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DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars three Olympians sent their team into the Olympic break on a high note Saturday night. Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Canadas Jamie Benn assisted on Whitneys goal. The victory moved Dallas into the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time this season. "Weve come from a long way," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Youve got to give the guys credit for digging in. "I thought if we got within three or four points at the break, we could be a serious contender. Weve exceeded that." The Stars and Coyotes have identical 27-21-10 records for 64 points, but Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Phoenix, which fell to ninth. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said his teams position at the break is "probably about where we should be. I think were better than that, but thats where we are." "Im not worrying about that too much yet," Lehtonen said of Dallas position in the standings. "Its good that were moving to the right direction. We just have to keep going." He was more impressed by defeating Phoenix twice in five days to make up four points on the Coyotes. "They were huge games both times. I really like it when we play well as a team." Dallas limited Phoenix to 27 shots, 13 in the third period. Lehtonen shut them out until Radim Vrbata scored on a power play with 15 seconds remaining. The Coyotes had six skaters to the Stars four because Tippett had pulled goalie Mike Smith, who had 31 saves. "Again (Lehtonen) was rock solid," said Ruff, an assistant coach for Canadas Olympic team. "He came up with some big saves. One when we were killing a penalty he went down low and made a glove save. He made a big stop on their breakaway when they were short-handed. "The only thing I would like to have seen was for him to get the shutout." "We couldnt generate too much offensively," Vrbata said. "But I think (Smiths) playing the way we know he can play. Hopefully, hes going to stay like that and we can do a little better for him." Whitney scored just 2:10 into the game. Nichushkin scored at 19:26 of the second period, deflecting in a shot by Trevor Daley. Dallas took the early lead when Whitney carried the puck into the Phoenix zone along the left side, skated into the slot and sent a wrist shot past Smith into the upper right corner of the net. "It was kind of not much happening in the first period until we decided we didnt want to back check on a play and give them the first goal," Tippett said. "That was something we talked about as a group, if we get behind its going to be much tougher on us." The Stars ended the first period a man up and put three shots on Smith for a 7-4 edge in shots. One of Dallas shots was short-handed, as the Stars made it difficult for the Coyotes to get out of their end. Midway through the second period, Dallas had two good scoring chances, but Smith gloved a high drive by Sergei Gonchar and stopped a tip-in attempt by Benn in front of the goal. Nichushkin deflected Daleys slap shot from the blue line for the rookies 13th goal with 34 seconds left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. The goal was reviewed to see whether Nichushkins deflection was on a high stick. NOTES: Whitney has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against Phoenix. ... Coyotes D Derek Morris (upper-body injury) was inactive. He was hurt during Phoenixs victory over Chicago Friday. C Martin Hanzal, who missed that game because of illness, returned against Dallas. ... The Stars have not allowed more than 28 shots in any of their last 11 games. ... Vrbata has scored three goals in the last four games. ... Saturdays game was delayed briefly in the second period when linesman Ryan Galloway was upended in a collision with Whitney along the boards. Galloway stayed in the game. ... The public address announcer saluted the five Coyotes and three Stars who will be competing in the Olympics. Smith, a former Stars goalie, received almost as strong an ovation as the Dallas players. . James scored 25 points against his former team, leading the energized Heat to a 114-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night. Dwyane Wade added 24 points and Chris Bosh had 22 for the Heat, idle since a 90-84 loss Tuesday at Indiana. .com) - Colorado forward P. . -- Manager Bob Melvin shuffled the Athletics batting order and got the type of production he was looking for from the top of the lineup. . Johansen scored twice and Derek MacKenzie, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson also had goals to lead the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, ending a three-game losing skid. . - The Baltimore Ravens have hired Steve Spagnuolo to be their secondary coach and assistant head coach.Can a player have a statement game even in a loss? If he accomplishes what Johnny Manziel did against the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide he can. Manziels 464 yards through the air, 98 yards on the ground, and five touchdown performance against one of the NCAAs best defences vaulted him to the top of TSN.cas Heisman Watch after three weeks. While he did throw two interceptions against Alabama, last years Heisman Trophy winner was the main reason Texas A&M had a chance last week. On the year the sophomore has 984 yards and 11 touchdowns. Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewaters less than spectacular day against Kentucky sees his fall to No. 2 on the Watch. Bridgewater finished the game with 250 yards passing and a touchdown in the win and now has 1,002 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. Clemsons Tajh Boyd drops for the second straight week thanks to a bye. The drop could have been more severe as Oregon QB Marcus Mariota clocks in right behind Boyd after another strong offensive performance by the Ducks. Mariotas day rivaled that of Manziels, albeit against a lesser opponent, in throwing 456 yards and four touchdowns. The sophomore has yet to throw an interception on the year while totaling 889 yards and seven touchdowns. And with UCLA making all sorts of waves in NCAA football these days, especially in light of their emotional win over the previously ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers last year, QB Brett Hundley makes a surprise jump into the Top 5. Hundley threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns to one interception, adding 61 yards on the ground in the Bruins come from behind win. On the season the sophomore has 568 yards passsing, 124 yards rushing, seven combined TDs, and one statement game.dddddddddddd Another guy to keep an eye on moving forward is ‘Bama QB AJ McCarron. After a slow start to the year, McCarron went off for 334 yards and four touchdowns against A&M. A statement game of his own. Rank Player Notes 1 Johnny Manziel Last years Heisman winner has statement game in loss to Bama 2 Teddy Bridgewater Pedestrian day for Louisville QB drops him in rankings 3 Tajh Boyd Clemson QB drops for second straight week after bye 4 Marcus Mariota QB could be best Oregon has had in 10+ years 5 Brett Hundley UCLA QB making name for himself along with whole team - AJ McCarron Bama QB was impressive against Manziel as well - Todd Gurley Top RB (Georgia) had bye week - Lache Seastrunk Baylor RB had bye week as well - Jadeveon Clowney Soutch Carolina DE has two sacks on the season - Braxton Miller Ohio State QB in danger of getting forgotten after missing Week 3 ' ' '
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