Sunday, November 25, 2007

November 25

Around the NHL

ANAHEIM (LA DUCKS): Winger Drew Miller left Friday's game with a strained left knee in the second period and didn't return. Head Coach Randy Carlyle indicated that he will be assessed over the weekend, perhapds needing an MRI test to check for any damage.

ATLANTA: Injured Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen will be sent to Chicago today for a conditioning assignment with the AHL's Wolves. Lehtonen has been out since injuring his groin against the NY Rangers on October 18.

FLORDIA: Cory Murphy's bruised shoulder was only supposed to keep him out of a few games, but he hasn't played in more then a week and his return is not known. Coach Jacques Martin says he cannot count on Murphy returning Wednesday at Washington until he gets some real practice time.

LOS ANGELES: Leading scorer Alexander Frolov (4 goals, 20 points) will miss at least 1-2 games, possibly more, because of an injured right groin.

NEW JERSEY: Pat Burns who's a Devils scout in Florida, brushed aside rumors out of Toronto that the Leafs were going to fire Paul Maurice and bring him back as coach telling the Toronto Star, "Nobody's talked to me about it. And they couldn't anyway. That would be tampering. They'd need to get permission from Lou. As far as I know, nobody's asked".

NEW YORK RANGERS: After missing 15 games with a broken finger, Martin Straka is out again after suffering a Hamstring pull in Friday's 3-2 shoot-out loss at Florida.

OTTAWA: Daniel Alfredsson missed Saturdays game against Philadelphia and is listed as day-to-day. The Senators leading scorer says his groin tightened up in the third period Thursday against Pittsburgh.

PHOENIX: The Coyotes have loaned goaile David Aebischer to HC Lugano of the Swiss Elite League. Aebischer was assigned to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage on October 24. The move was to make room in San Antonio for Alex Auld, who was sent down eariler this week after the team claimed Ilya Bryzgalov off waivers last weekend. Aebischer appeared in one game for the Coyotes this season after signing a one year $600,000 deal on July 19, and Lugano will pick up the rest of his NHL salary.

WASHINGTON: Alexander Semin left practice early Thursday, after playing in the last two games, and didn't make the Caps road trip and missed his 16th game of the season Saturday with a sprained right ankle. Semin originally injured his ankle when his stake got caught in the netting behind the goal in the second to last exhibition game. He has now returned and reinjured that ankle three times.


Lidstrom, Zetterberg Top West

Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings lead all Western Conference All-Star vote-getters. Lidstorm's 80,903 votes top the west, followed by Zetterberg with 58,074 and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneup is third with 56,664 votes.

Zetterberg, Calgary Flames right wing Jarome Iginla (42,552) and Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk (39,041) lead all forwards in votes. Lidstrom and Phaneuf are the front-runners among defensemen. Pascal Leclair of the Columbus Blue Jackets tops all Western Conference goaltenders with 37,574 votes.

For the Minnesota Wild, Marian Gaborik is 10th among forwards with 20,539 votes, and Brian Rolston 22nd with 6,774, while Niklas Backstrom is 4th among goaltenders (19,756). The voting runs through January 2.


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