Here are the morning papers for Saturday the 20th of December:
- In his news and notes piece, Eric Duhatschek talks about fitting in and compares Mats Sundin to Marian Hossa.
- The Ducks beat the Oilers in a shootout on Friday, but more importantly, they may have lost Teemu Selanne for a significant period of time with a lacerated leg.
- The Thrashers will get Kari Lehtonen and Mathieu Schneider back in the lineup tonight.
- It may not make sense for the Bruins to eventually deal Manny Fernandez, writes Fluto Shinzawa. Meanwhile, Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald compares the current Bruins team to the version from 2003/04.
- Ryan Miller turned aside 40 shots last night to lead the Sabres to an easy 5-0 victory over the young and energetic Kings.
- The Flames aren’t intimidated by the addition of Mats Sundin to the Vancouver fold, writes Ian Busby. Jarome Iginla recorded his 800th career point against Chicago last night, but his team lost in overtime.
- Joe Corvo is really getting into a groove in Carolina.
- The Blackhawks made it six wins in a row last night with an overtime victory over the Flames.
- The Colorado Avalanche apparently fly the most miles in the NHL. The Avs will look to make it a successful road trip on Sunday versus Florida.
- Derick Brassard is expected to be out of the Columbus lineup for at least weeks and maybe months with a dislocated shoulder. The Blue Jackets have voiced their displeasure with the NHL’s ruling the other night. Here are the Blue Jackets’ lines for tonight’s game.
- The Stars are getting healthy and thus starting to look like the team they were supposed to be before the season.
- Tyler Conklin has been terrific as of late and he is slated to get the start tonight.
- Erik Cole finally broke out of his season long slump last night. Edmonton had hard luck as they threw 53 shots on Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller and still lost in a shootout. There are only so many more moral victories the team can accept.
- Rostislav Olesz could be out of the Panthers lineup for a while with a groin injury.
- Colon Gilles scored his first NHL goal and the Wild actually scored four goals in its 4-1 victory over the lowly Islanders. Marian Gaborik did suit up last night but that was not always a guarantee.
- Here is Red Fisher’s must-read Saturday notebook. Carey Price is almost back to 100% for the Habs but Andrei Kostitsyn is still out with a knee injury. Robert Lang is 38 but you wouldn’t know it by his play.
- Martin Erat will find himself on the Predators checking line for tonight’s game.
- Patrik Elias had another four points last night and has been on absolute fire lately, leading the Devils to a 5-1 victory over the struggling Senators. Did you know the Devils roster consists of 11 US born players?
- Islanders coach Scott Gordon has talked to Brendan Witt since Witt’s comments about the flaws he believe are inherent in Gordon’s system. The Isles lost 4-1 to the Wild last night. On the bright side, Kyle Okposo and Mike Comrie returned to the lineup on Friday.
- Forget Mats Sundin, coach Tom Renney thinks the Rangers have a bigger need on defense.
- Jason Spezza could find himself wearing a suit in the press box very soon. The Senators put forth another embarassing performance last night.
- The Flyers have recalled tough guy Josh Gratton for today’s game versus Washington.
- The Coyotes are treating tonight’s game against Columbus as a quasi-playoff game.
- The Penguins have re-signed Max Talbot to a two-year contract extension. Meantime, Ryan Whitney is targetting Tuesday as his return date to the lineup.
- If you were wondering, the Sharks didn’t have an interest in signing Mats Sundin.
- Yesterday at practice, the Lightning tried to laugh off the team’s loss to Colorado on Friday.
- Mats Sundin has some interesting comments about his final season in Toronto. In injury news, Mike Van Ryn has a concussion and is out of the lineup for the remainder of the team’s road trip. The injury is unfortunate because Van Ryn has been terrific this season for the Buds.
- The Capitals have become a big hit in Washington. The team has fun and that is infectious for the fans.
**The Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Province and Vancouver Sun sites are giving me problems, those articles have not been included**
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.