Here are the morning papers for Saturday the 29th of November:
- Gary Bettman says the NHL is doing fine, but Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail disagrees.
- Jonas Hiller continued his terrific play last night for the Ducks in a 1-0 shutout of the high-flying Blackhawks. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but Anaheim was just happy to get the two points, writes Dan Wood. With Brian Burke’s signing with the Leafs, the Ducks admit that it really hasn’t been much of a distraction at all for them.
- Atlanta coach John Anderson was not happy with the officiating in his team’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Predators. Here is the latest injury news from Atlanta.
- Manny Fernandez’s big save on Bill Guerin in the third period was the turning point in Boston’s 7-2 victory over the Islanders. Bruins winger Michael Ryder was moved onto David Krejci’s line for Friday’s matinee game versus the Islanders and it certainly worked wonders, writes Fluto Shinzawa. The Bruins are for real, opines Bob Ryan.
- The Sabres recorded their first back-to-back victories in a long time last night over the visiting Penguins, writes John Vogl. Last night was Dave Andreychuk night in Buffalo.
- With so many goaltending injuries these days, Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun wonders if the Flames are overplaying Miikka Kiprusoff. Sportak also tells us that Jarome Iginla is starting to round into form.
- Sergei Samsonov scored a late overtime goal to end the Hurricanes’ three-game losing streak on Friday.
- The Blackhawks lost to the Ducks yesterday afternoon and their coach Joel Quenneville thinks they have to become more comfortable playing against checking teams.
- Joe Sakic (back) left Friday’s game against Phoenix after just one shift. Did you know Peter Budaj is on pace to play 70 games this season?
- Blue Jackets netminder Pascal Leclaire took responsibility for last night’s loss at Detroit. Here are the Jackets’ projected lines for tonight’s game against Washington.
- Marty Turco wasn’t good last night versus San Jose and Dave Tippett didn’t hide his disappointment with his goaltender’s play. In other Stars news, Sean Avery doesn’t mind taking the spot of Brenden Morrow in front of the opposition’s net.
- Chris Osgood wasn’t sharp on Friday but he still recorded the victory which tied him with Andy Moog for 13th on the NHL’s all-time wins list.
- The Oilers management isn’t going to make any changes in the near future, so it is up to the players on the ice to get the job done.
- The Panthers didn’t win yesterday but they did comeback with a late third period goal by David Booth to record one point. Speaking of Booth, he looks like he very well may be the Panthers’ representative at this year’s All-Star game. Meantime, newest Panthers forward Nick Tarnasky is happy to be back in the Southeast Division.
- The Wild brought an increased passion and emotion to the Xcel Energy Center on Friday and it showed in their play, as they defeated the Lightning 4-2. Jacques Lemaire has been practicing certain aspects of the game with his team to try and improve scoring and he finally sees it paying off. Wes Walz will always be a member of the Wild.
- Jose Theodore shutout his former teammates on Friday, as the Capitals defeated the Habs 3-0. Meanwhile, Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette has an interesting article that examines whether the Habs are distracted by the fact that they have so many impending free agents.
- The Predators blew three leads last night but still came away with a 4-3 victory over the Thrashers.
- The Devils are 6-5 since Martin Brodeur went out with his biceps injury and are hoping to continue their five-game winning streak today versus Pittsburgh.
- After the Islanders’ loss to the Bruins, Bill Guerin said that Boston is a team that is “scary” to play against.
- The Rangers continued their shootout success in Florida on Friday. Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t happy that he allowed the Panthers to tie the game late in the third period. Larry Brooks tells readers that the Rangers don’t really churn out future coaches.
- Luke Richardson is going to try and make the switch from playing to coaching and Don Brenann has the details. Jason Spezza continues to get criticized in the media.
- Martin Biron (shoulder) is questionable for tonight’s game against Toronto. Jeff Carter (shoulder) is also questionable for tonight’s game.
- Kevin Porter is getting a chance to take some of Olli Jokinen’s minutes and he got off to a good start last night.
- The Penguins blew a third period lead in Buffalo last night. Now the Penguins know how other teams feel when they pull their classic third period comebacks.
- The Sharks cruised past the Stars last night in Dallas. The Sharks aren’t fixating on last season’s playoff loss to the Stars.
- The Bolts didn’t play with confidence when they had the lead in Minnesota yesterday and ended up losing the game 4-2. Steve Downie brought some intensity to the table in Minnesota for the Lightning.
- Paul Hunter examines Brian Burke’s drafting record. Ron Wilson is excited to work with Brian Burke but knows who the boss is. The Burke hiring is not an issue for Dominic Moore.
- Who will play in net for the Canucks tonight?
- Jose Theodore was sharp on Friday, as he recorded his first shutout of the season.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
**If you missed it yesterday, take a look at the State of the Southeast Division where team-specific bloggers write special pieces for Illegal Curve detailing how the team they follow has done so far during the 2008/09 season**