User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

Sunday, 10 April 2011 03:27

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

Penguins

-How far has Kris Letang slipped out of consideration for the Norris Trophy?

-Mike Rupp is good people.

-Bryan Lerg, David Marshall and Brett Sterling each had a goal and an assist for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 4-2 defeat of the rival Hershey Bears. John Curry made 27 saves in the victory.

-Kelly Cup Playoffs: Two goals by Chris Kushneriuk led the Wheeling Nailer to a series-clinching 3-2 defeat of the South Carolina Stingrays. Teammate Paul Crowder recorded two assists while Peter Delmas made 24 saves in the win. Wheeling claimed the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, 3-1.

-Happy 43rd birthday to former Penguins all-star forward Rob Brown (right). A fourth-round pick in 1986, Brown spent parts of seven seasons with the Penguins. He debuted with the club in 1987-88 and responded by scoring 44 points in 51 games. His best season was 1988-89. He appeared in 68 games and recorded a career-high 115 points while being selected to the only All-Star Game of his career. In 11 postseason games that spring, "Downtown" scored eight points. He followed that up in 1989-90 by seeing action in 80 games and scoring 80 points. After 25 games and 10 points in 1990-91, Brown was traded to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Scott Young. After bouncing around with the Whalers, Blackhawks, Stars and Kings, Brown returned to the Penguins as a free agent in the 1997 offseason. During 1997-98, Brown played in all 82 game and contributed 40 points. He saw action in six postseason games that spring and scored one goal. Brown followed that up in 1998-99 by appearing in 58 games and scoring 24 points. During that season's playoffs, Brown played in 13 games and netted seven points. Brown's final NHL season was 1998-99. He scored 23 points in 50 games. In the postseason that spring, he played in 11 games and scored three points. He was released in the 2000 offseason. In 414 regular season games with the Penguins, Brown, famous for his "windmill" celebration, scored 342 points, 18th-most in franchise history. In 41 postseason games, he scored 19 points.

-Happy 36th birthday to former Penguins forward Dan Trebil. Acquired at the 2000 trade deadline in a deal which sent a draft pick to the Ducks, Trebil spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. He finished 1999-2000 by appearing in three games for the Penguins and scoring one goal. In the 2000 offseason, Trebil joined the Islanders as a free agent but was traded back to the Penguins in November of 2000-01 in exchange for a draft pick. He played in 16 games for the penguins that season before he was once against traded to the Blues in December in a deal which brought Marc Bergevin to the Penguins. In 19 games with the Penguins, Trebil scored one goal.

Atlantic Division

-Scoreboard Watch for the Penguins: Andrej Meszaros had two goals and two assists for the Flyers in an Atlantic Division-clinching 7-4 win against the rival Islanders. Daniel Briere added a goal and two assists for Philadelphia while teammate Scott Hartnell netted two goals. Brian Boucher made 25 saves in the win. John Tavares had a goal and two assists for New York. The Flyers won the Atlantic Division with 106 points, two more than the second-place Penguins.

-Boucher and teammate Kimmo Timonen having a moment:

-Flyers starting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled in place of Boucher after allowing three goals in the first 12:05 of play.

-The Flyers will face the Sabres in the first round of the playoffs.

-Vaclav Prospal had a goal and an assist for the Rangers who clinched a playoff berth with a 5-2 defeat of the rival Devils. Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves for New York. Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist for New Jersey.

-Rangers captain Chris Drury returned to the lineup after being sidelined since Feb. 3 due to a knee injury and sparked his team with this marvelous effort which led to a goal:

- It wasn't all bad for the Devils. Check out this laser Kovalchuk scored on:

-Drury was ready for this faceoff:

-New York's Brandon Prust and New Jersey's Mattias Tedenby got busy in the corner:

-A good look at the right glove of New York's Marc Staal:

-Rangers forward and former Penguin Ruslan Fedotenko waves to the crowd after the team's "Shirt off Our Backs" ceremony:

-Happy times in Madison Square Garden:

-The Rangers get the Capitals in the first round.

-The Islanders signed Shane Sims, a fifth-round pick in 2006, to an amateur tryout contract.

Northeast Division

-Tim Thomas made 31 saves for the Bruins in a 3-1 defeat of the Senators. Assuming he doesn't play tomorrow at New Jersey, Thomas will finish the season with an NHL record . 938 save percentage. That will break the previous mark of .937 set by Buffalo's Dominik Hasek in 1998-99. The Bruins have won four out of their past five games.

-Eastern Conference Fight of the Night: Boston's Nathan Horton versus Ottawa's Zack Smith:

-A good, intense look at the fight:

-Brian Gionta scored two goals for the Canadiens in a 4-1 win against the rival Maple Leafs. Tom Pyatt added two assists for Montreal while Carey Price made 27 saves in the victory.

-Canadiens coach Jacques Martin earned his 600th career regular season win.

-The Canadiens will face the long-time rival Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

-Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres in a 5-4 win at Columbus. Brad Boyes recorded three assists for Buffalo while Jhonas Enroth made 12 saves in the victory. Kristian Huselius scored two goals for the Blue Jackets.

-Goal of the Night: Check out this ridiculous move by Buffalo's Drew Stafford with led to a goal:

-Following yesterday's loss, the Senators fired head coach Cory Clouston and assistants Greg Carvel and Brad Lauer. The Senators went 32-40-10 this season, their worst record since 1995-96.

-Ottawa recalled forward ecalled forward Cody Bass from Binghamton of the AHL.

Southeast Division

-A goal and two assists by Martin St. Louis led the Lightning to a 6-2 rout of the Hurricanes. Simon Gagne and captain Vincent Lecavalier each added a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay while teammate Teddy Purcell recorded two assists. Mike Smith made 42 saves in the victory. The Hurricanes could have secured eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a win.

-Lecavalier's goal was smooth:

-Happy times for the Lightning. Not so much for Carolina's Cory Stillman:

-This photo pretty much explains the Hurricanes' night:

-"We worked our butts off all year to have this opportunity at home and we didn't get the job done." - Hurricanes captain Eric Staal.

-Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves for the Panthers in a 1-0 shutout of the Capitals. The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for Florida. Former Penguin and Fox Chapel native Bill Thomas scored the only goal. Fire Ray Shero.

-Funny Face of the Night: Washington captain Alex Ovechkin flashing his tounge at Florida's Keaton Ellerby:

-Ovechkin just doesn't make normal faces:

-Washington's Michael Neuvirth had issues with this puck:

-Capitals defenseman Mike Green did not make the trip to Florida and missed his 20th consecutive game following a head injury.

-Since Feb. 26, the Capitals were 16-3-1.

-Lightning coach Wayne Fleming has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

Central Division

-Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves for the Blues in a 2-0 shutout of the Predators. It was his third shutout of Nashville this season and seventh overall.

- Check out this effort by St. Louis' T.J. Oshie from his knees:

-Blues forward David Backes became the first player in franchise history to finish the season with 30 goals, 30 assists and a plus-30 rating.

-The Blackhawks need to earn at least one point today against the rival Red Wings in order to earn a playoff berth.

-Blackhawks forward Dave Bolland skated for the first time since suffering a concussion March 9.

Northwest Division

-Christian Ehrhoff's overtime goal gave the Canucks a 3-2 win against the rival Flames. Teammate Daniel Sedin recorded two assists while Cory Schneider made 32 saves in the victory. Mark Giordano netted two assists for Calgary.

-Ehrhoff's goal:

-Check out the passing which set up this goal by Vancouver's Ryan Kesler:

-The Wild demoted forward Jed Ortmeyer to Houston of the AHL.

Pacific Division

-Antti Niemi made 35 saves for the Sharks in a 3-1 win against the Coyotes. Kyle Wellwood recorded two assists for San Jose which clinched second place in the Western Conference.

-Save of the Night Year: Check out this ridiculous save by Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov on San Jose captain Joe Thornton:

-Bryzgalov didn't have nearly as much success with this puck:

-Niemi alone in the dark:

-Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist for the Ducks in a 3-1 defeat of the rival Kings. Dan Ellis made 43 saves in the victory which clinched fourth place in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

-Western Conference Fight of the Night: For the second night in row, Princeton graduates George Parros of Anaheim and Kevin Westgarth of Los Angeles went at it:

-Here was an absolutely bizarre sequence. First, Anaheim's Sheldon Brookbank and Los Angeles' Kyle Clifford got into a bloody fight. Then the legendary Teemu Selanne started swinging with Los Angeles' Brad Richardson:

-A good, gruesome look at Brookbank and Clifford:

-And a good look at Selanne versus Richardson:

-The Ducks recalled forward Nick Bonino and goaltender J.P. Levasseur from Syracuse of the AHL.

-The Sharks recalled forward Benn Ferriero from Worcester of the AHL.

NCAA Championship

-Kyle Schmidt's overtime goal gave Minnesota Duluth a 3-2 win against Michigan in the NCAA men's championship game.

-Highlights:

(Photos: Letang-Jamie Sabau/Getty Images; Brown-Penguins Hockey Cards; Islanders/Flyers-Tom Mihalek/Associated Press; Devils-Rangers/Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Senators/Bruins-Charles Krupa/Associated Press; Lightning/Hurricanes-Gerry Broome/Associated Press; Capitals/Panthers-Joel Auerbach/Getty Images; Coyotes/Sharks-Paul Sakuma/Associated Press; Ducks/Kings-Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Sippy41, April 10, 2011 - 11:39 AM

If Versus is going to continue to carry the NHL, can they PLEASE hire Gary Thorne?!?! He is to hockey what Gus Johnson is to NCAA basketball.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Stephen, April 10, 2011 - 02:33 PM

Gary Thorne? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! How about a play by play announcer that will call the play as it happens. Thorne, emrick seem want to talk about everthing ,but what is happening durning the game being played. Kelly from St.louis, is not as good as his father Dan, but at least he knows there is a game going on.

• 
• +0
• 
•