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Friday, 19 November 2010 01:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

Penguins

-Is it fair to say Paul Martin (above) and Zbynek Michalek have been disappointing (PG+)?

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Maxime Talbot speaks, imitates Marc-Andre Fleury:

-Fleury speaks, wax on, wax off:

-Evgeni Malkin is good people:

-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forwards Nick Johnson and Brett Sterling resumed skating.

-Happy 34th birthday to former Penguins forward Petr Sykora. A free agent signing in the 2007 offseason, Sykora spent two seasons with the Penguins. In 2007-08, while playing primarily on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Malone, Sykora appeared in 81 games and scored 63 points. During the 2008 postseason which saw the franchise return to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 16 years, he played in 20 games and scored nine points, including a dramatic goal in the third overtime of a 4-3 win in Game 5 of the Cup final (see below). Sykora would see action in 63 games for the Penguins in 2008-09, scored 46 points and led the team with 10 game-winning goals. Injuries limited him to seven games and one assist during the 2009 playoffs, but he did get his name on the Cup for the second time in his career as the club captured its third league title. During the 2009 offseason, Sykora joined the Wild as a free agent. He currently plays for Dinamo Minsk of the KHL in Russia. In 157 regular season games with the Penguins, Sykora scored 109 points, 70th-most in franchise history. In 27 postseason games, he scored 10 points.

-Patrick Killeen made 29 saves for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-2 loss to the Greenville Road Warriors.

Atlantic Division

-The Islanders demoted forward Jon Sim (right) to Bridgeport of the AHL.

-Speaking of the Islanders, they have revoked the credentials of Chris Botta, a former public relations employee who now covers the team on an independent basis with the blog Islanders Point Blank. Botta believes general manager and former Penguins general manager Garth Snow was behind the move after repeated criticism by Botta.

-Thinking Out Loud: The Islanders are located in the media capital of the world, essentially. Yet only one of the daily papers in New York, Newsday, covers them on a regular basis. Several years ago, we ran into an editor with the New York Post. He told us any time they want to break in a new reporter, they make that person cover the Islanders. Essentially, the Islanders are New York's version of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. They are starving for coverage and in turn, interest in their franchise. Yet, they pull some Mickey Mouse garbage like this and limit the publicity for their terrible franchise?

Northeast Division

-Two assists from Nazem Kadri helped the Maple Leafs beat the Devils, 3-1. Jonas Gustavsson made 29 saves in the win.

-Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur left the game after aggravating his bruised right elbow.

-The Devils held a players-only meeting after the game.

-Happy times for Toronto's Kris Versteeg (left), Tomas Kaberle and Phil Kessel:

-Tuukka Rask made 41 saves for the Bruins in a 4-0 shutout of the Panthers. Milan Lucic had a hat trick for Boston while teammate Nathan Horton recorded three assists.

-Lucic's hat trick:

-Bruins defenseman and former Penguin Andrew Ference > Florida's David Booth:

-Fight of the Night: Florida's Darcy Hordichuk and Boston's Shawn Thornton:

-A good look at the fight:

-"Dude, seriously, you can barely notice it."

-Lucic being popular:

-Lucic being wet courtesy of teammate Tyler Seguin:

-Horton being good people:

-Florida's Tomas Vokoun had issues with this puck:

-Rask kept his eyes on this puck:

-Booth. Not a hat guy:

-The Canadiens recalled defenseman Yannick Weber from Hamilton of the AHL.

-Senators forward Mike Fisher is dealing with an undisclosed injury.

-The Senators' marketing department is being pretty up front about their disdain for former forward Dany Heatley. They're doing what they can to ensure a full house at ScotiaBank Place when he returns with his current team, the Sharks, Dec. 4. Heatley forced a trade from Ottawa to San Jose during the 2009 offseason.

Southeast Division

-What in the heck happened here? A hat trick and two assists by Steve Stamkos led the Lightning to a wild 8-7 win against the Flyers. Martin St. Louis recorded five assists for Tampa Bay while teammates Sean Bergenheim and Victor Hedman each netted two assists. Mike Smith made 19 saves in the victory. Nikolay Zherdev had two goals and an assist for the Flyers.

-Stamkos' hat trick:

-How crazy was this game? Lightning defenseman Brett Clark went all Shea Weber and put a slapper through the net:

-Tampa Bay's Pavel Kubina could tell Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen ate some garlic chicken prior to the game:

-Happy times for Philadelphia's Andrej Meszaros:

-The Flyers tied a franchise record for goals in a loss.

-The Lightning recalled forward James Wright and defenseman Matt Roy from Norfolk of the AHL.

-Lightning forward Mattias Ritola was suspended two games for a hit to the head of Islanders forward Matt Moulson Wednesday:

-Panthers forward Rostislav Olesz left last night's game in the second period due to a hip ailment.

-The Thrashers named forward Andrew Ladd their eighth captain.

-Capitals defenseman Tom Poti's latest injured body part appears to be his groin.

Central Division

-Pekke Rinne made 30 saves for the Predators in a 3-0 shutout of the Canadiens. Marcel Goc scored two goals for Nashville while teammates Francis Bouillon and Kevin Klein each recorded two assists.

-Montreal's Jaroslav Spacek and Nashville's Patric Hornqvist had a pretty rough-looking collision which no one appeared to win:

-Montreal's Alexandre Picard > Nashville's Joel Ward:

-Hornqvist and Montreal's Carey Price kept their eyes on this puck:

-Rinne didn't appear to appreciate the screening techniques of Montreal's Brian Gionta:

-Canadiens defenseman and former Penguin Hal Gill. Not a fan of Hornqvist:

-Price kept his eyes on this puck:

-But not on this one apparently:

-Rinne didn't need to keep his eyes on this one:

-Former Devils forward Jay Pandolfo has joined the Springfield Falcons, the Blue Jackets' AHL affilate.

Northwest Division

-Flames forward Olli Jokinen was suspended three games for cross-checking Coyotes forward Wojtek Wolski in the head Wednesday:

-The Oilers placed goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin (groin) on injured reserve and recalled goaltender Martin Gerber from Oklahoma City of the AHL.

-With goaltender Craig Anderson ready to return from a knee injury, the Avalanche demoted goaltender John Grahame to Lake Erie of the AHL.

-The Wild demoted defenseman Justin Falk to Houston of the AHL.

Pacific Division

-Two goals by Mike Ribeiro, including one in overtime, gave the Stars a 5-4 win against the Sharks. James Neal added two goals and an assist for Dallas while teammate Bradi Richards a goal and two assists. Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves in the victory. Ryan Clowe recorded two assists for San Jose.

-Check out this hit by Dallas' Jamie Benn on San Jose captain Joe Thornton and the ensuing fight between San Jose's Devin Setoguchi and Benn:

-The Kings recalled forward Dwight King from Manchester of the AHL.

-Los Angeles officially placed forward Scott Parse (hip) on injured reserve.

Adams Division

-The NHL has launched a pretty aggresive public relations campaign to clear discipline czar Colin Campbell's name after some questionable e-mails were revealed. NHL On the Fly's David Amber pitched some softballs at him last night:

(Photos: Martin-Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Sim-Ezra Shaw/Getty Images; Devils/Maple Leafs-Canadian Press; Panthers/Bruins-Charles Krupa/Associated Press; Elsa/Getty Images; Lightning/Flyers-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Predators/Canadiens-Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images and Canadian Press)

Comments (2)

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written by DigitalGypsy66, November 19, 2010 - 06:27 AM

One other thing about the Islanders and their media coverage: Newsday, the only paper that covers the Islanders on a regular basis, is behind a paywall, further limiting their fans to coverage.

What a classless organization.

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written by philmatt24, November 19, 2010 - 09:36 AM

RiverhouNds, Seth.

Good work getting them some media coverage - Soccer rivals hockey for most awesome sport in the world. Now if only they played their games somewhere near the city, where the 300,000+ people live, maybe they could draw a crowd! (I say the Hounds need to start playing at Pitt's new Petersen Sports Complex...http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/facilities/pitt-facilities-olympic-sports-complex.html)

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