12-08-2015, 04:21 PM
PITTSBURGH - The red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins will try to push their season-best winning streak to seven games when they host the Calgary Flames in Saturdays matinee clash at CONSOL Energy Center. Pittsburgh has won six in a row and 11 of its last 12 games to open a big lead atop the Metropolitan Division. With 53 points, the Penguins are 12 points ahead of Washington for the divisions top spot and Pittsburgh also is five points in front of Boston for the Eastern Conference lead. Despite battling a rash of injuries, the Pens posted their two most recent wins on back-to-back nights, beating the New York Rangers on the road in a 4-3 shootout on Wednesday before downing the visiting Minnesota Wild by a 5-2 score on Thursday. The decisive victory over the Wild was the ninth straight win on home ice for the Pens, who are off to a stellar 16-3-0 mark as the host this season. If history is any indication, Pittsburgh has a good chance to make it 10 straight home wins this afternoon. The Pens are 12-1-0 with two ties in their last 15 home games against the Flames, and Calgary has lost eight of 10 overall in this series. Pittsburgh is currently dealing with injuries to star forward Evgeni Malkin and defensemen Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi. With their top-four blueliners out of the lineup on Thursday, rookie defenseman Olli Maatta took charge in the win over Minnesota. Maatta scored a key short-handed goal on a penalty shot and collected one assist, helping the Penguins post a 5-2 decision over the Wild. A first-round pick (22nd overall) in the 2012 draft, the 19-year-old Maatta has three goals and eight assists in 37 games this season. The Finnish prospect has done most of his damage recently, notching seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) over his last 10 outings. Maatta became only the second defenseman in Penguins history to score on a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by Minnesotas Jonas Brodin at 7:54 of the third period. He came in wide from the right side and snapped a wrister that trickled across the goal line to give Pittsburgh a 5-2 lead. "Ive tried that move in practice a few times. Its the only move I have," Maatta said. "I thought (Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom) got it at first. Then I saw it go in so I was pretty excited." Chris Kunitz had two goals for the Penguins, while Jeff Zatkoff made 24 saves for the win. Malkin is questionable for todays game, while Letang, Martin, Orpik and Scuderi are out. While Pittsburgh aims for its 10th straight home win on Saturday, the Flames will try to halt a three-game road slide. Calgary began a five-game road trip with last Saturdays overtime win in Buffalo, but Bob Hartleys club has gone 0-1-2 since. The Flames played Thursday evening in Detroit and was dealt a 3-2 overtime loss by the Red Wings, who won after Daniel Alfredsson scored his second goal of the game just 63 seconds into the extra session. Detroit got a power play when Calgary defenseman TJ Brodie was whistled for hooking with 42 seconds left in regulation. On the ensuing power play, Pavel Datsyuk fed Alfredsson for a one-timer in the slot and the veteran ripped the shot past Karri Ramo. Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano both scored for Calgary. Ramo stopped 35 shots in defeat. After closing its road trip on Saturday, Calgary will play its next five games at the Saddledome, beginning with Mondays game against St. Louis. The Flames are 7-9-3 as the guest this season and 6-7-3 at home. Asics Gel Lyte iii Sale . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Asics Gel Lyte III Snowflake . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. http://www.asicssneakers.de/asics-noosa/...tri-9.html . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Asics Gel Lyte iii Black . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Asics Gel Kayano Trainer . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter.MILAN, Italy -- Fernando Llorente scored a stoppage-time winner to help Juventus snatch a 1-0 win over Udinese and stretch its lead at the top of the Italian league to three points after Roma drew 1-1 at Atalanta. Roma also needed a late goal as Kevin Strootman scored in the final minute to preserve the teams unbeaten record. Mario Balotellis free kick helped AC Milan beat Catania 3-1 for its first win in six league matches, while a last-minute equalizer saw Sampdoria earn a 1-1 draw at Inter Milan, in front of new Nerazzurri President Erick Thohir. Elsewhere, Cagliari came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Sassuolo and Chievo Verona beat Livorno 3-0. Juventus dominated possession, but it was Udinese which had the best opportunities and home goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon pulled off a three stunning saves to deny Antonio di Natale twice and Andrea Lazzari once. Defender Stephan Lichtsteiner returned after almost two months out with an injury and he was instrumental in the Juventus goal flicking on a cross for Llorente to head past the motionless Zeljko Brkic. Llorente had almost scored moments earlier but saw his header cleared off the line by Udinese defender Allan. Kickoff had been brought forward to allow more than 12,000 children to fill the stands behind each goal, replacing the ultras which had been banned for insulting territorial chants against Napoli. It was Juves sixth successive league victory without conceding a goal. "We have to continue like this," Juventus coach Antonio Conte said. "We have 12 wins, a draw and a defeat. Thats very important but we mustnt sit back on our successes. "We were good today and lucky. We played well and showed that we are doing well physically, despite playing three games in a week. Buffon was good today, but Brkick was exceptional." Key playmaker Andrea Pirlo limped off after 13 minutes with a knee injury. Earlier, Roma was held to its fourth successive draw. Atalanta, which had hit the post in the first half, took the lead seven minutes after halftime when Davide Brivio sent a free kick under the wall and into the bottom right corner, although Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis was partly at fault as he misjudged the ball. United States forward Michael Bradley thought he had levelled in the 76th but his header was harshly ruled out for offside. Atalanta goalkeeper Andrea Consigli made several good saves, but could do nothing when Adem Ljajic crossed for Kevin Strootman to tap in from six yards. There was also a last-gasp leveler at San SSiro, where Thohir was watching his first match since being elected president last month.dddddddddddd Inter captain Javier Zanetti made his first start since snapping his Achilles tendon in April. Inter took the lead in the 18th when Ricardo Alvarez worked his way through on the left of the area before rolling across for Fredy Guarin to lash in under the bar. Guarin almost doubled his tally seven minutes after the interval but his effort crashed off the post. Shortly afterwards Sampdoria striker Nicola Pozzis effort was ruled out for offside. Substitute Renan levelled in the final minute, with a powerful shot from distance, just three minutes after coming off the bench. "This was our worst performance of the season," Inter coach Walter Mazzarri said. "We went too deep after going 1-0 up and we didnt even start well. Too many were under par and Sampdoria deserved the draw. "I didnt like this Inter. We should never let our guard down." In the lunchtime kickoff, Milan dominated possession but it was Catania that took the lead in the 13th against the run of play as poor defending eventually saw Lucas Castros effort deflected over stand-in goalkeeper Gabriel. The visitors levelled six minutes later when Riccardo Montolivo volleyed Urby Emanuelsons cross into the back of the net. Balotelli had gone six matches in all competitions without a goal before Tuesdays 3-0 win at Celtic, but he was involved in most Milan moves and fired his side in front shortly after the hour mark with a low free kick. Moments later Catania were down to 10 men when Panagiotis Tachtsidis was harshly shown a straight red for a challenge on Balotelli. Kaka sealed the match nine minutes from time, bursting into the box and firing into the roof of the net from a tight angle to score for the third successive match. It was his 99th Milan goal. Milan moved provisionally level with eighth-placed Lazio. Catania remains at the bottom of the league. There was another positive for Milan as Stephan El Shaarawy made his return from injury, coming on in the 74th for his first appearance in three months. Balotelli was replaced seven minutes from time after getting into a heated argument with Catania defender Nicolas Spolli, whom he accused of racism. "I didnt hear anything, so I cant judge," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "I took Mario off only because I saw he was a bit tired and had taken some knocks. There are so many skirmishes on the pitch, in any match, whats important is to stay calm." cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '