WOMBAT-Empfang » before the holiday break. Washingto

NEWARK, N.J. - Though they have gotten off to a strong start this season, the San Jose Sharks believe they can be better.Logan Couture had a goal and two assists and Antti Niemi made 35 saves as the Sharks beat the pesky New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday night.The win was the fourth in five games for the Sharks, but they had to sweat this one out after allowing a 3-0 lead to shrink to a goal with just under 8 minutes to play.Were winning games, but were not playing well, Couture said. We end up scrambling around at the end. I wont say panic, but we have to do a better job. Were giving up goals late. But wins in this league are hard to come by. We knew the schedule coming in and we knew it was going to be tough. Its good to win on the road and its good to have this kind of start.The Sharks put this one away because Niemi made three big saves down the stretch and Joe Thornton iced the game with an empty net goal — his 1,200th NHL.We made a couple of good power plays and made them stand up, Thornton said. Were looking real good right now. We have a group of positive guys and were getting really good goaltending right now. We have a group of loose guys who get along well. Things are good. A lot of teams are trying to find themselves early on. Were still looking for our identity as a team right now. Weve been on the road a lot of games and doing a real good job.Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Patrick Marleau had the other goal for San Jose, which has picked up nine of a possible 10 points, losing only in a shootout to the New York Islanders.The Sharks, who are playing 16 of their first 21 games on the road, were cruising with a three-goal lead when Mike Cammalleri and Adam Henrique gave the sellout crowd of 16,592 something to cheer about, scoring in a 4:10 span to pull within one with 7:50 to play.Niemi made the lead stand with excellent stops on Cammalleri, Henrique and Damien Brunner before Thornton scored his first goal of the season with 1:14 remaining.Cory Schneider made 28 saves for the Devils in their home opener, including a glove stop on a penalty shot by Tommy Wingels with 3:44 to play and the New Jersey down a goal.We had our chances, even in the second period we had our chances, Devils forward Jaromir Jagr said. They scored twice on the power play and we didnt. I dont think they outplayed us.Niemi, who has won all three of his starts, stopped the Devils first 27 shots before Cammalleri beat him with a shot from the right circle with 12 minutes to play. Henrique tallied with a pin-ball shot off a defender.The problem for the Devils was they were down 3-0, with Patrick Marleau pushing the lead to three with a hard shot on a counter attack early in the third period that hit off Schneiders arm at 1:36.Obviously, we have to do a few things better at the end, things that we would like to do better, Pavelski said. We would hopefully get a 3-0 win in a game like this.Pavelski and Couture had scored on the power play late in the first and second periods, respectively.Pavelski, who has goals in two of the last three games, got the Sharks on the board with 2:07 left in the first period, beating Schneider from in close after collecting the rebound of a Couture shot from the right circle.Couture got his first goal of the season with 2:08 remaining in the second period. Pavelski sent a pass from the right point to Marleau behind the red zone and he found Couture alone in front.NOTES: Devils RW Martin Havlat did not play because of facial lacerations. Brunner replaced him. ... The Sharks have scored first in all five games this season. ... San Jose is 2-0-1 on its current five-game East Coast road trip. It plays next at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night against the Rangers. ... The Devils dont play again until they host the Rangers on Tuesday. ... D Brent Burns had the secondary assist on the goal by Pavelski, and has points in all five games (1-6-7). ... The Devils are 2-4-2 in their home openers at the Prudential Center.___Follow Tom Canavan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/APTCan Buy Air Max . And on Sunday against the Houston Astros they were pleased to see his work finally pay off with his first win since May 24. Cheap Air Max On Sale . LOUIS -- The St. http://www.cheapairmaxshop.com/.Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. Cheap Nike Air Max Wholesale . Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Doug Martin broke the news that hes cleared for full activity moving forward. Air Max Wholesale . Buffalos defensive co-ordinator had his second interview with Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner on Tuesday night, a person familiar with the Browns plans told The Associated Press.NEW YORK, N.Y. - Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers take a seven-game winning streak into the Christmas break.They will need the rest after withstanding a frenetic third period to beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Tuesday night. Trailing 3-0, the Capitals fired 21 shots at Lundqvist in the final 20 minutes.It was perfect, Lundqvist deadpanned. I have a lot of Christmas food here, so I needed a good workout in the third.He certainly got it.When the game was on the line, Lundqvist was really good for them, Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis each scored twice for the Rangers. Lundqvist finished with 30 saves in a game that matched two of the NHLs hottest teams in their final outing before the holiday break. Washington had won three in a row, picking up points in nine straight games (7-0-2).Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard had two assists apiece for New York.Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington.It was the first meeting of the season between the Metropolitan Division rivals. The Rangers and Capitals are tied with 40 points in third place — the last guaranteed playoff spot in the division. New York has two games in hand on the Capitals.Nash got the only goal of the opening period at 3:32, deflecting Zuccarellos shot past Braden Holtby. It came moments after Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh won a 1-on-1 battle with Ovechkin, standing up the Washington star as he broke toward the net.Ovechkin and linemate Nicklas Backstrom almost tied it later in the period when they had consecutive point-blank shots that Lundqvist denied.Ovechkin was called for boarding Zuccarello 27 seconds into the second period, and the Rangers capitalized.St. Louis got the goal at 1:03, converting a brilliant pass from Dan Boyle at the point. Boyle faked a shot before sending the puck to St. Louis, positioned below the right circle. He whipped a sharp-angle shot past Holtby to give New Yorrk a 2-0 lead.ddddddddddddThe Capitals came out flying to start the third period, peppering Lundqvist with nine shots in the first 3 minutes.He stood his ground, and got some breathing room when Nash, using Washington defenceman John Carlson as a screen, fired home his second goal at 5:12 for a 3-0 lead. It was his team-leading 22nd of the season.Lundqvist lost his shutout bid when Kuznetsov scored 41 seconds later, a soft shot that Lundqvist missed as he tried to make a kick save.The Capitals kept coming, pulling within one on Ovechkins power-play goal at 10:58.We were frustrated a little bit with ourselves, Trotz said. Between periods, I said, Lets take a deep breath here. Weve got 20 minutes to see if we could reclaim this. There was no quit in us. I liked our determination.The momentum, at that point in Washingtons favour, changed with a spate of Capitals penalties. Backstrom got a double-minor for high-sticking Brassard at 14:35. Jason Chimera at the same time picked up a faceoff-violation penalty, giving the Rangers a 5-on-3 power play.St. Louis cashed in, knocking in the rebound of Nashs shot after it hit the post at 16:12 to put the Rangers up 4-2.And the winning streak continued.Its a great feeling in here, St. Louis said. Weve done a great job of going out there and earning it every day.With each victory, the Rangers see emerging signs of the team that advanced to the Stanley Cup finals last spring.Its a great feeling to go into this break after playing really well these last couple of weeks, Lundqvist said. We all feel were getting closer to where we want to be.NOTES: The teams dont meet again until March 11, but they play three times in the final month. ... Both teams resume play Saturday. Washington will be in Pittsburgh; New York hosts New Jersey. ... The New York City police honour guard presented the colours for the national anthem and received a prolonged ovation from the crowd. ' ' '