NHL Morning Papers-Western Conference (Saturday Edition)

Illegal Curve Hockey

Here are the Northwest Division morning papers:

After last night’s embarrassing 4-0 loss at Minnesota, the Canucks find themselves in ninth place in the Western Conference. Even after taking a huge hit from Derek Boogard on Friday, Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa still expects to be in the line up on Sunday.
Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune thinks that the Wild is peaking at just the right time. The Wild are going to remove one stressor from Kurtis Foster’s life, as GM Doug Risebrough has said that he will qualify the defenseman in the off-season. (Writer’s note: Classy move by Risebrough.)
Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun calls out the Flames brass on their mismanagement of the Kristian Huselius situation. Moving closer to the playoffs, the Flames are hoping to make the Saddledome an extremely hard place to play.
The Oilers lost a heartbreaker last night in Colorado, however, the team thinks it may actually help to get right back to business tonight in Calgary, writes Joanne Ireland. “We could have used the second one but it’s over with,” said Jarret Stoll after the contest. Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal wonders how good Ales Hemsky can become.
Joe Sakic has not lost any of his magic, writes Rick Sadowski. “So-so, I think. I don’t think we played as good as we wanted. Their skilled forwards had a little too much time, I think, and got to do a little too many moves. But we battled and we came back. We came back a couple times; we tied it up 3-3 and 4-4, so just overall it’s a great win for us,” said Peter Forsberg after last night’s huge victory.

Here are the Pacific Division morning papers:

The Ducks lost the game, the division and a ten game home winning streak last night versus the Sharks, writes Dan Wood.
“It’s obviously a good feeling, but I think it’s the first step in the process that we have in our minds right now,” said Jeremy Roenick after his Sharks clinched the Pacific Division title on Friday night.
Kings coach Marc Crawford has more than just today’s game versus Dallas to worry about, writes Eric Stephens and Lisa Dillman.
The Stars understand the importance of today’s afternoon tilt with the Kings, writes Mike Heika.

**There were no Phoenix Coyotes articles this morning**

Here are the Central Division morning papers:

Mike Babcock made the sentimental decision of putting the Grind Line out to start yesterday’s game versus St. Louis, writes Helene St. James. Chris Osgood proves that he is the ultimate team guy by telling reporters that Dominik Hasek is the number one in Motown.
The Predators defeated the Blue Jackets 2-0 last night and now control their own destiny, writes John Glennon. And to think Dan Ellis‘ job was in jeopardy only days ago.
Jared Boll more than proved his worth as a teammate last night, writes Tom Reed. In light of last night’s adventures, Predators enforcer Darcy Hordichuk said the Blue Jackets need a tough guy.
The Blues won their first game in overtime on Friday night when Brad Boyes popped his 40th marker of the season past Chris Osgood. Off the ice, the Blues have had an extremely successful season at the box office.
After Denis Savard’s comments earlier this week about the Blues, you can expect a heated rematch today, writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.