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VANCOUVER - Eddie Lack helped the Vancouver Canucks overcome a case of the blues Wednesday night. cheap nfl jerseys . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. The win was like sweet music to the Canucks (28-24-9) as they ended their losing streak at seven games while moving into sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. The Blues (39-13-6) dropped their third straight decision to Vancouver this season as they were shut out for the first time in 2013-14. "It feels very good to be able to shut the door," said Lack. "It was very big for our team. "Its a big relief." The Canucks outshot the Blues 35-20, but Lack, Vancouvers backup who is in his first full NHL season, was forced to make many difficult saves. "I feel like I have been working on this start for a while and I was really excited to play, and Rollie (Melanson, Vancouvers goalie coach) has been bugging me for weeks saying we need to win these 1-0 games, so its huge," said Lack. Jannik Hansen scored the games only goal as he finally broke a scoreless deadlock at 11:13 of the third period. He took a backhand stretch pass from Tom Sestito from deep in the Vancouver zone just past centre ice, raced in on a breakaway and beat Halak with a high shot. It was Hansens first goal in just over a month, a span of eight games, after he last scored Jan. 26 against Phoenix. "Great play by Tommy, he could see I was taking off a little early and he fed me a nice pass, and I was able to get it through the goalie," said Hansen. "You dont have to look at the standings very long to see we need to win a lot of games here to make the playoffs, and its obviously a very strong opponent today, a playoff team. These are the teams you have to beat. We cant just beat the teams below us." Vancouver was blanked on four power plays while St. Louis failed to score on three. Lack drew the start after backstopping the Canucks to a pair of wins over St. Louis earlier this season. Three of his nine wins have come against the Blues, and he has allowed only three goals to them. The Canucks came out with the added aggression that coach John Tortorella has been seeking as they outshot the Blues 14-6 in the first period. But for most of the night, the hosts could not beat a steady Halak, who felt fresh after playing just two games for Slovakia in the Olympics and getting plenty of rest after arriving back in St. Louis last Thursday. "It was a pretty good pace for 60 minutes," said Halak. "It was just that we came up short. We couldnt score. "I tried to do my best. I tried to give the guys a chance to win. Id like to get (Hansens goal) back." St. Louis had nine players in Sochi and the Canucks had seven. But Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who served as an assistant with Canadas gold-medal-winning team, did not think post-Olympic fatigue was a factor. "It was a hard fought, well played game for the most part," said Hitchcock. "I didnt think we had the energy in the third period than we did in the end of the first and the second. We had a great second period. But weve had trouble beating (Lack.) We havent scored on him, and hes made some big saves and hes won a lot of the scrambles. We had all the penetration in the second period for all the scoring chances." Hitchcock lamented his teams inability to score on odd-man rushes in two losses in Vancouver this season. "When you get two-on-ones and three-on-ones on the road, youve got to capitalize," he said. "I think that was the difference in the hockey game." Lacks best moments came late in the second period as he denied Blues captain David Backes on a one-timer during a delayed penalty and Alex Steen on a deflection, and got his pad on a T.J. Oshie shot before defenceman Alex Edler blocked the puck as he attempted to put in the rebound. After the save, fans chanted "Eddie! Eddie!" But Oshie, who played for the U.S. in the Olympics, was not willing to give Lack too much credit. "He made some good saves, but I dont think we really tested him like we could have," said Oshie. "We let him see a lot of pucks." There was no denying Vancouvers desperation though. "Theyre a desperate team right now," said Halak. "For them, every game is a playoff game. They need to get every point that they can." Notes: Olympians from both teams were honoured in a pre-game ceremony. Blues defencemen Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo drew loud cheers from the crowd when they were saluted, along with Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and goaltender Roberto Luongo, for helping Canada win the 2014 Olympic gold medal. … Tortorella worked his first home game since receiving a six-game suspension for storming the Calgary Flames dressing room area Jan. 18. … Canucks captain Henrik Sedin returned to action after suffering an undisclosed injury before the Olympics. He missed the past two practices while tending to a personal matter in Sweden, but returned Wednesday in time for the game. Defenceman Kevin Bieksa returned after missing five games before the Olympic break with a foot injury. … Vancouver centre Ryan Kesler sat out with a hand injury suffered while playing for the U.S. in the Olympics. Canucks defencemen Chris Tanev (thumb) and Andrew Alberts (concussion) remained out. … Blues defenceman Jordan Leopold missed the game due to an ankle injury. He was replaced by Carlo Colaiacovo. cheap jerseys . Police leaflets seen by an Associated Press reporter at a central Sochi hotel on Tuesday contain warnings about three potential suicide bombers. A police letter said that one of them, Ruzanna Ibragimova, a 22-year-old widow of an Islamic militant, was at large in Sochi. wholesale jerseys . Brooks and Harrison, along with tackle Walter Jones and coach Tony Dungy, were the first-year eligible candidates to make the cut from 126 to 25. Brooks won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, while Harrison and Dungy were champions with Indianapolis.LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings might be the NHLs best defensive team, and they hadnt blown a two-goal lead in a loss in nearly a full calendar year. The Toronto Maple Leafs broke down that defence and pulled out an impressive road victory despite nearly running out of goalies along the way. Mason Raymond broke a tie with a short-handed goal early in the third period and the Maple Leafs snapped the Kings eight-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory Thursday night. James Reimer made 31 saves in the final two periods after replacing the injured Jonathan Bernier for the Leafs, who have won four of five. Captain Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson also scored as Toronto beat both Southern California NHL clubs in a four-day span, albeit with a blowout loss at the Shark Tank sandwiched in between. "We need every point that we can possibly get," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. "Were in desperation mode as every team is, and we just found a way to gut it out. We gave up a two-goal lead, and we found a way to get a big goal." After the Leafs erased that early 2-0 deficit, Raymond put them ahead with 14:54 to play. Kopitar was stopped by Reimer on a golden scoring chance, and Raymond alertly countered on a 2-on-1 rush with James van Riemsdyk for Raymonds 19th goal. Bernier gave up two goals in the first period of his first game back in Los Angeles against the team that traded him last summer, but then sat out the final two periods with a lower-body injury. Reimer filled in admirably, making a number of stunning saves. "I wouldnt blow it up too big," Reimer said. "I just came in and did my job. Every time you go in is an opportunity." Reimer, who gave up six goals in San Jose, also got up quite slowly in the second period after getting an accidental blow to the head from Jarret Stoll when the goalie dived to stop a puck. Reimer eventually shook it off, but said he "got (his) bell rung." "I was sitting beside Bernier when that happened," said Nazem Kadri, who had two assists. "I told him to take off his pads. I might have to throw them on." Marian Gaborik had an early goal and an assist in his home debut with the Kings, who fell just short of matching the longest winning streeak in franchise history. cheap jerseys from china. Anze Kopitar had a power-play goal and Jonathan Quick stopped 26 shots in his first loss since Feb. 3. After losing nine of 10 in a skid stretching into early February, the Kings won their final game before the Olympic break and hadnt lost since. This loss prevented the Kings from equaling their record nine-game streak in 2010. "Its a stinger every time you lose after a pretty strong road trip," Kopitar said. "We didnt want to start off a homestand with a loss. I dont know how they execute their system, but it seemed like they were skating and playing a tight-checking game. But it was just a case of our game tonight not getting it done." Gaborik still came through in the Slovak goal-scorers fourth game with the club, providing exactly the boost they sought for their sagging offence. Wearing their Forum-blue-and-gold throwback jerseys, the Kings went ahead just 1:57 in when the rebound of Drew Doughtys low shot went straight to Gaborik, who scored his seventh goal of the season. "I think its coming along," Gaborik said of his line with Kopitar and Justin Williams. "We had some chemistry with our line and created some chances, so I think its going the right way." Kopitar then scored a power-play goal on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Doughty, the gold medal-winning Canadian defenceman. Gunnarsson tied it up early in the second with just his second goal in 67 games this season. Bernier was the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft by Kings general manager Dean Lombardi. He played 62 games for Los Angeles over five NHL seasons, but never managed to beat out Quick, a lower-round pick by a previous regime who eventually became the Kings Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Lombardi traded Bernier to Toronto in a deal for Ben Scrivens -- since traded to Edmonton -- and Matt Frattin, who was sent to Columbus in the deal for Gaborik. Bernier lost 3-1 to the Kings in Toronto in December. NOTES: Mike Richards accidentally shot the puck into teammate Justin Williams face with 3 minutes to play. Williams stayed in the game. ... Toronto scratched C Peter Holland, who has the flu. ... The Kings announced their 100th consecutive sellout at Staples Center since December 2011. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
