Today’s word from the team beat writers:
- The Ducks Teemu Selanne’s two points last night pushed his career total to 1,221 as he passed legendary Montreal Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau for 38th place all time.
- Chris Vivalamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a look at the numbers to see why the Atlanta Thrashers have been so good on the road (5-1-1), but terrible at home (1-5-0).
- Boston, at heart, is a hockey town but with the Bruins playing so poorly out of the gate to start the season they are in danger of squandering a chance to re-establish their relevance on the Boston sports scene writes Christopher L. Gasper of the Boston Globe.
- John Vogl of the Buffalo News takes a look at the differing offensive philosophies of the Sabres, who rely on 4 lines and the Flyers who tend to rely on 2 lines for their production.
- The Flames Miikka Kiprusoff skated this morning in St. Louis but he is still only 50/50 to go tonight says coach Brent Sutter.
- With the Carolina Hurricanes set to host the equally disappointing Leafs tonight, the Hurricanes got some good injury news as both Tuomo Ruutu and Zach Boychuk are ready to play.
- The Hawks Tomas Kopecky learnt how to screen a goalie from one of the best in the business, Tomas Holmstrom of the Wings, and he is bringing those skills to Chicago this season.
- Denver Post columnist Adrian Dater sure heard from Avalanche fans after he called them out after Wednesday’s poor crowd.
- The Jackets won a sloppy game last night but only care that they escaped with two more points, good enough to give them 1st place in the central.
- The Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford said James Neal has a groin pull and will not play tonight and probably will not make the trip to Minnesota on Saturday.
- Mike Mouat of the Examiner takes a look inside the Wings media guide and lets readers in on the players favorite off ice activities and personalities.
- The Edmonton Oilers played a less than stellar game against the New York Rangers last night and David Staples of the Edmonton Journal and he felt from the coaching staff to the players should be held accountable.
- Kings coach Terry Murray talks about his raised expectations for the sniper Anze Kopitar as he continues to lead the league in scoring.
- The Canadiens today claimed defenceman Jay Leach, 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, from the New Jersey Devils organization.
- With the injury to center Rob Niedermayer, Devil Patrick Elias is not going to have a slow transition back to playing and coach Jacques Lemaire feels he will play 17-19 minutes tonight.
- Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post writes that based on the morning skate, it looks like Jose Theodore will get the nod in net tonight at BankAtlantic Center against the suddenly surging Panthers.
