Empty Netter Assists - 11-30-09

Penguins

-Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa (above) returns to Mellon Arena Saturday. Is it time to come up with some other "welcome" for him instead of booing?

-Note: We fully endorse some sort of choking or hacking noise for Hossa. Booing is so... so... Jagrian. Come up with something unique for Hossa.

-We haven't seen an individual YouTube clip of Matt Cooke's hit on Rangers' forward Artem Anisimov, but just incase you're one of the three people who haven't seen it yet:

(Kudos to Pensburgh for the find.)

-Dan Bylsma discusses the contributions of Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy and a few other subjects:

-Shameless Plug: We'll be guest-hosting "Penguins Live" along with regular host Steve Mears today on the team's HD radio station. The show begins at 9 a.m. Click here to listen.

-John Curry made 16 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton penguins in a 5-0 loss to the rival Hershey Bears.

-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Zach Sill is expected to miss four to five weeks due to a broken finger.

-Adam Berkhoel had 27 saves for the Wheeling Nailers in a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Cyclones.

-"This is really a poor loss for us, it was just total lack of effort in the third period and too many mistakes by our forwards." - Nailers coach Greg Puhalski.

-Happy 37th birthday to former Penguins forward Sean Pronger. Pronger, the brother of Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, was acquired from the Mighty Ducks in a 1998 trade that sent the signing rights of goaltender Patrick Lalime, who was in the midst of a holdout, to Anaheim. The Pronger era in Pittsburgh ended early in the following season when he was sent to the Rangers along with forward Petr Nedved and defenseman Chris Tamer in a deal that brought forward Alex Kovalev and Harry York to the Penguins. Sean Pronger briefly played at Bowling Green with Dan Bylsma and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Todd Reirden.

Atlantic Division

-Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton (right) is expected to miss two to four weeks due to a groin ailment.

-The Islanders apparently "snuck" defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who is officially on the organizations' NHL roster in place of Sutton, down to Bridgeport of the AHL for a game.

-The seemingly annual "Flyers coach John Stevens should be fired" talk has started up once again.

-While serving a two-game suspension, Flyers forward Daniel Briere managed to contract the flu and injure his chronically-ailing groin.

Northeast Division

-Maple Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek is expected to return to the lineup after being out of the lineup since Nov. 10 due to a quadriceps injury.

-The Canadiens demoted forward J.T. Wyman to Hamilton of the AHL.

Southeast Division

-The Thrashers recalled defenseman/Sidney Crosby punching bag Boris Valabik from a conditioning assignment with Chicago of the AHL.

-Both of Atlanta's goaltenders -- Ondrej Pavelec (.921) and former Penguin Johan Hedberg (.932) -- rank in the NHL's top ten among save percentage leaders. Fire Craig Patrick.

-Guess when the last time Capitals forward David Steckel scored a goal was:

-"All the things that went right last year are going wrong this year." - Hurricanes general manager and former Penguins goaltender Jim Rutherford which has a league-worst 5-16-6 record.

-Panthers forward Kenndal McArdle suffered a shoulder injury during a fight with Predators forward Jordin Tootoo Saturday.

Central Division

-After being a doormat for nearly a decade, the Blackhawks are now the only winning professional franchise in Chicago.

-Predators captain Jason Arnott (right) is one of four players to have scored 20 or more goals each of the past ten seasons. The other three are Flames captain Jarome Iginla, former Canucks captain and former Penguins forward Markus Naslund and Wild forward and former Penguins forward Petr Sykora.

-The Blues are 4-2-1 since owner Dave Checketts called out his team Nov. 13.

Northwest Division

-The Wild demoted forward Robbie Earl and defenseman Jamie Sifers to Houston of the AHL.

Northwest Division

-The Flames recalled defenseman Staffan Kronwall from Abbotsford of the AHL.

Pacific Division

-Jim Vandermeer had two goals, including one in overtime, and led the Coyotes to a 3-2 win at Anaheim. Teammate and former Penguin Robert Lang added two assists. Fire Craig Patrick. Ilya Bryzgalov (above) made 26 saves in the win against his former team.

-Anaheim's Corey Perry challenging Bryzgalov:

-Happy times for the Coyotes. Not so much for Anaheim's Nick Boynton:

-Coyotes captain Shane Doan looks more surprised than happy here:

-Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski jumped to get out of the way of this shot on Jean-Sebastien Giguere:

-Two assists from Joe Pavelski helped the Sharks win at Vancouver, 4-2. Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves to earn the victory. Kyle Wellwood led the Canucks with a goal and an assist.

-San Jose's Joe Pavelski didn't appear to enjoy this hit by Canucks defenseman Mathieu Schneider:

-San Jose's Manny Malhotra was able to get this puck by Vancouver's Roberto Luongo:

-With forward Kyle Calder expected to be sidelined two to four weeks due to an eye injury, the Ducks recalled forward Matt Beleskey from Toronto of the AHL.

-With a 47.3 winning percentage, the Stars are one of the worst faceoff teams in the NHL.

(Photos: Hossa-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Sutton-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Arnott-Doug Pensinger/Getty Images; Bryzgalov, Doan and Korpikoski-Jeff Gross/Getty Images; Boynton-Lori Shepler/Associated Press; Pavelski and Malhotra-Sam Leung/Canadian Press)