Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.
[b]Air Force 1 Grey Outlet[/b] .com) - The NHL regular season is about to be put on hold for the All-Star Game and all the fanfare that goes along with it. The break from action could prove to be much longer than expected for Philadelphias Zac Rinaldo, and, considering his behavior on Tuesday night, thats not a bad thing. Rinaldo marred what was an otherwise entertaining game between two of the leagues fiercest rivals -- the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Although Philly is struggling to keep its head above water in the Eastern Conference standings, the Flyers once again showed they can still dial up the intensity when facing the hated Penguins, notching a 3-2 overtime win at Wells Fargo Center. Before Claude Giroux won it for the Flyers with an OT marker, the teams combined for 93 penalty minutes. It shouldnt be too surprising that most of the physical stuff came after Rinaldo delivered an ugly hit on Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang in the first period. Rinaldo already had taken a cross-checking minor earlier in the game, but that was nothing compared to the boarding major that came later in the first period. Despite seeing nothing but the back of Letangs jersey, Rinaldo left his feet to finish a check which resulted in the Flyers forward getting a game misconduct. Video of the incident can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/ojac33v. Letang was slow to get off the ice and left the game for good. Although the Penguins have not revealed the nature of Letangs injury, it is promising that the talented blueliner was able to participate in Wednesdays morning skate. Whether he will be able to play when Pittsburgh takes on visiting Chicago on Wednesday is still unclear, but the team said he is still undergoing tests for a concussion and will be a game-time decision against the Blackhawks. It would be a fortunate turn of events if Letang was able to avoid serious injury, but even if he wont miss a significant amount of time, there seems to be no way for Rinaldo to escape a lengthy suspension. By now its known the NHL takes injuries into account when determining the length of suspensions. In this case, however, the leagues head disciplinarian, Stephane Quintal, may have to factor in some comments Rinaldo made after the game as well. Postgame interviews with players who were accused of dirty play can take all kinds of forms. Sometimes the person strikes a defiant tone and fails to claim responsibility while other times a player is wise enough to express remorse for their actions. Rinaldo not only failed to take the blame for the hit, he made it much worse by offering this nugget following Tuesdays game. I changed the whole game, man. (Expletive) who knows what the game wouldve been if I didnt do what I did? Maybe Rinaldo is right about changing the game, but if you want to argue about the veracity of his statement then you are clearly missing the point. With Letangs status still in question and plenty of time for Rinaldo to think about his part in hurting him, the Flyers forward decided to show pride in the hit instead of even the smallest amount of shame. Because even if he did alter the course of the game, he only did so by injuring one of Pittsburghs top players and its obviously wrong to boast about such a thing. With Rinaldo being offered an in-person hearing with the league (at a time yet to be determined), it is widely speculated the repeat offender will be receiving a suspension of longer than five games for the hit. Although Quintal may not reference Rinaldos postgame comments when the video explaining his suspension is released, my guess is the topic will come up when the two men are discussing the incident behind closed doors. There was some confusion as to whether Rinaldo was joking with his changed the whole game comments, but he refuted those claims via his Twitter account. I didnt intend to hurt Kris tonight. Im very sorry I did, read Rinaldos tweet. At no point did I ever joke about such a thing. Those reports are untrue. It doesnt matter to me whether Rinaldo was joking or not when he ended Tuesdays media scrum with those ill-advised words. In fact, it looks worse if he wasnt kidding because that could mean he thinks its his job to hurt key players from opposing teams. Joking about it would be insensitive and extremely immature, but it might be better than actually being proud of the hit and seeing it as some sort of accomplishment. Of course, Rinaldo does earn his pay for delivering big hits, but thats because he offers little else to a hockey team. Pittsburgh had some of the same kind of players in its own lineup on Tuesday, including winger Bobby Farnham, who has compiled 24 penalty minutes in 11 career games before recording his first NHL point. Some folks will go over the top and call for Rinaldo to be banned from the league. The same thing happened earlier this week when Chicagos Daniel Carcillo, a former Flyer and himself a repeat offender, was given a six-game suspension for a boarding play of his own. Rinaldo doesnt need to be run out of the game, but it wouldnt hurt him to sit for a couple of weeks to contemplate his dangerous hit and the flippant way in which he addressed it. After his actions and words on Tuesday night, its clear Rinaldo has more than a few lessons to learn.
[b]Air Force 1 Low Outlet[/b] . 22 because of a bruised foot and have added forward Sean Collins to the roster on emergency recall from Springfield of the AHL.
[b]Air Force 1 Online[/b] . According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the deal will pay Schenn $2.25 million in the first year and $2.75 million in the second year. In 82 games with the Flyers in 2013-14, Schenn scored 20 goals and added 21 assists.PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens are still adjusting to NHL play after a nearly three-week Olympic layoff. And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist . Peter Budaj stopped all three shooters in the shootout and David Desharnais scored the only goal, leading the Canadiens to a wild 6-5 victory. "He battled back in the second and third and in the shootout he was outstanding," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of Budaj. Budaj, in his second straight start for injured starter Carey Price, stopped Penguins shooters James Neal and Sidney Crosby before denying Evgeni Malkins slap shot for the win. Desharnais, the third shooter for Montreal, slammed on the brakes at the top of the crease before sliding the puck by Marc-Andre Fleury. "I would like to have some goals back, but we scored five goals against Pittsburgh," Budaj said. "We have to learn from the mistakes we made. We have to keep going and getting better." Daniel Briere scored twice, once on the power play, and Max Pacioretty also scored with the man advantage, his 27th of the year. Brendan Gallagher netted his 15th for the Canadiens and Alexei Emelin also scored his second of the season. Budaj, who stopped 27 shots, made his second straight start after turning aside 28 shots during an overtime loss one day earlier against Detroit. "You can tell the bench guys wanted to battle back for him because he certainly worked hard," Therrien said. He filled in for Price, who was named the top goaltender at the Olympic games after going 5-0 with a 0.59 goals-against average and two shutouts, leading Team Canada to a gold medal. Price, who aggravated a lower-body injury sustained in Sochi, will be re-evaluated Friday. "Credit to the team because they stuck with it, they battled for me and we got the two points," Budaj said. Crosby, who leads the NHHL with 80 points, scored his 29th and added an assist.
[b]Air Force 1 Retro Outlet[/b]. Neal scored his 21st for his 300th career point and also had an assist, while Malkin provided two assists, both extending six-game point streaks. Olli Maatta scored his seventh of the season on the power play and had an assist, while Brandon Sutter had a short-handed goal, his 10th of the year. Deryk Engelland also scored his career-high fifth goal. "We worked hard," Crosby said. "It was a little sloppy, and a lot of special teams. ... Probably a tough first one for everybody to get into." The teams were tied at 3 after two periods and both scored twice in the third, sending the game to overtime. Three of the four third-period goals were scored by special teams units, Sutter giving the Penguins a 4-3 lead with a short-handed breakaway goal and Crosby later putting Pittsburgh ahead 5-4 on the power play. Emelin tied it 24 seconds after Sutter gave the Penguins the initial lead and Briere sent the game to overtime with his second goal of the game. With the Canadiens trailing, the Penguins Tanner Glass was issued a five-minute major for a hit on Emelin. The call was elbowing, but video replays showed Emelins stick came up and hit him in the head. "Thats why I kind of followed through the way I did, to get his stick away from my face," Glass said. "Its a hockey play, it happens. I can understand why he made the call." The Canadiens cashed in anyway, Briere tying it with his second of the game when he feathered a back-door rebound behind Fleury, who made 24 saves. NOTES: Penguins D Kris Letang spoke with reporters Thursday morning, the first time since suffering a stroke and said he will likely play hockey again, but its unclear if he will return this season. ... Paul Martin, out 4-to-6 weeks after breaking his hand in the Olympics, was scratched along with recently recalled D Simon Despres. ... Price, C Ryan White, and D Francis Bouillon were scratched for Montreal. ... Penguins F Jussi Jokinen recorded his 400th career point. ' ' '
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