I apologize for the late papers, my internet kicked out this morning so I had to boot it to a coffee shop close by:
- The Ducks continue to fade down the stretch, writes Bill Witz. Should Ryan Getzlaf be shooting more?
- The Thrashers outplayed the sixth best team in the NHL last night. Slava Kozlov had a gorgeous setup on the Bryan Little goal.
- Manny Fernandez was probably the main reason the Bruins lost yesterday at MSG. That said, Boston was still pretty unlucky. Byron Bitz played center yesterday for Boston.
- Paul Gaustad used his injury time to improve his game on the ice, writes John Vogl.
- In a very poor performance, the Flames got beat in their old home last night by the score of 5-2. Miikka Kiprusoff put yesterday’s loss on himself.
- My how things can change in the matter of a week, writes Chip Alexander about the Hurricanes. Eric Cole has sure played an important role in that turnaround.
- The Blackhawks were just plain horrible on Sunday, writes Chris Kuc.
- The Avalanche played a far improved defensive game and the results of last night’s affair in Chicago demonstrate that it paid off. Terry Frei won’t let us forget that today is the fifth anniversary of Steve Moore’s last game in the NHL.
- Fighting has gone up 11% from last season, writes Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch. The Jackets players were given Sunday off.
- Mike Modano has one goal in his past 20 games, so the Stars need him to be better if they want to make the playoffs. Sunday’s loss to Montreal at home was the Stars’ sixth consecutive home loss.
- The Red Wings know they deserve boos after losing two games by six or more goals. The Wings are giving up almost three goals-per-game.
- The Oilers are aware of the pressure on the team to make the playoffs this season, after just falling short in 2007/08. Ladislav Smid not feeling well right now and could be out of the lineup for a while.
- Anthony Stewart wants people to know his accidental run-in with Peter DeBoer was, just that, an accident. Jacques Martin wanted Alex Edler or Kevin Bieksa in any deal with the Canucks for Jay Bouwmeester.
- The Kings are five points out of the playoffs with five teams in their way.
- With a victory over Anaheim on Sunday, the Wild passed the Ducks in the standings. Derek Boogaard is looking forward to getting back in the Wild linuep post-suspension.
- Carey Price is starting to look like the Carey Price of old, as the Habs defeated the Stars 3-1 in Dallas last night.
- The Predators know they need to be desperate because every point means so much.
- Brent Sutter is making sure his Devils don’t just forget about Saturday’s loss to NYI. Patrick Roy has many nice things to say about Martin Brodeur.
- The Islanders are turning into a dominant team at home, writes John Jeansonne.
- New York won a game on Sunday that they probably would have lost a few weeks ago, writes Larry Brooks. The Rangers are playing with some good tenacity under John Tortorella. The MSG faithful love Sean Avery.
- The Senators may be without Jason Smith and Alex Picard for possibly the rest of the season.
- Ed Moran tells Flyers fans to relax and stop calling out GM Paul Holmgren.
- The Coyotes still want to improve defensively. Here’s some information on new Coyotes center Matthew Lombardi.
- The Penguins finished the team’s most successful road trip ever yesterday, with a 4-3 shootout win over Ovechkin and the Capitals. Bill Guerin wants to keep playing hockey. Petr Sykora didn’t play yesterday due to injury.
- The Sharks are learning to deal with adversity right now. Newest Shark Travis Moen realizes there is a transition time involved in getting acclimated to his new team.
- Here are the Blues’ remaining games on the schedule.
- Can things get any worse for Lightning fans?
- Ron Wilson wouldn’t divulge as to whether Martin Gerber will start tonight for the Leafs versus his old squad. Which ex-Leaf does Mike Van Ryn remind you of?
- Home is not so sweet for the Capitals lately.