miaowang123: Me personally I need the rest," s

Me personally I need the rest," s

26 Jun 2018 at 04:23

NASHVILLE -- Facing an early deficit, Nashville turned the game around with its power play. Will Hernandez Jersey . Patric Hornqvist scored with the man-advantage at 13:56 of the third period to lift the Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. Matt Cullen and Roman Josi also scored power-play goals to help Nashville snap a three-game losing streak. The three man-advantage goals were a season high for the Predators. Nashville entered Thursday with the NHLs seventh-best power play. "The power play was really huge, but our 5-on-5 play was strong," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We gave up seven shots in the last two periods and that includes a couple of power plays that they had." Martin St. Louis had both goals for the Lightning, losers of three of their last four. With time winding down in the final period, Hornqvist collected the rebound of Mike Fishers shot and slipped it by Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop. "It hit the heel of my stick, and then I dont know if I got a whack on it on the rebound, too," Hornqvist said. "Its nice to see that it finally went in. Thats how I have to play every single night to be effective." St. Louis opened the scoring at 5:26 of the first period. Ondrej Palat carried the puck from the left boards into the slot, where he sent a backhand off the left post. St. Louis was parked in front of the Nashville goal to tap home the rebound. Less than four minutes later, St. Louis struck again. With the Lightning on a power play, St. Louis wrist shot from the right faceoff dot hit Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton in the chest, fell to the ice, and trickled across the goal line. Hutton is 7-2-2 in his last 11 games. Since scoring a career-best four times in Tampa Bays Jan. 18 game against San Jose, St. Louis had not scored a goal, a stretch of nine games. He also was pointless in five games for Team Canada in their gold medal-winning performance at the Sochi Olympic Games. "Our 5-on-5 play was horrendous," St. Louis said. "Our battle level was very low. Youve got to grind it out in this league, and we didnt do that." After getting nine shots on goal in the first, Tampa Bay managed just four in the second and three in the third. "It was disgracefully embarrassing, thats what that game was," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Two periods, really, really disappointed. Seven shots in the last two periods?" Cullen struck at 12:05 of the second. Ryan Ellis skated the puck into the right circle, where he faked a shot and found Cullen at the back door for an easy tap-in. Josi tied the game 1:11 later on another power-play goal when the Swiss Olympian ripped a slap shot from the left faceoff dot over Bishops left shoulder. "The first period, we didnt manage the puck that well," Josi said. "We actually didnt play a bad period in the first, but they got up 2-0. After that, we just worked their defence and our forwards did a great job down low." NOTES: Palat has points in three-straight games. ... Cullen had not scored a goal since Nov. 27, breaking a stretch of 29 games without a goal. ... Nashville is 7-21-5 when its opponents score first. . The game was the first of five consecutive home games for Nashville coming out of the Olympic break. Kyle Lauletta Jersey . Vonn "reopened" the idea of competing in the season-opening World Cup event on Oct. 26-27 in Soelden, Austria after returning to the slopes last month in Portillo, Chile. Saquon Barkley Giants Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points.  Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two.TORONTO - With his teammates primed to go their separate ways after Wednesdays game, many of them playing like it in the first half, DeMar ;DeRozan took one final opportunity to validate his upcoming trip to New Orleans. For the better part of the opening 24 minutes, the Raptors played like a team that was ready to start its long weekend one day early by succumbing to a popular pre All-Star break pitfall; the letdown game. "I think both teams were on vacation before the game started," Dwane Casey said of his teams flat start, hitting just one of 12 field goals at the outset of a crucial meeting with the Hawks and trailing by eight early, until DeRozan sparked the Raptors slumbering offence. Were the Raptors looking ahead to some much needed time off? "I wouldnt say that necessarily, we probably thought they (were)" replied DeRozan, who scored 14 of his game-high 31 points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, spearheading a lopsided second half and leading Toronto to a 104-83 win over Atlanta. "We picked it up," he continued. "We understood they were going to come out play hard because we are neck-and-neck in the race in the conference. We understood how much this game meant." The Raptors overtook Atlanta for third place in the Eastern Conference standings last month and the Hawks have been knocking on the door ever since. With the victory, Toronto handed the Hawks - who now hold the fifth seed - their fifth straight loss and padded their own cushion over fourth-place Chicago going into this weekends All-Star festivities. At 28-24, the Raptors sit atop their division at the break for the second time in franchise history and first since they won the Atlantic in the 2006-07 season. "It means a lot to be where were at right now," DeRozan said, "but it really dont mean nothing unless we keep it up. Weve got to keep it growing, we cant be comfortable with it because teams in our division (are) definitely still coming." Leading by one at intermission, the Raptors outscored the struggling Hawks 59-39 in the second half, holding them to 30 per cent shooting and forcing eight turnovers whilee committing just one themselves. Kyle Lauletta Giants Jersey. . DeRozan made seven of his 10 field goal attempts, and all four of his free throws, in the half. Most importantly the Raptors executed their game plan defensively, rotating and closing out hard, limiting one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league to four treys on 20 attempts from beyond the arch. "We had to make sure we were there and the way the game started I (didnt) think we got the memo before the game," Casey said. "We continued to grind it, stuck with the game plan, guys stuck together and grinded it out." It wasnt their most ascetically pleasing victory but its one that fell right into the Raptors wheelhouse, one that played into the identity and personality Casey has urged his team to carry into the seasons unofficial second half. "Like I told our guys," he said, "the second half is going to be a grind. Its not going to be pretty (but) we dont want it to be pretty. Its going to be hard and everybody has to be committed in the locker room." The break comes at a perfect time for the Raptors. Although they go into it with confidence having won two straight, both at home - overall theyve won 10 of 12 at the Air Canada Centre - many of them could use the rest and relaxation time. For the second straight game Amir Johnson was a spectator - fashioning a personalized Raptors jersey on the back of his vest as he watched from the bench - still nursing a sore right ankle. Hell have over 10 days of rest before the team reconvenes in Washington for Tuesdays game against the Wizards. For the rest of the team this five-day layoff is an opportunity to heal various aches and pains that accumulate over a long season and refocus heading into the stretch run. "Me personally I need the rest," said Kyle Lowry, who had another double-double - 16 points and 13 assists - on Wednesday. "I know everybody needs the rest. You get to mentally relax and physically relax also and its always important to take care of your body at this time (of year). You rarely get a five-day stretch in the season so (we have to) take advantage of it." White NFL Jerseys Cheap China NFL Gear China NFL Jerseys White NFL Jerseys Cheap Camo China NFL Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China ' ' '



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