Bruce Garrioch

Here are the morning papers for Wednesday the 24th of December: Right now, the Ducks should be considered more pretenders than contenders, writes Dan Wood. Ilya Kovalchuk played a dominant game last night, in leading the Thrashers to a 4-2 victory over the Islanders. Coach John Anderson's sons are in town to visit him during the Christmas break. For a team that has been playing high scoring games, the Bruins decided to shut down the streaking Devils last night by a score of 2-0. He struggled to begin the season, but Zdeno Chara is beginning to return to form. Sabres youngster Clarke MacArthur has regained his scoring form since being a healthy scratch earlier this season. Flames rookie Brett Sutter is lucky enough to be amongst the few who score a goal in their first NHL game. The Flames were happy to finish the pre-Christmas break season sitting in first place in the Northwest Division. The Hurricanes blew a 2-0 lead to Minnesota and were then stumped by Nicklas Backstrom. The Blackhawks fans seem to be doing their best to try and get both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the starting lineup for the All-Star Game. The Avalanche won last night but more importantly they lost Paul Stastny indefinitely with a broken forearm. These injuries generally take 4-6 weeks to heal. Ken Hitchcock was angry and disappointed with his team's effort last night versus Los Angeles. The Jackets need to put more offense on the board if they want to take pressure off the team's young netminder Steve Mason. James Neal popped a hat trick in his first NHL game in what is essentially his hometown, as the Stars dominated the Leafs 8-2. Pavel Datsyuk took over yesterday's game against St. Louis, writes Helene St. James. The team's power play was impressive as well, in the Wings' 4-1 home victory. Ethan Moreau hurt his hand but the good news is that it isn't broken. It is a lot easier to go into the Christmas break on a winning note. The break is upon us, so the Oilers are not going to think about hockey for the next two days. Noah Welch is getting into some action on the ice and is also being honored off of it. Marian Gaborik won't suit up in the first two games after the Christmas break but the Wild says this isn't because of a trade. On the ice, the Wild pulled off a great comeback last night against Carolina. The Habs and Penguins continue to battle for the starting spots on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. The Predators surrendered a ton of shots to Florida yesterday in the team's 3-0 loss. Tomas Vokoun shutout his former teammates last night. The Devils lost 2-0 to Boston on Tuesday, but believe the game was one that could have gone to either team. The Islanders lost again last night, so Bill Guerin says he is going to ask Santa for some wins. The Rangers somehow blew a 4-0 lead at MSG to lose to Ovechkin and the Capitals 5-4. "I will try not to let this ruin my Christmas," said Chris Drury after last night's contest. The Rangers disgusted Larry Brooks with their collective play last night. The Senators came back and then gave it away last night in Philadelphia, writes Bruce Garrioch. Coach Craig Hartsburg said the Senators lost too many battles in the defensive zone. The Carter-Lupul-Hartnell line has been absolutely dominating since being assembled and they didn't let uplast night. Both Martin Biron and Glen Metropolit didn't suit up on Tuesday. The Coyotes cannot pay their bills and are currently getting financial assitance from the NHL. The Penguins just didn't bring it at home versus Tampa yesterday. Ryan Whitney made his season debut last night. Ryan Malone said it was weird playing against his former teammates. The Lightning are now entering the Christmas break feeling good about themselves after they shutout the Penguins 2-0 at the Igloo. Here is a very nice article about Olaf Kolzig and the autism foundation he created. The Leafs were just plain terrible last night, writes Paul Hunter. Ron Wilson says there is no reason to overreact to this loss. Speaking of terrible, the Canucks were worse than that on Tuesday in San Jose. After the performance in San Jose, Iain MacIntyre says the Canucks better hope Mats Sundin has officially signed that contract. What a remarkable comeback for the Capitals at MSG yesterday. The comeback was important after the Capitals lost 7-1 to Philadelphia over the weekend. For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

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