Here are the morning papers for Thursday the 18th of December:
- Ducks rookie Brett Festerling is learning his trade beside one of the all-time best defenseman in the NHL, Scott Niedermayer.
- Mike Knobler of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out that the Thrashers just cannot beat good teams.
- As part of the Bruins’ puck-posssession style of play, coach Claude Julien encourages his netminders to make passes to the team’s defensemen or forwards and not just get rid of the puck. Boston wants to maintain its focus tonight and ensure that the Leafs aren’t taken lightly.
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News tells us that the Sabres have trouble winning games when they make mistakes, as was evidenced at home last night versus the Devils. Both Tomas Vanek and Jochen Hecht were benched for part of the second period versus New Jersey.
- The Flames players were as excited to see Todd Bertuzzi finally score in overtime last night as they were to actually win the game, writes Randy Sportak. Corey Sarich doesn’t just fight, he wears the results of these fights on his face. In other Flames news, it looks like prospect Mikael Backlund may play in the CHL after the Word Junior Championships are over.
- If the Hurricanes lose to Florida tonight, they will find themselves below the Panthers in the standings.
- Are the Blackhawks becoming one of the elite teams in the NHL? Chris Kuc wonders.
- Andrew Raycroft will start in between the pipes for Colorado tonight versus Tampa Bay. Adrian Dater with more on the possible return of Peter Forsberg.
- Steve Mason has been terrific this season but last night may have been his coming out party, as he turned aside 47 shots to lead the Jackets to an overtime victory over the powerful Sharks. On the injury front, the Jackets lost both Jason Chimera and Andrew Murray in the third period of last night’s contest. Here are the Blue Jackets’ projected lines for tonight’s game versus Dallas. As Michael Arace writes, the Blue Jackets are making progress under Ken Hitchcock.
- In the Dallas area, Stars forward Loui Eriksson is getting compared to Jere Lehtinen.
- The Wings certainly know they will have their hands full tonight when the Sharks come to town. With Chris Osgood on the sidelines (groin), Ty Conklin gets the start tonight.
- They didn’t lose by seven goals on Wednesday, but the positives pretty much end for the Oilers after that, writes Robert Tychkowski. The Oilers seem to lack intensity until they are pushed.
- Panthers forward Stephen Weiss is 50/50 to play tonight at Carolina. If you didn’t know, both Panthers goalies have been very strong this season.
- The Wild didn’t play poorly on Wednesday, but a turnover in the offensive zone cost them the game, writes Michael Russo. Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune tells readers that Marian Gaborik finally got going when he was moved onto the Wild’s top line. Even though Brent Burns moved back to defense for last night’s game, coach Jacques Lemaire says he’d eventually like to make Burns a forward.
- Mike Komisarek is set to return to the Habs line-up tonight versus Philadelphia. Pat Hickey has a nice feature on grinder Steve Begin. People calling for Yannick Weber to improve the Habs power play have to realize he isn’t yet ready for the big show.
- Current Predators captain Jason Arnott thinks Shea Weber will be a terrific captain in the future. As of now, the Predators won’t make the cut for the NHL’s revenue sharing plan.
- With Mike Comrie close to a return to the line-up, the Islanders have a logjam of forwards.
- The Rangers didn’t come out strong in Los Angeles, but they stayed focused and got out of the Staples Center with an overtime victory. Steven Valiquette was in net last night for New York. Apparently Mats Sundin wants $6 million from the Rangers.
- Craig Hartsburg has split up his top line once agian. Sens GM Bryan Murray wants to make a trade but he can’t find a partner. Wayne Scanlan says the Senators should just blow things up.
- Daniel Briere is going to travel with his Flyers teammates to Montreal but he really doesn’t expect to play until right around the new year. Meanwhile, with pictures of some of the Flyers circulating on the net from a frat party, GM Paul Holmgren says it doesn’t concern him that his players are partying a bit.
- The Arizona Republic has a Q & A with Darren Pang.
- Having four days between games allowed Michel Therrien to work his team but also give the group some rest. Marc-Andre Fleury will start tonight for Pittsburgh. Ruslan Fedotenko also expects to play tonight.
- Sharks fans should know that Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was the one who gave defenseman Brad Lukowich his first real chance in the NHL.
- The Blues have incurred so many injuries this season that you have to give them credit for continuing to work with such a shortened bench. Speaking of injuries, Jay McKee has a fractured finger.
- Lightning coach Rick Tocchet is going to depend on Vincent Lecavalier to lead the way for the Bolts. The Bolts will get a boost with Jeff Halpern’s return to the line-up tonight.
- Did you know the Leafs are 8-4-4 when Mike Van Ryn is in the line-up? Along with the team’s defense playing solidly as of late, so has netminder Vesa Toskala. The Leafs will try and make it four in a row tonight in Boston.
- The Canucks continued the Trevor Linden celebration on Wednesday with a win for their former captain. It was obviously no surprise that Linden was gracious in his thank you speech last night.
- If Russia isn’t producing as many NHLers as it once did, the Capitals haven’t noticed, writes Corey Masisak. Meanwhile in Caps land, defenseman Milan Jurcina has really excelled with extra responsibility.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
