NHL Morning Papers (Sunday Edition)

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• The Thrashers three game win steak was ended last night by a superior Carolina team who defeated Atlanta 5-3. Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution documents the surprises, good and bad, surrounding the Thrashers this season.
• The Bruins demonstrated composure last night, responding to the Sabres’ game-tying short-handed goal by scoring the game-winning goal thirty two seconds later. Meanwhile, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe profiles Chris Bourque, among many things, in his Sunday notes column. Needless to say, Bruins’ defenseman Aaron Ward was furious that Francis Bouillon’s hit to his head was deemed an accident.
• The Sabres took the play to the Bruins for most of the night but they, as has been the case all season, just couldn’t crack the scoresheet writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Sabres’ winger Maxim Afinogenov was benched last night after he turned the puck over and it led to a Bruins’ goal.
• The Hurricanes were unhappy with their performance Thursday against the Lightning and responded well to that poor performance by beating the streaking Thrashers 5-3 on the road Saturday night. In other Canes’ news, Dennis Seidenberg no longer has visa issues and has rejoined the Hurricanes
• Olli Jokinen says the Panthers have to stop skating on the outside if they want to draw more penalties.
• The Habs may have lost yesterday’s contest to the Senators, but they never lack leadership with Saku Koivu on the ice as the feisty Finnish center took on Patrick Eaves in a quasi-fight. Kevin Mio of the Montreal Gazette has an interesting Q & A with Habs’ off-season acquisition Tom Kostopoulos.
• One of the Devils’ coaches took a bench minor which gave the Islanders a 5-on-3, and Miroslav Satan made them pay by scoring the game-winning goal on that power play. “You can’t lose a game that way,” said coach Brent Sutter after the contest.
• Islanders’ captain Bill Guerin left last night’s game after taking a puck off the head and no update on his condition will be released until tomorrow.
• Stephen Valiquette provided a good argument for giving Henrik Lundqvist more games off with his performance last night in Toronto. Larry Brooks of the NY Post demonstrates his support for Eric Lindros’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in his Sunday Slap Shots column. Sean Avery started a scuffle before the game even began last night in Toronto writes John Dellapina of the NY Daily News.
• The Senators proved you almost have to play a perfect game to beat them as the Habs came up five minutes short and were defeated 3-1 yesterday afternoon. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun provides readers with his usual rumor roundup.
• The Flyers/Penguins is becoming quite a rivalry writes Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• After last night’s 5-2 loss to the Flyers, Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders how low Marc-Andre Fleury’s confidence can really get.
• After struggling for a couple weeks, the Lightning seem to have regained their confidence and are now back to .500 after defeating the Capitals 5-2 on Saturday night.
• The Capitals were in the game until the third period when the Lightning took over writes Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post.
• The Leafs could not get enough pucks past Etobicoke native Stephen Valiquette as the Rangers upended Toronto 3-2 in a shootout in last evening’s Hall of Fame game. “He has no sense of class,” said Darcy Tucker about Sean Avery after the contest.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• You won’t find any person with a bad thing to say about soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Al MacInnis writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• Jeremy Roenick was beyond excited, and understandably so, after scoring his 500th goal last night in the Sharks 4-1 win over his former team the Coyotes.
• The Predators demonstrated resiliency last night after blowing a late two goal but coming back to defeat the Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout. Predators’ defenseman Shea Weber is getting closer to a return from a dislocated knee cap, although no date has yet been set for his return.
• Michael Russo has an interesting story about Wild rookie James Sheppard and the support he is receiving from a former Wild forward. It looks like goaltender Niklas Backstrom re-injured his groin in practice yesterday and will miss tonight’s game at Colorado.
• The Kings pulled off a remarkable comeback last night at home versus the Stars, you almost have to have seen it to believe it writes Lisa Dillman of the L.A. Times.
• The Oilers got a much-needed victory last night over their provincial rival Flames to inch closer to the .500 level on the season. There may be a definite goalie controversy in the Albertan capital after Mathieu Garon turned aside 37 of the 39 shots he faced last night in Calgary.
• The Wings aren’t even concentrating on their long winning streak, they just want to take it game-by-game.
• The Stars somehow blew a 4-0 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game and have unofficially reached ‘rock bottom.’
• The Blue Jackets showed some character last night by rallying from two goals down in the third to salvage a point, however, they were defeated 4-3 by the Predators in a shootout.
• Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic only has one goal in his past eleven games but that doesn’t mean the sniper will stop shooting writes Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.
• Melissa Isaacson of the Chicago Tribune has a great piece on Hawks’ rookie Patrick Kane in this morning’s of paper.
• It’s now five losses in a row for the Flames after they were defeated by the young Oilers 4-2 on Saturday night. With Daymond Langkow on the shelf with a concussion, center Matthew Lombardi has been promoted to center the second unit.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.