NHL Morning Papers: Playoff Teams (Tuesday Edition)

Here are the morning papers for the Western Conference playoff match ups:

Detroit versus Nashville:

• After allowing two goals in nine seconds to squander their 3-2 third period lead, the Wings will be looking to cut down on bang-bang goals in Game 4. Darren McCarty has been a presence since his return to the Red Wings, writes Helene St. James. The referees were very liberal in the way they called last night's contest, writes Steve Schrader.
• It took nine seconds for the Predators season to turnaround last night, writes John Glennon. The return of David Legwand was a huge boost for the Predators last night and the speedy center helped out by scoring a goal. Last night's victory was Dan Ellis' first career playoff win.

San Jose versus Calgary:

• Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News says tonight's game against the Flames may set the tone for the Sharks' future. "We have to come out and play a character game and do the right thing at the right time and not to let anybody push us around," said Sharks netminder and Vezina Trophy candidate Evgeni Nabokov. The Sharks may make some line up changes for tonight's game.
• The Flames are sure winning the toughness battle in this series, writes George Johnson. If there was every any doubt, Miikka Kiprusoff will be between the pipes tonight for the Flames. "We have too many back-seat drivers at times, and we need drivers. We've been in this situation before, the last couple of playoff series, and haven't responded well," said Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren heading into tonight's important Game 4.

Minnesota versus Colorado:

• The Wild thought that Jose Theodore may have been cheating on Pierre-Marc Bouchard's overtime winner last night. To quantify Brian Rolston's play in points only would be a disservice to the speedy forward, writes Michael Russo.
• The Avalanche should have had more than a 1-0 lead heading into the third period, writes Adrian Dater. The Avlanche power play is costing them games. By the end of the series, Adam Foote will be sick and tired of seeing Marian Gaborik across the ice. Apparently Mark Kiszla hates the Wild and the State of Minnesota in general.

Anaheim versus Dallas:

• The Ducks know that a comeback against the Stars is feasible, they just have to focus on winning Game 3 tonight and then move forward from there, writes Dan Wood. In injury news, the Ducks may be without Rob Niedermayer (upper-body injury) for Game 3.
• Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News looks at the numbers and realizes that home-ice has not really been that big of an advantage these playoffs. The Ducks are going to bring it full-force tonight, writes Chuck Carlton.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Email any thoughts, ideas or suggestions to illegalcurve@gmail.com

NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Pierre Lebrun of the Canadian Press tells us that scoring is down in the NHL for the second season in a row.
• Here are some news and notes courtesy of the National Post.
• Brett Hull and Les Jackson have been named interim co-general managers of the Stars after Tom Hicks fired Doug Armstrong on Tuesday.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News reviews the tenure of Doug Armstrong in this morning's paper. Meanwhile, it appears that coach Dave Tippett's job is safe, for this season at least. Here is a Q & A with Stars' long-time beat writer Mike Heika.
• The Ducks were resilient last night after blowing a two-goal third period lead to the Kings, and ended up winning the game 4-3 in a shootout.
• The Flames got their first win in the month of November after coming from behind against the Wild for a 3-2 home victory. Miikka Kiprusoff made a number of crucial saves to lead the Flames to the victory last night.
• Patrick Lalime will be the starting netminder tonight for the Hawks versus the Blue Jackets.
• If the Blue Jackets are to make the playoffs, they can't put it on auto-pilot on some nights like most teams can. Jackets' center Mike Peca will miss tonight's game and may be out a bit longer with a lingering groin injury. Here are the Jackets' probable lines for tonight's game.
• Defenseman Jeff Finger has been a pleasant surprise for the Avalance this season.
• Red Wings' netminder Dominik Hasek gave up four second period goals and was subsequently pulled as the Wings were defeated by the Blues 4-3 on Tuesday night.
• It looks like much-maligned Oilers' off-season acquisition Dustin Penner is finally finding his stride in the Albteran capital. Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun wonders why fans of the Oilers aren't sold on Shawn Horcoff.
• The Kings almost pulled off another amazing comeback last night but fell short 4-3 in a shootout in Anaheim. Here is another article on the possible comebacks of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne.
• The Wild uncharacteristically gave up a third period lead to the Flames last night and were on the losing end of a 3-2 final. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, Marian Gaborik's groin seems to be improving and the Wild winger is shooting to return tomorrow night in Edmonton.
• The Predators offense has turned around, but that is no thanks to their defense which has struggled to put up points on the board all season writes Jessica Hopp of the Tennessean.
• The Coyotes play the Sharks for the third time in a row tomorrow night and coach Wayne Gretzky desperately wants to avoid a three-game losing streak for his young club.
• Sandis Ozolinsh has been a pleasant surprise for the Sharks organizaton so far this season writes Mark Emmons of the San Jose Mercury News.
• The Blues ended their slump last night with a win over a dominating Detroit team and that should give the team some confidence says Keith Tkachuk. Of note, defenseman Jay McKee was a healthy scratch for last night's contest.
• Luc Bourdon has been playing more minutes than the Canucks expected but has been handling it quite well opines Jim Jamieson of the Vancouver Province.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• The Leafs just can't win a game once it goes to overtime or a shootout writes Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun. The Leafs lost more than just a game last night according to Damien Cox of the Toronto Star.
• Johan Holmqvist is sick of hearing all about the Lightning's goaltending troubles writes Carter Gaddis of the Tampa Tribune.
• Sidney Crosby leads by example and the superstar is not about to hit the panic button in Pittsburgh after the team's slow start. The Pens have recalled youngster Kris Letang form Wilkes-Barre.
• "Maybe there is a little improvement, but I am having a little dizziness," said Simon Gagne about his ongoing concussion issues. If it's any consolation, Eric Lindros feels Gagne's pain.
• Jason Spezza is ready to return to the lineup, however, there are no guarantees that he is going to slide right back into his slot on the number one line writes Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. Dany Heatley became a set-up man with Spezza on the mend, but you can expect the sniper to get back to scoring goals now that the team's number one center is primed to return.
• Here are the details of Islanders' owner Charles Wang's vision for a new arena on Long Island.
• Sean Avery's teammates claim he never said what Howard Berger of the Fan 590 in Toronto claims he did.
• The Rangers make their first appearance at "The Rock" tonight in Newark writes Mark Everson of the NY Post. Martin Brodeur would love nothing better than to win his 500th game at home and have the victory come against the rival Rangers.
• Mike Komisarek scored the overtime winner, however, the star of the game was Carey Price who turned aside 37 of the 40 shots he faced.
• There are losses, then there are disheartening losses, and last night's game for the Panthers definitely falls under the latter category. After blowing a 2-1 lead with 2.5 seconds remaining and then losing right away in overtime, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said, "It's pretty disheartening. …We had it at the end of the game and couldn't put it away."
• Pending some test results, it appears that Hurricanes' winger Erik Cole has avoided serious injury, although don't expect the winger to be in the lineup for the rest of the week.
• Sabres' management is not going to hit the panic button after a tough start to the season writes John Vogl of the Buffalo News.
• Altanta's season has taken 180 from the beginning of October writes Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.The Thrashers are expecting Kari Lehtonen to be back practicing with the club sometime next week.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

NHL Morning Papers (Tuesday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Pierre Lebrun of the Canadian Press says that all four of the Hall of Fame inductees are not done writing their hockey stories.
• The four 2007 player-inductees had all the skills writes Jim Matheson of the National Post.
• Ted Montgomery of USA Today opines that recently-retired Eric Lindors never lived up to all the expectations.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• According to Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Johan Hedberg will be back in net for the Thrashers on Tuesday night. Custance also has a nice piece on underrated Thrashers' forward Eric Perrin.
• Bruins' goaltender Manny Fernandez was back at practice on Monday, however, he is unsure if his knee is 100%. Even with Fernandez's impending return, it is expected that Tim Thomas will get the start in net for the Bruins on Thursday against the Leafs.
• The Sabres just can't score this season, which is why Buffalo practiced finishing its chances in practice yesterday.
• The Hurricanes road victory in Florida was overshadowed by the injury to Erik Cole, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher late in last night's contest.
• Tomas Vokoun will definitely steal some games for the Panthers this season, but last night he gave one away with three weak third period goals. "I thought we battled hard and gave a strong game. We probably deserved a better fate," said coach Jacques Martin after the game.
• Carey Price will be in between the pipes for the Habs tonight versus the Leafs writes Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette.
• Patrik Elias scored a big goal last night, not only for the team, but for himself, in the Devils' 3-2 road victory over Pittsburgh. "I was just happy because I thought we deserved to win," said Elias after the game.
• According to Larry Brooks of the NY Post, Sean Avery is planning to file a libel charge against a Toronto radio personality. (Writer's note: Avery needs to go away. Everyone says he is a very good hockey player, well, he's not that good! I'm sick of reading about him and watching him.)
• The Islanders made three big mistakes last night and it cost them the game writes Greg Logan of Newsday. After missing last night's game, Islanders' captain Bill Guerin may be able to return from his eye injury to play on Thursday.
• Ray Emery hurt himself playing catch with a baseball on his day-off on Sunday but the injury is not serious. Meanwhile, Jason Spezza was back on the ice yesterday at practice, but he's still unsure if his groin will be in good enough shape to be able to play on Thursday.
• Mike Richards scored the game-winning goal while short-handed last night in the Flyers' 3-2 victory over the Islanders on Monday. Ed Moran of the Philadelphie Inquirer says that Mike Richards deserves the spotlight, even if he prefers to remain low-key.
• After last night's 3-2 loss to the Devils, the Penguins are now in last place in the Atlantic division. Michel Therrien shook up his forward lines, once again, last night.
• Maintaining a consistent approach has allowed the Lightning to get out of the funk they were in at this time last week writes Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune.
• Seems like the Avery-Tucker incident is far from over writes Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star. The Leafs are going to try to change their luck tonight by wearing their road-whites at home versus the Habs.
• Capitals' defeseman Steve Eminger appears to want either back into the team's lineup, or out of town, after being a healthy scratch of late.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• Brendan Morrison is having a comeback year (on pace for 30 goals) and the question is whether the Canucks will try to re-sign the B.C. native or trade him.
• The Blues will attempt to end their skid tonight at home versus the Red Wings writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• The Sharks pasted the Coyotes on the back of Joe Thornton's three points and Evgeni Nabokov's shutout last night in the Shark Tank.
• The Blue Jackets may be a new, more successful, team this season, but they still can't beat the Predators, as they lost their tenth consecutive game to Nashville last night. The Predators' top players really stepped up and carried the team to its 4-1 victory writes Jessica Hopp of the Tennessean.
• The Wild is becoming accustomed to the uncertainty surrounding the groins of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra writes Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
• The Kings still can't get over their crazy comeback victory on Saturday night and are hoping to build on that performance going forward.
• Both Joni Pitkanen and Mathieu Roy were back skating for the Oilers yesterday. But the bigger news yesterday was that Fernando Pisani was skating yesterday and is shooting for a mid-December return.
• Tomas Holmstrom loves the U.S. so much that he may stay in America instead of returning to Sweden after his playing days are over. Tonight's game at the Blues marks Dallas Drake's return to St. Louis.
• Tuesday's game versus Nashville made Blue Jackets' fans think back to years past, and that is not a good thing writes Aaron Portlzline of the Columbus Dispatch. If the Jackets are to turn it around, they really need to improve on their play in their own end.
• Injured Blackhawks' forward Kevyn Adams brings a positive energy to the team, even when he is down for at least the remainder of the regular season writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune. Ed Sherman of the Tribune gives readers the details on the ratings for the Hawks' first home telecast in years.
• Miikka Kiprusoff has struggled to start the season, but that doesn't mean coach Mike Keenan has lost confidence in the former Vezina Trophy winner. In positive news, it looks like Daymond Langkow will be cleared to play in tonight's game versus the Wild.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Morning Musings

Here are the national morning papers:

• Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail tells readers that John Ferguson Jr.'s job is safe for now.
• Signing Miikka Kiprusoff to a long-term extension will allow the Flames to shift their focus to extending a couple more of their key players coming up on free agency writes Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail.
• Age is not a factor for the teens playing in the NHL this season writes Kevin Allen of USA Today.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• After last night's 3-2 shootout victory over the Habs, the Thrashers are no longer the worst team in the Southeast Division anymore writes Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Thrashers' coach Don Waddell is more concerned with winning hockey games than getting his rookie goaltender Ondrej Pavelec into a game.
• It looks like youngster Phil Kessel will replace the injured Patrice Bergeron and center the Bruins' second line. During Bruins' practice yesterday, goaltender Manny Fernandez sprained his knee and will now be out for an unknown period of time.
• The Sabres need to start getting some production from their top powerplay unit writes John Vogl in this morning's Buffalo News.
• The Hurricanes have been extremely happy with the rejuvenated play of defenseman Bret Hedican to start the season.
• The Panthers and Hurricanes meet for the first time tonight and the Panthers players haven't forgotten their angry rants after last season about the Canes' penchant for diving.
• Carey Price started his first game at home for the Habs and was terrific, however, his teammates did not match his quality of play and the Canadiens lost in a shootout to the Thrashers. Meantime, Habs' coach Guy Carboeneau thinks the NHL needs to change its rule that allows for a player in the penalty box at the end of overtime to be allowed to partake in the shootout.
• Devils' forward Dainius Zubrus has been demoted to the third line right winger role by coach Brent Sutter.
• As Larry Brooks writes in this morning's NY Post, one of these days Rangers' back-up Stephen Valiquette has to get into a game, doesn't he? Meanwhile, coach Tom Renney won't tip his hand as to what will happen with Nigel Dawes when a number of the Rangers' forwards return from injury.
• With all this time off early in the season, the Senators are getting on each other's nerves writes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. It appears that Nick Foligno will be the odd-man out once Dean McAmmond is ready to return from injury.
• While Simon Gagne may not be ready to return from his concussion for the Flyers' next game versus Montreal, winger Scottie Upshall is ready to return from injury for the game versus the Habs.
• The Penguins, on the back of superstar Sidney Crosby, started off their road trip on the right foot with a 4-2 victory of the Wild in Minnesota last night.
• The Lightning are ready to put an end to their four-game road losing streak writes Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune.
• Ownership can't just react to the Leaf fans' displeasure says the President of MLSE Richard Peddie. The Leafs only wish they had the AHL Marlies' success right now writes Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• It appears that both Ryan Getlzaf and Rob Niedermayer will return from injuries for the Ducks' game Thursday when they host the Blue Jackets.
• Signing a long-term, big money contract only made Miikka Kiprusoff play better last night as the Flames dominated the Predators en route to a 5-1 victory. Last night was quite a thrill for Eric Nystrom as the son of former Islanders' great Bobby, scored his first ever NHL goal.
• Sometimes being a healthy scratch serves a good purpose, as evidenced by the recent play of Jim Vandermeer.
• Wojtek Wolski has been promoted to top two-line play in Colorado and has taken the spot of veteran Andrew Brunette who has been demoted.
• The Blue Jackets have two centers in Michael Peca and Manny Malhotra who dominate in the faceoff circle writes Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch. Here are the Blue Jackets' projected lines heading into tonight's contest.
• Bill Nichols of the Dallas Morning News has the story of Stars' defenseman Matt Niskanen who grew up cheering on the Stars as a native of Minnesota.
• Valtteri Filppula scored a beauty down the right wing with only 25 seconds remaining to give the Wings a 2-1 victory over the Oilers on Tuesday night.
• Dick Tarnstrom feels like he lost the game for the Oilers after he was victimized on Filppula's rush at game's end. Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal wonders if the Oilers have a goalie debate on their hands. On the injury front, defenseman Joni Pitkanen had successful surgery but still expects to be out of the lineup for the next 3-4 weeks.
• Dustin Brown is excited about the Kings future, which is one of the reasons he re-upped for a six year term.
• Michael Russo of the Star Tribune opines that Crosby and Malkin were worth the price of admission last night in St. Paul.
• The Predators remain winless on the road after last night's debacle in Calgary. After the game, coach Barry Trotz would not commit to keeping Chris Mason as his starting netminder.
• The Coyotes showed some spirit last night going into St. Louis and stealing a third period victory from the hands of the Blues writes Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic.
• The Blues got outworked last night according to head coach Andy Murray.
• Canucks' GM Dave Nonis has seen some positives and negatives to start the season writes Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Nightly Recap - Crosby Busts Out

-Sidney Crosby busts out with four points and Evegni Malkin adds three, the Penguins take the Wild 4 - 2.

-Freddy Sjostrom scores the winning goal with 2:58 to go as the Coyotes defeat the Blues 2 - 1. Brad "My Favourite" Boyes scored his 9th goal in 10 games, he has really gelled with linemates Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya both assisted on Boyes' goal tonight.

-Ilya Kovalchuk scores another shootout winner for the Thrashers as they beat Carey Price and the Canadiens 3 - 2. Alex Kovalev had two points. The Thrashers goals tonight were scored by Eric Perrin and Slava Kozlov. Starting out the year with an injury, Marian Hossa has been invisible so far collecting 3 points in 9 games. He is getting regular minutes each night, coach Don Waddell expects him to come around eventually.

-Henrik Zetterberg scored his 10th goal as the Red Wings edge out the Oilers 2 - 1. The Red Wings continue to minimize the amount of shots their goaltenders face. Osgood stopped 15 of 16 and moves to 6-0, he has yet to allow more than 2 goals in a game this season.

-The Flames take their turn beating up on the Predators 5 - 1. Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay had 3 points each, Daymond Langkow, Matthew Lombardi and Kristian Huselius had 2 points each. When did the Flames become such a high powered offense? Miikka Kiprusoff celebrated his new contract by stopping 39 of 40.

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:00pm TB@NJ (TSN)
7:30pm CAR@FLA
8:30pm CHI@DAL
10:30pm CLB@LA

Breaking News You Can Use Late in the Day

-TSN is reporting that the Calgary Flames have signed goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to a 6 year, $35 million dollar contract extension. The deal is apparently front-weighted.