Here are the national morning papers:
- As Allan Maki of the Globe & Mail tells us, the IIHF has opened its Hall of Fame doors to women’s hockey.
Here are the Western Conference morning papers:
- The Flames will attempt to carry their road success onto home-ice tonight when they host the Dallas Stars. Fans who focus on the Flames’ six-game winning streak should not overlook the resurgent special teams as one of the main reasons for such an amazing road trip. Meanwhile, Flames forward Wayne Primeau is happy to be back in action after being sidelined for two months with an ankle sprain.
- The Blackhawks called up youngster Cam Barker from the AHL on Thursday and are hoping this time he will stick with the big club for the long haul.
- It appears that the Avalanche organization is legitimately concerned about the injury statuses of both Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth.
- Ken Hitchcock has promoted speedy winger Jason Chimera to the Blue Jackets’ number one line for tonight’s game versus the Kings. In some positive news for Columbus, injured forward Mike Peca practiced with his teammates yesterday and is close to a return to the lineup. Here are the Jackets’ probable lines for tonight’s game.
- The Dallas Stars tried to exact revenge for last year’s first round playoff loss to the Canucks last night, but Roberto Luongo was just too good as they lost to Vancouver 3-2. Prior to yesterday’s game, the Stars goalies were poking fun at Roberto Luongo’s flaps that he chooses not to tie down on his goalie pads.
- The Red Wings were unhappy with a non-call of what they perceived to be interference on the Blues’ second goal of the Wings’ 3-2 loss in St. Louis.
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal has an interesting piece on Brent Sutter and his move and adjustment to coaching in the NHL. Oilers super-scout Lorne Davis passed away on Thursday and Matheson has a touching obituary on one of the great members of the Oilers organization.
- The Kings will be without their top goal-scorer for the next two games as Dustin Brown injured his shoulder in Detroit on Wednesday night.
- Marian Gaborik was simply superb last night as the Slovakian speedster netted a career high 5 goals and added 1 assist in his team’s 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers.
- Not surprisingly, Predators GM David Poile, almost always conservative when it comes to trading, is not looking to make a move with his team’s current struggles.
- Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic tells readers that Derek Morris has had a quietly successful season.
- Ron Wilson was very unhappy with the Sharks after they blew a late one-goal lead to the Coyotes and eventually lost to Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout.
- The Blues were very excited after they pulled off a comeback versus the NHL’s best Detroit Red Wings last night and were victorious 3-2.
- As Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province tells us, the NHL has no problem with Roberto Luongo’s pads.
Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:
- The Capitals were outclassed by the Habs last night to a final score of 5-2 and to make matters worse they lost defenseman Brian Pothier to a broken thumb.
- The Leafs lost another heart-breaker last night as Vincent Lecavalier scored with under a minute remaining to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 victory. Former Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina still can’t get over how his stick snapped at the most inopportune time in the game.
- Jason Ward definitely didn’t have a problem with his promotion to Tampa’s number one line alongside superstar Vinny Lecavalier.
- The Penguins made it harder than they had to, after blowing a 4-0 lead to the Bruins but maintained their composure and won the game in a shootout. Meanwhile, reports of the Penguins opening up next season in Sweden versus the Senators have yet to be confirmed.
- Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the Flyers and head coach John Stevens have agreed to a contract extension.
- Martin Gerber tried his best to extend the Senators’ winning streak last night but came up on the losing end of a 3-2 score in Atlanta. The Sens were lucky to even be in the game after giving up a shocking 45 shots to Atlanta.
- If the Islanders want to turn their fortunes around, they need to start turning their high shot totals into high goal totals writes Roderik Boone of Newsday.
- John Dellapina of the New York Daily News thinks the Rangers may have started their holidays prior to last night’s loss to the Wild in St. Paul.
- Arron Asham is trying to put his on-ice yelling incident with Brent Sutter behind him as he tries to regain his early season form.
- Habs coach Guy Carbonneau felt his team was outplayed last night but, having said that, he will take a 5-2 road victory and look ahead to the rest of his team’s road trip.
- With last night’s 5-4 victory over the Hurricanes, the Panthers have moved to only three points out of first place in the Southeast Division.
- The Hurricanes can’t shake the injury bug as they lost winger Justin Williams to a left knee injury during last night’s loss at Florida.
- The Sabres welcome back Daniel Briere and Martin Biron back into the HSBC Arena tonight and, in good news, Derek Roy will be ready to face his ex-teammates.
- Coach Don Waddell thought the Thrashers played their hardest-fought game to date as they outshot and defeat the conference leading Senators 3-2 on home-ice.
- The Bruins lost in a shootout last night, but they can take solace in the fact that they didn’t quit when they were trailing 4-0 and came roaring back to make it 4-4.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
