Basisphilosophie » possession

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Andrey Makarov made 27 saves as the Rochester Americans moved into a playoff position by defeating the visiting Toronto Marlies 3-1 on Friday in American Hockey League action. Kevin Porter, Luke Adam and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc supplied the scoring for the Americans (34-27-10), who came into the game one point behind the Oklahoma City Barons and idle Charlotte Checkers for the final post-season spot in the Western Conference. Rochester has won four straight games after dropping nine in a row. Josh Leivo scored the lone goal for the Marlies (42-23-6) while Christopher Gibson stopped 18-of-21 shots in defeat. Porter opened the scoring at 13:22 of the first period for the Americans. Leivo, however, responded just 27 seconds later for Toronto. After a scoreless second period, Rochester regained the lead 3:23 into the third when Luke Adam scored on the power play while Peter Holland served a minor for goaltender interference. Torontos Kevin Marshall was sent off for hooking, which led to Gauthier-Leduc adding another power-play goal for the Americans at 7:04. Rochester went 2 for 6 on the power play while the Marlies failed to score on six chances with the man advantage. The Americans currently sit seventh in the West, but could finish the night in eighth if the Barons defeat the Abbotsford Heat. Ryan Miller Jersey . NORRIS COLE (Heat): Its funny, you watch a guy play and now really produce and it just jumps off the page at you - why? You put a young player with potential in a winning environment where there is veteran leadership, outstanding coaching and management and a way that things are done and its a wonderful environment for growth, improvement in a climate of constant accountability and expectation of achievement/production. Jason Pominville Jersey . Halak did not get the start in the Washington Capitals Tuesday night game against the St. http://www.officialsabresfanstore.com/authentic-dale-hawerchuk-sabres-jersey/ . Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers, James Harden was in the building. Rick Martin Jersey .What they got was a bevy of players chipping in to pick up the slack.Josh Smith scored 18 points and James Harden added 17 as the Rockets used a balanced scoring effort to outlast the Mavericks for a 99-94 victory. Jack Eichel Jersey . - Connor McDavid scored twice and added two assists as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 7-3 on Saturday night in Ontario Hockey League action.The Chicago Blackhawks opened the Western Conference Final with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game One. Notes on the Jonathan Toews-Anze Kopitar matchup, Duncan Keith, Jeff Schultz, Corey Crawford and more. Blackhawks LW Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist to lead Chicagos attack, but the Blackhawks did not hold the territorial edge in play against the Kings. Only three Blackhawks -- Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews and Johnny Oduya -- were on the ice for better than 50% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Real credit for the Blackhawks defensive effort must go to the line of Toews, Bickell and Marian Hossa, along with the defence pairing of Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson; they took on the toughest matchup, against the Kings top line and, in addition to Toews tallying the Blackhawks third goal, the unit held the playoffs leading scorer, Kings C Anze Kopitar, without a shot attempt and RW Justin Williams had all four of his attempts blocked. Blackhawks D Duncan Keith, who scored the game-winning goal, was on for 30.8% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts, getting the wrong end of a frequent matchup against the line of Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson. Toffoli was the Kings lone goal-scorer. In a surprise twwist, Kings D Jeff Schultz, who had turnovers that contributed to the Blackhawks first two goals, also had spectacular puck possession numbers.dddddddddddd With Schultz on the ice, the Kings had 22 shot attempts for and five against, 81.5%. With Schultz off the ice, the Kings earned 45.6% of the games 5-on-5 shot attempts. While the Blackhawks didnt hold the possession edge overall, they did get another strong goaltending performance from Corey Crawford, who stopped 25 of 26 shots -- the third straight game in which Crawford has allowed a single goal. Even though he won the Stanley Cup last season, he doesnt necessarily have the postseason rep of Kings netminder Jonathan Quick, but Crawford has done all right for himself in 50 career playoff games. Since 2000, he ranks third (behind Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask) in save percentage, among goaltenders with at least 40 playoff appearances. Since the Blackhawks and Kings are both top-tier possession clubs, it could easily come down to which team gets the better goaltending and Crawford gives the Blackhawks a legitimate chance to win that matchup. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '