PHILADELPHIA -- If the Flyers continue to play as well as they did on Saturday, theyll have little trouble making the playoffs.
Veste Canada Goose Homme Solde . Matt Read scored a pair of goals to lift the Flyers to a convincing 4-0 victory over the
short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. "We were looking for a game like
that a long time ago where we make sure that everybody follows the game plan and
everybody plays 60 minutes," said Flyers captain Claude Giroux, who had a pair
of assists. "It feels pretty good." Scott Hartnell and Vincent Lecavalier also
scored for Philadelphia, which is in the middle of a tightly bunched pack of
teams battling for a playoff spot. The Penguins, who are comfortably atop the
Metropolitan Division, were shut out for the fourth time this season. Pittsburgh
played without its third- and fourth-leading scorers, Chris Kunitz (lower body)
and James Neal (concussion). The Flyers neutralized Pittsburgh stars
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. "They did a lot of what we expected,"
Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "We werent able to handle it, and in all
aspects of the game we werent good." Besides Kunitz and Neal, the Penguins
continued to be without top winger Pascal Dupuis (knee) and defencemen
Kris Letang (stroke) and Paul Martin (hand). But Bylsma wouldnt use injuries as
an excuse. "We have capable guys, guys who have done well for us before," he
said. "We have to find ways to win within our roles regardless of whos in there.
We werent able and ready to do that today." Philadelphia played like the
first-place team in a matchup between two the leagues top rivals. "We want to
finish higher and want home-ice advantage," Giroux said. "Its there for us to
take but we have to keep playing like this." The Flyers came out with a
high-energy attack from the opening faceoff in one of their best efforts of the
season. Steve Mason made 25 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 23rd
of his career. "Everything felt very under control," Mason said. Leading 2-0
after one period, Philadelphia made it 4-0 with a pair of second-period goals.
Lecavalier made it 3-0 when he scored on a breakaway after taking a stellar pass
from Luke Schenn. Then, Read tallied his second of the game by finishing a
beautifully executed 3-on-1 with Giroux and Sean Couturier with 17 seconds
remaining in the period to give Philadelphia a 4-0 advantage. Couturier passed
to Giroux in the slot and Giroux faked the shot before going back to Couturier,
who whipped it across the ice to a wide-open Read. Read tapped home the goal
past a sprawling Fleury, who was fooled by Girouxs fake. "Its hard to miss those
when theyre right on your stick," Read said. "I benefited from those two making
a great play." Mason kept Pittsburgh scoreless with a strong second period that
included a point-blank stop of Jayson Megna six minutes into the period and a
solid save on Simon Despres try from the left circle with 33 seconds left. The
Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two nice goals in the first period.
Hartnell opened the scoring with a power-play goal 3:50 into the game by
one-timing Girouxs pass from the slot. The shot changed directions when hitting
Brooks Orpiks stick and went off Fleurys left shoulder and in. A little more
than four minutes later, Read scored a short-handed tally on a one-timer from
close range after taking a deft pass from Couturier from behind the net and
firing it over Fleurys left shoulder. The Flyers unveiled an 8-foot, 1,300-pound
statue of Hall of Fame coach Fred Shero prior to the game on the former site of
the Spectrum, which is adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center. Shero coached the
Flyers for seven seasons and won a pair of Stanley Cups, in 1974 and 75. Sheros
son, Ray, who is the Penguins general manager, was among those who attended the
pregame ceremony. Notes: Kunitz, who has 59 points on the season, warmed up but
didnt play. Kunitz crashed into the goal post in the third period of Tuesdays
game against Washington. Bylsma was noncommittal when asked whether Kunitz would
play Sunday. ... G Ray Emery returned to his role backing up Mason. Emery hadnt
dressed since suffering a lower body injury Feb. 27 against San Jose. ...
Crosby, who leads the NHL with 88 points, entered with 75 points in 30 career
games against Philadelphia. ... The teams will play a rematch at 12:30 Sunday
afternoon in Pittsburgh.
Parka Canada Goose Femme Kensington . -- Get a flow chart ready to follow the Packers quarterback situation.
Canada Goose Bomber Femme . You can watch all the action on TSN and TSN GO beginning at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. Minnesota dropped
the first two tests of this best-of-seven set at Chicagos United Center and was
outscored by a combined 9-3 margin in those setbacks. However, the Wild righted
themselves at home by taking Game 3 by a 4-0 count before knotting the series at
two games apiece with Fridays 4-2 triumph at Xcel Energy Center. NEW YORK -- A
small but spirited cheer broke out in a corner of Barclays Center, a contrast to
the boos that rained down for much of the second half. Timofey Mozgov had just
grabbed his career-high 20th rebound late in Denvers 111-87 victory over the
Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, and the players on the Nuggets bench were
thrilled. "Its just a great deal for us and for him. He works extremely hard and
he did a hell of a job going against their bigs," Nuggets guard Nate Robinson
said. Mozgov, Robinson and the rest of the subs are providing plenty for the
Nuggets to celebrate lately. Mozgov also scored 17 points in another superb
effort by the Denver bench, and the Nuggets raced to their seventh straight
victory. Kenneth Faried and Jordan Hamilton each added 15 points for the
Nuggets, who got 57 points from the NBAs second-highest scoring second unit.
That wasnt quite the 72 they rang up against Toronto on Sunday, but it was more
than enough to dominate the third quarter against the short-handed Nets. Denver
outscored Brooklyn 31-15 in the period that has given the Nets season-long
problems, putting it away with a 15-0 run midway through the quarter. "We just
kept attacking. Thats what were going to do all season. Were going to keep
attacking teams," said Robinson, who had to shoot two free throws lefty after a
hard landing on his right wrist. "Were never going to stop playing hard. Were
going to play as hard as we can for as long as we can, no matter the results."
Joe Johnson scored 22 points for the Nets, who still havent won consecutive
games this season and fell to 5-13 heading into their nationally televised first
meeting Thursday with the just-a-little-worse Knicks (3-13). Andray Blatche
added 15 for the Nets, playing without injured starters Paul Pierce and Deron
Williams. "Cant hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves because no one in
the league is going to feel sorry for us," Brooklyns Kevin Garnett said. "But
need to figure this out soon. I dont think anyone around here is having fun and
losing is definitely not fun." The Nets shook up their coaching staff before the
game, with Jason Kidd reassigning Lawrence Frank to a non-bench role in which he
will write daily reports but wont be at games or practices. Kidd said he and his
former coach when he playyed for the Nets had "different philosophies.
Manteau Canada Goose Femme Solde. " Kidd hired Frank not long after beating out Brian Shaw for the job in June. Shaw, a longtime successful NBA assistant,
interviewed just after Kidd and thought he had a good chance at the Nets job.
Instead, he replaced George Karl in Denver and has found much smoother sailing.
The Nets trailed by just five after Alan Andersons layup with 7:35 left in the
third quarter before Denver ran off 15 straight, including consecutive dunks by
Faried and Wilson Chandler, and later back-to-back jumpers by Darrell Arthur to
make it 80-60. The Nets were a dismal 4 for 15 and outrebounded 15-7 in the
quarter, which ended with some of the loudest boos of the season at Barclays
Center. "Guys are starting to look like they had been in games that we had let
go of the rope," Kidd said. "So thats something that weve got to address and get
better at." The Nuggets reserves average 45.2 points, trailing only the Los
Angeles Lakers, who won here last week. Shaw went early to the 7-foot-1 Mozgov
during Brook Lopezs 10-point first quarter, and the Nets All-Star centre had
only two more the rest of the game. "All we do, we just try to bring energy in
the game and play hard. The harder you play, the more you stay on the court,"
Mozgov said. "I want to stay on the court 49 minutes, but I know thats not
possible. But I want to stay on the court as much as possible, so Im going to
just push hard. Thats it." Coming home did little to help Brooklyn, which is
actually on its first homestand of the season. The Nets havent played
consecutive games at Barclays Center, and Thursdays game will make them the last
NBA team to have played two in a row in their own building. The Nets shot 55 per
cent in the first quarter in opening a 29-27 lead. The Nuggets sprinted by them,
scoring 31 points in the second to bring a 58-50 advantage to the locker room.
NOTES: The Nets started a stretch of 9 of 12 games at home. ... The Nuggets made
seven 3-pointers, ending their franchise-record streak with eight or more at
eight games. ... Nets reserve Andrei Kirilenko, who has been limited to just
four games because of back spasms, said before the game he has no timetable for
his return after a couple of previous setbacks when he thought he was close.
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