NHL Morning Papers (Sunday Edition): Kovalev returns with some flash, Lecavalier and St. Louis apparently not available and Rangers interested in Derek Morris

Here are the morning papers for Sunday the 22nd of February:

• The Ducks only put thirteen shots on net against Columbus last night, but they scored five goals and defeated the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
• The Thrashers were not bad in San Jose on Sunday but they could only hang with the powerful Sharks for so long, writes Mike Knobler.  Ilya Kovalchuk goal-streak came to an end on Saturday at San Jose, but that doesn’t mean Evgeni Nabokov doesn’t think Kovalchuk is extremely dangerous.
• There were no excuses for the Bruins’ 2-0 loss at Florida last night.  Zdeno Chara for MVP?  In his great Sunday notes column, Kevin Paul Dupont looks at the mess in Montreal.  As we linked yesterday Tomas Kaberle has the Bruins on his list of team’s he’d accept a trade to.
• Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News speculates about Pierre McGuire becoming the next head coach of the Penguins.  The Sabres wish Henrik Tallinder could stay healthy.  The Rangers didn’t look very good at the HSBC Arena last night.  Overshadowing the victory over NY last night was the injury suffered by Ryan Miller.
• The Flames played better than the Oilers, it just took a little bit longer to record the two points, writes Randy Sportak.  The Flames played last night without Mark Giordano, Rene Bourque, Daymond Langkow and Andre Roy.
• In good news, it looks like Scott Walker is close to returning the Hurricanes lineup.
• You can’t say Denis Savard is bitter against the Blackhawks organization.
• If Paul Stastny doesn’t return to the Avalanche lineup today, he is expected to return on Tuesday versus Atlanta.  Terry Frei doesn’t understand why the Avalanche would trade Ryan Smyth or Milan Hejduk.
• The Blue Jackets were not sharp yesterday when they hosted the Ducks.  Chris Gratton talks about joining his new team.  Would you believe that Ken Hitchcock used to be an offensive coach?  Here’s a closer look at Hitchcock from Bob Hunter.
• Stars forward Toby Petersen talks about playing hockey with diabetes.  The Stars have not been playing their best hockey as of late, and their sloppy play continued yesterday against Chicago.
• The Wild shutdown the Wings power play and defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center.  Shawn Windsor talks about journeyman Ty Conklin and his starting job in Detroit right now.
• The Oilers blew two leads on Hockey Day in Canada and lost 3-2 to Calgary in a shootout.  Erik Cole found himself on the top line last night.  Jim Matheson’s terrific Hockey World.
• Tomas Vokoun was absolutely tremendous last night as he backstopped the Panthers to a 2-0 victory over the conference-leading Bruins.  Maybe even more importantly, the Panthers sold out yesterday’s game.
• The Kings, unlike most teams, are looking forward to getting on the road, after last night’s 6-3 loss to Phoenix.
• Jacques Lemaire was very happy with how well the Wild played for 60 minutes last night versus Detroit.  Andrew Brunette’s ironman streak came to an end last night.  Michael Russo tells us that shootout points may be the reason the Wild doesn’t make the playoffs.
• “I feel like I’ve just been traded to a new team,” said Alexei Kovalev after yesterday afternoon’s victory over Ottawa.  How will Gary Bettman react to the Kostitsyn controversy?
• Shea Weber scored a huge marker for the Predators in overtime last night over St. Louis.
• The powerful Devils didn’t look so powerful on Saturday against the lowly Islanders.
• Mark Herrmann warns Islanders fans that this rebuilding process will still take a while.  Give Garth Snow props for loading up draft picks.
• Lindy Ruff thought Scott Gomez intentionally ran into goaltender Ryan Miller.  After last night’s loss to Buffalo, Larry Brooks is wondering why the Rangers let Sean Avery, Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan go?  Brooks also tells us that Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis aren’t available.
• The honeymoon for Cory Clouston is over, writes Chris Stevenson.  You can’t say that Daniel Alfredsson doesn’t care, after seeing him return to the lineup on Saturday afternoon.  Bruce Garrioch tells us that the Habs may be going after Ryan Smyth.
• It was a movie-like ending for Mats Sundin and the Canucks in Toronto last night.  “It’s the stuff you grew up dreaming about when you played street hockey,” said Sundin after the game.
• Sam Carchidi thinks the Flyers look better than they did last season.  Did Carchidi write that before he saw Martin Biron’s late-game mistake against Pittsburgh yesterday?  Both Martin Biron and Mike Richards blamed themselves for yesterday’s loss.
• Olli Jokinen broke out of his slump with a dominanting performance yesterday at L.A.
• Yesterday’s win at Philadelphia was huge for the Penguins’ confidence.  With the Capitals next up this afternoon, Sergei Gonchar talked about how impressed he is with Mike Green’s accomplishments.  Is today’s afternoon start a concern for the Penguins?
• The Sharks picked up the victory yesterday over the visiting Thrashers.  Apparentely Brad Lukowich is ready to return to the lineup.  It is fair to say the Thrashers are envious of the Sharks and their success.
• “I don’t think anybody would question the effort here tonight. It’s just disappointing with another packed house that we couldn’t get the two points,” said Blues coach Andy Murray after his team’s 1-0 overtime loss to Nashville.  Erik Johnson is doing some light skating for the Blues.  Writer’s note: At least he’s not doing light golfing.
• Rick Tocchet wants his players to find something to play for.  You cannot question the heart of the Lightning’s Matt Smaby.
• Paul Hunter recaps the Mats Sundin-fest from the ACC last night.  Meanwhile, Bruce Garrioch reviews some teams and what their needs are.