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Friday, 25 March 2011 03:25

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

Penguins

-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. "Our guys keep playing. They keep the standard up, they keep going, no matter what happens." - Dan Bylsma on losing Dustin Jeffrey in the second period.

-The Philadelphia Inquirer's recap. "They did everything better than us in our building, so that was embarrassing." - Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros on the Penguins.

-The Philadelphia Daily News' recap. "He got us that point tonight, and it should have been two." - Flyers captain Mike Richards on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

-The Associated Press' recap. "If it weren’t for our goaltender, we wouldn’t have gotten any points tonight.” - Flyers coach Peter Laviolette on Bobrovsky.

-NHL.com's recap. "We want to finish first." - Kris Letang.

-Mike Lange's goal calls.

-Highlights:

-Wet times for Fleury:

-Tyler Kennedy snuck this shot by Philadelphia's Braydon Coburn:

-Fleury seemed oblivious to Philadelphia's Ville Leino here:

-Bylsma speaks:

-After his current team, Avangard Omsk, was eliminated from the KHL's postseason, former Penguins captain Jaromir Jagr was challenged to a fight by coach Raimo Summanen. Kevin Constantine not impressed.

-Happy 56th birthday to former Penguins forward Pat Hughes. Acquired in the 1979 offseason along with Rob Holland in a deal which sent Denis Herron and a draft pick to Montreal, Hughes spent parts of two season with the Penguins. In 1979-80, he appeared in 76 games and scored 32 points. He appeared in five postseason games that spring and failed to score a point. After 58 games and 19 points in 1980-81, Hughes was traded to the Oilers in exchange for Pat Price. In 134 regular season games with the Penguins, he recorded 51 points.

-Happy 46th birthday to former Penguins goaltender Ken Wregget (right). Acquired prior to the 1992 trade deadline in a three-way deal which also brought Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson and a draft pick from the Flyers and Jeff Chychrun from the Kings while sending Paul Coffey to the Kings and Mark Recchi to the Flyers, Wregget spent parts of seven seasons as a part-time backup/starter in Pittsburgh. He finished 1991-92 by playing in nine games and going 5-3-0 with a 4.15 goals against average and .847 save percentage. He appeared in one playoff game that spring, had no record and sported a 6.00 goals against average and .750 save percentage while helping the franchise win its second consecutive Stanley Cup title. He followed that up in 1992-93 by playing in 25 games, compiling a record of 13-7-3 with a 3.42 goals against average and .887 save percentage. During 1993-94, Wregget saw action in 42 games, went 21-12-7 with a 3.37 goals against average, .893 save percentage and one shutout. With starter Tom Barrasso sidelined in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, Wregget took over as the starter. He went 25-9-2, with a 3.21 goals against average and .902 save percentage. His 25 wins led the league. In 11 postseason games that spring, he went 5-6 in 11 games with a 3.00 goals against average, .905 save percentage and one shutout. During 1996-97, Wregget played in 46 games, went 17-17-6 with a 3.24 goals against average, .905 save percentage and two shutouts. During that season's playoffs, he played in nine games, went 7-2 with a 2.30 goals against average and .930 save percentage. His final season in Pittsburgh was 1997-98. Hes saw action in 15 games with a 3-6-2 record, 2.75 goals against average, and .904 save percentage. Wregget appeared in all five of the team's postseason games in 1998 and went 1-4 with a 3.64 goals against average and .915 save percentage. In the 1998 offseason, Wregget and Dave Roche were traded to the Flames in exchange for German Titov and Todd Hlushko. In 212 regular games with the Penguins, Wregget had a record of 104-67-21 with a 3.29 goals against average, .898 save percentage and six shutouts. His win total is third best in franchise history. In 26 postseason games, Wregget was 13-12 with a 2.93 goals against average, .914 save percentage and one shutout.

-Happy 55th birthday to former Penguins forward Dwight Schofield. Acquired in the 1986 offseason from the Capitals in exchange for cash, Schofield appeared in 26 games for the 1986-87 Penguins and recorded seven points. The following offseason, he signed with the Winnipeg Jets.

-Happy 56th birthday to former Penguins forward Ted Bulley. A free agent signing in the 1983 offseason, Bulley appeared in 26 games for the 1983-84 team and recorded five points. He was released in the 1985 offseason.

-Happy 44th birthday to former Penguins forward Bruce Crowder. Claimed off waivers from the Bruins in the 1984 offseason, Crowder appeared in 26 games for the 1984-85 Penguins and recorded 11 points. He retired in February of that season.

-Happy 41th birthday to former Penguins forward Shawn Antoski. A free agent signing in the 1996 offseason, Antoski's Penguins' career amounted to 13 games and no points in 1996-97. Early int he season, Antoski and Dmitri Mironov were dealt to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in exchange for Alex Hicks and Fredrik Olausson. Antoski is one of seven former first-round picks from the 1990 draft who played for the Penguins. The others were Petr Nedved, Jaromir Jagr, Darryl Sydor, John Slaney, Drake Berehowsky and Bryan Smolinski.

Atlantic Division

-Rangers defenseman Marc Staal returned to the lineup after missing two games due to an undisclosed injury.

-The Rangers signed undrafted goaltender Jason Missiaen. Terms were not disclosed.

-The Islanders ruled out any possibility of defenseman Mark Streit playing this season. He has missed all of 2010-11 due to a shoulder injury suffered in the preaseason.

-How beat up were the Islanders this season? Even their head athletic trainer, Garrett Timms, had to undergo surgery for an achilles injury.

Northeast Division

-Scoreboard Watch for the Penguins: Tim Thomas made 24 saves for the Bruins in a 7-0 shutout of the Canadiens. Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton each had two goals for Boston while teammate Johnny Boychuk netted a goal and an assist. The Bruins are in third place in the Eastern Conference with 92 points, two fewer than the fourth-place Penguins.

-Check out the placement on this goal by Boston's David Krejci:

-Bruins forward and former Penguin Mark Recchi claimed the reason he accused the Canadiens of embellishing the severity of Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty's broken neck/concussion was to take some attention off teammate Zdeno Chara.

-Recchi recorded an assist and moved into a tie with former Penguins teammate Paul Coffey for 12th place on the NHL's all-time career scoring list with 1,531 points.

-Recchi actually had his stick stolen by Montreal goaltender Carey Price:

-Happy times for Thomas:

-Thomas kept his eyes on this puck:

-Montreal's Paul Mara and Boston's Gregory Campbell had issues:

-What in the world is up with these two yahoos wearing Red Sox hats and Canadiens t-shirt jerseys?

-Erik Karlsson's shootout goal led the Senators to a 2-1 win against the Rangers. Craig Anderson made 29 saves in the victory. New York had a five-game winning streak snapped.

-Happy times for the Senators:

-Two goals by Nikolai Kulemin led the Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win at Colorado. Clarke MacArthur and captain Dion Phaneuf each recorded two assists for Toronto while James Reimer made 25 saves in the victory. Ryan O'Reilly netted a goal and an assist for the Avalanche.

-Check out this pass by Toronto's Joffrey Lupul to set up teammate Phil Kessel fro a goal:

-Check out this dangerous shot to the head delivered by Toronto's Mike Komisarek on Colorado's Mark Olver:

-“I don't think it was a dirty play, or intent to injure, or head shot, or anything we've been talking about. It seemed like a good hockey hit. I hope the kid's all right.” - Komisarek on the hit. Olver suffered a concussion on the play.

-Painful times for Olver:

-Thinking Out Loud: Is that an illegal hit? Or a "hockey play?" Colin Campbell and the Hockey Operations department have the unenviable task of making that decision. This is why the NHL should adopt a universal. You take the judgement out of a call like this and make it clear before a player makes a decision to make a hit that there are consquesnces for striking an opponent in the head. As it is now, Komisarek has to guess if a hit will be illegal or not.

-The Canadiens demoted forwards Nigel Dawes and Andreas Engqvist to Hamilton of the AHL.

-The Bruins signed defenseman Brian Warsofsky, a fourth-round pick in 2008, to an entry-level contract.

-The Sabres held a memorial service for former all-star forward Rick Martin.

Southeast Divison

-Chris Mason made all of 14 saves for the Thrashers in a 2-1 defeat of the Islanders. Blake Wheeler recorded two assists for Atlanta. New York has lost four out of its past six games.

-New York Micheal Haley and Atlanta's Brad Stuart had issues:

-New York's Al Montoya covered this puck:

Central Division

-Sergei Kostitsyn had two goals for the Predators in a 5-4 win against the Ducks. Nick Spaling and Jordin Tootoo each netted a goal and an assist for Nashville while teammates Patric Hornqvist and Kevin Klein each recorded two assists. Pekke Rinne made 34 saves in the victory. Corey Perry had two goals and an assist for Anaheim.

-Fluky Goal of the Night: Perry's second goal was actually kicked out of midair and into the Predators' net by Nashville's Ryan Suter:

-Jaroslav Halak made all of 14 saves for the Blues in a 4-0 shutout of the Oilers. T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist for St. Louis. Edmonton has lost eight consecutive games.

-Fight of the Night: St. Louis' Cam Janssen and Edmonton's Jim Vandermeer:

-A good look at the fight:

-Edmonton's Nikolai Khabibulin had issues with this puck:

-With forward Patric Berglund dealing with a "lower-body" injury, the Blues recalled forward T.J. Hensick from Peoria of the AHL.

-St. Louis signed defenseman David Shields, a sixth-round pick in 2009. Terms were not disclosed.

Northwest Division

-Flames forward Olli Jokinen has 41 points in his past 48 games.

Pacific Division

-Shootout goals by Jarret Stoll and captain Dustin Brown led the Kings to a 4-3 win against the rival Sharks. Brown had two goals in regulaton while teammate Alec Martinez recorded two assists. Jonathan Quick made 25 saves in the victory. Patrick Marleau had two goals and an assist in regulation for San Jose.

-Marleau tied the game with 3.2 seconds left in regulation:

-Save of the Night: Quick on San Jose's Joe Pavelski:

-Brown > San Jose's Antti Niemi:

-Happy times for the Kings:

-More happy times for the Kings. Not so much for Marleau:

-Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic missed the game due to a "lower-body" injury.

-Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves in a 3-0 shutout of the Blue Jackets. The Coyotes have won eight out of their past 10 games. Columbus has lost three consecutive games.

-Bloody times for Columbus' Sami Lepisto:

-Ducks goaltender Jonas HIller returned to the lineup last night against the Predators after being sidelined since Feb. 13 due to vertigo but was chased after allowing three goals on nine shots.

(Photos: Penguins/Flyers-Lou Capozzola/Getty Images and Matt Slocum/Associated Press; Wregget-Penguins Hockey Cards; Canadiens/Bruins-Elise Amendola/Associated Press and Elsa/Getty Images; Senators/Rangers-Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images; Maple Leafs/Avalanche-Jack Dempsey/Associated Press; Thrashers/Islanders-Paul Bereswill/Getty Images; Oilers/Blues-Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images; Sharks/Kings-Victor Decolongon/Getty Images; Blue Jackets/Coyotes-Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

Comments (2)

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written by philmatt24, March 25, 2011 - 11:09 AM

I have to say that the Komisarek hit on Olver is a tough one. Olver was turning up ice, and Komisarek lined him up just as he turned into it - hard to say if that qualifies as "blind side". Also, Olver was kind of crouched low, which is why Komisarek's shoulder caught him in the head rather than the chest. It wasn't like Komisarek had his elbow up (a la Cooke on Sunday). If any of the recent head shots was accidental or just a "hockey play" gone wrong, it was this one.

However, with the specific recent examples of long-term injuries as a result of head shots, and with a family member having been out of commission for over a year with a (non-hockey-related) concussion, I still find myself favoring a blanket ban on head shots. Mark Madden pointed out on the radio the other day that this could be set up to still allow discretion as to duration of suspension and/or amount of fine. Perhaps "minimum two games for any hit to the head, subject to review and additional games at the discretion of the NHL," and perhaps also a clause increasing the severity of the punishment for repeat offenders.

You can't judge intent in most cases - I don't believe Chara was thinking "here's a chance to break Pacioretty's neck", but I'm sure he thought "here's a chance to ring his bell". But how do you know for sure? Now, in the case of Lucic's fist to the head of Moore, I'd say the intent was pretty clear. It doesn't matter if Moore was taking cheap shots early in the game - retaliation isn't tolerated for other infractions, why should it be in this case? If the players know that ANY hit to an opponents head, intentional or not, "dirty" or "blindside" or "he was asking for it" or not, will lead to a 2-game suspension MINIMUM, they'll adjust their angles, pull up, or find some other way to avoid the head as they finish the check.

My personal opinion is that this should apply to fighting, as well... why is something that would get you thrown in jail if done on the street allowed to happen within the context of a sport? (hmm, what does that say about MMA, WWE, and boxing?)

The league is right that direct headshots aren't the only cause of concussions, but that's no excuse to continue to allow headshots (especially with the inconsistent punishments or lack thereof). That's like saying "well, this hole in the hull of our ship is only one of many, so why bother repairing it?" I love the game too much to stop watching, but every time a player (superstar, youngster, or grinder) goes down with a concussion (or broken neck) due to the stubbornness and ignorance of the league, it makes watching the NHL a little less enjoyable.

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written by Luiz Mello, March 25, 2011 - 06:16 PM

Brilliant comment, philmatt24.

Adding to your "hole in the hull of a ship" parallel, it's beyond me how the NHL thinks it's important whether 5%, 10% or 50% of concussions are caused by head shots. If only one concussion happened for that reason, that would be one too many. We're talking about human lives, for crying out loud.

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