NHL Morning Papers (Tuesday Edition): Ken Hitchcock wants more out of his veterans, Vrbata leaves the Lightning and the Wings change up their lines

Here are the morning papers for Tuesday the 9th of December:

• The Ducks aren’t exactly filling the stands this season, writes Curtis Zupke.
• Thrashers netminder Kari Lehtonen was ecstatic to be back at practice with his teammates on Monday.
• The Bruins may have gotten a little cocky last night after getting out to an early 3-0 lead against the lowly Lightning.  Last night’s win was the Lightning’s 17th in the team’s last 20 games.  It is cool to watch hockey again in Boston, writes Steve Buckley.
• The Sabres killed 7 of 8 penalties against Pittsburgh last night in the club’s 4-3 road victory.  Rookie Nathan Gerbe was certainly in awe of who was on the ice against him during his first two NHL games.
• The Flames face former teammate Alex Tanguay tonight in Montreal.  Meanwhile, David Moss will look to make it a goal in five straight games tonight.  The Flames are expecting Dustin Boyd to return to the line-up tonight.  A couple of Flames get to play games in or close to their hometown tonight.
• The Hurricanes’ defensive unit looks a heck of a lot like the defense group in Albany, writes Chip Alexander.
• Apparently Dale Tallon’s job is safe in Chicago, writes Chris Kuc.
• Terry Frei has an interesting article on Cody McCormick in this morning’s Denver Post.  It looks like Adam Foote is close to returning to the line-up for the Avalanche.  Peter Budaj will start tonight for the Avalanche when they take on the Kings.
• Ken Hitchcock wants his veteran players to step up and play according to the situation, writes Aaron Portzline.  You want tickets to a Blue Jackets game? They sure aren’t expensive.
• James Neal is starting to find his groove in Dallas, writes Mike Heika.
• The Wings have won three games in a row but Mike Babcock has decided to give his line-up a face-lift anyhow.
• Oilers center Robert Nilsson is hoping to be back in the team’s line-up by Thursday.  Meantime, Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun wonders if this is the season where Ales Hemsky takes the next step.
• The Panthers scored with less than ten seconds remaining in overtime last night to leave Ottawa with a 4-3 victory.  In injury news, the Panthers may have Cory Stillman and Richard Zednik back in the line-up on Thursday.
• Here is reaction on the new and impressive Canadiens’ practice facility.  Here is more reaction.
• Brian Stensaas of the Star Tribune tells us that Martin Skoula is no longer the whipping boy for Wild fans.  In roster news, it looks like Marian Gaborik’s time with Minnesota won’t last much longer.
• Sure the Predators lost 6-3 last night at St. Louis, but the game was a lot closer than the score indicates.  It was penalties that cost the Predators on Monday.
• The Devils didn’t lower their expectations when Martin Brodeur went down with his biceps injury.
• Jason Blake had three points against his old Islanders teammates last night in Toronto, writes Greg Logan.  Islanders coach Scott Gordon is going to continue to ride netminder Joey MacDonald with Rick DiPietro injured.
• The Rangers are only playing .500 hockey since October 30.  The Rangers have to be due for an offensive outbreak don’t they?
• The Senators lost for the first time on Monday when wearing their new black jerseys.  By looking at his body language, James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen seems to think that Jay Bouwmeester wants out of Florida.
• The Flyers need to improve their five-on-five play, writes Ed Moran.  In injury news, Matt Carle will miss his fourth consecutive game tonight because of back spasms.
• The Penguins had many opportunties to come away with last night’s game but they ended up losing 4-3 to the Sabres.  On the injury front, Marc-Andre Fleury was back at practice on Monday.
• It is clear that Sharks head coach Todd McLellan has a lot of trust in his players.
• The Blues, on the back of B.J. Crombeen’s hat trick, surged late in the third to record a 6-3 victory over Nashville.  St. Louis played last night without T.J. Oshie who sat out yesterday’s game with an ankle problem.
• The Lightning made two more roster moves on Monday, one of which was allowing Radim Vrbata to return to the Czech Republic.  By the way, the Lightning played last night and lost again.
• Don’t bet on Brian Burke making any trades before Christmas.  Jeremy Williams was recalled again by the Leafs to play last night’s game, so of course he scored once again, writes Rose Dimanno.  Jason Blake was great yesterday as well.
• Roberto Luongo may return to the Canucks’ net by this Saturday.  A decision by Mats Sundin appears close, and the Canucks could sure use him.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.