Here are the morning papers for the Saturday the 18th of October:
- The Flames took seven minor penalties on Friday and it cost them versus the Oilers. Miikka Kiprusoff looked more like his old self last night, but it still wasn’t enough for the struggling Flames.
- Joel Quenneville got his first look at the Blackhawks at practice yesterday and was quite impressed with the talent level of the team. Meanwhile, Patrick Kane is taking the Denis Savard firing a little harder than most players.
- Oilers netminder Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers picked up his first NHL win over the rival Flames on Friday, writes Joanne Ireland.
- Marian Gaborik will miss tonight’s game against the Lightning and as a result the Wild has called up Krys Kolanos. John Shipley has a feature on former Wild center and now current Lightning assistant coach Wez Walz. As does Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
- Christopher Higgins is expected to be back in the line-up tonight for the Habs.
- The fans were rockin’ last night as the home Senators handled the Coyotes with a 6-3 victory. Sure the fans helped, but somebody named Daniel Alfredsson had a bigger effect.
- Canucks coach Alain Vigneault was not happy with Shane O’Brien last night and didn’t hold back in his post-game interview. Curtis Sanford wasn’t very sharp in his season debut for the Canucks in Buffalo. Additionally, the team needs to focus on improving its power play.
- The Ducks were desperate last night and it showed, as they defeated the Sharks 4-0 at the Honda Center. Desperate or not, the Ducks relied on the tremendous netminding of J.S. Giguere.
- The Thrashers may be struggling to start the season but they aren’t getting down on themselves.
- The Bruins like what they have in young center David Krejci. The Bruins hope they are close to playing a full sixty minute game, writes Stephen Harris.
- Patrick Kaleta specializes in getting players to lose their temper and so far he’s been successful, writes Bucky Gleason.
- The Hurricanes blew a two-goal lead last night and lost in overtime to the Kings.
- Andrew Raycroft won his first appearance for the Avalanche and has been rewarded with the start tonight versus Dallas.
- The Jackets’ youngsters carried the team in their home opener Friday night versus Nashville. Last night, Fredrik Modin demonstrated what he can do when he’s healthy.
- Stars coach Dave Tippett wants his veterans skaters to step up and show his team the way.
- The Wings need to get their focus back at home, writes Helene St. James. Less turnover wouldn’t hurt either. All that said, the team will be without Henrik Zetterberg on Saturday.
- Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen’s knee injury may be worse than originally thought. Coach Peter DeBoer wants his Panthers to increase their sense of urgency.
- The Kings allowed three second period goals but stayed resilient and came back with a 4-3 overtime victory on Friday night.
- Bad starts are really costing the Predators, writes John Glennon. J.P. Dumont thinks the Predators can win their rematch with the Blue Jackets tonight if they play the same way they did during the 2nd and 3rd periods last night.
- The Devils could be without Brian Rolston for as long as a month, explains Mark Everson.
- As Greg Logan tells us, Rick DiPietro will make his season debut either tonight or Thursday.
- Steve Valiquette was terrific last night versus the Maple Leafs. The Rangers played the way they wanted to after the second period, explains Larry Brooks.
- The Flyers are playing bad hockey and coach John Stevens is not happy.
- Michel Therrien is somewhat desperate so it’s time to put Crosby and Malkin on the same line. More importantly, the Penguins are raising money for a good cause tonight.
- The Sharks didn’t play poorly last night even though the scoreboard read a 4-0 loss at Anaheim.
- The Blues lost Chris Mason for two weeks to an appendectomy and are hoping they are getting their injuries out of the way in the first month of the season.
- Bolts coach Barry Melrose wants his team to stop taking penalties.
- Vesa Toskala was terrific for the Leafs on Friday, unfortunately the team in front of him wasn’t so impressive. Meanwhile, defenseman Jeff Finger feels like he is close to returning to the line-up.
- Capitals prospect Chris Bourque has been recalled from the AHL.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
*If you have any questions for the Illegal Curve correspondents, drop a line in our mailbag and we will try our best to answer your questions every Monday*
