NHL Morning Papers (Friday Edition): Avalanche having attendance troubles, Nabokov close to returning and how much control will Burke actually get?

Here are the morning papers for Friday the 21st of November:

• In shocking news, the Ducks are taking too many penalties.
• The Thrashers felt like they probably deserved the W last night versus Atlanta, writes Mike Knobler.  In roster news, Mathieu Schneider returned to the line-up on Thursday.
• So far this season, the Bruins have certainly increased their goal output over last year’s campaign.  This much is for certain, no Bruins player would complain about playing about on a line with Marc Savard, who just recorded his 600th career point last game.
• “The time is now,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff about his team having to turn it around.  It should help that former Sabre Daniel Briere won’t be playing against his old team tonight.
• The Flames improved on their poor road record with a 1-0 win at Colorado yesterday.  The Flames didn’t allow the Avs to score a goal but their fans also blocked a big kiss-cam moment.
• Apparently the slumping American economy has yet to really affect the gate in Carolina, writes Chip Alexander.  It looks like Justin Williams is miles ahead in his rehabilitation and could return to the Hurricanes way before anybody anticipated.
• The Blackhawks proved why they are in the top three in the NHL in goal-scoring this season, as they walked into Dallas on Thursday and tallied six markers in a victory over the Stars.  Even though they are winning that does not mean coach Joel Quenneville is satisfied, as the new coach has said he will bench any player that takes stupid penalties.
• The Avalanche lost last night’s game to Calgary and Marek Svatos to an abdominal injury.  Colorado’s attendance yesterday was its second lowest ever for a game.
• In Columbus, goaltender Fredrik Norrena is clearly frustrated with his role as the third stringer.  Meanwhile, Aaron Portzline says Jared Boll is suffering from the sophomore jinx.
• The Stars lost again last night and Stephane Robidas think the reason is fairly straightforward.
• Niklas Kronwall (ankle) and Tomas Holmstrom (back) missed last night’s game for Detroit.  Tomas Kopecky took advantage of his opportunity to play on the power play with Holmstrom out and took advantage of it.
• The Oilers took too many penalties on Thursday which allowed the powerful Red Wings power play to go to work.  This Oilers team has to be driving its fans crazy.  Marc Pouliot is starting to gain more confidence as he finally got on the board in Columbus.  If you thought it was a joke that Ladislav Smid was playing forward last night, don’t worry, he originally did too.
• Florida just cannot score goals and it cost them last night in the team’s 3-1 defeat at New Jersey.  Panthers coach Peter DeBoer has decided to offer more optional morning skates to the Panthers.
• With Thursday’s victory over the high-scoring Capitals, the Kings continue to move in the right direction, writes Chris Foster.
• Pavol Demitra made sure his old team paid for letting him go, as he tallied one goal and one assist in Vancouver’s 3-2 road win over the Wild.  So far, the Wild’s belief that James Sheppard was going to contribute a fairly significant portion of offense has yet to occur.
• Habs coach Guy Carbonneau thought last night’s win was a big one for his hockey club.  If you are wondering, the Habs just ignored agitator Jarkko Ruutu.
• Greg deVries is one of the leaders of the Predators hockey club and that is very apparent to head coach Barry Trotz.  In roster news, the Predators have demoted Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones to the AHL.
• The Devils finally won a game playing their traditional style yesterday, even if it was Scott Clemmensen and not Martin Brodeur between the pipes.
• Both Brendan Witt and Mike Sillinger are close to returning to the Islanders line-up.
• The Rangers want to ensure they bouce back strong from their poor performance against Vancouver on Wednesday.
• Ottawa actually played quite well for the second game in a row, they just can’t win shootouts, writes Allen Panzeri.  The Senators have collectively decided they are not going to shave their mustaches.
• The Flyers have helped themselves this season with strong drafting and a good development system.  Speaking of that system, the Flyers will be giving Jon Kalinski a chance to play in his first NHL game tonight.
• The Coyotes are actually looking forward to getting on the road for their upcoing four-game trip.
• Sure the Penguins’ power play has been awful this season, nonetheless it came through at the right time last night, writes Dave Molinari.  In injury news, Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney may practice with his teammates today.
• David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News tells readers how the Sharks are dominating the NHL.  On the injury front, the Sharks are hoping Evgeni Nabokov returns to the line-up this weekend.
• David Koci is now back on the Lightning after the team claimed him on waivers.  Rick Tocchet is not shy about his expectations for his players in Tampa Bay, writes Erik Erlendsson.
• Damien Cox of the Toronto Star wonders how much autonomy the MLSE board is actually willing to give to Brian Burke.  Apparently there is still no timetable for his Burke’s hire.
• The Canucks gave netminder Roberto Luongo a much needed day off on Thursday but that mattered not as the Canucks recorded the win anyways, giving Curtis Sanford his first victory since last season.  Sami Salo missed yesterday’s game but apparently he just has the flu.
• The Capitals lost last night to the Kings but more importantly they found out Mike Green’s injury is only day-to-day.  The NHLPA is filing a grievance against the Capitals.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.