NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators were happy to be back home, even if it was for just one game. Rookie Marek Mazanec made 39 saves for his first NHL victory and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 Saturday night. Craig Smith scored a goal and added two assists for the Predators. The three-point game equaled the Madison, Wis. natives career high. Matt Cullen, Nick Spaling, Patric Hornqvist, Viktor Stalberg, Mike Fisher and Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, which ended a four-game losing streak. Patrick Kane and Brandon Pirri had the goals for Chicago, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Making his second start in as many days, Mazanec stopped seven shots in the first, 17 in the second, and 15 in the third. "Its awesome," Mazanec said. "I am really happy. We played a really good game." The 22-year-old Czech is playing his first season in North America. Nashville played its first home game since Oct. 26, having just returned from a seven-game road trip that spanned 17 days. They head back out on the road for games in Detroit and Toronto next week. "Good response by our guys today," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We looked at this game as the end of road trip, not the first home game really because of the quick turnover and obviously playing the Stanley Cup champions." Cullen scored the games first goal at 7:28 of the opening period. From the slot, Smiths slap shot was stopped by Chicago goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. The rebound fell to the right of the net, and a diving Cullen poked the rebound in for his third goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Spaling doubled the Nashville lead when his wrist shot from the right faceoff dot slipped just underneath the crossbar at 8:25. Later in the first, Khabibulin left the game with an injury after making stops on shots from Weber and Hornqvist. Corey Crawford replaced Khabibulin at 15:33. Following the game, the Blackhawks said that Khabibulin had a lower-body injury, but had no further update. "We got outworked," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "We didnt do the things we needed to. We didnt win our battles, especially in the right areas we needed to win them in." Hornqvists sixth goal of the season came at 9:02 of the second to give Nashville a 3-0 lead. With Nashville on a power play, Roman Josis slap shot from just above the left faceoff circle was tipped by Hornqvist in front and beat Crawford on the short side. Smith and Kane traded goals late in the second, with Smith connecting at 18:18 and Kane answering 26 seconds later. "We just stayed positive and erased the last couple of games," Smith said. "We just kind of refreshed for this game. Its also nice to be home. Its a good feeling." Pirri briefly cut the Nashville lead to 4-2 at 6:14 of the third, but Stalberg, the former Blackhawk, struck back at 6:29. Fisher added his at 12:19. "It was a free night for them offensively, we were very gracious," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "We know what it takes and we know theyre going to be desperate." Weber scored on the power play at 14:07. His assist earlier in the game on Hornqvists goal was his 300th career NHL point. The seven goals were a season high for Nashville. Notes: Mazanec became just the eighth goaltender in Nashville franchise history to record a victory. ... Nashville C Filip Forsberg missed the game with an upper-body injury. He is listed day to day. ... Kane has at least one point in his past six games. ... Chicago RW Marian Hossa missed the game with a lower-body injury. . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. . JOHNS, N.
http://www.cheapspursjerseysauthentic.c ... ker-jersey. He also had some help Monday night.Hibbert scored a season-high 29 points to help Indiana beat the Utah Jazz 97-86 Monday night, ending the Pacers six-game losing streak. . PETERSBURG, Fla. . After just two league games in June, Toronto (6-4-1) will go on to play seven in July plus a friendly against Tottenham. Five of those contests are against Eastern Conference opposition, meaning valuable points in the playoff race are on the line.Tampa, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Cedric Paquette notched his first career hat trick to power the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Steven Stamkos and Mark Barberio also scored, Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn both tallied two assists and Ben Bishop made 27 saves for the Lightning, who set a franchise record with their ninth straight win at home. It never gets old watching those hats go over the wall, Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said of Paquettes hat trick. He earned every one. Darren Helm supplied the Red Wings lone goal as their six-game winning streak came to an end. Petr Mrazek allowed five goals on 15 shots, while Tom McCollum stopped all 17 shots he faced in the third period. We just had a good run here, won six in a row, Detroit head coach Mike Babcock said. We got spanked here tonight. The Lightning needed just 2:03 to start the scoring. After Killorn sent a fluttering pass to Paquette in front, Mrazek made an initial pad stop on Paquette, but the Lightning forward backhanded the rebound into the net. Helm emerged from behind the net, skated to the right circle and wristed a shot over the shoulder of Bishop for a tied game with 8:01 leftt in the first period.dddddddddddd Paquette took the puck off the right boards and wristed a shot over the glove of Mrazek for his second goal of the night to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead with 36.2 remaining in the opening stanza. On the power play, Stamkos one-timed Anton Stralmans feed from the left circle past Mrazek for a 3-1 score 4:18 into the middle frame. Paquette completed his hat trick by wristing a shot from the right circle on a short-handed breakaway to give the Lightning a three-goal advantage just past the midway point of the second. Barberios slapshot from the high slot off a faceoff win made it a 5-1 game with 2:21 left before the final intermission. Game Notes Tampa Bay last lost at Amalie Arena on Dec. 9 vs. Washington ... Paquette is fifth player in Lightning history to score a hat trick before his 22nd birthday, joining Nikita Kucherov, Stamkos, Chris Gratton and Jason Wiemer ... Bishop improved his career record against the Red Wings to 6-1-0 ... Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk tied Ted Lindsay for sole possession of 12th in Detroit history in games played with 862 ... The two teams will meet again on March 20 in Tampa Bay. ' ' '
