Here are the morning papers for Sunday the 19th of October:
- The Ducks recorded their first win of the season on Friday night but now they need their first line to get going, writes Dan Arritt.
- The Thrashers recorded an important win over the Sabres on Saturday night. The lines just keep changing in Atlanta as coach John Anderson searches for combinations that work.
- The Blackhawks blew two two-goal leads last night and lost 4-3 to the Blues in Joel Quenneville’s debut.
- After losing to the Bruins on Saturday, Senators coach Craig Hartsburg came out and called his team “too soft“.
- The Flames blew a 2-0 road lead over the rival Oilers on Saturday and ended up losing 4-3. They were dominant in the first period but after that it wasn’t pretty.
- The Bruins ended their road trip over .500 with a win in Ottawa last night. The Bruins were in control of last night’s contest, writes Stephen Harris. Here’s Kevin Paul Dupont’s always terrific Sunday column.
- Could Maxim Afinogenov be on his way to Colorado?
- Brandon Sutter agrees that the first two weeks of his first NHL season have been quite an experience.
- The Blue Jackets were dominated by the Predators last night in Nashville, writes Tom Reed. Coach Hitchcock is still wondering why Pascal Leclaire tried to catch a shot with his blocker.
- Marty Turco has struggled to start the season, but Dave Tippett and the coaching staff is not looking to give him a break to straighten out his game. The Dallas Morning News has a feature story on Sean Avery.
- Marian Hossa’s first goal as a Red Wing was an overtime winner over the Rangers. Brad Stuart couldn’t play last night so Derek Meech got into his first NHL action of the season.
- The Panthers missed a bunch of scoring chances last night but it didn’t matter as Tomas Vokoun shut the door as the team defeated the Islanders 2-0. Cats’ prospect Michael Frolik may be on his way to the AHL.
- The Antti Miettinen pick up continues to pay off for the Wild as the Finnish winger scored the overtime winner on Saturday.
- The Oilers took both games of their home-and-home with the Flames and are now 4-0 on the young season, write Joanne Ireland. Steve MacIntyre changed the momentum of last night’s game for the Oilers.
- Shea Weber recorded a career high four points last night as his Predators handed the Jackets a 6-3 defeat.
- The Habs beat the Coyotes quite easily by a score of 4-1 but the headliner of last night’s game was the hit by Phoenix defenseman Kurt Sauer on Habs forward Andrei Kostitsyn.
- The Devils defeated the Capitals but did lose Bobby Holik to a broken pinkie finger.
- Rick Dipietro was pretty good in his season debut but his team just couldn’t muster any offense. Islanders coach Scott Gordon has shifted Doug Weight to the left point on the power play. Meanwhile, the New York media doesn’t care about the Islanders, writes Neil Best.
- The Rangers were down 3-1 and came storming back to take the lead, only to give it up and lose 5-4 in overtime to the defending Stanley Cup champion Wings. Markus Naslund and Chris Drury have really been struggling, writes Larry Brooks. Brooks also has his weekly rant on the problems with the NHL and NHLPA.
- Even some line-up changes and a 3-1 lead couldn’t help the Flyers record a victory over the Flyers.
- Michel Therrien’s decision to play Sidney Crosby with Evgeni Malkin worked quite well as the two superstars recorded four points each. Matt Cooke did not play last night because of an upper-body injury.
- Dan Boyle scored his first goal as a Shark in overtime last night and it obviously couldn’t have come at a better time.
- The Lightning’s winless streak has reached five games as they lost 1-0 in a shootout at home on Saturday. In roster news, Radim Vrbata was a healthy scratch for Tampa on Saturday.
- Andy McDonald scored the tying goal for the Blues with under a minute left versus the Hawks last night and T.J. Oshie scored the shootout winner. In injury news, the Blues may have lost D.J. King for three months to a shoulder injury.
- The Leafs just don’t have the star power of the Penguins and that sure showed last night, writes Kevin McGran. The Leafs have yet to win a game since their opening night victory over the Wings.
- The Capitals need to get their power play figured out as it may have cost them the victory last night. “We definitely got outworked,” said coach Bruce Boudreau.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.