Die Anpflanzler [DA] » two-stroke lead over Billy

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars three Olympians sent their team into the Olympic break on a high note Saturday night. Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Canadas Jamie Benn assisted on Whitneys goal. The victory moved Dallas into the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time this season. "Weve come from a long way," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Youve got to give the guys credit for digging in. "I thought if we got within three or four points at the break, we could be a serious contender. Weve exceeded that." The Stars and Coyotes have identical 27-21-10 records for 64 points, but Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Phoenix, which fell to ninth. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said his teams position at the break is "probably about where we should be. I think were better than that, but thats where we are." "Im not worrying about that too much yet," Lehtonen said of Dallas position in the standings. "Its good that were moving to the right direction. We just have to keep going." He was more impressed by defeating Phoenix twice in five days to make up four points on the Coyotes. "They were huge games both times. I really like it when we play well as a team." Dallas limited Phoenix to 27 shots, 13 in the third period. Lehtonen shut them out until Radim Vrbata scored on a power play with 15 seconds remaining. The Coyotes had six skaters to the Stars four because Tippett had pulled goalie Mike Smith, who had 31 saves. "Again (Lehtonen) was rock solid," said Ruff, an assistant coach for Canadas Olympic team. "He came up with some big saves. One when we were killing a penalty he went down low and made a glove save. He made a big stop on their breakaway when they were short-handed. "The only thing I would like to have seen was for him to get the shutout." "We couldnt generate too much offensively," Vrbata said. "But I think (Smiths) playing the way we know he can play. Hopefully, hes going to stay like that and we can do a little better for him." Whitney scored just 2:10 into the game. Nichushkin scored at 19:26 of the second period, deflecting in a shot by Trevor Daley. Dallas took the early lead when Whitney carried the puck into the Phoenix zone along the left side, skated into the slot and sent a wrist shot past Smith into the upper right corner of the net. "It was kind of not much happening in the first period until we decided we didnt want to back check on a play and give them the first goal," Tippett said. "That was something we talked about as a group, if we get behind its going to be much tougher on us." The Stars ended the first period a man up and put three shots on Smith for a 7-4 edge in shots. One of Dallas shots was short-handed, as the Stars made it difficult for the Coyotes to get out of their end. Midway through the second period, Dallas had two good scoring chances, but Smith gloved a high drive by Sergei Gonchar and stopped a tip-in attempt by Benn in front of the goal. Nichushkin deflected Daleys slap shot from the blue line for the rookies 13th goal with 34 seconds left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. The goal was reviewed to see whether Nichushkins deflection was on a high stick. NOTES: Whitney has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against Phoenix. ... Coyotes D Derek Morris (upper-body injury) was inactive. He was hurt during Phoenixs victory over Chicago Friday. C Martin Hanzal, who missed that game because of illness, returned against Dallas. ... The Stars have not allowed more than 28 shots in any of their last 11 games. ... Vrbata has scored three goals in the last four games. ... Saturdays game was delayed briefly in the second period when linesman Ryan Galloway was upended in a collision with Whitney along the boards. Galloway stayed in the game. ... The public address announcer saluted the five Coyotes and three Stars who will be competing in the Olympics. Smith, a former Stars goalie, received almost as strong an ovation as the Dallas players. Edrice Adebayo College Jersey . -- Deshorn Brown scored twice, the first coming 13 seconds into the game, and the Colorado Rapids beat the undermanned Seattle Sounders 5-1 Saturday night. Stitched Kentucky Jerseys . - PGA Tour rookie Tony Finau shot a 9-under 63 at Del Monte and had a two-stroke lead over Billy Andrade and Lee Janzen of the Champions Tour after Thursdays opening round of the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational. http://www.cheapkentuckyjerseys.com/?tag=kentucky-skal-labissiere-college-jersey . The last team in the NBA that will have any sympathy for the Thunder is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are showing signs of putting everything together after two years of devastating injuries. Cheap Kentucky Jerseys Free Shipping . To be fair, the celebrations are already anything but tame. Nerf ball tricks shots are just the tip of the iceberg for a group that has performed in zero gravity, faced pro-skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and an assembled team on the MTV series "Fantasy Factory", and even hit a basketball trick shot from a passing blimp. Karl-Anthony Towns College Jersey . The right-hander pitched into the seventh inning and boosted Cincinnatis struggling offence by hitting a double and scoring as the Reds ended a seven-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Braves 1-0 Saturday night.Dont wait until the last minute.The warning comes whenever a deadline is approaching, and NBA teams have gotten the message.They arent waiting to make trades, already completing more than twice as many as the same point last season.If youre trying to make a change and you need some help, the earlier the better obviously, Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins said.It could pay off later for Dallas or Memphis, who added pivotal pieces well ahead of the trade deadline thats still a month away. Rajon Rondo got extra time to master the Mavericks offence, and the Grizzlies have more than half a season for newcomer Jeff Green to get comfortable playing alongside Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.Thats one of the things thats nice about not getting the deal done at like the trade deadline, where you only have six weeks left and you just throw him out there, Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. Weve got some time and try to build something.There have been 22 trades involving 40 players since opening night, according to STATS. Thats well above the 10 deals involving 22 players before February last year, and the most in either category it could find in any season following research that dated back to 1995-96.Hollins believes the flurry of deals comes from bad teams trading good players so they can begin rebuilding, and playoff contenders have taken advantage. Memphis got Green, who was averaging a career-best 17.6 points, from Boston. Cleveland acquired J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, two of the dismal Knicks best players.Dallas acquired Rondo in December, though coach Rick Carlisle wasnt picky.If you can trade for a guy like Rondo, I dont care when it is, he said. I dont care if its in April.Thats not legal, of course. The deadline is Feb. 19, and general managers sometimes prefer to wait until as close to it as possible to be certain they are getting mmaximum value for their players.ddddddddddddBut that gives coaches less than two months to prepare for the playoffs, so Carlisle was glad the Celtics wanted to do it so soon.The earlier you can do a deal like this, it helps, he said. Helps both teams, so were grateful that we were able to get it done in December as opposed to mid-to-late February, no doubt about that.Here are some things to watch this week:MONDAY MATINEES: Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one of the highlights of the NBA schedule, with many games during the 12-game slate starting in the afternoon. Rondo and Green, former teammates, meet in Memphis.CALLING ALL-STARS: The starters for the All-Star game will be announced Thursday night on TNT. The leaders going into the last day of fan balloting: LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, John Wall and Dwyane Wade in the East; and Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant in the West.WELCOME HOME: Kevin Durant is under contract through 2016, but that didnt stop his free agency from becoming a story last summer. Figure on it coming up again Wednesday when hes back in his hometown as Oklahoma City visits Washington.AND FROM THERE ...: Durant and the Thunder then visit East-leading Atlanta, which has won 12 straight and 26 of 28, before he faces LeBron James in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon as ABCs national coverage returns.SUNK IN THE ATLANTIC: Not only are the 76ers not the worst team in the NBA, theyre not even worst in their division. The Knicks have been better at being bad, and they are last in the Atlantic entering Wednesdays game in Philadelphia.___STAT LINE OF THE WEEK: Austin Rivers, Clippers: 0 for 4, 0 points, 1 assist. Rivers made history Friday when he became the first NBA player to play for his father, but Doc Rivers will need him to make some baskets, too. 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