Winnipeg Jets 7 Dallas Stars 2 (Jets 31-29-9, Home 16-14-6) – The seven goals is the most the Jets have scored in a game this season, while the win snaps a six game winless streak, and a five game home winless streak. It also moves the Jets to within four points of Dallas and Phoenix for the final playoff spot in the West. The Jets had gone 12 games scoring three or fewer. The Jets lost Ondrej Pavelec, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn to injury Friday vs the New York Rangers, so Coach Paul Maurice had to do some line juggling. The line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Michael Frolik stayed intact, with Blake Wheeler, Olli Jokinen and Dustin Byfuglien as a unit. Evander Kane was on the left side with Eric ODell and Devin Setoguchi, while Matt Halischik, Patrice Cormier - up from St. Johns) - and Anthony Peluso made up the fourth line. Michael Hutchinson, also up from the Ice-Caps, backed up Al Montoya. Jacob Trouba with his 8th of the year opened the scoring at 3:11, the assist to Wheeler. Dallas scored two goals 37 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead, Alex Chiasson at 6:25, Tyler Seguin his 30th at 7:02. Frolik with his 14th got the Jets even and also seemed to get the team going again. Toby Enstrom had the only assist on the goal at 11:54. Enstrom followed that up with his eighth of the year at 17:02 to regain the lead for the Jets. Wheeler and Cormier assisted on the tally. Shots in the first were 16-10 Jets. At one point the Stars were outshooting the Jets 6-2. Olli Jokinen scored 29 seconds into the second to make it 4-2. The goal chased starter Tim Thomas with Christopher Nilstrop coming in. The goal was Jokinens 16th of the season, with assists to Wheeler and Byfuglien. The Jets made it a 5-2 game on a power play goal by Byfuglien at 16:30 of the period, his 18th goal of the season, seventh on the power play and 23rd power-play point on the teams 33 power-play goals. Enstrom and Jokinen assists on the goal. Shots in the second were 8-3 Jets. The Jets put the game away in the third. Byfuglien scored his 19th from Wheeler and Jokinen at 3:14 and Kane his 16th unassisted at 7:33 to snap an 11 game goalless drought. Shots in the third 14-10 Jets and over the game 34-27 Jets. For Wheeler, the four assists tied a career high for points in a game. He also had four assists in February of 2012 against Colorado. Wheeler has only one goal in the last 14 games, but does have 11 assists in that span. The two goals and one assist by Byfuglien give him 6-2-8 in the last five games and 9-9-18 since the move to right wing. Enstrom and Jokinen also had three-point nights, each a goal and two assists. Cormier drew an assist on the Enstrom goal, his first point as a Jet. The win for Montoya was his 11th of the year. Byfuglien led the team with seven shots on goal before leaving late in the third due to injury. He is expected to play Monday night in St. Louis (TSN Jets, TSN 1290). Enstrom was a team high plus four, while Zach Bogosian led in ice time at 21:57. ODell won eight of 13 face-offs. Frolik extended his point streak to four, while Little had his stopped at four. Jets power play was one for six, penalty kill a perfect two for two to run the streak of successful kills to 17 for 17. This post-game from Montoya, "Ive been waiting for this chance, so am going to enjoy it and get ready for tomorrow against one of the best teams in the league." Montoya was not overly busy, but the Jets did give up some first period breakaways forcing Montoya to make some big saves at key times. Post-game from Coach Maurice was asked about Byfuglien leaving in the third. With a smile on his face this was his answer. "He thought if he got the third, he would get too much attention. Didnt want to get shadowed on the ice. We expect him to be fine for tomorrow. Hes been our best player, hes excited for these games." On getting back in the win column, "Earlier we were winning on compete and emotion. Now our game has gotten better. Its really important for a young team to have success in a big game. Getting down early and then coming back and being very good" The game in St. Louis ends three in four nights for the Jets, but with a home game Wednesday against Colorado are still in a five games in eight days stretch. . The Red Wings hadnt played the night before. The Boston Bruins had. A month from now, or two months from now, it doesnt matter. But right now it does matter, when you start and you play back to back, its wear and tear on you for sure, Babcock said. .com) - Mike Conley scored 20 points with five assists to help the Memphis Grizzlies remain unbeaten with a 91-89 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
http://www.cheapnhldevilsjerseysauthent ... cha-jersey. - Kyle Wood and Barclay Goodrow scored second period power-play goals to provide all of the scoring for the North Bay Battalion in a 2-0 victory over the Erie Otters in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday. . -- Valentin Zykov scored in overtime as the Baie-Comeau Drakkar rallied to a 3-2 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. . Woods said Friday that his charity event, which attracts a world-class field even without being part of any tour, will move in December 2014 to Isleworth, the course where he honed his professional game from 1996 until moving away to south Florida two years ago.History and Controversy in Week 2 The Ottawa Redblacks will go through a lot of firsts this year. On Thursday we witnessed the first game played by the new franchise, the first touchdown scored, (Chevon Walker, who will one day be the answer to a trivia question), and almost the first win. The Henry Burris-led expansion franchise got out to a 14-point first quarter lead, but couldnt hold on against a Blue Bomber team that is for real. More on the Bombers shortly, but it was fantastic to see and call a game involving Ottawa again. Football teams in our nations capital never had bad fans, just bad owners, and that is not the case this time around. The business model is sound, the league is strong, and football fans in Ottawa can trust that this team will be around for decades to come, and get emotionally invested. The players on this team are certainly "all in". They played hard, on the road, in a hostile environment, and almost got it done. It wont be long until we see some more firsts. Like the first game at home which is already sold out on July 18, and based on Thursdays game it wont be long until we see their first win. The Real Deal Now to the Bombers, and yes they are for real! On paper there still may be some who are suggesting other teams in the league are more talented, or maybe more experienced. However, this is a "what have you done for me lately?" business so experience only helps you if you are executing. Also, at the pro level every player is talented, and the difference between winning and losing is smaller than third and inches, so the culture you create for those talented players is what gives you the edge. The difference in Winnipeg this year is that head coach Michael OShea is a team first guy to the core. It oozes out of him when he talks and it is the main reason the Bombers are off to a 2-0 start. Yes, Drew Willy has looked excellent and they have found a tailback in Nic Grigsby but lots of teams have good QBs and tailbacks. OShea is teaching that the team is the priority and that all decisions must be made with the team considered before any personal agendas. It sounds simple but there are many examples of coaches that couldnt get the message across to their players. OShea has not been perfect. He kicked around the handling of veteran Korey Banks for longer than he had to, but his teams record is perfect so far, and that is what matters more than anything. Oh, and in the end the Bombers new head coach did eventually make the right decision when it came to Banks when he cut him loose. Banks wasnt happy with his role and that may have affected the culture in the locker room. By cutting Banks and letting him continue his career somewhere else, OShea made a team-first decision. Reaction to Willis hit on Collaros There are lots of differing opinions on the hit from Odell Willis of the Edmonton Eskimos on Zach Collaros of the Ticats. On one side there are those that argue the game is fast, physical and played by tough men who know what they signed up for, which is all true. It is an old school mentality and its not wrong. However, we live in a new world where player safety has become a priority in contact sports. Finding ways to make hockey and football safer for those who participate is not just dominating league meetings, but is also very important to the playerrs associations.dddddddddddd So what about the hit from Willis? First, it looked like the Esks defensive end did try and turn his head and avoid helmet-to-helmet contact. Second, it also looked like he tried to lead with his shoulder, therefore you can assume that there was no intent to target Collaros head. It is also true that if there is a penalty flag thrown every time helmets collide than there would be a penalty called on every play. Having said all of that, if in fact Willis did contact the head of Collaros - whether it was an accident or not - a penalty had to be called. Many times a defensive player gets pushed or trips into the quarterbacks legs accidentally, and that has to be called as well. The league will also review the hit and there could be supplementary discipline handed down in the form of a fine. It is no longer acceptable to say that it is a tough game and things happen at light speed so you have to let the guys play. Improving player safety is priority number one, and has become a legal issue. In fact you could take the discussion even further. The Players Associations in hockey and football are negotiating the player safety agenda into new CBA agreements, and yet dont self-govern when it comes to questionable hits in a game. How many times have we heard the CFLPA announce that they are appealing a fine by the league on a player who has made a questionable hit? It happens virtually every time a player is fined or suspended. Meanwhile the player that took the hit, in this case Zach Collaros, missed the rest of the game and could possibly miss more due to concussion issues. How many times has the Players Association announced a fine within their own organization to a player/member for a questionable hit? That to my knowledge has never happened. The players associations in contact sports have got to start imposing their own fines to players that cross the line, and show the league that improving player safety is not just the responsibility of the leagues head office, but the associations as well. It looks like the hit by Willis was an accident with no intent, but it was to the head of a quarterback, and that is a penalty and should also result in a fine. There is no provision in the rule book that says, "if the player hits a quarterback in the head by accident, or if he didnt mean to do it, then the hit becomes legal." The only way that Willis could avoid a fine here is if the league determines that Collaros didnt actually get hit in the head but it was the whiplash effect that caused his concussion symptoms, and of the TV angles shown so far that doesnt seem feasible. The tougher rules in contact sports these days are designed to change the behaviour of players to protect them from themselves. Those rules are not going away anytime soon, in fact they are getting tougher. We might as well all get used to it and drop the tough guy talk. If the league lets the Willis hit go without supplementary discipline, it will set a precedent for every other time a defensive player hits the head of a quarterback accidentally. There cant be any more grey area. If a defensive player hits the head of a QB, it is a penalty and a fine or suspension - thats the new reality of football. So much so, it is hard to see why there was even a debate on this hit in the first place. ' ' '
