Thursday Morning NHL Papers (Eastern Conference): Leafs no longer selling out luxury suites, the Senators are having attendance issues and Patrik Elias may not get back to 100% this season

Atlantic Division

• Jacques Lemaire decided to skate his players post plane ride instead of pre plane ride on Wednesday.  In disconcerting news, forward Patrik Elias isn’t sure he will get back to 100% at any point this season.
• Islanders coach Scott Gordon wouldn’t mind a better shootout record but he’s been very happy with his team’s regulation play so far this season.
• Larry Brooks of the NY Post thinks the Rangers should find a way to rid themselves of Michal Rozsival.
• The Flyers got a tremendous performance from Brian Boucher, as they were significantly outshot, and left the Staples Center with a 3-2 victory.  The Flyers ran into an old teammate last night in Randy Jones.
• Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the story of Sidney Crosby carrying the Olympic torch.  In more injury news from Pittsburgh, the Penguins have lost Jay McKee for 2-4 weeks but at least will be getting Maxime Talbot back in the lineup tonight and maybe Sergei Gonchar too.

Northeast Division

• In Boston, Milan Lucic could return to the Boston lineup tonight and Marc Savard could return before the end of next week, writes Kevin Paul Dupont.  Lucic and Savard will significantly boost the team’s power play.
• The Panthers may have played a boring style game yesterday, but it worked and the Sabres’ three-game winning streak came to an end.  With last night’s onslaught, Sabres netminder Ryan Miller lost the league lead in goals agaisnt average and save percentage.  In Buffalo, Lindy Ruff’s longevity is in stark contrast to the constant coaching changes for the city’s Bills.
• The loss of Brian Gionta to the Habs’ forward group will probably be costly.
• The Senators have only had two sellouts this season and have lots of tickets available for Sidney Crosby’s visit tonight.  In injury news, Anton Volchenkov’s return to the lineup has been pushed back.  Did you know Mike Fisher is on pace for 41 goals this season?
• Robert MacLeod has an interesting story about the Leafs’ inability to sell out their luxury suites for the first time since the ACC opened.  Nothing has gone right in Toronto this season, although Phil Kessel has given some Leafs fans cause for optimism.  Sometimes people forget that Luke Schenn is only 20 years old.

Southeast Divison

• Ondrej Pavelec will start tonight for Atlanta, and Bryan Little and Pavel Kubina remain game-time decisions.  Chris Vivlamore has a piece on what goes into the art of the face-off.
• Apparently the Hurricanes have a short term goal of being .500 by Christmas–or, winning 13 of the next 17 games.  The Leafs have been just as bad as the Hurricanes but they haven’t faced the injury bug like Carolina has.
• After being embarassed by the Sabres earlier in the season, the Panthers exacted revenge last night.  The Panthers’ affiliate in the AHL has been on fire this season.
• Off-season signing Alex Tanguay started slow in Tampa but he has been finding his game as of late, writes Damian Cristodero.  The Bolts actually only have one regulation loss in the last eleven games.
• He was a relatively unheralded off-season pickup, but Brendan Morrison has been terrific so far this season.  Matt Bradley is one tough cookie.

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