NHL Morning Papers: Playoff Teams (Thursday Edition)

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

Montreal versus Boston

Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau is not apologizing for his team’s 3-1 series lead, writes Herb Zurkowsky. The Habs have more information about the Bruins than they had on Tuesday thanks to Harry Sinden who outed Zdeno Chara’s rib injury to the press.
The Bruins are down 3-1 because they just cannot score, writes Fluto Shinwaza. According to coach Claude Julien, don’t expect Boston to adjust their power play plan. Don’t count out the Bruins just yet, writes Stephen Harris.

Pittsburgh versus Ottawa:

Penguins coach Michel Therien was satisfied with all aspects of the Penguins’ game in the Ottawa series, writes Ron Cook. Forget all the goaltending questions, Marc-Andre Fleury has been terrific since the playoffs began. The Penguins have been making a concerted effort to get more pucks on net in the post-season. It is not yet known who the Pens will face in the second round.
“We lost four straight. We got outplayed,” said Senators coach and GM Bryan Murray after last night’s season-ending 3-1 loss. Last night was almost assuredly Wade Redden’s final game in an Ottawa uniform. “There was a lot of negativity around this team, from the outside, from inside the room,” said Senators center Jason Spezza when trying to sum up the team’s disappointing season.

Washington versus Philadelphia:

With back-to-back losses, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau has experimented with putting Sergei Fedorov on the team’s top line to replace Nicklas Backstrom. The Capitals’ best line has been outplayed by the Flyers’ top line.
Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News warns Flyers fans to expect a big game from Alexander Ovechkin tonight. Flyers netminder Martin Biron was happy he was okay after taking a shot to the mask in Game 3. Boy are the Flyers relieved that Kimmo Timonen will be in the line up for Game 4.

New Jersey versus New York Rangers:

“Everybody believes we can come back,” said Devils leader Jamie Langenbrunner after his team fell behind the Rangers 3-1 in their playoff series. The Devils know the key to getting back into this series is returning to their defensive ways. Here is a game review by Lisa Kennedy of the Newark Star-Ledger.
The Rangers’ young talent are really proving their worth in the playoffs thus far, writes Jay Greenberg. Everyone around the Rangers has been impressed with the play of Marc Staal. If they didn’t already know the fourth game of a series is the hardest to win, Rangers GM Glen Sather came into the locker room after the game to remind the team of just that. (Writer’s note: Man, how low profile has Slats been in NYC????)