Here are the morning papers for Tuesday the 31st of March:
- With six games remaining on the schedule, who will the Ducks start in net?
- Tobias Enstrom has been on fire lately for the Thrashers.
- Here is a great article profiling Milan Lucic from the Boston Globe. Lucic currently stands fifth in the NHL in hits. David Krejci is hoping his great game against Philadelphia will help him turn the corner offensively.
- The Sabres are a team built to get scoring from all throughout their four forward lines. In great news, Teppo Numminen has been nominated for the Masterton Trophy.
- Evgeni Nabokov made up for all the Sharks’ injuries with a stellar performance in his team’s 2-1 road victory at the Saddledome. Calgary needs to ramp up its offense. Eric Francis says the Flames are choking away the Northwest Division. With a top two playoff spot secured, the Sharks are pretty relaxed behind the scenes, writes Steve Macfarlane. (Writer’s note: From what I saw last night, the Flames need to get back to playing simple hockey, instead of looking for the perfect play. Once they simplify their game and regain focus for the playoffs, they should be fine.)
- Cam Ward was named the NHL’s Third Star for his play last week.
- Are the Blackhawks too young to know how to play in big games?
- Woody Paige suggests the Avs bring back Pierre Lacroix as GM and bring in Patrick Roy as Head Coach. (Writer’s note: Not as far fetched as most may think.)
- Ken Hitchcock has never really been in a race to get into the playoffs down the stretch, writes Aaron Portzline. Michael Arace tells fans not to worry, the Jackets still have an extremely good chance of making the playoffs. The Jackets will face a very injured Nashville team tonight.
- The Stars were awful last night in front of Tobias Stephan and he was not much better himself, writes Mike Heika.
- It looks like Andres Lilja’s concussion problems will keep him out for the remainder of the regular season. Dave Dye examines why Wings players do not win the Hart Trophy.
- Terry Jones says the Oilers of the past and the Oilers of the future are together on this current Oilers team and it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. The Oilers are trying their best not to get down on themselves. Ladislav Smid broke his hand and is out for the season.
- If the Panthers want to get into the playoffs, they need more balanced scoring, writes David J. Neal. Florida has two games coming up that they should win. Can Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton carry the Cats down the stretch?
- Kings GM Dean Lombardi says the Kings are moving in the right direction as an organization. (Writer’s note: He has done a terrific job of rebuilding that squad.)
- With Brent Burns on the sidelines, John Scott has earned the respect of his teammates and coaches in Minnesota, writes Brian Stensaas. Injured or not, the Wild has to continue to move forward. The desperate Wild faceoff against the Canucks tonight.
- Carey Price is feeling more confident in Montreal. Patrice Brisebois has been nominated for Masterton Trophy. Meantime, Bob Gainey has defended claims that Maxim Lapieere is a head-hunter.
- The Predators continue to lose key player after key player, but the players who are playing continue to work hard and focus on the goal of making the playoffs.
- “They have to realize what’s at stake. The playoffs are clinched? Big deal. We’ll be done in a week,” said Devils coach Brent Sutter after his team’s loss at MSG. It seems David Clarkson, along with the entire Devils team, was distracted by Sean Avery.
- At least someone will be playing in the Coliseum come playoff time, writes John Jeansonne of Newsday.
- The Rangers’ defense backed up a bit last night and it paid off in a 3-0 shutout of the Devils. Henrik Lundqvist was obviously the main reason for the shutout. Chris Drury says he was proud of the way Sean Avery played last night.
- The Senators can be officially eliminated from the playoffs tonight with a loss.
- Enver Lisin made quite the return to the Coyotes lineup after being a healthy scratch for nine straight games.
- Sidney Crosby is three points away from giving the Penguins two 100 point scorers for the first time since 1995-96. The Penguins have been playing well lately but so has everyone else. Is Matt Cooke just a better version of Jarkko Ruutu?
- The Sharks went into the Saddledome last night and won without Patrick Marleau, along with many other Sharks regulars, writes David Pollak.
- The Blues’ season turned around with their win over Boston in January, writes Jeremy Rutherford.
- Lightning coach Rick Tocchet is already sending out warning signals for next season. Former Bolt Mark Recchi has been energized by his trade to a contending team.
- Leafs coach Ron Wilson admits he was realistic all along about the Leafs’ chance at the playoffs. The Leafs will sure make headlines with this signing. Meanwhile, Ian White has been nominated for the Masterton Trophy. Look for the Leafs to welcome back Tomas Kaberle tomorrow.
- Even with a rough economy, the Canucks are still a hot ticket in town. Meantime, Willie Mitchell has a special place for Minnesota in his heart.
- The Capitals organization likes gritty players from Western Canada.
**The Philadelphia Daily News/Inquirer website was giving me trouble, so the Flyers stories are not in today’s morning papers**
***Also, make sure to tune into IllegalCurve.com Radio tomorrow night from 8:00pm-9:30pm CST.***