NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail thinks that the Chris Simon 30 game suspension handed down by the NHL fits the crime.
• USA Today provides a list of all Chris Simon’s past suspensions in chronological order.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• The Atlanta Thrashers recorded a much-needed victory at home last night versus Tampa Bay. Meanwhile coach Don Waddell does not seem too concerned with the high amounts of ice-time rookie Tobias Enstrom has been logging so far this season.
• The Bruins came up a bit short last night versus the conference leading Senators and were defeated 3-2 on home-ice. In other Bruins news, Andrew Alberts continues to be kept out of the lineup with recurring headaches.
• The Sabres are set to get rock-solid defenseman Dmitri Kalinin back into their lineup tonight when they take on the Islanders.
• The Hurricanes shouldn’t have been able to come back from a 2-1 deficit in the final minute of play, but the Leafs handed them the opportunity and they ran with it all the way to a 3-2 overtime victory.
• The Panthers completed their first winning road trip in four years last night with a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens. “We were the better team tonight and deserved to win. It’s pretty simple,” said goaltender Tomas Vokoun after the contest.
• Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette says the Habs biggest issue was that they couldn’t keep up with the Panthers speed.
• Roberto Luongo got the better of Martin Broduer and the Devils as the Canucks defeated New Jersey 5-0. According to Canucks coach Alain Vigneault the Devils are playing basically the same style they have for the last decade.
• The Rangers got back to playing tight defensive hockey last night and it worked as they dominated the Penguins with a 4-0 victory at MSG. “He’s one of the best players in the league. And when we can shut him down like that, it goes a long way as far as our line’s concerned,” said Rangers winger Ryan Hollweg about shutting down Sidney Crosby.
• The Islanders are trying to turn their focus to their play on the ice, not on Chris Simon writes Katie Strang of Newsday.
• The Senators got a goal from Luke Richardson last night and to make thing special, his dad was on-hand in Boston to watch his son’s team defeat the Bruins 3-2.
• The Flyers continued their inconsistent ways last night, blowing a 2-0 home lead to the Coyotes and losing the game 3-2.
• Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says after last night’s performance, the Penguins were lucky to only lose 4-0 to the Rangers. Ryan Malone missed last night’s game with the flu.
• The Lightning had another tough loss last night but coach John Tortorella wants them to remember that they have to stick-together moving forward.
• Alexei Ponikarovsky was the goat last night as the Leafs thought they had the game in the bag but ended up somehow losing in overtime.
• Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz has developed a new half slapshot and it has accounted for his last four goals scored writes Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• The Ducks recorded their first shutout of the season last night by defeating the division-rival Sharks 2-0 in a game with a playoff type intensity.
• You can’t be much hotter than the Flames right now as they defeated Columbus last night to cap off a 6-0 road trip. “That was a great road trip. The guys got to bond out here on the road and no better way to do it than winning. It came from a lot of hard work,” said defenseman Cory Sarich after last night’s 3-1 victory at Columbus.
• If the Blackhawks want to turn it around it will have to start with the team’s slumping powerplay writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
• According to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, Jordan Leopold will be out of the Avs lineup tonight because of a lacerated thigh.
• It is a fine line between winning and losing in the NHL and the Blue Jackets are currently on the wrong side of that line according to coach Ken Hitchock. One of the reasons for the Jackets poor play has been their futility on the powerplay writes Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch.
• The Oilers ran into a formidable shootout foe last night as the Stars visited Rexall Place and defeated Edmonton 2-1 in a shootout.
• Kris Draper will be back in the Wings lineup tonight after missing the past nine games with a sprained knee.
• The Oilers lost in a shootout last night but they weren’t unhappy with the way they played writes Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal.
• The NHL’s best team in Detroit faces-off against the L.A. Kings who are the NHL’s worst team tonight in Motown.
• The Wild came back from a two goal third period deficit to defeat the Predators and record two points in Jacques Lemaire’s 1000th career NHL game behind the bench.
• The Predators played a great first two periods but it was all for naught as the allowed three goals in the third and were defeated by the Wild 3-2 at the Xcel Center.
• The Coyotes continue to defy the odds and are now 4-1 on their current extended road trip after defeating the Flyers 3-2 last night at the Wachovia Center.
• Coach Ron Wilson was very unhappy with the way his team performed last night in their 2-0 loss to the rival Ducks.
• The Blues are not going to rush their youngsters’ development writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch.
• Roberto Luongo didn’t not look the least bit rusty last night after coming back from injury and helping the Canucks defeat the Devils 5-0.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.