NHL Morning Papers (Friday Edition): Pat Quinn furious with Jarome Iginla, Predators don’t sell out home opener and Theoren Fleury will admit he was abused by Graham James

The Ducks sure made up for their debacle in Minnesota, as they dominated the defending Eastern Conference champion Bruins in Boston by a score of 6-1.
On Thursday, the Thrashers dealt Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman to Columbus for future considerations.
The Bruins only lost six games at home last season, but they have already lost two in three games so far in 2009/10.
You could tell Claude Julien was unhappy with his team by looking at his third period power play unit.
“Right now there are a lot of guys that aren’t giving the effort that we need to get out of them,” said coach Claude Julien.
Patrick Kaleta is an agitator and he did his job last night when he hit Petr Prucha in his team’s victory over Phoenix.
Sabres youngster Tyler Myers is really proving his worth so far this young season.
Theoren Fleury is going on the record in his new book saying that he was sexually abused by Graham James in junior hockey.
Calgary fans shouldn’t worry about Jaroma Iginla’s lack of production, at the end of the day he’ll be amongst the top scorers in the NHL.
Speaking of Iginla, Pat Quinn was furious with his play that injured Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray last night. Jim Matheson has more on Quinn’s anger.

Pat Quinn is not happy with Jarome Iginla. (Picture courtesy of tsn.ca)

Regardless, the Flames are flying high with a 4-0 start to the season after last night’s crazy comeback victory over Edmonton.
The LaRose-Cullen-Whitney line is meshing well in Carolina, writes Javier Serna.
The rumors of the demise of the Red Wings have been greatly exaggerated, explains Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
The Predators were significantly short of a sell out for the team’s home opener versus Colorado.
Sell out or not, the Predators took care of business against the Avalanche last night.
The Blue Jackets’ struggles in San Jose continued last night, as the team was thrashed by the Sharks 6-3.
Manny Malhotra says he doesn’t keep tabs on his former team in Columbus.

Manny Malhotra seems to have sour graps towards Columbus. (Picture courtesy of yahoo.com)

In Dallas, James Neal is proving himself to be the real deal, writes Mike Heika.
The Red Wings signed Brad May yesterday in an attempt to cut down on opposing team’s cheap shots against them.
Chris Osgood was terrific last night, as coach Mike Babcock says that he wasn’t sure if Osgood played a game that solid in the first half of last season.
Yesterday’s win was a “statement game,” for the Red Wings, writes John Niyo.
“Two seconds away from winning the game,” said Oilers netminder Nikolai Khabibulin after another heartbreaking loss to the Flames.
Steve Staios didn’t play last night for Edmonton because of concussion symptoms.
Here are some Panthers roster notes.
Meanwhile, Panthers youngster Rostislav Olesz is focusing on having a bounce back season in 2009/10.
The Kings were tremendous at even strength last night versus Minnesota, but they could certainly stand to improve on their horrible penalty killing.
“It’s disappointing. I get an opportunity like that and I put that kind of performance out, it’s disappointing,” said Josh Harding after his poor performance in Los Angeles.
This season, Patric Hornqvist is proving to be the player the Predators expected to see last season, writes John Glennon.
The Predators were robbed of a goal last night but that only motivated them to win–which they did 3-2 over Colorado.
A great performance by Martin Brodeur allowed the Devils to steal a 4-3 victory over the Lightning in Tampa Bay.
Maybe Brodeur’s performance last night will shut up his critics, at least for a couple days.

Martin Brodeur was on last night, so what will his critics think of that? (Picture courtesy of the Washington Post)

The Rangers decided to pay Marian Gaborik more than a hefty amount this summer, and so far, it has paid off.
He scored two goals in the Rangers’ victory over Washington, and Larry Brooks says it may have been his least impressive game as a Ranger.
Matt Carkner was the hero of last night’s Senators game, as the journeyman defenseman scored his first NHL goal and added an assist in his team’s overtime victory.
The Flyers received poor performances from Ray Emery and Braydon Coburn, as the team lost a hard fought 5-4 game to the arch-rival Penguins.
In injury news, James van Riemsdyk was held out of last night’s game because of a head injury.
In good news, the Coyotes have sold out their home opener.
If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and the Penguins still proved to be the class of the Eastern Conference versus Philadelphia last night.
Meanwhile, the Penguins are claiming that Scott Hartnell bit Kris Letang.
Speaking of Letang, he and Sergei Gonchar haven’t really got much closer to contract extensions.
With last night’s performance in San Jose, Dany Heatley is already becoming a fan favorite.
The fans were actually chanting Dany Heatley’s name at the end of yesterday’s game.
The Blues came out flat in their home opener against Atlanta and could never quite catch up.
The Lighting blew a lead to New Jersey last night but there wasn’t a lack of effort.
At least the future is bright in Tampa Bay, writes Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune.
Vesa Toskala is the man between the pipes for at least the next three games with Jonas Gustavsson on the shelf.
The injury to Gustavsson means Joey MacDonald gets to return to the show.
Canucks prospect Cody Hodgson has been told to rest his ailing back for a month.
If the Capitals had the power play going last night, they’d probably have defated the Rangers.

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Bob Roberts

•The rumors of the demise of the Red Wings have been greatly exaggerated, explains Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.

With Franzen gone, we’ll truly see the test of Detroit’s mettle. Those young guys and the big guys are going to have to be good.
Me, I’ll stick to my prediction: much less success in Hockeytown this year. Be fair though, hard to have more…

•In Dallas, James Neal is proving himself to be the real deal, writes Mike Heika.

Late round steal in my pool. Got Richards and Morrow too because it seems no one believed those two were healthy.

•A great performance by Martin Brodeur allowed the Devils to steal a 4-3 victory over the Lightning in Tampa Bay.
•Maybe Brodeur’s performance last night will shut up his critics, at least for a couple days.

I expressed my worries about MB in the comment section of the excellent IC Devils preview and I’m going to need more than one topnotch game (though it was TOPNOTCH) to quiet them.

•The Rangers decided to pay Marian Gaborik more than a hefty amount this summer, and so far, it has paid off.

I keep telling everyone Gabby’s going to play all 82 this season and the Rangers are going to do well.

The Bonus If I’m Right? It’ll silence two sets of critics at once (at least for a few seconds anyway): those who say he’s always hurt and those who say players always have big years when they’re about to go UFA.

The Downside: there is none. If no one says boo when you say Detroit’s not going to do well and Marty Brodeur’s not going to be the best, it’s not too likely they’ll point out any mistakes.

•The Flyers received poor performances from Ray Emery and Braydon Coburn, as the team lost a hard fought 5-4 game to the arch-rival Penguins.

Whoa there a minute. A fluke goal can happen to anyone and Fleury looked great, did he? Coburn and Emery don’t get to hog the goathorns in that performance.

Of course I’ve got to point out that Mr. Hartnell really made my comments about him and his team in the IC Flyer season preview look good with his last-second heroics.

•Speaking of Iginla, Pat Quinn was furious with his play that injured Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray last night.

Surprise! I can feel a CHR coming.

•If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and the Flyers proved they are not the class of the Eastern Conference versus Pittsburgh last night.

There, now that’s more like it.

•With last night’s performance in San Jose, Dany Heatley is already becoming a fan favorite.
•The fans were actually chanting Dany Heatley’s name at the end of yesterday’s game.

Don’t tell Drew.
Drew, I said, don’t wish for a bad year for the Heater — it ‘ainta gonna happen. But would he listen? Ohhh, no…

•If the Capitals had a defence playing last night, they might’ve defeated the Rangers.

There, now that’s more like it. They need Alzner. What’s the problem there? “Cap” issues. (Oh my, even for me that was bad. Say goodnight, Bob.)

NHL Morning Papers (Friday Edition): Pat Quinn furious with Jarome Iginla, Predators don’t sell out home opener and Theoren Fleury will admit he was abused by Graham James

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