Kunze-IT » eason success this team has had over the last three year

CALGARY -- Martin Jones made a habit of winning big games at the Scotiabank Saddledome during his Western Hockey League career. Four years after guiding the Calgary Hitmen to a WHL championship and a berth in the 2010 Memorial Cup, Jones made a triumphant return to the Saddledome with the Los Angeles Kings. "I was excited to play here for sure," said Jones, who made 24 saves to backstop the Kings to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday. "I had four great years here. It was a good road win. It wasnt pretty." Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist for the Kings (38-22-6), who have reeled off eight straight wins. "Definitely we didnt want to make it as interesting as it was, but yeah I guess it was pretty big," said Kopitar of his third-period goal that put the Kings up 3-0 and eventually stood up as the game winner. "It wasnt the prettiest win tonight, but at the end of the day we got the two points." Kopitar commended Jones for his play in between the pipes for the Kings. "He put on a really nice show tonight," Kopitar said. "Hes been stellar for us. Every time hes been in the net, hes been really good for us." Justin Williams and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings. Mike Cammalleri and Brian McGrattan scored for the Flames (25-33-7), who lost for just the second time in their past nine games at the Saddledome. Coincidentally, it was the Kings who last beat the Flames at home on Feb. 27. "The way we played the last seven-eight minutes of the game, if we had played the whole game like that, the outcome might have been different," said McGrattan, who has goals in back-to-back contests after going 29 games without scoring. "We hung around the whole game. We came on at the end. We didnt give up." Playing in his fourth straight game, rookie Calgary goalie Joni Ortio made 20 saves in a losing cause. With the win, Jones improved his record in his rookie season with the Kings to 10-4. "Its a totally different animal being here and at this level and in this dressing room, on this side of the ice," said Jones, who played his entire WHL career with the Hitmen. "I just wanted to make sure I stayed focused. I was excited to be here but wanted to make sure I was focused on the task at hand here." Never drafted by an NHL team, Jones was invited to L.A.s training camp in 2008 and subsequently signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Kings. With Jonathan Quick out of L.A.s lineup due to a groin injury earlier this season, Jones was called up by the Kings and promptly won his first eight NHL starts, three of them shutout victories. He lost his next four decisions before making 25 saves in L.A.s 6-4 road win over the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 26. Quick played the next five games in net for the Kings, all wins, before L.A. coach Darryl Sutter decided to give Jones the start against the Flames. "He was really solid," Sutter said. "To be quite honest, when we came back from the Olympics we started in Colorado and he won that game also. We were down 4-2 and he hung on and he won that game also. He did a good job in there tonight." The Kings scored on their first shot on goal at 4:05 of the first when Williams redirected a pass from Anze Kopitar past Ortio. Williams drove hard to the net and attempted to get his stick on the pass from Kopitar, but the puck instead bounced off his shin and into the net behind Ortio. "Theyre a bigger, more physical team than us and I thought they imposed their rhythm right from the start," said Calgary coach Bob Hartley. "They got that early goal and that kind of put us on our heels." The Kings then went up by a pair at the 10-minute mark of the first when Lewis tipped Slava Voynovs point shot into the top corner behind Ortio, who lost his stick on the play when his own defenceman Kris Russell accidentally knocked it out of his hands. The Flames had a great chance to pull within one in the dying moments of the first, but Jones made a shoulder save to stop a shot fired his way by former Hitmen teammate T.J. Galiardi before sticking out his left pad to stop a backhand attempt by McGrattan. Jones also had to be sharp early in the second period as he stood his ground to turn aside back-to-back shots of the stick of Calgary forward Paul Byron. Early in the third period, Jones made a shoulder save to stop Calgary forward Mikael Backlund from scoring on a partial breakaway with the Kings on a power play. Kopitar added an insurance marker for the Kings at 7:01 of the third when he tipped Drew Doughtys point shot past Ortio. A short time later, Jones lunged forward to stop a point blank shot by Cammalleri to keep the Flames off the scoresheet. With Mike Richards serving a delay of game penalty, Cammalleri finally scored at 15:29 of the third to break Joness shutout bid. Cammalleris shot appeared to deflect off Voynov before trickling through Joness legs. McGrattan made things interesting by scoring with 2:22 remaining in regulation when he spun around and fired a slapshot from the slot past Jones. Notes: Injury woes for the Flames continued as a pair of rookies were forced to leave the game. Markus Granlund played just 12 seconds early in the first period before taking a hit from L.A. forward Jarret Stoll, forcing him to leave the game with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon also sustained an upper-body injury in the third period and didnt return. a The Kings played without forward Jordan Nolan, who was assessed a one-game suspension for sucker punching Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu on Sunday. Tanner Pearson drew into the lineup in place of Nolan. a After being acquired by the Kings from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the NHL trade deadline last Wednesday, forward Marian Gaborik is still looking for his first point with the Kings. Gaborik played on a line with Kopitar and Williams. a The Kings improved their record when leading after two periods this season to a perfect 21-0. Clearance Kobe Bryant Shoes . Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble. Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Fridays draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus -- even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina. Cheap Kobe Bryant Shoes . Jacobs scored two in the first end, but Jahr briefly took charge with two in the second end and two more in the third. Jacobs, from Sault. Marie, Ont., gave Canada some breathing room, following his big fourth end by adding two more points in the fifth to go up 7-4. https://www.cheapkobebryantshoes.com/ . Jeff Green and Jordan Crawford each scored 19 points, Bass added 15 points and had a game-saving block in the closing seconds Saturday, and the Celtics held on for a 103-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wholesale Kobe Bryant Shoes . Pressley missed all of last season with Cincinnati because of a knee injury, but the 5-foot-10, 249-pounder had been expected to fill a need on Clevelands roster. Kobe Bryant Shoes Outlet . Today, well look at five frontcourt players today, here from the Bay Area. 1. AMIR JOHNSON (Raptors): I cant figure out what the issue or problem is, but based upon what Im seeing, hes not right.ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues won a franchise record 52 games this season and general manager Doug Armstrong cant help but sum it up as a disappointment. "Were in the winning business and were not winning at the appropriate time of the year," Armstrong said Tuesday. "We have to fix that." The past two playoffs have been a carbon copy for the Blues. In 2013, St. Louis won the first two games against Los Angeles at home and then dropped the next four to the then-defending Stanley Cup champions. This season, St. Louis got the jump on defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago, then again lost four straight to end the season. Armstrong said that this years loss to the Blackhawks was worse. "I felt last year that we were coming off of a year where no one expected us to be good the year before and we wanted to prove that we were a good team," Armstrong said. "I expected us to take it to a higher level this year and the higher level was going to be a consistent regular season followed by a longer playoff run. So, this year, theres a true sense that we have squandered an opportunity and opportunities dont come a lot in this league." While the Blues have been one of the best teams each of the past three regular seasons -- St. Louis had 60 points in a lockout shortened 2012-13 campaign and 109 points in 2011-12 -- it has been a different story in April. Armstrong and coach Ken Hitchcock said that the Blues need to develop a killer instinct if they are to get over their post-season hump. "We werent able to create the gap in Games 3 and 4 and win on the road, which you have to do in the playoffs," Hitchcock said. "Thats the killer instinct that you need to have. We werent able to do it in either series, aand it hurts.dddddddddddd "Thats everyones responsibility. Mine, Dougs, the players, other coaches, everybody. Thats the part that hurts. We couldnt apply the killer instinct in Games 3 and 4 when we needed to in both years." Several players have been a part of the past three seasons, and figure to be part of the puzzle moving forward: forwards T.J. Oshie, Alexander Steen and David Backes, and defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo. Armstrong said it his responsibility to see if this core group can get to a new level or whether changes are needed. "I look at the regular season success this team has had over the last three years," Armstrong said "I think our point total is probably in the top three or four in the NHL over that time frame. So, were doing some things correctly. But were not doing enough correctly to win in April, May and June. Quite honestly, I got to quit worrying about May. We got to get out of April first and were not doing that." One area that will need to be addressed is goaltending. The Blues thought they had added the final piece when the traded for Ryan Miller just before the deadline. But Miller, who is a free agent, allowed 19 goals against the Blackhawks and his save percentage was just .897. Armstrong said that Jake Allen, who had another strong year in the American Hockey League, will be one of the teams net minders. Who the will partner with Allen is up in the air. "Its a two-way street with Ryan right now," Armstrong said. "He has opportunities. I want to sit and talk with him and get his feelings about our organization. See where he thinks were at, see if he even has any interest in being a St. Louis Blue." ' ' '