(SportsNetwork.com) - The Vancouver Canucks begin their longest road trip of the season on Friday night looking for a third straight victory as they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets. Friday nights stop in Columbus is the start of a seven-game, 12-day trip for Vancouver, which is an excellent 8-3-0 on the road this season. The Canucks finished up a 2-0-1 homestand with Tuesdays 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, with Ryan Miller making 20 saves for his second shutout of the season and 31st of his career. Alex Burrows and Shawn Matthias supplied the goals for the Canucks, who won for the eighth time in their last 10 games (8-1-1) on a night the team honored Pat Quinn. Quinn, an original member of the franchise, died on Sunday at the age of 71. He played two seasons in Vancouver during his nine-year NHL career, then later served as head coach and general manager, racking up a 141-111-28 record and taking the club to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994. Quinn took home the Jack Adams Trophy as the leagues top coach that year. That was a game we wanted to win. We had a good start ... Lots of guys have played hard, and thats all you can ask for, admitted Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. The Canucks arent scheduled to play at home again until Dec. 13 and stand a solid chance at getting their road trip off to a good start. They have won 13 of their past 16 versus the Blue Jackets overall and six of their last nine trips to Columbus. Not only has Vancouver had a ton of success in this series overall, but Columbus comes in having lost four in a row and 13 of its last 15 games overall. The Blue Jackets struggles continued with Tuesdays 4-2 loss to the visiting Winnipeg Jets, who scored just nine seconds into the game and the took over with a two-goal second period. Defenseman Jordan Leopold scored a power-play goal in the first frame, while Ryan Johansen also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky came up with 28 saves. Defenseman James Wisniewski played in his 500th NHL game and recorded his 250th point with an assist on Johansens goal. I really thought the group was ready after what we worked on, said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. That first goal really set us back. Richards may be counting down the days until forward Brandon Dubinsky can rejoin the club and that may not be too far off. Dubinsky has yet to play this season due to abdominal surgery, but has returned to practice. It was great to have him out on the ice, Richards told his clubs website on Thursday. Its a step in the right direction. (It) didnt look like the speed or anything like that, like he was out of place -- but you could tell that he hadnt been out there in a while. The more reps you get, the more opportunities he gets to skate with us, the better. Dubinsky will not play tonight nor on Saturday against Nashville, but a return to action next week remains a possibility. The 28-year-old had 16 goals and 50 points in 76 games last season. . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division. . Orlando is to begin play in the MLS for the 2015 season. Kaka, who currently plays with AC Milan, is expected to be loaned out to his home club Sao Paulo for the upcoming season before joining Orlando for next season.
http://www.custombravesjersey.com/.FIFA says it is relaxing the rule which forced match officials to leave its international list at the end of the year they turned 45. . Stevenson scored the first three goals of the game in the first period for Regina (35-22-6), which has won eight of its last 10 games. Patrick DAmico added two for the Pats, Braden Christoffer had a single and Morgan Klimchuk chipped in a goal and four assists. . As they are wont to do, the Spurs made things real easy. The Spurs signed Parker to a multi-year contract extension on Friday, ensuring that the six-time All-Star point guard will be in the fold whether Duncan and Ginobili are able to continue their careers or not.The Chicago Blackhawks werent ready to give up on their dreams of winning consecutive Stanley Cup titles the last time out. The defending champions hope to stay alive for a second straight time tonight when they visit the Los Angeles Kings for Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. The Blackhawks are attempting to return to the Cup Finals after falling behind three games to one in this postseason battle against Los Angeles. The Kings, who lost in five games to Chicago in last springs conference finals, couldnt close out the Hawks in their first attempt on Wednesday, dropping a 5-4 double-overtime decision in the Windy City. Chicago, which is trying to become the first team to win consecutive titles since Detroit in 1997 and 98, improved to 8-1 as the host in these playoffs with the Game 5 triumph, but it will have to win its first road game of the series to keep on playing. The Kings won Game 3 at the Staples Center by a 4-3 score and pushed their series lead to 3-1 with a 5-2 decision Monday night in the City of Angels. All told, Los Angeles is 5-3 as the host this postseason and is 19-7 in home playoff games since the start of the 2012 playoffs, when the Kings won their only Stanley Cup title. If the Blackhawks win Friday the clubs will meet Sunday evening in Chicago for a decisive Game 7. Michal Handzus, a former L.A. King, provided the OT heroics for Chicago on Wednesday, scoring at 2:04 of the second overtime to send the series back to the Staples Center. Brandon Saad held the puck along the right wing below the circles and dished ahead to Handzus, who controlled the disc for a second before lifting a backhander under the crossbar to end the contest. "Two guys went on him and I got open,"Handzus said of his linemate Saad. "I was surprised I got open like that but he waited and waited and gave me a great pass." For Handzus, it was his first career postseason overtime score, and just his second playoff game-winner after recording the only goal in a 1-0 Flyers victory against Ottawa in the 2003 second round. Saad ended up with a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks, who wasted a pair of early two-goal leads and fell behind by a goal before rallying to extend the series. "We dont want the season to end now. Were having too much fun playing," Saad admitted. Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Ben Smith also scored, while Patrick Kane notched a career playoff-high four helpers for Chicago. Kane became the first Blackhawk to assist on four goals in one playoff game since Steve Larmer did so on April 30, 1990 in a Norris Division final-clinching 8-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues . Kane hasnt scored a goal since getting the OT winner and series clincher in Game 6 of Chicagos second-round series against Minnesota, but the reigning Conn Smythe winner has posted five assists over the last two games..dddddddddddd Corey Crawford looked shaky at times, but emerged with the win thanks to 40 saves. On Thursdays off day, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews talked about keeping the pressure on Los Angeles from the start of tonights battle. "Were going to work on getting our first win on the road against this team," said Toews. "We want to stay with the mentality, that were putting all the pressure on them. Its going to be tough for them to close it out and win that fourth game against us. We showed how resilient of a group we are last night. Were going to do it again." Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik, Jarret Stoll and Tanner Pearson lit the lamp for L.A. Pearsons tally extended his point streak to six games, matching the Kings postseason record for a rookie along with Warren Rychel (1993) and Daryl Evans (1982). L.A. has the comfort of home ice on Friday to try and reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in the last three seasons, but the club knows the fourth win of a series can be extremely hard to come by. "If anyone thinks that its easy ... its not easy," Kings forward Justin Williams said of closing out an opponent in the third round. "Attaining your ultimate goal is never easy and were going to do our best to get it done." Jonathan Quick took the loss despite stopping 40 pucks. Kane had a hand in all three Blackhawk scores in the opening 20 minutes on Wednesday before notching the secondary assist on Handzus winner. However, after going up by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening period, the Blackhawks found themselves down 4-3 heading into the final stanza of regulation, but Smith scored early in the third to even things. Saad fired a low shot from the left wing that was kicked aside by Quick, but Smith beat his checker and potted the rebound for a 4-4 game just 77 seconds into the third period. The Blackhawks had a prime chance to win in regulation when Stoll committed a tripping infraction with 3:11 on the clock. Quick made two acrobatic stops, one from Kane and the rebound on Bryan Bickell early in the advantage and added two more before its completion. Acting on adrenaline and instinct, the first overtime featured a dozen quality chances split between the clubs. Los Angeles claimed a 10-8 shot edge in a briskly-paced fourth period. "Overtime, Ive seen a lot of games, been involved in a lot of those," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. "That might have been the greatest overtime Ive seen." The Blackhawks have come back from down 3-1 to win a series only once in their history, but it was last spring against Detroit, which won three of the first four games against Chicago in the Western Conference semifinals before losing the final three tilts. The Blackhawks also needed to win Game 7 in overtime to down the Red Wings. ' ' '
