Here are the Northeast Division morning papers:
- The Leafs showed some resilience last night, as they came back from a brutal goal allowed by Vesa Toskala and defeated the Islanders 3-1. On the scouting side of things, Damien Cox says it isn’t fun being a Leafs scout. Just when he thought he was going to play more than 20 games in a row, Leafs defenseman Carlo Coliacovo is back on the mend.
- According to Chris Stevenson (and the numbers), referee Bill McCreary does not like the Senators. Allen Panzeri of the Ottawa Citizen wonders when the real Senators team will stand up.
- The Blues decided Montreal was the perfect place to end their slide, writes Hurb Zerkowsky.
- Zdeno Chara continues to get better from his “upper-body injury”, slowly but surely, writes Fluto Shinwaza. The Bruins are gearing up for their back-to-back match ups with Montreal over the weekend, writes Stephen Harris.
- Teppo Numminen wants to play for the Sabres, and they could sure use his talent on the back-end, writes John Vogl.
Here are the Atlantic Division morning papers:
- The Rangers played last night’s game against Pittsburgh like it was a playoff game, writes Larry Brooks. Meanwhile, Jay Greenberg of the NY Post hopes the Rangers aren’t too young and too old at the same time.
- The Flyers need to regain their vision right now, opines Sam Donnellon.
- The Penguins were flawed in almost all aspects of the game last night, writes Dave Molinari. Molinari believes that the Penguins’ depth may hinder Evgeni Malkin’s ability to win the Art Ross Trophy.
- The announcement that Rick DiPietro is out for the season overshadowed his team’s loss last night. Nonetheless, the game was still played and the Islanders put forth a poor performance in Kyle Okposo’s NHL debut.
- Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger explains how the Devils lay low, but yet always remain ahead of the Rangers.
Here are the Southeast Division morning papers:
- Eric Staal is the prime reason for the Hurricanes’ month-long surge, writes Luke Decock.
- “It’s probably the most disappointing season in my career,” said Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk after his team’s 3-2 loss to Philadelphia last night. Things are so bad in Thrasher land that two teammates got into a fight during last night’s game.
- Jacques Martin’s future with the Panthers is up-in-the-air, writes Steve Gorten.
- New Tampa Bay netminder Mike Smith is a wizard with the puck, writes Erik Erlendsson.
- Alexander Ovechkin set a Capitals record and the Capitals continued their run for the playoffs, with a 4-2 road victory over Nashville.
The Western Conference morning papers will be posted soon…
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
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