Oct. 30. The Timberwolves open their season at home ag | Forum

TORONTO -- The Toronto Marlies lost the special-teams battle to the visiting Rochester Americans and that made all the difference. Jake Muzzin Team Canada Jersey . The Marlies surrendered two power-play goals and failed to score on six man-advantage opportunities en route to a 4-1 defeat in American Hockey League action on Saturday. "One of the keys we talked about in the dressing room was the special teams game," said Marlies coach Steve Spott. "They go 2-for-7 and were 0-for-6 and thats the hockey game. "The effort was there but ultimately our challenge is pure finishing around the net. We have to find ways to manufacture offence and it may not be pretty." Rochesters Luke Adam scored his seventh goal in seven games, and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games. Mike Zigomanis, Alexander Sulzer and Phil Varone -- with an empty-netter -- provided the rest of the Americans offence. Adam and Varone chipped in with an assist apiece for two-point games. The contest also marked Zigomanis return to Toronto, where he spent the previous four seasons with the Marlies before signing with Rochester last summer. "Theyve got some veterans over there, theyve got some offensive weapons over there that were good tonight," Spott said. "When you look at Luke Adam and how hes playing right now, hes a natural finisher and hes getting it done." With the victory, their third win in four outings, the Americans improved to 4-2-1 on the season. Matt Hackett was sharp in the Rochester goal, making 29 saves and surviving a penalty shot. The Americans netminder was the beneficiary of solid team defence in front of him, and also got some help from his goalposts. Toronto defenceman John-Michael Liles clanged one midway through the second period and again in the third, and Marlies defender T.J. Brennan hit the post on a penalty shot early in the third period. "Give Hackett some credit," Spott said. "Usually the goalie has to be your best penalty-killer and I thought he was excellent for them tonight." Spencer Abbott had the lone goal for Toronto, his first of the season, in front of 4,169 fans at Ricoh Coliseum. "I tipped one off the crossbar right before (scoring) and I missed an open net earlier, so I was thinking it might be tough to get that first one," said Abbott, who has eight assists in six games. "But it just squirted out and (Kevin) Marshall made a nice play a it was a tap-in." Toronto goalie Garret Sparks, making his second start of the season, had 25 saves in a losing effort. "He battled hard, he competed, I dont fault him on any of the goals," Spott said. "He was solid, he gave us a chance to win." The Marlies have dropped three of their past four games, scoring a total of six goals in that span, to fall to 4-3-0. "We have an elite group of defencemen here, weve got some offensively gifted defencemen, so the message is get pucks to the net and then the forwards have to get around the net," Spott said. "Theres some natural finish that you need to have, but we did a good job. We generated a lot, we had pucks around the net. a But ultimately we have to allow our power play to get us a goal every night because 5-on-5, its a struggle for us to score regularly." Adam opened the scoring on the power play when he whipped a high wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Sparks glove at 16:09 of the first period, just four seconds after Torontos Tyler Biggs was sent off for holding. Zigomanis, with his third goal of the season, whacked a rebound over Sparks blocker at 7:12 of the second period. Sulzer made it 3-0 for the visitors when Adam fired a cross-ice pass which the Americans defenceman one-timed into the gaping net at 16:58 of the middle frame. After Brennans penalty shot hit iron early in the third period, Abbott deposited a rebound into the open net to put the Marlies on the scoreboard at 10:16 and Varone closed out the scoring with an unassisted empty-netter at 19:45. The Marlies visit the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday, while the Americans are off until next Friday when they host the Syracuse Crunch. Ryan Getzlaf Team Canada Jersey .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Alex Pietrangelo Team Canada Jersey .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. http:///...Joe-Thornton-Jersey/ . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. MONTREAL -- The Minnesota Timberwolves have been waiting for a player like Kevin Martin for a long time. Martins 21 points and five rebounds led the Timberwolves to a 104-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in NBA pre-season action Sunday night at the Bell Centre. "Hes a 20-point-a-night guy who showed throughout this pre-season what he can do," said Minnesota power forward Kevin Love of his teammate. "Its a really tough guard when you have a guy like Kevin Martin whos so fast and can get open, runs the break, can shoot the ball from distance. He only needs a split-second." Martin, who was traded to the Timberwolves in the off-season from the Oklahoma City Thunder, was lights out from beyond the arc, finishing five-for eight and scoring 15 of his 21 points from behind the three-point line. "I felt good. I got out there, had the team following, running offence," said Martin. "Offensively weve always been good with this system. Its easy to be good offensively." The Minnesota Timberwolves are averaging more than 100 points a game so far this pre-season. "In offence, we have enough talent to score," said T-Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio. "I dont think were going to have problems scoring points this season." Rubio led both teams with seven assists. After a 12-point Minnesota run early in the first quarter, Celtics coach Brad Stevens called a timeout to calm his teams nerves. The score was 18-7. Boston settled down and answered with a 9-0 run that saw Gerald Wallace, who ended the game with 16 points and three assists for Boston, score twice on quick breaks. The Celtics trailed 31-27 at the end of the quarter. The Timberwolves retained their slim advantage throughout the second quarter, and led 557-51 at the half. Matt Niskanen Team USA Jersey. Wolves guard Love led all teams in scoring at the half with 16 points. Minnesota kept Boston at bay in the third with good three-point shooting by Martin. The T-Wolves, who shot an impressive 40 per cent from three-point range, led 81-72 at the start of the fourth quarter. Thats when Minnesota began pulling away. Led by bench-player J.J. Bareas six points, the Timberwolves outscored Boston 23-17 in the final quarter. "Were getting more acclimated with each other each day that goes by," said Martin. "Im very hopeful for the season. We have a good team here. We have high expectations for ourselves as a team. We expect to win games." With only one win in seven games, the Celtics, who are rebuilding for the future, now have the second-worst pre-season record in the NBA. They enter the season with neither Paul Pierce nor Kevin Garnett, who were traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a franchise-altering off-season deal. Point guard Rajon Rondo, who played with Pierce and Garnett for six years prior to the trade, missed Sundays game with a knee injury. Rondo underwent surgery in February to repair a torn knee ligament, and hasnt played since. Toronto-born rookie forward Kelly Olynyk had four points for the Celtics on 2-for-4 shooting in 19 minutes of playing time. "Its fun. Its an honour to play in front of your country. Its a special feeling," he said The seven-foot 22-year-old was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks this year, and was at once traded to Boston. The game was held in Montreal as part of the 2013 NBA Canada series. The Celtics first game of the season is against Toronto at Air Canada Centre on Oct. 30. The Timberwolves open their season at home against Orlando on the same night. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '