The Calgary Flames shoot for back-to-back victories on Saturday evening when they resume their six-game road trip against the St. Louis Blues. The Flames began the season with a loss at home on Wednesday to the Vancouver Canucks, but bounced back the following night by beginning their trek with a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Playing in his second game with the Flames, Mason Raymond notched his third career hat trick. His first two had come against Calgary while playing with Vancouver. Thats a lot of fun, Raymond said. Most important is that we got those two points. His second goal snapped a 2-2 tie 4:23 into the third period and he completed the feat with 5:18 remaining. Jiri Hudler and T.J. Brodie also scored and Joe Colborne had three assists for the Flames, who got 38 saves from Karri Ramo in the victory. Offseason acquisition Jonas Hiller had started Wednesdays loss, giving up three goals on 32 shots. Flames coach Bob Hartley made Dennis Wideman a scratch on Thursday night after the defenseman struggled in the game versus Vancouver. St. Louis got its season underway with a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday. The Blues were the victim of an unfortunate bounce that led to the Rangers go-ahead goal with 1:50 remaining. Jaden Schwartz had a goal and assisted on Paul Stastnys tying tally with 9:18 to play. The goal was originally credited to Vladimir Tarasenko before getting changed to Stastny, giving him a tally in his St. Louis debut after inking a four-year, $28 million deal in the offseason. Brian Elliott came up with 22 saves in the loss. Thats not the way we want to come out, said Elliott. We want to come out dictating. The first game is not a sprint, its a marathon so we gotta take the good things from this game. The Blues have won six of their past eight versus the Flames and four straight meetings in St. Louis. . "He came up to me and said, I want to train," said Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen. The 26-year-old midfielder is expected to play Saturday night when Toronto hosts D.C. United, returning to his Major League Soccer squad with mixed feelings about the Americans World Cup run -- sad that it ended when it did but proud of his teams performance. . Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said his team will include 9th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic and 27th-ranked Viktor Troicki as he decided to let the top-ranked Djokovic rest.
http://www.officialjazzauthenticstore.c ... -jersey/.J. Ward appeared in court Friday on misdemeanour charges that he threw a glass mug at a bartender at a Denver strip club. .J. - Several people have collapsed in an overcrowded New Jersey train station while waiting in long lines to get to the Super Bowl. . The Flames are in the midst of a six-game slide (0-5-1), their longest losing streak since an 0-6-3 skid from Jan. 11-28, 2010. They havent won since Nov. 3 in Chicago and most recently went winless on a three-game homestand. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Danny Valencia was not about to let a sore left hand keep him from finishing his at-bat in the 13th inning. He gutted it out and came up with a key hit to help the Kansas City Royals outlast the Los Angeles Angels. Valencia ignited a three-run rally with a leadoff double, before Jarrod Dyson replaced him on the bases and scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error by rookie reliever Mike Morin. The Royals went on to beat the Angels 7-4 Saturday night. "Were trying to win games and lay it all out there. Anybody else would have done the same thing," Valencia said. "Fortunately I got a hit there, because it would have looked even worse if I didnt." Valencia felt discomfort on two earlier swings and was checked out by manager Ned Yost and a trainer. After convincing them he was all right, he lined Morins 3-2 pitch off the fence in left-centre and slid headfirst into second. "There was a 3-1 pitch I fouled off and my hand slipped off the bat a little weird," Valencia said. "I told Ned: Theres no way Im coming out right now. He said: This is a big at-bat, and I said: I know its a big at-bat, but Ive got this. The first thought on my mind was not making someone come off the bench with a 3-2 count after sitting on the bench for four hours." Dyson scored when Morin (0-1) fielded Alcides Escobars sacrifice bunt and threw the ball past first base as second baseman Howie Kendrick ran over to take the throw. "I got to it quick and Howie was still getting to first base," Morin said. "I had more time than I thought I did, and I was trying to guide the ball to meet him at the bag, but it sailed on me." Nori Aoki then hit an RBI single and Billy Butler capped the scoring with his second sacrifice fly. Aaron Crow (2-1) pitched two innings for the victory and Greg Holland got three outs for the save, ending the 4-hour, 53-minute marathon. Eric Hosmer tied a season high with four hits. The Royals tied it in the seventh when Hosmer scored on a double-play grounder by Salvador Perez with the bases loaded. The run was charged to Sean Burnett, who faced only one batter and gave up Hosmers leadoff single through the box. It was Burnetts second appearance since his comeback from elbow surgery last August. Royals right-hander James Shields pitched six innings, giving up four runs and nine hits, including solo hoomers by Mike Trout and Erick Aybar.dddddddddddd "Thats a good hitting team over there. They grind out at-bats and they worked up my pitch count quite a bit today," Shields said. "But our bullpen did a phenomenal job. Its been good all season long, and today they showed why theyre as good as they are." Angels rookie Matt Shoemaker was charged with three runs -- two earned -- and eight hits in five innings while striking out six. The right-hander was making his third start since he was inserted into the rotation on May 13. The Angels were trailing 3-0 when Aybar got them on the board in the fourth inning with his third homer of the season, a line drive that just made it into the first row of seats in the right field corner after a leadoff double by Raul Ibanez. Los Angeles pulled ahead 4-3 with two runs in the fifth. Trout led off with a towering drive into the rock pile beyond the fence in left-centre, and Albert Pujols followed with another deep flyball that looked like it was going out as well. Left fielder Alex Gordon leaped above the bullpen fence and got his glove on it before it bounced off his cap, shoulder, chin and arm -- then landed in his glove while he was on the seat of his pants. Third base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled it a catch, but manager Mike Scioscia challenged the call and Pujols ended up with a double after a video review. "Somebody must have seen something on one of the angles," Yost said. "But on the replays we saw on the big screen, I sure couldnt tell if it hit the fence or not." It was the 2,400th career hit for Pujols, who took third on a groundout and scored the go-ahead run on Shields wild pitch to Aybar. A two-out error by Trout in centre field led to an unearned run during Kansas Citys two-run third. Aoki and Hosmer opened the inning with singles, and Aoki scored on Butlers first sacrifice fly. One out later, Perez hit a sinking liner that broke off Trouts glove as he charged the ball on the dead run, and Lorenzo Cain hit an RBI single. NOTES: Trouts error was his second this season, matching his total in 148 games in the outfield last year. ... Escobar has been successful on 43 of his last 44 stolen base attempts, including all 22 last season. ... For the second straight year, Trouts 10th homer of the season came against the Royals in his 47th game. ... Neither starting pitcher had a 1-2-3 inning. ' ' '
