The news is out - 2-1-09

Rumor has it there's a football game today.

We know who the Penguins will be rooting for.

Empty Netter Assists - Eastern Conference - 2-1-09

Penguins

-Shelly Anderson's recap from last night. Mathieu Garon was not sharp.

-The Associated Press' recap. Luke Schenn was big.

-The Globe and Mail's recap. Toronto survived its first test without Tomas Kaberle.

-Tyler Kennedy versus Luke Schenn:

-The Leafs were pretty mad about Kennedy coming off the bench to start that brawl. Toronto overlord called the NHL about the matter and the league is investigating it.

-This just leaves us speechless:

-Cool story about the great Mike Zigomanis. He arranged for the entire Kingston Frontenac junior team Doug Gilmour coaches to attend the Penguins-Maple Leafs game last night. Zigomanis is a former member of the team.

(Kudos to The Pensblog for the find.)

-Sidney Crosby paid some respect to Gilmour.

-Remember Sergei Gonchar? He's expected to be back in three weeks.

-Don't get too attached to Alex Goligoski.

-How much will Consol Energy Center impact Uptown?

-As a courtesy to the Penguins, Devils announcer Mike Emrick kept a speech short during a ceremony in his honour Friday night.

-Tim Wallace had two goals and led the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 4-1 win at Syracuse. Luca Caputi added a goal and an assist.

-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Aaron Boogaard had a pretty decisive win against Syracuse tough guy Jon "Nasty" Mirasty:

-Round 2 went a little bit more in Mirasty's favor:

(Kudos to Jonathan Bombulie of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice for the heads up.)

-Jordan Morrison had a goal and an assist for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-3 home loss to the Mississippi Sea Wolves. Former Robert Morris forward Ryan Cruthers had a goal and an assist for Mississippi.

Atlantic Division

-Scoreboard watch for the Penguins: The Islanders helped the Penguins a bit as Mike Comrie had a goal and an assist and led New York to a 3-1 win against the Panthers. Yann Danis made 37 saves in the win. The loss keeps Florida in ninth place at 54 points, one point better than the Penguins.

-The Penguins helped Jamie Langenbrunner make history. With his overtime goal Friday, he became the first player in Devils history to score overtime winners in consecutive nights or consecutive games.

-Rangers defenseman Dmitri Kalinin is dealing with a back injury.

-Even if they wanted to, the Islanders won't have an easy time leaving the Island.

Northeast Division

-In his first NHL start in nearly 14 months, Tuukka Rask made 35 saves and led the Bruins to a 1-0 win against the Rangers.

-Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist and led the Canadiens to a 4-3 defeat of the Kings. Montreal ended a four-game losing streak. Dustin Brown and Jarrett Stoll each had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.

-Check out this brutal cheap shot Kings defenseman Denis Gauthier delivered to Montreal blue liner Josh Gorges last night:

-We assume Gorges' girlfriend is fine so no further punishment will be levied against Gauthier.

-Scoreboard watch for the Penguins: Ryan Miller made 28 saves for the Sabres in a 2-0 shutout win at Phoenix. Buffalo is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 57 points, four more than the Penguins.

-Check out this pretty interesting read about Maple Leafs forward and former Penguin Dominic Moore and his relationship with teammate Brad May and team boss Brian Burke. May and Burke were both members of the Canucks are were connected to Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Moore's brother, former Avalanche.

-Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn had it going on last night.

Southeast Division

-Alex Ovechkin (right, with teammate Nick Schultz) scored two goals and led the Capitals to a 4-2 win against the Red Wings. Teammates Mike Green and Viktor Kozlov each had a goal and and assist while Nicklas Backstrom added two assists. Detroit has lost five consecutive games.

-The Capitals have shown they belong with the big boys of the NHL.

-How special was Capitals forward Alexander Semin yesterday? He was dropped to the team's third line.

-Scoreboard watch for the Penguins: Cam Ward made a "whopping" 19 saves and led the Hurricanes to a 2-0 shutout of the Thrashers. Ward recorded his ninth career shutout. Is it us, or does it seem like Ward should have more than that? Matt Cullen had a goal and an assist. Carolina is in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 55 points, two more than the Penguins.

-Atlanta may have hit the low point of its season last night.

-The Thrashers had some rare road support last night.

-Florida blew a big opportunity last night.

-There shouldn't be anything interim about Lightning coach and former Penguins forward Rick Tocchet.

(Photo: Nick Wass/Associated Press)

Empty Netter Assists - Western Conference - 2-1-09

Central Division

-Jonathan Toews had two goals and led the Blackhawks to a 4-2 win at San Jose.
Teammate Kris Versteeg added a goal and an assist. Joe Pavelski had two
assists for the Sharks which lost in regulation at home for only the
second time this season.

-Chris Mason made 35 saves and led the Blues to a 4-0 shutout of the Flyers. It was Mason's 15th career shutout. Brad Boyes and T.J. Oshie each had two assists for St. Louis.

-Blues forward Cam Janssen and and Flyers forward Arron Asham had a pretty spirited bout last night:

-Check out this goal Red Wings forward Ville Leino made in his NHL debut yesterday:

-Leino made quite an impression yesterday.

-There's a reason everyone wants to wear the Winged Wheel.

-Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason is dealing with mononucleosis.

-Stop us if this sounds familiar. A team that wears black and gold is having trouble replacing its offense after losing a few star players.

-Predators forward Jordin Tootoo is dealing with an "upper-body" injury he suffered after fighting Flames forward Todd Bertuzzi. Good thing no one gets hurt from fighting.

Northwest Division

-Marc-Andre Bergeron scored two goals, including one in overtime, and led the Wild to a 4-3 road win against the rival Canucks.
Bergeron also had an assist while teammate Pierre-Marc Bouchard added
three assists. Niklas Backstrom made 37 saves in the win. Ryan Kesler
had two goals for Vancouver which lost its ninth consecutive game. The
Canucks have one only one game since Mats Sundin debuted with the team
Jan. 7.

-Is Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck (right) a candidate for the Calder Trophy? If having a cool name was the only qualifier for the award...

Pacific Division

-Remember when the Stars' season was over? They moved into seventh
place in the Western Conference after James Neal had two goals and and
an assist in a 7-3 win at Columbus.
Teammate Loui Eriksson added a goal and an assist while former Penguins
defenseman Darryl Sydor added an assist and was a plus-4. Fire Ray
Shero. Kristian Huselius led Columbus with a goal and an assist. Dallas
has won four consecutive games.

-Neal stepped up big time last night.

-Ryan Getzlaf and Scott Niedermayer each had a goal and two assists for the Ducks in a 4-3 win at Colorado.
Teemu Selanne scored the winning goal and set a franchise record by
appearing in his 617th game for Anaheim. The Avalanche has lost four
consecutive games.

-Talk about immediate return. A few days after signing a contract
extension, Ducks forward and Washington, Pa. native George Parros
scored a goal last night:

-Ducks defenseman Bret Hedican suffered a broken nose after he took an elbow to the nose from Colorado's Chris Stewart.

-The Stars recalled forward Fabian Brunnstrom from Manitoba of the AHL.

-The Coyotes recalled Joel Perreault from San Antonio of the AHL.

-The shoulder injury to Phoenix forward Steven Reinprecht is only expected to sideline him 7-to-10 days instead of 4-to-8 weeks as initially feared.

-With defenseman Dan Boyle dealing with an apparent wrist injury, the Sharks recalled forward Ryan Vesce from Worcester of the AHL.

-Ducks forward Bobby Ryan isn't an answer to a trivia answer.

Patrick Division

-Is Russia the top obstacle for Canada's pursuit of the gold medal in next year's Winter Olympics?

(Photo: Jim Mone/Associated Press)