TAMPA
Youth Detroit Lions Jerseys , Fla. — A potential Stanley Cup Final preview will be on display Sunday as the
league-leading Nashville Predators visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.A late-season surge by the Predators has them in front in the chase for the Presidents’ Trophy. Tampa Bay occupied that spot for most of the season before a
mini-slump late in the season and is three points back.Nashville, coming off a 7-4 loss at home to the NHL-worst Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, continues to pace the league with 111 points, running off a 16-3-2
record since Feb. 19 to bypass the Lightning in the standings.The Boston Bruins, who play at Philadelphia on Sunday, is two points behind the Predators and one ahead of Tampa Bay with a game in hand on both teams.“That’s a huge game (Sunday) obviously,” Nashville center Austin Watson told The Tennessean. “Everybody knows that. It’s a great opportunity for us to bounce
back. I don’t know how much we’ll look at this, or we’ll just look to Tampa.
That’s up to the coaching staff. We’ll do what we’ve got to do to get our minds
right.”The Predators want to quickly put the loss to Buffalo behind them and avoid back-to-back regulation losses for the second time second time in the past 21
games.“We have to get our stuff together, last four games we need to play hard, play much better than we showed,” Nashville center Mike Fisher told Predators’
television network following the loss to Buffalo. “Good thing is we have a big
game (Sunday)
Jason Witten Cowboys Jersey , and we have to get back at it and play our hockey. We still have a lot to play for, we have to show it.”The Lightning, meanwhile, have not only dropped out of the top overall spot in the league standings, they now trail Boston for the top overall spot in the
Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings with a 4-5-0 record in the
past nine games.While getting back on the right side of the ledger is something for Tampa Bay to focus on in the final four games, there are other areas the team is looking
at as well.“I think we are focusing on some little things here and there,” Lightning center Tyler Johnson said. “Obviously we are in a funk and in a little groove
right now we are trying to get out of, but we will. I think once playoffs start
it’s a completely different thing and it automatically elevates wherever you
are, and I have a lot of faith in our team and our group, so I’m not too worried
about there.”Chasing down Boston is on the Lightning’s agenda heading down the final week of the season and is in the middle of a stretch of four emotionally charged
games, including the matchup with Nashville. Tampa Bay hosts Boston on
Tuesday.“We have gone in to a little bit of a lull since we clinched
Youth Albert Wilson Jersey ,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I think these upcoming games, they bring the emotions out, especially with the distance
in the standings between us and Boston and what it has been. You don’t know how
these games are going to turn out but I would expect our guys to be fully
invested for sure.”It will also be an expected matchup between Vezina Trophy favorites with Nashville’s Pekka Rinne likely facing Lightning goaltender Andrei
Vasilevskiy.Rinne has jumped to the forefront as the favorite thanks to a 22-3-1 run in which he has posted a 2.02 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in his
past 26 starts. He enters Sunday with an overall record of 41-11-4, a 2.25 GAA,
.929 save percentage and league-leading eight shutouts, but was victimized for
six goals by Buffalo.Vasilevskiy was the runaway leader at the All-Star break and though he leads the league with 42 victories, which is a single-season franchise record, he has
seen his GAA blow up to 2.60 after giving up three or more goals 15 times in 21
starts since the All-Star break.Chicago right-handed pitcher Dylan Covey says he is healthy and ready to get back to work when the White Sox head to Texas to begin a three-game series on
Friday against the Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington.Covey (3-2, 3.45 ERA) will pitch the series opener while Texas will counter with right-hander Yovani Gallardo (1-0, 12.08).Covey has been the White Sox’s steadiest starter this season and was protecting a 5-2 lead in the fourth against Oakland, his former team
Quenton Nelson Jersey , June 23 when he felt some soreness in his hip and groin areas while he was coming off the mound and was removed from the game.“I don’t know exactly what it was,” Covey said. “We didn’t get any tests done but all the manual tests they did said my strength is good. Just probably like a
cramp or something like that that was lingering a little bit. I was feeling it
on the mound, so definitely thinking about it.”Covey was sidelined from May 26-Aug. 15 last season with a strained left oblique. He’s been a pleasant surprise for the White Sox this year, having
drastically cut down his home run rate.“Everything felt great — unless something weird happens, I’ll be good to go,” Covey said of his bullpen session on Tuesday. “That’s the plan. It didn’t really
hurt. It was kind of a precautionary thing, I think.”Covey is 0-0 with a 20.25 ERA in two relief appearances against the Rangers.Gallardo will make his fifth appearance and third start of the season on Friday. It will be his third start with the Rangers, with whom he’s allowed nine
earned runs over 10 1/3 innings in his initial two starts.Gallardo is slated to be working on extended five-days’ rest. He picked up the win in his last start, a 9-6 Rangers victory on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Gallardo is 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA over four career starts versus the White
Sox.The White Sox had a delayed arrival into Texas after a 2-1 loss to Minnesota in 13 innings on Thursday.Texas enjoyed an off day on Thursday after a 5-2 win over San Diego that gave the Rangers their fourth straight series win.Texas got a sterling performance by left-hander Mike Minor, who retired the first 19 Padres’ batters before a single from Eric Hosmer with one out in the
seventh. He retired 21 of the 22 batters he faced over seven innings.The Rangers inked Minor to a three-year contract in the offseason. He was a starter with the Braves in 2010-14 before missing all of 2015-16 because of a
torn labrum in his left shoulder and is starting to prove that the Rangers made
the right move despite a slow start to the season.I feel better, yeah
Youth New Orleans Saints Jerseys ,” Minor said after Wednesday’s game. “I feel a little bit more consistent with my delivery, repeating things. It’s more about what I
think. I think I can do it.“Early on, I still had the confidence. I just knew that I was a little bit off with my mechanics and everything, but I knew I had the stuff to get through
a lineup three times, four times, whatever it is, and to go deep in
ballgames.”Texas is 9-3 over its past 12 games after losing six in a row.Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance during Wednesday win over the Padres, extending his on-base streak to
40 straight games.That ties for the longest such streak in the Majors this season. Odubel Herrera of the Phillies reached base in 40 straight from March 30-May 19.The Rangers dropped three of four games on May 17-20 on Chicago’s South Side in the first series between the two teams this season..
