Vorschau » season-high five straight wins before the NHL

WINNIPEG - Jets centre Bryan Little doesnt think his lines recent statistics should be blown out of proportion.After reeling off a season-high five straight wins before the NHL all-star break, Winnipeg has lost its last two games. During the mini-skid, the top line of Little, Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler has been kept off the scoresheet.I dont think its a concern, Little said Friday after the Jets optional skate. At the end of the day, its only two games. I dont think our line is happy with the way weve played the last two games, but were working on it.It has only been two games, and there have been stretches during the year where we had been held off the scoresheet and been kind of ineffective and we found our way back to playing well.The teams top goal scorer and his linemates will begin taking those steps Saturday when the Jets (26-16-8) host the Dallas Stars (22-19-7). Winnipeg has won two games against its Central Division rivals this season in Texas.Winnipegs total of 60 points is good for fourth place in the division. The Jets still hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, five points up on the Calgary Flames.Winnipeg followed a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Tuesday by dropping a 5-2 decision to Philadelphia on Thursday. Ladd, Little and Wheeler combined for 14 shots on goals but were held without a point. Ladd leads the team with 40 points, including 17 goals. Little has a team-high 18 goals and 38 points. Wheeler has tallied 13 goals and 36 points.After some early-season line shuffling, the trio was reunited on Nov. 18. From that point to the all-star break, they combined for 28 goals and 78 points in 29 games.Its the same as the whole team, it hasnt been our best two games, Wheeler said. Its two games. Its a small sample size over the (number) of games weve been together. Weve been pretty good so were not concerned.Coach Paul Maurice agreed.Two games isnt a big enough sample to say that theyre out of sorts, said Maurice, who celebrated his 48th birthday Friday. They have other things that theyve got to get done on the ice. I would put them in the same basket as the rest of the offensive groups in terms of where they can get better.Little said it may be a case of the players coming back from the all-star break and thinking it would be the same as when we left.During their five-game winning streak, the Jets outscored their opponents 22-8.We kind of went through a stretch where we scored a bunch of goals and so I think we were feeling a little bit good about ourselves and it kind of got us away from whats given us success, Wheeler said.I think just simplifying (things will help). The goals are going to come, but we really need to work hard on the other end of the ice to try to limit some of those rushes that were giving up.Little said the team has to get back to being ugly.I mean, were not a pretty-looking, fancy team out there, he said. Were better when were simple.The talk of ugliness brought up a question about some of the players facial hair, which is starting to look like playoff beards. Winger Mathieu Perreault, who had both of Winnipegs goals in Thursdays loss, says his thickening beard is rooted in superstition.I couldnt score early in the season and then after I got that first goal, I just kind of got on a roll and I just let it grow, said Perreault, who was held scoreless over his first 19 games.He has 12 points in his last 10 games, including a four-goal outing against Florida on Jan. 13. He now has 17 goals, one short of tying his career high with Anaheim last season.Little said the teammate they call Frenchie may have started a facial trend.We dont even really talk about it, he said. Its just kind of like we saw everyone kind of doing it and no one wants to be the guy that takes it off.Maybe Frenchie, maybe hes the guy that started it. Everyone sees how good hes doing it and everyone wants to tag along and see if itll work for them.Notes: Winnipeg Jets forward T.J. Galiardi cleared waivers Friday morning and was assigned to the AHL St. Johns IceCaps. He was recalled later in the day after the Jets placed forward Matt Halischuk on injured reserve. ... The Jets have won three straight home games. Barry Sanders Lions Jersey . -- Dee Ford prefers to keep things simple: Play hard and fast, and let others worry about his NFL draft stock. Calvin Johnson Lions Jersey .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. http://www.authenticnfllionslockroom.com/Youth-Calvin-Johnson-Elite-Jersey/ . -- The Oakland Athletics and free agent right-hander Bartolo Colon have agreed to terms on a US$2 million, one-year contract, bolstering their depleted starting rotation. T.J. Hockenson Womens Jersey . Abduraimova had not won a tour-level match since 2009 but was a wild-card entry in Tashkent and broke her opponent twice in each set to reach the second round. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced easily by beating Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1, while No. Barry Sanders Womens Jersey . -- Miguel Angel Jimenez quickly shifted his focus back to the Ryder Cup after winning his first Champions Tour event.LAS VEGAS -- Colorado had seen Arizonas defence at work before, in person and in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals. Even knowing what was coming, the Buffaloes didnt stand much of a chance. Unable to match Arizona after a close first half, Colorado lost to the fourth-ranked Wildcats 63-43 in the Pac-12 semifinals on Friday night. "We knew they were good defensively and we knew we were going to have to make some shots to beat them. We couldnt get going," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "Their defence had something to do with that. Our offence had something to do with that." Arizona (30-3) crushed Utah in its tournament opener behind a record-setting defensive show. The Wildcats didnt peel open the record book against Colorado, but they sure gave the Buffaloes fits. Unlike its previous win over Colorado, Arizona started slow, allowing the Buffaloes to keep it close at halftime. Once they got rolling, Colorado had no answer for the Wildcats defensive pressure and string of highlight-reel plays that had MGM Grand Garden Arena feeling like McKale Center West. Arizona shot 60 per cent in the second half and held Colorado (23-11) to 5-of-22 shooting in the final 20 minutes to earn a spot Saturdays championship game against UCLA or Stanford. Nick Johnson scored 16 points, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 12 and eight rebounds for Arizona. T.J. McConnell facilitated the Wildcats offence and spearheaded the top of the D, finishing with 12 points, five assists and four rebounds "Our defence became great in the second half, but our offence found its flow," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "We shared the ball. We were more ourselves. It was that combination that really broke the game open." Colorado was able to hang with Arizona behind its defence in the first half. But playing their third game in as many days took its toll on the Buffaloes in the second half and they had no pushback when the Wildcats started to race away. Askia Booker had 20 points to lead Colorado, which shot 29 per cent overall and was outrebounded 41-25. Now the Buffaloes have a two-day wait to see if the NCAA tournament selection committee deems them worthy of the bracket. "Im hoping to get in the tournament," Boyle said. "Im not going to be presumptuous and say were in, because these guys werent with us three years ago when our team didnt get in and deserved to get in. I think werre in, but thats not for me to decide or anybody else in this room to decide.dddddddddddd" Arizona put on a show in its tournament opener, flexing its defensive muscles for everyone to see with an overwhelming quarterfinal victory over Utah. The Wildcats held the Utes to 13 first-half points, 39 overall, 12 field goals and 25 per cent shooting -- all tournament records. The 32-point margin also matched the largest in tournament history. Arizona pulled a similar smothering act on Colorado in the teams last meeting. After a 12-point loss in Tucson, Johnson proclaimed Arizona wasnt that good and that the Buffaloes would beat the Wildcats by 20, even with leading scorer Spencer Dinwiddie out for the season. The Wildcats turned the slight into a fury, holding Colorado without a field goal for the opening 10 minutes and shooting 84 per cent in the second half an 88-61 win -- their first in Boulder since 1973. The Buffaloes got off to a better start this time, scoring 8 1/2 minutes sooner. Colorado still had trouble with Arizonas amoebic defence, though, going 10 of 29 from the floor in the first half. But the Buffaloes had something up their sleeve: A little defence of their own. Contesting shots and digging down on the post for steals, Colorado made life much more difficult than it had back in Boulder, allowing them to stay in the game. The Buffaloes held Arizona to 11-of-29 shooting and forced eight turnovers -- five by centre Kaleb Tarczewski -- that led to 11 points. Colorado held Arizona scoreless for over 4 minutes during a 10-2 run that helped the Buffaloes trim Arizonas nine-point lead to 27-24 at halftime. "I thought we stood a lot in the first half," McConnell said. The second half looked more like the game in Boulder. Arizona picked up the defensive intensity even more and started pouring out the highlights to extend the lead. Johnson had one, flying in for a reverse alley-oop dunk and Hollis-Jefferson matched him with a tomahawk dunk over Josh Scott. Gordon provided one on the defensive end not long after that, soaring up for a clean swat on Johnsons one-handed dunk attempt that sent Arizonas fans bursting out of their seats. In just a couple of minutes, the Wildcats were up 51-32 thanks to a 13-0 run, well on their way to the Pac-12 title game. "In the second half, we were sharper," Miller said. And seem to be peaking at just the right time. ' ' '