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OTTAWA -- Columbus called it Blue Jackets hockey, but the Ottawa Senators called it ugly. Cheap Jerseys . Ryan Johansen, R.J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin each had a power-play goal to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-1 victory over Ottawa on Sunday. Columbus head coach Todd Richards said after the game his team had put forth a "60-minute effort." "When were playing our best hockey thats exactly how were playing," Richards said. On the other side of the ice, Senators coach Paul MacLean had no explanation for his teams inconsistencies. MacLean is struggling to understand how his team can play so well one night and so poorly the next. "At some point and time when you hit 30 (games) you are what you are and if this is what we are as an inconsistent group its not going to be much fun," said MacLean. Umbergers second period power-play goal was the eventual winner. Derek MacKenzie had the Blue Jackets (7-10-3) only even-strength goal of the game while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots for the win. Bobrovsky wasnt overly busy, but when he was needed he made the big save. "When your goalies making big saves you want to work for him at the other end and get some goals," said Johansen. "Everybody was really good (Sunday)." Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Senators (8-8-4) in the third period. Craig Anderson made 18 saves. Coming off a 4-2 comeback win against Boston on Friday, the Senators had no explanation for why they came out so poorly Sunday. But they say they know things need to improve quickly. "We cant keep battling back every game because its not going to work," said Karlsson. "Were 20 games in and it seems like theres a lot of games left to be played, but if we dont start showing up soon its going to be over quick." Trailing 3-0 to start the third, things got even worse for the Senators as MacKenzie made it 4-0 at the five-minute mark of the third. An otherwise ugly game got even uglier after Ottawas Mark Borowiecki caught Jared Boll with his head down. James Wisniewski quickly came to his teammates defence and fought Borowiecki. The two were tossed from the game once the penalties were sorted out. "I was just trying to finish a check," said Borowiecki. "I would never want to hurt someone or put someone in jeopardy physically or anything like that. I was just trying to make a hard play and what happened, happened." The Senators broke Bobrovskys shutout bid at 17:33 of the third when Ottawa made the most of a two-man advantage on Karlssons seventh game of the season. The small crowd of 15,535 on hand for the matinee was quiet to begin with and it grew even quieter after the Blue Jackets took a 3-0 lead scoring twice in the second period. Columbus made it 2-0 at the four-minute mark of the second as Johansen took a shot from inside the blue-line and Umberger managed to get his stick on the rebound. The Blue Jackets had a two-man advantage and adding to the Senators woes was the fact Chris Phillips stick broke seconds before Tyutin made it 3-0. Special teams were clearly the difference in this one. Ottawa was 0-5 with the man advantage, scoring its only goal on a 5-on-3. "Our power play was huge and our penalty kill was great," said Nick Floigno, who played his first game against the Senators since being traded to Columbus in July 2012. "This was a big win for our team and gives us confidence." The Blue Jackets made it 1-0 at 4:50 as Johansen took a pass from Ryan Murray and then showed some great patience as he waited for a lane to clear before shooting. This marked the 14th time this season that Ottawa gave up the first goal. The Senators have a 3-8-3 record when the opposition scores first. MacLean said all aspects of the teams preparations will be looked, including slow starts. "Well examine all that stuff and well see if we need to make changes, but we need to do something," said MacLean. "At the end of the day, it comes down to the guys wearing the sweaters. They have to be ready to play. "The ultimate responsibility comes to each individual to make sure youre ready to play the game and do your job." Erik Condra returned to the lineup after missing the last six games with a leg injury. Notes: D Patrick Wiercioch, D Joe Corvo and LW Matt Kassian were a healthy scratch for the Senators. RW Erik Condra missed his sixth straight game with a leg injury a RW Jack Skille and D Dalton Prout were a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets. Cheap NFL Jerseys . The NFL club and Rogers Communications announced Wednesday theyve put the beleaguered Bills Toronto Series -- which features Buffalo playing exhibition and regular-season games at Rogers Centre -- on hold for at least a year. cheap jerseys from china . Leverkusen came from behind to beat Werder Bremen 2-1 and secure fourth place immediately above Wolfsburg, which beat sixth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1. "We knew we had to win," Leverkusen striker Eren Derdiyok said. AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Damian Lillard came spinning down the lane at the end of overtime and was blanketed by Rodney Stuckey, leaving Portlands guard had no choice but to fade to his right for a last-ditch shot. The ball dropped right through the basket, giving the Blazers a victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night that seemed unlikely until the final minutes. "Stuckey did a great job, but they told me that I was going to have to make a double move to get anything off," Lillard said. "He blocked my first move, and I knew he wouldnt let me get to the basket, so I just spun off my other shoulder and put up a fadeaway. It felt good when I let it go, but a lot of shots felt good tonight and didnt go in." That one did -- with one tenth of a second left -- to lift the Trail Blazers to a 111-109 victory over the Pistons. Lillard scored eight of his 23 points in overtime. Detroit led by 13 early in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons looked out of sorts offensively down the stretch. Josh Smith scored 31 points, his most since signing with Detroit as a free agent in the off-season, but the chance for a big home victory against one of the leagues most impressive teams slipped away. "If this doesnt stink, I dont know what does," Smith said. "When I was in Atlanta and we were young and we were in a lot of ballgames, but late down the stretch we couldnt figure it out -- and then later we turned the corner." LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points for Portland. Moments before Lillards winner, Stuckey tied the game for Detroit with a shot from near the free throw line. Portland, which made 21 shots from 3-point range in Saturdays rout of Philadelphia, went 7 of 26 on Sunday. "That wasnt looking good for most of the second half," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "But we got some big shots from Wesley Matthews and the defence really stepped up." Matthews scored 14 points and tied the game with 30.8 seconds remaining in regulation when he made two free throws. Detroit had the ball with 1.1 seconds left, but Kyle Singlers inbounds pass was stolen, sending the game to overtiime. wholesale nfl jerseys. It looked like it might go to a second overtime, but Lillard was able to create a shot for himself even when his path to the basket was blocked. "It was the same play we had run three or four times in a row," Stotts said. "We spread the floor with shooters, gave Damian a ball screen and let him make a play." The Blazers led by 11 early in the second quarter, but Detroit rallied behind Smith and fellow big men Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond to take a 51-50 lead into halftime. Smith is shooting 26 per cent from 3-point range this season, and the presence of Monroe and Drummond has seemed only to encourage him to shoot more from the perimeter. But he attempted only two 3s on Sunday, and the Blazers couldnt handle him in the post for most of the night. Smiths old-fashioned three-point play made it 75-66 in the third, and Detroit led 84-73 heading into the final period. "For the most part, we did a very good job guarding pick-and-rolls," Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We pretty much took them out of 3-point shooting, which is what we talked about before the game. Aldridge, we knew he could be a handful down low." Detroit outscored Portland 68-42 in the paint, but the Blazers held the Pistons to 15 points in the fourth quarter and slowly chipped away at the lead. Nicolas Batum scored 18 points for the Blazers, including a 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining that cut the Detroit lead to four. It was tight the rest of the way after that in a matchup of two of the leagues best offensive rebounding teams. Detroit finished with 18 offensive rebounds, but Portland had 15. "I think those opportunities had been there all night, but we didnt start taking advantage of them until things got drastic," Portland centre Robin Lopez said. "Im really impressed with what we can do defensively when we pick it up. We havent peaked, because we still wait until the motivation is there, but when we needed it, we stepped up." NOTES: The Blazers missed their first six 3-point attempts. ... Smith shot 13 of 17 from the field. Drummond had 13 points and 14 rebounds. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
