WINNIPEG - Cam Ward grinned as he described how he felt like a kid making some key saves in his Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
David Ortiz Authentic Jersey . Ward stole a pair of goals from Winnipeg centre Bryan Little in the first period, beginning with a pad save during a Jets two-man advantage and then displaying his quickness with a highlight-reel stick stop. Little was about to fire the puck into a wide-open side of the net, but Ward whipped out his stick and the puck hit the paddle. "It was a fun save," Ward said with a chuckle after making 34 stops. "The initial shot was in a position where I knew I was going to have to kick out a bit of a rebound. Just out of pure desperation, I threw my stick out there and made a save that brings you back to the ol street hockey days as a kid. "But Little, I think he got even with me scoring that second goal in the third period so it all evens out." Jets head coach Paul Maurice, who coached the Hurricanes for parts of 11 seasons, even tipped his hat to Ward. "Cam Ward was the story of this hockey game," Maurice said. "He was the best player on the ice." The Jets had mounted a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal on the way to a 13-6 gap at the end of a scoreless first period. Ward then got some offensive help from his teammates, as brothers Eric and Jordan Staal and Riley Nash each scored within a span of two minutes and 53 seconds in the second. Defenceman Andrej Sekera had a pair of assists for the Hurricanes (31-31-9) to give him 31 on the season to go with 11 goals. Jets centre Jim Slater had scored his first goal of an injury-marred season 7:48 into the second, but Eric Staal got the roll going 37 seconds later with his 17th goal of the season. Little scored his 21st goal of the season for Winnipeg (32-31-9) 1:27 into the third period. Al Montoya stopped 29 shots while making his fourth straight start in net for Winnipeg since Ondrej Pavelec went out with a lower-body injury. Hes expected to return to action next week. Montoya was pointing the finger at himself for the loss. "We came out firing. Their goaltender played well," Montoya said. "I didnt make the saves I needed to make and at the end of the day that cost us the game." Maurice said Montoya was wrong. "If a guy is clearly the reason youre in the hole, Ill get him out of the net before that happens," Maurice said. "They get to this level thinking they should stop everything. He will feel that because hes got a front-row seat to the way the guy at the other end is playing so its magnified." Carolina head coach Kirk Muller said Wards stellar play was inspiring for his teammates. "The guys knew that he was giving a great effort and he was keeping us in there," Muller said. "They were like, Hey, weve got to surround him with some better play here and, fortunately, we got timely goals. We played better the rest of the game and it was a nice team effort for everybody." Ward has battled through two injuries this season and was bumped to backup for Anton Khudobin, who was in net for Carolinas 3-2 loss to Chicago Friday night. Carolina returns home for a game Tuesday against the New York Islanders. Winnipeg, which heads out on a five-game road trip beginning Monday in Dallas, remains at 73 points. Heading into the game, the Jets were six points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Jets were coming off a 5-4 overtime win against Colorado on March 19. The loss to Carolina was Winnipegs 40th one-goal game this season and they are 18-13-9 in those outings. Jordan Staal made it 2-1 when he went through Jets defenders and scored over Montoyas blocker at 10:10 of the second while Slater was in the penalty box for tripping. Maurice said Winnipegs first period was "about as good as were going to play," but Staals power-play marker hurt. "No doubt we got tight at 2-1," he said. "You could feel it." The Jets, who were outshot 21-8 in the second, were working without defenceman Zach Bogosian, who left the game in the period with an upper-body injury that Maurice said isnt too serious. It appeared Stuart tied it up six minutes after Littles goal, but the goal was waved off for goaltender interference as Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien fell on top of Ward in the crease and was lying on his right arm. Winnipeg pulled Montoya with about 65 seconds left in the game and swarmed Ward, but the veteran held tough. The Jets outshot the Hurricanes 15-5 in the third. Notes: Jordan Staals power-play goal was the first the Jets have allowed at home in five consecutive games. Winnipegs penalty kill was ranked fifth-best (84.8 per cent) in the NHL heading into the game … Both the Jets and Hurricanes are 2-3-0 in their last five games … The game was the second one of Carolinas 18th set of back-to-back games this season. It plays two more. Only Jersey has more back-to-back sets this season with 22. The Hurricanes so far are 9-8-1 in the first game of their sets and 5-10-3 in the second game.
Rick Porcello Jersey .Y. -- Florida Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski finally has something to show for all the pain he went through in overcoming a string of injuries that kept him sidelined for much of the past two years.
Wade Boggs Red Sox Jersey . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason.LOS ANGELES -- The Pittsburgh Pirates had a long plane ride to digest their dreadful series at the New York Mets, and the exploits of batterymates Gerrit Cole and Russell Martin made for a pleasant series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Martin and Pedro Alvarez homered, Josh Harrisons second RBI single triggered a three-run seventh inning, and the Pirates beat Los Angeles 6-3 on Thursday night for only their third victory in their last 20 games at Dodger Stadium. "I think its just staying in the moment and not carrying any excess baggage," manager Clint Hurdle said. "It was a 5-hour, 40 minute flight, and were here in L.A. So Its time to get something done. Cole gave us the big start with his energy. He had a great pace and rhythm tonight, and the best speed variance hes had in quite some time. His fastball, changeup and curveball played extremely well for him, and everybody fed off of it." Cole (5-3) allowed three runs and six hits over 6 1-3 innings in his first career appearance at Chavez Ravine. The former UCLA right-hander helped set up two runs with sacrifice bunts in the opener of a four-game series against the defending NL West champions. "The key was making quality pitches early," Cole said. "Some at-bats they were patient and some they were really aggressive. But we just stuck with our approach and just made quality pitches. I thought we played Pirates baseball to a T. We passed the baton at the plate, swarmed them on defence, threw a lot of strikes and took some punches." Cole was lifted after walking pinch-hitter Chone Figgins with his 88th pitch, but Tony Watson retired speedster Dee Gordon on a double-play grounder with his first delivery. "Cole was outstanding. He was very aggressive, had all his pitches working," Martin said. "The pitch that really helped him was the changeup. He even threw them righty-on-righty. So to have a pitch that has the same spin as a fastball, I think, made the hitters uncomfortable. Hes got that mentality to just go out there and compete and execute pitches." Mark Melancon worked a perfect eighth and Jason Grilli got three outs for his sixth save. Grilli officially got his closer role back on Thursday, seven days after coming off the disabled list and six days after getting a save in his first game back. Melancon converted 10 of 12 save opportunities while Grilli was sidelined 4 1-2 weeks with a left oblique strain. Starling Marte drew a leadoff walk in the seventh from Brandon League (1-2) and appeared to have stolen second -- at least to umpire Eric Cooper, who called him safe. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly challenged the ruling, which was overturned by a video review. But Clint Barmes followed with his thiird straight single, advanced on Coles bunt and scored on Harrisons single up the middle.
David Price Red Sox Jersey. Harrison continued to second on the throw to the plate and came home on Neil Walkers single. Former Pirates starter Paul Maholm replaced League and gave up an RBI double to pinch-hitter Gabby Sanchez on his second pitch. The three runs charged to League ended a stretch of 16 appearances and 22 innings in which the right-hander did not allow an earned run. "I know its been a while since anything like this has happened," League said. "Its not discouraging. It just stinks having your name next to the L. As a reliever, you go day to day and youre taught to forget quickly. Its nice to know your manager keeps running you out there regardless of the results, but in the end, youve still got to get the job done." Dodgers starter Don Haren allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings with two strikeouts and no walks. Martin, who spent his first five big league seasons with the Dodgers and left as a free agent after the 2010 campaign to sign with the Yankees, hit his third homer of the season halfway up the left field pavilion with two outs in the sixth to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. It also ended a string of nine consecutive games at Dodger Stadium in which Pittsburgh scored no more than two runs. Yasiel Puig, who reached base safely for the 30th consecutive game, led off the bottom of the sixth with his second double of the game and scored on a single by Hanley Ramirez. Andre Ethier lined an 0-1 pitch inside first base with one out in the first for his second triple in seven at-bats, after getting only four in his previous 2,180 at-bats since the start of the 2010 season. Puig drove him in with a bloop double to right field. Alvarez tied it in the second with a two-out drive to right field for his 10th homer, tying Walker for the team lead. Gordon regained the lead for the Dodgers in the bottom half with a two-out RBI single, but Harrison got the Pirates even again in the fifth with a two-out RBI single. NOTES: LHP Chad Billingsley, who hasnt pitched for the Dodgers since April 15, 2013, and is recovering from Tommy John surgery, threw 30 pitches in a two-inning simulated game. ... In his four starts with Tim Federowicz behind the plate, Haren has a 3.04 ERA and has given up 28 hits in 23 2-3 innings. ... Mattingly said that it would be "overly hopeful" to expect 3B Juan Uribe (right hamstring strain) to be reinstated from the 15-day DL when he is eligible to come off on June 5. ... Gordon stole second and third in the second inning, increasing his major league-leading total to 32. ... Coles only other outing against the Dodgers was June 16, 2013, when he won a 6-3 decision over Zack Greinke.
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