User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 

Monday, 23 May 2011 03:23

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

Penguins

-Happy 70th birthday to former Penguins forward Bryan Hextall, Jr (right). Acquired in the 1969 offseason in a trade which sent Paul Andrea, John Arbour and Andy Bathgate to Vancouver of the WHL, Hextall, a member of one of hockey's great families, spent parts of five seasons with the Penguins. His first full season in Pittsburgh saw him help the Penguins reach the postseason for the first time in franchise history as he appeared in 66 games and recorded 31 points. During those playoffs, he appeared in 10 games and recorded one assist. In 1970-71, Hextall's saw action in 76 games and recorded 48 points. Hextall appeared in 78 games during 1971-72 and contributed 20 goals and 44 points while leading the team with five game-winning goals. He appeared in four postseason games that spring and recorded two assists. During 1972-73, Hextall played in 78 games and scored a career-high 54 points. After 37 games and nine points in 1973-74, Hextall was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Flames. The son of Rangers hall-of-Famer Bryan Hextall, Sr. and father of a future Penguins rival, Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall, Bryan Hextall, Jr. appeared in 335 games for the Penguins and scored 186 points, 38th most in franchise history. In 14 postseason games, Hextall recorded three assists.

-Happy 45th birthday to former Penguins forward Gary Roberts. Acquired at the 2007 trade deadline in a deal which sent Noah Welch to the Panthers, Roberts spent parts of two seasons with the Penguins. After scoring 13 points in 19 regular season games to finish the 2006-07 season, Roberts recorded four points in five postseason games. In 2007-08, Roberts appeared in only 38 games and scored 15 points due to various injuries. He recovered in time to appear in 11 postseason games and recorded four points as the Penguins advanced to the Stanely Cup final for the first time in 16 years. In the 2008 offseason, the rights to Roberts and Ryan Malone were traded to the Lightning in exchange for a draft pick. One of the most popular players in recent team history, Roberts appeared in 57 games for the Penguins and recorded 28 points. In 16 postseason games, Roberts recorded eight points. He is currently a player development consultant with the Dallas Stars.

Playoff Stuff

Bruins - Lightning

-"We're going to win." - Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas.

-"We might as well stay home. It's going to cost us a lot less money. And we can go home and get some sleep and watch some movies." - Lightning coach Guy Boucher responding to Thomas's guarantee.

-Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher isn't letting anyone know if he'll start Dwayne Roloson or Mike Smith in net for tonight's Game 5.

-Lightning fans formed a human thunderbolt in the parking lot of the Tampa airport which was visible to the Lightning players from their plane en route to Boston:

Canucks - Sharks

-Sami Salo had two goals and an assist for the Canucks in a 4-2 win against the Sharks in Game 4. Captain Henrik Sedin recorded assists on all four goal for Vancouver while teammate Daniel Sedin recorded three assists. Roberto Luongo made 33 saves for Vancouver which leads the series, 3-1.

-Goal of the Day: Check out this sick pass by Henrik Sedin to set up Alex Burrows for a goal:

-A good look at the pass:

-Salo's second goal was an absolute cannon:

-Hit of the Day: Vancouver's Keith Ballard got the drop on San Jose's Jamie McGinn:

-A good look at the hit:

-San Jose's Niemi had issues with this puck:

-Happy times for Burrows. Not so much for Niemi:

-Funny Faces of the Day: Ballard getting hit by San Jose's Douglas Murray:

-The Sedins' mom was there:

-We think.

-Luongo was all sunshine and rainbows after the game:

-The Canucks set an NHL record by scoring three five-on-three power-play goals in a franchise-record span of 1:55.

-Both of Salo's goal came on the power play. The only reason was on the first power-play unit was due to an injury to fellow defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.

-"It's pretty good for being the two worst playoff players in the league." - Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard on the oft-criticized Sedin twins.

-The Canucks were actually outshot 35-13.

-Sharks captain Joe Thornton, the fifth-leading scorer in the postseason, was injured in the third period and did not return after this hit by Canucks forward Raffi Torres:

-Thinking Out Loud: If Torres was treated the same way as Matt Cooke for his dangerous hit to the head of Chicago's Brent Seabrook in the first round (I.E. suspeded 17 games), he's not in a position to injure Thornton.

-Thornton said his chances are "100 percent" to play in Game 5 Tuesday.

-Sharks forward Dany Heatley, the team's highest-paid player at $8 million per season, has just one assist this series.

-Hockey Night in Canada's pregame montage:

(Photos: Lightning fans-Tampa Bay Lightning; Canucks/Sharks-Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images, Paul Sakuma/Associated Press and Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed