NHL Eastern Conference Franchise Notes: Bruins' AHL Scrimmage A Near Sellout

ESPN BOSTON's Joe McDonald reported last night's Bruins scrimmage against the AHL Providence Bruins "was a near sellout," and fans gave the team "a standing ovation." Chants of "Let's go, Bruins" were "plentiful throughout the night" (ESPNBOSTON.com, 1/15). In Boston, Matt Kalman notes season ticket-holders and Premium Club clients were "given top priority for tickets to the event," and all 17,565 tickets were distributed. The Bruins allowed two season ticket-holders to "work the penalty box doors," while two others "served as goal judges." Bruins D Zdeno Chara said of the fans' positive response, "It just shows that they never really were against, I would say, the players" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/16).

FROM PARLIAMENT HILL: The Senators yesterday announced that more than 16,000 tickets had been sold for Monday's home opener against the Panthers. More than 9,000 tickets were sold for the first 10 games of the regular season on Monday, the first day tickets were available to the public. That is nearly the same number of tickets that were sold during last year's first day of ticket sales, which included access to all 41 home games (Senators).

ALONE ON AN ISLAND: In N.Y., Jeff Klein noted Islanders D Lubomir Visnovsky is the "only player under an NHL contract who is refusing to return from a European league after the lockout." The KHL yesterday said that Visnovsky "would not be allowed to play for Slovan Bratislava in his native Slovakia unless the Islanders and the NHL released him from his contract." The KHL's ruling means Visnovsky will not play in "any subsequent KHL game unless an agreement is reached with the Islanders and the NHL." Visnovsky told Slovakian newspaper Pravda that he "might return to the Islanders later this season" (NYTIMES.com, 1/15).