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DETROIT -- After scoring 39 goals in their first eight games, the San Jose Sharks proved they can play pretty well defensively, too. Bobby Cox Jersey . Logan Couture scored in the shootout and San Jose beat the Detroit Red Wings 1-0 on Monday night. The Sharks (8-0-1) are the NHLs last team without a regulation loss. "We scored a lot of goals in our first eight games. Were not going to keep scoring like that," Couture said. Each goalie got a shutout for not allowing a goal in 65 minutes. Antti Niemi -- who got his 24th career shutout -- made 24 saves for San Jose and Jimmy Howard, who earned his 17th shutout, stopped 27 shots. "Not much space out there. It was very playoff like," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "Both teams a prevent-type game. ... It was a chess match, theres no doubt about it. Even on the power play and penalty kills, the teams didnt get a lot of looks." Howard praised the way his team played without the puck. "I thought we did a good job on their top guys. We didnt give them a lot of room and space. Another thing that was a positive was we didnt give up a lot of odd-man rushes," Howard said. "Thats been an Achilles heel of late for us. We did a great job of keeping the third man high in the offensive zone, making them come 200 feet. We didnt turn pucks over. Its a good sign." It was Niemis third shutout against Detroit. He also stopped Todd Bertuzzi on Detroits final shootout attempt with a spectacular pad save. It was the first game of a four-game Eastern road swing for San Jose. Detroits Brendan Smith hit the outside of the goal post with 4:57 remaining in regulation. Niemi made an outstanding save on Daniel Alfredssons shot from the bottom of the right circle 7:31 into the second period. San Jose outshot Detroit 7-4 in a scoreless opening period, in which the Red Wings killed off two penalties. "There was two pretty good teams there tonight. I thought our young D played pretty good. There wasnt much in the way of scoring chances either way," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Both teams played real tight. I thought it was a good game. Just no room for either team. I think both teams checked really well. Not a lot of freedom for guys." NOTES: After the game, the Sharks acquired forward Mike Brown from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fourth-round section in the 2014 draft. ... Detroit D Niklas Kronwall missed his second game with a concussion suffered on Thursday night in Colorado. It was on a hit from behind by Cody McLeod, who was suspended for five games on Monday by the NHL. Kronwalls defence partner, Jonathan Ericsson, also didnt play because his wife went into labour on Sunday night. D Xavier Ouellet was recalled from the Wings AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. ... San Jose recalled forwards Freddie Hamilton and John McCarthy from its AHL affiliate in Worcester. The team also assigned F Matt Pelech to the same team. ... Red Wings G Jonas Gustavsson is the NHLs First Star for last week. Gustavsson posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.67 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in three Detroit wins. ... Sharks LW Patrick Marleau was the leagues Third Star with three goals and six points. ... Tampa Bay Lightning GM, Canadian Olympic GM and former Red Wings Hall of Fame player Steve Yzerman was at the game. Bobby Cox Authentic Jersey . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Craig Kimbrel Braves Jersey . -- Canadian Erik Bedard pitched into the fifth inning in his bid to win a spot in Tampa Bays rotation, helping the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Saturday.SAO PAULO, Brazil -- FIFA said Wednesday it is not considering changing kickoff times or adding mandatory cooling breaks during World Cup matches, despite being sued by Brazils players union because of health concerns. FIFA said it spent nearly two years analyzing starting times for the tournament in Brazil and always took into consideration the players health. The players federation filed a lawsuit this week to change kickoff times of the 24 matches scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), saying players would be at risk because of intense heat and humidity in some venues. It said FIFA, at least, must introduce two-minute water breaks in each half during those matches. The players federation is asking for a temporary injunction against FIFA but theres no timetable on a ruling. "FIFAs medical team is always monitoring carefully all venues during any FIFA competition to protect the players health," footballs governing body said in a statement. "Cooling breaks will be considered on a match-by-match basis for the 64 matches. Official and mandatory cooling breaks will not be pre-established. Rather, climate conditions will be evaluated prior to each match by the FIFA venue medical officer." There were similar health concerns during the 1994 World Cup in the United states, when temperatures reached the mid-30s (Celsius) in some of the games. Extreme heat is also a problem for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with FIFA considering moving the tournament to winter to avoid the hot weather in the Gulf nation. FIFA said it already made the schedule changes it felt were needed in the Brazilian cities with the highest temperatures. It will be winter in Brazil during the World Cup, but it may be hot and humid in many of the 12 host cities, especially in the northeastern and northern regions. "One coore aspect in defining the kickoff times was the very thorough analysis of the historical climate data in all venues," FIFA said. Brandon Beachy Authentic Jersey. "Therefore, the venues with the highest average temperatures such as Manaus, Cuiaba and Fortaleza do not have any matches with 1 p.m. kickoff times during group stage." Seven matches had their kickoff times altered by FIFA last year. The players federation, known as Fenapaf, wants the changes based on local labour regulations and a study conducted by renowned Brazilian sports doctor Turibio Leite. The study was requested by Fenapaf and FIFPro, the international players union. "We have been trying to discuss this with FIFA for nearly two years and they wont even sit down to talk to us," federation president Rinaldo Martorelli told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "The only alternative was to seek legal action. We really hope that they make the changes in kickoff times, but if that doesnt happen, they need to at least make the cooling breaks mandatory." FIFPro did meet with FIFA last year to discuss the issue, although no direct action was taken at the time. FIFA said that defining the World Cup match schedule is a "complex process" that involves "detailed assessments" from experts in several areas, with players health the "highest priority." It said other considerations include travel logistics and the global television market. FIFPro last year accused FIFA of considering "the demands of TV companies of greater importance than the health and safety of the players." FIFA officially approved referees to implement cooling breaks in 2013, though water breaks were made during the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when Argentina beat Nigeria in grueling conditions at the Birds Nest. ' ' ' |
