelly rat-infested pig pen The Spectrum one last time Saturday.
-The Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers' AHL affiliate, signed former Canadiens defenseman Mathieu Dandenault to a pro tryout agreement.
-Devils forward Patrik Elias is expected to have his injured groin examined Friday. The Devils play in Mellon Arena Saturday.
-New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire is giving forward Dainius Zubrus a look on a line with Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise.
-Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur could tie Terry Sawchuk's career record of 103 shutouts tonight against the rival Rangers.
Northeast Division
-Ryan Miller made 41 saves for the Sabres in a 5-2 win at Florida. Henrik Tallinder led Buffalo with two assists. Rostislav Olesz had a goal and an assist for the Panthers who pulled starting goaltender Scott Clemmensen all of 1:56 into the game after he gave up two goals on three shots.
-We know the NHL wants it's officials to be a bit tougher in certain areas this season, but this a little overboard:
-There's a lot of pain on the face of Sabres captain Craig Rivet as he looks for his dignity.
-Awkward Photo of the Night: Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta has little respect for teammate Matt Ellis' personal space:
-Kaleta just has little respect period for Florida's Nathan Horton in this photo:
-Buffalo's Ryan Miller stretching out on this shot by Olesz:
-Tim Thomas made 28 saves and led the Bruins to a 3-2 win against the Predators. Dan Ellis made 24 saves for Nashville.
-A collision between Nashville defenseman Shea Weber and referee Dennis LaRue led to the game-winning goal by Boston's Steve Begin.
-Check out this effort by Boston's Patrice Bergeron that led to a goal:
-Leave it to Jack Edwards to use "magic hands."
-Steve Begin is good people:
-Prior to being put on injured reserve yesterday due to a broken foot, Bruins forward Marc Savard had been playing through his injury since the preseason.
-Bruins forward Shawn Thornton is dealing with an undisclosed injury.
-With Savard and Thornton banged up, the Bruins recalled forward Trent Whitfield from Providence of the AHL.
-Sergei Kostitsyn keeps causing trouble for the Canadiens. In a 24-hour period, the 22-year-old forward went AWOL from the Habs' AHL affiliate in Hamilton, got suspended by the team for the second time this season, then agreed to return after having a meeting with Montreal general manager Bob Gainey.
-Montreal forward Guillaume Latendresse is dealing with a minor "lower-body" injury.
-Senators forward Jason Spezza (right) is dealing with an undisclosed injury.
Southeast Division
-The Capitals demoted forward Michael Nylander to Grand Rapids of the AHL for a two-week conditioning stint.
-"If I play without him, maybe I don't get too many points, maybe I don't get too many goals." - Washington forward Alex Ovechkin on the importance of usual linemate Nicklas Backstrom.
-Capitals forwards Alexander Semin (illness), Boyd Gordon (back) and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn ("lower body") are dinged up.
-It turns out Panthers forward and former Penguin Dominic Moore was playing with a fractured wrist at the end of last season with the Sabres.
-The Panthers are mulling over keeping rookie defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, the team's first-round pick in this summer's draft, or sending him back to his junior team.
-Florida will unveil its new third jersey Nov. 23 when the Penguins come to town.
-This has been making the rounds around the Internet. The Lightning held a "strip" shootout in practice. Martin St. Louis appeared to be the loser:
Central Division
-Is backup goaltender Antti Niemi taking the Blackhawks' starting job from Cristobal Huet?
-Chicago captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Brent Seabrook suffered "upper-body" injuries last night. Check below how Toews got dinged up.
-The Red Wings are still looking for their first road win of the season.
-The Blues held a players-only meeting at the airport in St. Louis after Tuesday's loss at Mellon Arena.
Northwest Division
-Mikko Koivu's shootout goal gave the Wild a 3-2 win against the Avalanche. Koivu had a goal and an assist in regulation while teammate Marek Zidlicky added two assists. Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves in the victory which snapped a five-game losing streak for Minnesota. Kyle Quincey led Colorado with a goal and an assist.
-Koivu came through in his first game as the team's first permanent captain.
-Awesome Video of the Day: Colorado's David Jones using Minnesota's Nick Schultz to blow up the glass in front of the scorer's booth:
-A +1 goes to whoever cued up "Shattered" by The Rolling Stones there at Excel Energy Center.
-Colorado's David Koci, a former Penguins prospect, challenged Minnesota goon Derek Boogaard. Bad move:
-We kind of dig the Wild's minty-green third jerseys, but were not sure Backstrom's pads really mesh that well with the new duds:
-Colorado's Craig Anderson stretched out for this save:
-A goal and an assist by former Penguins forward Mikael Samuelsson gave the Canucks a 3-2 win at Chicago. Fire Craig Patrick. Duncan Keith had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks.
-Vancouver's Willie Mitchell rocked the world of Jonathan Toews last night:
-They did get a power-play after the Blackhawks jumped Mitchell, but the Canucks kind of got the raw end of the deal there as they lost a potential goal when play was halted. It still confuses us as to why there's a need to jump a player for a clean hit like Mitchell's. We understand the urge to defend a teammate, but do it when he's on the business end of a dirty play, not a legal one.
-Samuelsson and Alex Burrows hugging it out:
-Lots of goaltenders use the butterfly style. We guess Vancouver's Roberto Luongo uses the praying mantis style:
-That was kind of lame. Sorry.
-Luongo got some help from help from Ryan Kesler (No. 17) and Kevin Bieksa on this shot attempt by Patrick Sharp:
-Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck resumed skating for the first time since suffering a high ankle sprain.
Pacific Division
-Loui Eriksson and Steve Ott, who was just activated from injured reserve, each had a goal and an assist for the Stars in a 4-2 win at Anaheim. James Neal added two assists for Dallas.
-Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen suffered a head injury last night.
-Anaheim enforcer George Parros was bloodied in a tilt with Dallas' Krys Barch:
-Cool photo from another fight in this game: Anaheim's Mike Brown versus Francis Wathier:
-We're willing to bet the Ducks' coaching staff didn't teach this maneuver between Ryan Getzlaf and Luca Sbisa:
-Stars general manager Joe Niewendyk will have his No. 25 retired by Cornell University.
-With goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere dealing with a groin strain, the Ducks recalled goaltender Justin Pogge from Bakersfield of the ECHL.
-Rookie defenseman Jason Demers is getting time on the Sharks' first power-play unit.
-Sharks forward Joe Pavelski apparently worked for the Los Angeles Police Department in the early summer of 1994:
(Kudos to Kukla's Korner for the find.)
Adams Division
-James Mirtle has a pretty good look at average growth of NHL players.
-TSN has a very cool poll up asking you to vote on the best goaltending mask from around the league. We voted on Rangers goaltender Stephen Valiquette's Spiderman tribute:
-We don't know what they're saying, but this Team Finland advertisement featuring Teemu Selanne, Mikko Koivu and Tuomo Ruutu is pretty cool:
-Former Rangers captain Mark Messier, goaltender Mike Richter and Red Wings executive Jim Devellano were awarded the Lester Patrick Award for service to hockey in the United States last night.
-Today would've been the 98th birthday of former Pittsburgh Hornets forward Sammy McManus.
-Today would've also been the 98th birthday of former Pittsburgh Hornets defenseman
Fred Robertson.
(Photos: Malkin-Len Redkoles/Getty Images; Tavares, Samsonov, Streit, Meyer and Spezza-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Asham-Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press; Begin-Winslow Townson/Associated Press; Vader-Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images; Ellis, Kaleta and Miller-Joel Auerbach/Getty Images; Backstrom and Anderson-Jim Mone/Associated Press; Samuelsson and Sharp-Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press; Luongo-Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images; Brown and Getzlaf-Jacob de Golish/Getty Images; Valiquette-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Posted
Oct 22 2009, 01:02 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh