Here are the morning papers for Tuesday the 14th of October:
- Jarome Iginla will try and record his first point of the season as the Avalanche visit the winless Flames tonight.
- The Hawks lost their much anticipated home opener last night, writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune. Dustin Byfuglien has adjusted pretty well to playing forward this season. The Hawks are back to being a draw in Chicago, but their performance so far this season reminds Mike Downey of the old Hawks.
- Terry Frei of the Denver Post says the Avalanche need Peter Budaj to step up. On the bright side, the Avalanche isn’t unhappy the way they’ve played this season.
- The Oilers only won 28% of their face-offs in their home opener on Sunday. The Oilers have been dominated in the shots department lately as well.
- The Habs increased their work ethic last night and came away with a big 5-3 road victory at Philadelphia.
- It is Nick Foligno’s chance to play with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, writes Allen Panzeri of the Ottawa Citizen. In injury news, Daniel Alfredsson is feeling better but there is still no word on when exactly he will return.
- All the intensity from their first two games was missing last night for the Canucks, writes Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province. The Canucks were taken back to reality, opines Tony Gallagher. Iain McIntyre of the Vancouver Sun wasn’t sure why Alain Vigneault inserted Kyle Wellwood into the line-up on Monday.
- Coach Randy Carlyle was impressed with the play of Ducks forward Ryan Carter in the team’s home opener.
- Thrashers coach John Anderson wants to get his top back up forward, defenseman and goaltender into the line up sometime soon.
- Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe breaks down the Andrew Alberts trade for Bruins fans. One of the primary reasons for the trade was that it allowed the Bruins to free up cap space.
- There were no real negatives about the Sabres’ dominant victory at Long Island on Monday.
- The Hurricanes didn’t play poorly last night but they could see just how good the Wings really are in their 3-1 home loss to the defending champs. Apparently the Hurricanes’ new black third jerseys have gone over really well.
- Forget working out his legs or arms, R.J. Umberger worked out his brain this summer. The Jackets visit San Jose tonight and here are some notes about the game. Here is how the Jackets expect to line up for tonight’s game.
- The Stars need to improve their special teams, writes Mike Heika.
- Ty Conklin was very solid in Carolina last night in his first start for the Wings. The Red Wings may try Dan Cleary alongside Henrik Zetterberg next game.
- Panthers defenseman Noah Welch was happy to get back into regular season action on Saturday.
- The Kings found out they lost Jack Johnson for 2-3 months on Monday because of a shoulder injury.
- When the Wild starts a season off strong, they make the playoffs, so coach Jacques Lemaire is making his team well aware of past trends.
- The Predators had many reasons to pack it in last night against Chicago but didn’t and came away with a nice 3-2 shootout victory. Jason Arnott got injured on Monday night and will have his hand re-evaluated today. Meanwhile, Alexander Radulov wants nothing to do with the NHL.
- The fans were chanting for Rick DiPietro yesterday afternoon as the Sabres blew out the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum. Rick DiPietro is almost certainly still injured, writes Mark Herrmann.
- The Rangers suffered a great tragedy on Monday when 19 year old Alexei Cherepanov passed away on the ice during a KHL hockey game. Jim Baumbach thinks Henrik Lundqvist is arguably the best goalie in the NHL. The Rangers are now a perfect 5-0 on the season after defeating the rival Devils.
- The Flyers opened the season with two games at home and so far they are 0-for-2. The team did acquire some help on defense yesterday with the trade for Andrew Alberts.
- Stephen Reinprecht is a veteran leader with a good attitude and that is a perfect fit on a young Coyotes squad, writes Jim Gintonio.
- Do the Penguins stink this season? The Penguins were put through an extremely difficult practice on Monday in order to get their game into shape.
- With Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler in Toronto now, David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News takes a look at who the Sharks’ new assistant coaches are.
- The Blues defeated the Leafs 5-4 in a shootout on Monday afternoon but after the game they took issue with Ryan Hollweg’s hit from behind.
- If the Lightning are going to win some games, they first need to win some battles for the puck. It looks like Marek Malik and Paul Ranger will be joining the Bolts’ defensive corps very soon.
- The Leafs blew a 3-0 first period lead to the Blues at Air Canada Centre on Monday. Matt Stajan was a healthy scratch yesterday.
- The Capitals demolished the visiting Canucks 5-1 on Columbus Day, writes Tarik El-Bashir.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
