News » Carl Soderberg Jersey

TAMPA Radek Faksa Jersey , Fla. — A matchup of early-season conference powers takes place Saturday when the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning host the Western Conference leading Colorado Avalanche at Amalie Arena.The Lightning enter the game winners of five straight and sit four points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs atop the conference standings. The Avalanche have won seven of their past eight on the road and sit tied with Nashville on top of the West standings.It will be a matchup of Tampa Bay’s impressive depth up and down the lineup against Colorado’s trio of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, which will be back together after being broken up at the end of Thursday’s victory at Florida.Article continues below ...The Avalanche top line has combined for 48 goals and 124 points through 29 games. Rantanen leads the league with 47 points and 35 assists while MacKinnon is second with 44 points.But for the third period against Florida, with the game tied 2-2, Colorado head coach Jared Bednar split up the top line, moving J.T. Compher to that top line and moving Rantanen to the second line. The Avalanche went on to win the game 5-2, with Compher scoring the tie-breaking goal.“Whenever coach puts you out with guys of that caliber it’s exciting,” Compher told NHL.com. “It was a great opportunity for me, and seeing how hard those guys work, they dog pucks all the time. I just tried to get out there to get on the forecheck trying to create turnovers Authentic Stephen Johns Jersey , and we had a real good shift, pinned them in their zone and were able to get a goal.”That type of work ethic, Bednar felt, was not up to par, which prompted the switch to start the third period.“I felt like our top guys were struggling to kind of gain some traction,” Bednar told NHL.com. “They did have their chances, they scored on Mikko’s tip (in the first period) and they were doing some good things, but the regular traction that I expect out of that line wasn’t there. I thought maybe I flip them [and] sometimes you can get a spark, and if I didn’t like it I could just move it back real quick.”Bednar told BSNDenver.com on Friday that the trio would be back together to begin Saturday’s game against the Lightning, while goaltender Semyon Varlamov starts in goal.Tampa Bay Youth Tyler Pitlick Jersey , meanwhile, has a deep group of forwards that features five players who have already reached double digits in goal, led by Brayden Point who is tied for the league lead with 21 goals. Linemate Nikita Kucherov is third in league scoring with 43 points.The Lightning also have seven players with at least 20 points and 10 players with at least five goals scored through 30 games.“It’s definitely a strength on our team,” said Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue, who is 9-2 in 11 starts since the loss of No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. “We saw it when some of our best players got injured, someone else jumped in the lineup and did a good job. It’s even guys that aren’t playing right now, when they come in, they are ready to go, and they do a good job.” TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs will be out to regain momentum Saturday night and the St. Louis Blues would like to start some momentum of their own.The Maple Leafs (6-2-0) had a five-game winning streak end Thursday night with a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and will be trying to resume winning when they host the Blues (1-3-2).“We’re obviously (upset) and disappointed that we didn’t get the result,” said Maple Leafs center John Tavares Tyler Seguin Jersey , who took seven shots Thursday. “It’s a good learning opportunity and it’s a good test now to try to find that momentum back and get back in the win column.”Article continues below ...The Blues have lost twice in overtime and could not hold third-period leads three times. The Montreal Canadiens defeated them 3-2 Wednesday on Brendan Gallagher’s goal at 19:49 of the third period.“Bottom line, we’re faced with some adversity right now,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “For me, this is when we’ll really see what people have to bring. This is when you really say something to your teammates. This is when you really show your character.“Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job as head coach, making sure we’re prepared to play, making sure we’re ready to play the right way. Making sure that guys who aren’t, are held accountable. And making sure that we get the right guys on the ice.”St. Louis can take some encouragement knowing that both Toronto losses came at home.The game will also be a homecoming for former Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak, who signed as a free agent with the Blues on July 1. He has one goal and one assist in six games this season.“He’s a real good hockey player, real good hockey sense http://www.avalancheshoponline.com/authentic-alexander-kerfoot-jersey , real good faceoff guy, good in the power play,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday at practice. “I thought his last year here was his best in the three years that I had him and obviously he’ll be an important part for them.”Bozak played between Pat Maroon and Alexander Steen for the first time in Montreal and that line could remain intact for the game Saturday. They line combined for eight shots on goal.In a Thursday practice in Toronto, two-time All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was used on the fourth pairing with Jakub Jerabek, leading to speculation that he might not play against the Maple Leafs.“Obviously, we’re considering everything right now,” Yeo said. “Again, the results that we’re getting, we have to consider everything.”Bouwmeester, 35 Womens Carl Soderberg Jersey , was limited to 35 games last season because of a fractured ankle and a hip injury that resulted in surgery.The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had more than a winning streak stopped Thursday. Center Auston Matthews had at least two points in each of the first seven games until Thursday when the Maple Leafs were shut out for the first time this season. He has 10 goals and six assists despite being without a goal in his past two games.One of the keys to the Penguins’ success Thursday was that they kept the Maple Leafs on the outside, limiting close-in chances so that many of Toronto’s 38 shots (Pittsburgh took 39) were not dangerous.“I think there are a lot of things that we can improve on,” Matthews said. “It seems like they were just calm, cool, collected out there. They didn’t run around, they just played smart and didn’t force anything and made plays. It seemed like they had us running around quite a bit.”The Maple Leafs were in it until the Penguins scored twice on an empty net.“I think we’ve got to do a little better just sustaining some of the momentum we create,” Tavares said.