NHL Morning Papers (Thursday Edition)

I don’t have time for a preamble this morning, the usual format will return tomorrow.

Here are the morning papers:

• The Bruins almost squeaked out a win versus the Ducks last night, but a late Francois Beauchemin goal gave the Ducks a 2-1 victory at the Honda Center. The Bruins played the contest without Marc Savard who was held out of last night’s game with a groin injury. If the Bruins are to breakout offensively, they need Glen Murray to return to old form writes Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald.
• Dan Wood of the Orange County Register details the momentum changing shift that Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz had for the Ducks midway through the 2nd period. The game was almost second fiddle for most Ducks’ fan as the team raised the Stanley Cup banner prior to the game. Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne were both on hand for that celebration.
• The Sabres have been endlessly working on their defensive play in practice since their two early season losses to the Islanders. Just because Ryan Miller’s cousin has passed away, it doesn’t mean he won’t continue to be an inspiration for Miller and those who knew him and his story.
• Kris Draper was admittedly in awe of his teammates Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg after their terrific performance in the Wings’ 4-2 victory over Calgary on Wednesday. Sometimes it is an adjustment for European players to come to the NHL and be told to shoot, shoot, shoot writes Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.
• The Datsyuk line thoroughly outplayed the Iginla line admitted Iginla himself in this morning’s Calgary Sun.
• As Lisa Dillman of the L.A. Times explains, the Kings kept giving the puck away last night versus the Stars and, as a result, were on the losing end of a 5-1 score.
• Niklas Hagman’s promotion to a scoring line was a rousing success as the winger scored twice leading the Stars to a 5-1 victory over the Kings.
• The Wild continued their recent domination over the Oilers last night with a 2-0 victory; Michael Russo of the Star Tribune has the story. Russo also has a great story about the respect and admiration that Oilers’ defenseman Sheldon Souray has for his former coach Jacques Lemaire.
• Oilers’ head coach Craig MacTavish thought the Oilers played a good road game writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun. Shawn Horcoff was a little bit more critical saying, “if we’re going to make the playoffs, we have to beat teams like this.”
• John Glennon of the Tennessean explains that the Predators fell about nine minutes short of their goal in last night’s game at St. Louis. While Predators’ coach Barry Trotz was not impressed with his team’s defensive performance saying, “We left (goaltender) Mason to the Wolves.”
• The Flyers thoroughly dominated the Canucks in every aspect of the game leading to an easy 8-2 victory. Former Canuck R.J. Umberger was awfully excited to defeat the team that he could never agree to a contract with writes Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Flyers’ enforcer Jesse Boulerice cross-checked Ryan Kesler in the face in the 3rd period of last night’s game and Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province thinks the repeat offender deserves more than a 15 game suspension.
• Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette believes that the Habs’ great goaltending torch has now been passed to Carey Price after his impressive 3-2 victory over the Penguins last night.
• While the Penguins were impressed with Carey Price’s debut, they believe their mental mistakes were the real reason they lost 3-2 to the Habs on Wednesday night. Although nothing has been confirmed, it looks like the Penguins may be opening up 2008/09 in Prague versus the Senators.
• The Leafs are only four games into this young season but there is already a sense of urgency surrounding the club explains Mark Zwolinski in this morning’s Toronto Star. Catching nobody by surprise, Leafs’ coach Paul Maurice plans on giving his lineup quite the face lift for the team’s big game versus the Islanders tonight.
• After Chris Gratton scored both Tampa’s goals in their 2-1 victory over the Panthers, Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune wonders if the Panthers now regret trading the big centerman. However, the real star of the game was Lightning goaltender Johan Holmqvist who turned away 30 of 31 shots for the victory.
• Even though they have hardly counted on the scoresheet, the Panthers are taking solace in the fact that they are generating scoring chances. Craig Anderson was in net on Wednesday night meaning Tomas Vokoun will be back in between the pipes tonight.
• Capitals’ coach Glen Hanlon is happy with the Caps 3-0 start but believes his team still has “a long way to go,” starting with the team’s slumping powerplay.
• Even though Blues’ President Dave Checketts didn’t guarantee a home opener victory this season, the Blues pleased their boss anyways with a decisive 4-1 victory over Nashville. Prior to Wednesday’s home opener, Blues’ rookie defenseman Erik Johnson tried to beg his way into the lineup, even though he has a hairline fracture in his foot.
• Milan Michalek was happy to be reunited with Steve Bernier and, more importantly, Patrick Marleau for last night’s tilt in Chicago. The young winger’s happiness was evident as he scored the only two Sharks’ goals in the team’s 2-1 victory. Sharks’ defenseman Douglas Murray was a healthy scratch for last night’s contest.
• The Hawks didn’t win their home opener but their stud rookie Jonathan Toews opened some eyes with his gorgeous first period goal.
• Coyotes’ coach Wayne Gretzky believes his team is letting their opposition dictate the pace at the start of games.
• The Thrashers were beaten by rookie Brian Elliot and the Ottawa Senators 3-1 last night writes Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Daniel Alfredsson was impressed by John Paddock’s decision to start Elliot in between the pipes, saying, “the coach looks like a genius.” Meanwhile, Jason Spezza’s agent Rick Curran tells Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen that negotiations on a contract extension for his client will not be done in public.
• Bryan Berard had quite the return to Long Island scoring the game winning goal in his team’s 2-1 victory over the rival Rangers.
• The Rangers have produced nothing on the offensive side of the puck since the season began last week writes Larry Brooks of the NY Post. With so many new faces in town, Jaromir Jagr says the chemistry is not yet there on Broadway.
• Richard Matvichuk has been placed on the trading block by Lou Lamoriello because coach Brent Sutter has opted for a more mobile defense. The GM believes he can complete a deal quite quickly.
• The Hurricanes can roll out three lines that have the ability to score writes Luke Decock of the News Observer.
• Adrian Dater of the Denver Post provides readers with a Q & A with Joe Sakic. Sakic’s GM for all his prime years Pierre Lacroix, was elected into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.