- On the ice, the Ducks have lost Teemu Selanne for 4-6 weeks with a lacerated left thigh. Off the ice, the Ducks take care of those in the community.
- Kari Lehtonen returned to the lineup for Atlanta last night and was sharp in leading his team to a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay.
- Never mind the Bruins win on Saturday, the team is more concerned with the injury status of Patrice Bergeron. Kevin Paul Dupont looks at the home sellout streaks for five of the six Canadian teams, among other things, in his Sunday column.
- Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News tells readers that, in light of the recent Mats Sundin, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne scenarios, the NHL will look into a possible UFA signing deadline. By the way, the Sabres lost in overtime to the Habs on Saturday.
- Robyn Regehr knows the Flames can be better than they have demonstrated. Adam Pardy and Cory Sarich have developed some nice chemistry on the Flames’ back-end.
- The Hurricanes lost to Boston on Saturday afternoon and came away quite impressed with the Bruins.
- The Blackhawks made in seven wins a row with a win over Vancouver last night at GM Place. Apparently Gary Bettman is looking forward to next week’s Winter Classic.
- Peter Budaj gets the start in net today for Colorado versus Florida. Meanwhile, Terry Frei thinks Mats Sundin signing with Vancouver may actually help the Avalanche.
- The Blue Jackets were shutout by Ilya Brygalov and the Coyotes but Rick Nash doesn’t think they got any solid scoring chances. Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch thinks the NHL’s replay system needs fixing.
- The Stars didn’t play well defensively or between the pipes and that is why the team lost 5-4 at Ottawa on Saturday. Speaking of defense, Dallas’s co-GMs are looking to upgrade in that area.
- The Wings didn’t give up last night and came back to record a 6-4 home victory over the Kings. Daniel Clearly applied his coach’s shooting at all times advice and it paid off.
- Here is Jim Matheson’s must-read Hockey World. Is Erik Cole finally rounding into form?
- The Panthers are home for the first time since early December and the team’s goal is to play as well at home as they have on the road.
- Just when the Wild got some confidence, they lost it last night with a poor performance against St. Louis. Michael Russo, for one, has had enough of UFAs taking their sweet time to return to the NHL.
- Alexei Kovalev went from goat to hero in a matter of minutes last night, in the Habs’ 4-3 overtime win over the Sabres.
- The Predators just cannot score as of late, but as coach Trotz says, it matters less when the win anyways. Speaking of scoring slumps, Jason Arnott has no goals and two assists in his last nine games.
- Count Mark Everson of the NY Post as very impressed with the coaching job Brent Sutter has done in New Jersey.
- After last night’s 1-0 loss at Nashville, Greg Logan of Newsday wonders if it can get any worse for the Islanders?
- The Sundin situation is over, so the Rangers can now focus on improving their porous defense. Meanwhile Larry Brooks reminds us that Wayne Gretzky is the greatest athlete to ever take less money to come to NY.
- The Senators recorded an important victory against Dallas last night but didn’t avenge Jere Lehtinen’s hit on Daniel Alfredsson, writes Don Brennan. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun says he has heard rumblings of Marian Gaborik being traded for Ilya Kovalchuk. (Writer’s note: I say no chance in hell.)
- Anterro Nittymaki was tremendous on Saturday, turning aside 47 shots to lead the Flyers to a 7-1 thrashing of the Capitals.
- Ilya Bryzgalov is on a roll for the Coyotes right now and it showed last night. With a new plan this season, the Coyotes appear to more fresh than they were last campaign.
- Dave Molinari examines whether the shrinking cap will affect the Penguins’ negotiations with Jordan Staal. By the way, the Penguins played last night and got served by Toronto.
- The Sharks rebounded after two consecutive defeats to beat the Rangers 3-2 in the Bay Area last night. With Milan Michalek out, Jonathan Cheechoo saw some time on the second line yesterday.
- The Blues brought a high-effort level on Saturday and it paid off, as they defeated division-rival Minnesota 4-2. With so many injuries to so many key players, the Blues are learning to play through adversity.
- Martin St. Louis went off after his team’s loss to Atlanta last night. Jussi Jokinen has cleared waivers for Tampa.
- The Leafs played a terrific game on Saturday, defeating the high-flying Penguins 7-3 at the Igloo. Is Justin Pogge going to get the start in Atlanta tomorrow?
- After last night’s loss to Chicago, Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province is calling for Mats Sundin to arrive. Alain Vigneault didn’t think his team player poorly, they just ran into the hottest team in the NHL.
- The Capitals got thrashed by Philadelphia yesterday afternoon by a score of 7-1.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
