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On the Beat

On the Beat: Ducks expected to put Selanne on IR, Buffalo celebrating 40 years in Western NY, Coyotes confound experts and fans, 100 years in Montreal ends tonight.

Tim Thomas likely starter; Flames coach not happy; Wings couldn’t sleep in anticipation of NHL debut; Cal Clutterbuck latest sickness victim for Wild; Sens road woes continue; Coyotes confound experts. These stories and more after the jump.

Here is the word from the team beat writer’s:

  • The Ducks have recalled right wing Dan Sexton from Manitoba of the American Hockey League in the wake of Teemu Selanne’s hand injury which is expected to put him on the IR.
  • Bruins beat writer Fluto Shinzawa is reporting that Tim Thomas was first off the ice today at practice so he will likely be the starter tonight against the Habs.
    Thomas
  • They don’t have 100 years of history, but the Buffalo Sabres are celebrating 40 years in Western New York and the ties they have to the community are paying off dividends.
  • Flames coach Brent Sutter was less than pleased with “but we didn’t work smart, there were too many mistakes. I thought we were sloppy with the puck tonight” and he was surprised by the mistake by the usually reliable Mark Giordano
  • Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News loads up his Friday tidbits covering how Sergei Zubov is doing in the KHL, Stars numbers for November, a look at the team’s prospects as well as some other Dallas topics.
  • The Red Wings recalled Jakub Kindl from the Grand Rapids Griffins and he made his NHL debut Thursday night against Edmonton because Brian Rafalski was sidelined by a stiff back and he had plenty of problems falling asleep the night before his NHL debut.
  • While everyone seems to think its time to blow up the Oilers, they sure showed some spine as they rolled over the Wings at Joe Louis Arena last night.
  • The Minnesota Wild have been dealing with sickness throughout the past season and it appears that Cal Clutterbuck might be the latest victim, which was likely a result of his shaving his mustache.
    Cal Clutterbuck
  • The 100 year celebration of all things Montreal Canadiens comes to a close as they battle Original 6 rival Boston tonight and Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette has some game day reading.
  • Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said that both Jay Pandolfo and Johnny Oduya took part in Friday’s optional morning skate at the Prudential Center, but neither will play against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
  • The Ottawa Senators played well enough to win, writes James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen but their road woes continued as they fell to the Kings.
  • The Islanders celebrated their dad’s trip and Paul Park of Seoul, South Korea had the opportunity to watch his son Richard Park, play in his 631st game in the National Hockey League which may have had him reflecting on his American journey.
  • It was hard to discern if the Flyers faithful were cheering goalie Brian Boucher or booing the effort of the rest of his teammates, writes Anothny Sanfilippo of the Delaware Times.
    Boucher
  • The Coyotes have confounded the experts who didn’t expect much from this team but apparently they still can’t fool the fans into attending the game, as can be seen in Richard’s Morning Take: Pictures from Phoenix.
  • Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette brings another installment of the Mellon Arena memories, this time focussing on Pens tender Brent Johnson.
  • Reporting from the Capitals practice, Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post suggests that the lines for Saturday’s contest should remain the same as those from yesterday’s 6-2 blowout of Florida.