Empty Netter Assists - 11-02-09

Penguins

-Jordan Staal (above) isn't your typical third-line center. (Most don't have 23 brothers after all.)

-How good is Dan Bylsma?

-PensBurgh dishes out some grades for the Penguins.

-Former Penguins goaltender Joe Daley was not keen on wearing a mask.

-Brad Thiessen made 24 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 4-2 road loss to the Toronto Marlies.

-The great Mike Zigomanis, a former Penguins center, led the attack for Toronto.

-Former Penguins defenseman Micki DuPont has joined the Kluten Flyers in Switzerland.

-Shameless Plug: We're scheduled to appear on "Penguins Live" with Steve Mears and Tom Grimm today at 10 a.m. The show can be heard on the team's HD radio station, 105.9-HD2, or through the team's Web site.

Atlantic Division

-Henrik Lundqvist (above) made 29 saves and led the Rangers to a 1-0 shutout of the Bruins. The win was the 150th of Lundqvist's career. Marian Gaborik came back after missing two games due to an injury and scored the game's only goal.

-The Devils demoted forward Matt Halischuk to Lowell of the AHL.

Northeast Division

-"Playing with my girlfriend's teacup poodle." - Senators forward and former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu on his favorite way to unwind.

-To say the least, it might be premature for Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette to mention that the Canadiens hold on a playoff is tenuous. It's November.

Southeast Division

-Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (above) suffered an "upper-body" injury midway through yesterday's game against the Blue Jackets. He left the game following a scrum in front of the Blue Jackets bench. Ovechkin described the injury as "day-to-day."

-Ovechkin was playing coy with these children, waiting for one of them to stick a hand through that photographer's hole so he could smack them with his stick:

-We think.

-The Thrashers demoted forward Jason Krog to Chicago of the AHL.

-How dismal has the first decade of Thrashers hockey been if one of the top memories in franchise history involves former Penguins punching bag "enforcer" Kelly Buchberger?

-Lightning coach and former Penguins forward Rick Tocchet sort of called out Tampa Bay captain Vincent Lecavalier.

-The Panthers demoted forwards Jeff Taffe, a former Penguin, Michael Repik and Keaton Ellerby to Rochester of the AHL.

-The Hurricanes are falling apart.

Central Division

-An overtime goal by R.J. Umberger (above), a native of a certain town three hours east of his current place of employment, gave the Blue Jackets a wild 5-4 win at Washington. Columbus' Raffi Torres sent the game to overtime with a goal with 23 seconds left in regulation. Torres and Umberger each finished with two assists while captain Rick Nash led the Blue Jackets with a goal and two assists. Brooks Laich had two goals for the Capitals.

-We can't embed this video (Community Server, which hosts mosts of the Post-Gazette's blogs, isn't capable of embedding videos from the NHL's web site) but check out this video of Nash's goal. He completely embarrasses Norris Trophy "candidate" Mike Green.

-Here's just a cool photo of Nash looking like he's about to unleash some hell:

-If you haven't been able to tell from the past couple of days, Rick Nash is one of our favorite players.

-By the way, there should be some sort of "red, white and blue" tournament between the Capitals, Blue Jackets, Rangers and Canadiens.

-Columbus forward Derick Brassard and defenseman Fedor Tyutin suffered hand/wrist injuries in the win.

-St. Louis forward Andy McDonald said he was okay after a scary crash into the boards during Saturday's game against the Panthers.

-The Blues demoted defenseman Tyson Strachan and forward Yan Stastny to Peoria of the AHL.

-Red Wings forward Brad May was officially diagnosed with hyphema in his right eye. Essentially, it's blood in his eye.

-Blackhawks forward Ben Eager has returned to practice after missing 11 games due to a concussion.

Northwest Division

-Andrew Raycroft (above), starting his third game for the injury Robert Luongo, made a "whopping" 18 saves in a 3-0 shutout of his former team, the rival Avalanche. Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond each had a goal and an assist.

-Vancouver had forward Kyle Wellwood return from a toe injury, but lost forward Michael Grabner to an ankle ailment suffered before last night's game.

-The Canucks had some tough times along the boards in this game. Chrisitan Ehrhoff didn't appear to like this check by Colorado's David Koci:

-And Vancouver's Kyle Wellwood wasn't crazy about this hit by Colorado's Kyle Quincey:

-Vancouver Mikael Samuelsson, a former Penguin, and Colorado's Chris Durno had some issues locating the puck:

-Oilers forward Fernando Pisani made his season debut Saturday after missing the first 13 games of the season due to a back injury.

-Wild coach and former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Todd Richards still wants to mold his current team much like the NHL Penguins.

-Former Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg will make his latest comeback attempt with the Swedish national team in the Karjala Cup.

Pacific Division

-The Hurricanes keep losing. Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist for the Sharks in a 5-1 rout of hapless Carolina. Teammates Ryane Clowe and Patrick Marleau each recorded two assists. The Hurricanes lost their ninth consecutive game.

-Carolina's Cam Ward couldn't quite stop this shot by San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic:

-Carolina's Niclas Wallin picked an odd time to help Clowe out with a neck problem:

-Sharks forward Joe Thornton is dealing with some pretty serious dental damage.

-Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski is one tough dude.

-This is a few days old, but check out this hit Wisniewski stuck on Coyotes captain Shane Doan Saturday:

-It kind of looks like Wisniewski punches Doan in the chest and catches Doan in the head with a shoulder.

-Wisniewski has formed a solid pairing with former Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney.

-Defenseman Nicklas Grossman's plus-9 has been a pleasant surprise for the Stars.

-Dallas demoted goaltender Matt Climie to Texas of the AHL.

-The Kings are doing a "Dad's Trip."

Adams Division

-Ben Fanelli, a defenseman with the OHL's Kitchener Rangers, remains in critical but stable condition after he suffered a skull fractures from a scary hit in a game Saturday against the Erie Otters.

-Partially hockey related: George Richards, the Miami  Herald's beat writer for the Florida Panthers, covered parts of one game for all four major North American sports leagues yesterday: Rangers-Bruins, Dolphins-Jets, Hornets-Celtics and Yankees-Phillies.

-Today would've been the 87th birthday of former Pittsburgh Hornets defenseman Doug Baldwin.

(Photos: Staal-Justin K. Aller/Getty Images; Lundqvist-Stephen Chernin/Associated Press; Ovechkin, Umberger and Nash-Greg Fiume/Getty Images; Raycroft-Nick Didlick/Getty Images; Ehrhoff, Wellwood and Samuelsson-Sam Leung/Canadian Press; Ward and Wallin-Gerry Broome/Associated Press)