NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Pierre Lebrun of the Canadian Press tells us that scoring is down in the NHL for the second season in a row.
• Here are some news and notes courtesy of the National Post.
• Brett Hull and Les Jackson have been named interim co-general managers of the Stars after Tom Hicks fired Doug Armstrong on Tuesday.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News reviews the tenure of Doug Armstrong in this morning’s paper. Meanwhile, it appears that coach Dave Tippett’s job is safe, for this season at least. Here is a Q & A with Stars’ long-time beat writer Mike Heika.
• The Ducks were resilient last night after blowing a two-goal third period lead to the Kings, and ended up winning the game 4-3 in a shootout.
• The Flames got their first win in the month of November after coming from behind against the Wild for a 3-2 home victory. Miikka Kiprusoff made a number of crucial saves to lead the Flames to the victory last night.
• Patrick Lalime will be the starting netminder tonight for the Hawks versus the Blue Jackets.
• If the Blue Jackets are to make the playoffs, they can’t put it on auto-pilot on some nights like most teams can. Jackets’ center Mike Peca will miss tonight’s game and may be out a bit longer with a lingering groin injury. Here are the Jackets’ probable lines for tonight’s game.
• Defenseman Jeff Finger has been a pleasant surprise for the Avalance this season.
• Red Wings’ netminder Dominik Hasek gave up four second period goals and was subsequently pulled as the Wings were defeated by the Blues 4-3 on Tuesday night.
• It looks like much-maligned Oilers’ off-season acquisition Dustin Penner is finally finding his stride in the Albteran capital. Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun wonders why fans of the Oilers aren’t sold on Shawn Horcoff.
• The Kings almost pulled off another amazing comeback last night but fell short 4-3 in a shootout in Anaheim. Here is another article on the possible comebacks of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne.
• The Wild uncharacteristically gave up a third period lead to the Flames last night and were on the losing end of a 3-2 final. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, Marian Gaborik’s groin seems to be improving and the Wild winger is shooting to return tomorrow night in Edmonton.
• The Predators offense has turned around, but that is no thanks to their defense which has struggled to put up points on the board all season writes Jessica Hopp of the Tennessean.
• The Coyotes play the Sharks for the third time in a row tomorrow night and coach Wayne Gretzky desperately wants to avoid a three-game losing streak for his young club.
• Sandis Ozolinsh has been a pleasant surprise for the Sharks organizaton so far this season writes Mark Emmons of the San Jose Mercury News.
• The Blues ended their slump last night with a win over a dominating Detroit team and that should give the team some confidence says Keith Tkachuk. Of note, defenseman Jay McKee was a healthy scratch for last night’s contest.
• Luc Bourdon has been playing more minutes than the Canucks expected but has been handling it quite well opines Jim Jamieson of the Vancouver Province.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• The Leafs just can’t win a game once it goes to overtime or a shootout writes Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun. The Leafs lost more than just a game last night according to Damien Cox of the Toronto Star.
• Johan Holmqvist is sick of hearing all about the Lightning’s goaltending troubles writes Carter Gaddis of the Tampa Tribune.
• Sidney Crosby leads by example and the superstar is not about to hit the panic button in Pittsburgh after the team’s slow start. The Pens have recalled youngster Kris Letang form Wilkes-Barre.
• “Maybe there is a little improvement, but I am having a little dizziness,” said Simon Gagne about his ongoing concussion issues. If it’s any consolation, Eric Lindros feels Gagne’s pain.
• Jason Spezza is ready to return to the lineup, however, there are no guarantees that he is going to slide right back into his slot on the number one line writes Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. Dany Heatley became a set-up man with Spezza on the mend, but you can expect the sniper to get back to scoring goals now that the team’s number one center is primed to return.
• Here are the details of Islanders’ owner Charles Wang’s vision for a new arena on Long Island.
• Sean Avery’s teammates claim he never said what Howard Berger of the Fan 590 in Toronto claims he did.
• The Rangers make their first appearance at “The Rock” tonight in Newark writes Mark Everson of the NY Post. Martin Brodeur would love nothing better than to win his 500th game at home and have the victory come against the rival Rangers.
• Mike Komisarek scored the overtime winner, however, the star of the game was Carey Price who turned aside 37 of the 40 shots he faced.
• There are losses, then there are disheartening losses, and last night’s game for the Panthers definitely falls under the latter category. After blowing a 2-1 lead with 2.5 seconds remaining and then losing right away in overtime, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said, “It’s pretty disheartening. …We had it at the end of the game and couldn’t put it away.”
• Pending some test results, it appears that Hurricanes’ winger Erik Cole has avoided serious injury, although don’t expect the winger to be in the lineup for the rest of the week.
• Sabres’ management is not going to hit the panic button after a tough start to the season writes John Vogl of the Buffalo News.
• Altanta’s season has taken 180 from the beginning of October writes Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.The Thrashers are expecting Kari Lehtonen to be back practicing with the club sometime next week.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.