Kommandozentrale » five starts, while Rejean Beauchemin got one. Sut

The Los Angeles Kings will try to salvage the finale of a four-game road trip on Thursday night as they visit the Edmonton Oilers. Catch the game on TSN starting at 9pm et/6pm pt. The Kings are 0-2-1 on their final trip of the regular season. They end the campaign at home on Saturday versus the Pacific Division-champion Anaheim Ducks before kicking off a first-round playoff matchup with the second-place San Jose Sharks. Following consecutive 2-1 regulation losses to San Jose and Vancouver, Los Angeles rallied from a three-goal deficit in an eventual 4-3 shootout setback to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Anze Kopitar scored the 199th goal of his career, while Jarret Stoll and Dwight King also lit the lamp. Marian Gaborik recorded the 700th point of his career with an assist, while Jonathan Quick made 15 saves. "We hung in there, got some goals and got a point," LA head coach Darryl Sutter said. The Kings have lost four of their last five overall and are likely to start backup Martin Jones tonight. The rookie Jones has faced the Oilers once before this season, a 24-save shutout in a 3-0 decision at home on Dec. 17. The Kings have won five in a row and 11 of their last 14 meetings with the Oilers, including the first three matchups of this season. Los Angeles also has claimed two straight and nine of its previous 11 trips to Edmonton. The Oilers had a two-game winning streak snapped with Tuesdays 4-1 setback to the Colorado Avalanche. David Perron had a goal and Ben Scrivens yielded four tallies on 33 shots. "We couldnt get into the rhythm of the game," said Edmonton head coach Dallas Eakins. "The biggest thing for me was it was almost like we couldnt work because we couldnt make two passes in a row. Our execution was just terrible tonight for whatever reason and it happens." Scrivens fell to 8-11-0 with a 3.06 goals against average and one shutout with the Oilers since being acquired from the Kings on Jan. 15 in exchange for a 2014 third-round pick. That includes a loss to his former club on March 9, when Scrivens yielded four goals on 50 shots. Edmonton will start Viktor Fasth tonight and he has gone 3-2-1 with a 2.68 GAA in six starts since being acquired from Anaheim. Fasth is 1-2-0 lifetime versus the Kings with a 2.95 GAA. The Oilers wrap a season-ending four-game homestand on Saturday versus Vancouver and sit last in the Western Conference with 65 points. St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild The St. Louis Blues will try to snap their longest losing streak of the season and keep their chances at the top seed in the Western Conference alive on Thursday night when they visit the playoff-bound Minnesota Wild. Catch the game on TSN2 starting at 8pm et/5pm pt. The Blues have lost three in a row for the first time this season, putting them a point back of the Anaheim Ducks for the most in the conference. St. Louis does have a game in hand over idle Anaheim. However, the Blues current skid also has them just two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Central Division with three games to play for both teams. The Avs are in action on Thursday as well as they visit the Vancouver Canucks. St. Louis offensive funk continued with Tuesdays 4-1 setback to the Washington Capitals. It marked the sixth straight game that the Blues were held to a pair of goals or fewer. "The last few we havent been scoring but weve had guys scoring all year," said Blues forward Alexander Steen, who returned from a three-game absence caused by an upper-body injury and leads the club with 33 goals. While Steen doesnt sound too worried, the Blues will be without another key offensive contributor in David Backes, who suffered a lower-body injury versus the Capitals. He traveled with the club to Minnesota, but wont play tonight and his status for Fridays road contest with the Dallas Stars is unknown. Backes is second on the Blues with 27 goals and third in points with 57. Ryan Miller gave up four goals on 22 shots versus the Capitals and will try to help St. Louis avoid posting its longest losing streak since a five-game slide from Feb. 1-11 of last year. Miller is 4-2-0 with a 2.08 goals against average and one shutout in six previous meetings with the Wild. Minnesota would probably like to avoid a first-round playoff matchup with St. Louis, though that is who the Wild would play if the season ended today. The Wild are locked into the first of two wild card spots after beating the Boston Bruins 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday. The Wild are 5-0-1 in their last six, with their last regulation setback coming on March 27 with a 5-1 defeat in St. Louis. T.J. Oshie highlighted the Blues victory with his first career hat trick, while Miller stopped 27-of-28 shots faced. The Blues have won all four of their previous meetings with the Wild this season and nine straight overall. The Wild have not won in this series since a home victory on Nov. 19, 2011, dropping four straight as the host since. Minnesota, though, could make a statement tonight with a victory and is coming off a hard-fought win over the NHL-leading Bruins. Defenseman Ryan Suter netted a game-tying goal with 1:05 remaining in regulation, while Mikko Koivu had the lone shootout tally. Koivu matched an NHL record with his 15th game-winning shootout tally and also had a pair of assists on regulation. Jason Pominville tallied twice and Ilya Bryzgalov posted 21 saves. "We played ourselves into the playoffs the way that you want to. It says a lot about the guys in here, and hopefully we can keep this thing going here," Suter said. Bryzgalov, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts, improved to 7-0-3 with a 1.78 goals against average and .923 save percentage since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers. He is 6-11-2 with a 3.14 GAA and two shutouts lifetime versus the Blues. Miller is 10-5-1 with a 2.27 GAA and .910 save percentage in 16 starts since the Blues acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres. Air Max 95 Sale Canada . It was the most lopsided loss in Lakers history. Darren Collison had a team-high 24 points while starting at shooting guard for the injured Jamal Crawford. Chris Paul added 13 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who apparently are trying to make up for decades of humiliation at the hands of the Lakers all in one season; theyve won the last two meetings by a combined 84 points. 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Hi Kerry, Im sure youve received many emails wondering what your take is on the Spezza goal that looked like Neil blatantly kicked it in while standing directly in the middle of the crease where, you know, usually a goalie is to make a save but couldnt be due to Neil being there! Thanks! Jon - Westfield, MA Jon: Lets first ask Henrik Lundqvist what he thought of the scoring of the Sens second goal with .COPENHAGEN - It may very well be the most important position on the ice, but it is the one position where there is no competition to make the Canadian world junior team. Only two goalies were invited to the countrys selection camp, meaning Saginaws Jake Paterson and Halifaxs Zach Fucale are guaranteed spots on the final 22-man roster. "In previous years they would be competing and right now wed have two other goalies and it would make their job a lot harder," explained Hockey Canadas goalie consultant Fred Brathwaite. "Now, theyre coming in here and were trying to make their game better day in, day out and get them ready for the tournament." The decision to take some of the pressure off of the netminders took Paterson by surprise. "I had no idea that it was just going to be the two goalies at camp," the Detroit Red Wings prospect admitted. "I thought it would be the usual four. Obviously, to get that news was a relief." Paterson took full advantage of the goalie competition at the 2012 selection camp. He entered the event as an under-dog to crack the roster, but stopped all 33 shots faced over three games to steal a job from Laurent Brossoit. Patersons edge in the competition to be starter this time around is his age and experience as Canadas third goalie at last years competition in Ufa, Russia, where Malcolm Subban started all but one game with Jordan Binnington getting the call for the bronze-medal game. The 19-year-old Paterson, a year older than Fucale, learned a lot despite not seeing a second of action. "Probably the biggest thing was how hard the tournament is to win with the one-game elimination in the medal round and, as well, how important it is to come together as a team. That stood out as well," he said. And while Hockey Canada has often times leaned toward older players when it comes to doling out responsibility at this event (Sutter, for example, went with two 19-year-olds in goal at the 2006 tournament cutting 18-year-old Carey Price at the selection camp), it is actually Fucale who owns the better big-game track record, including a gold medal at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and a Memorial Cup title last May. WATCH: Jamie McLennan breaks down Fucales game and explain why he should be Canadas starter "I think the Memorial Cup is very similar [to the world junior championship] with just five or six games so its very similar: you got to be at your best every night and theres no second chances, no turning back, you got to make sure youre well prepared and ready to play," said Fucale, who was the top goalie selected in Junes NHL draft getting scooped up by the Montreal Canadiens early in the second round. "You just want to be as prepared as you can come into the games. I think thats key. When ttheres a pressure situation, a lot at stake, you have to be well-prepared and whenever you are well-prepared you cant be scared of anything, because you did everything to be ready for that game.dddddddddddd" Fucale has an edge in the early-season numbers this season. Paterson has posted a 3.64 GAA and .900 save-percentage in 22 games in the OHL, while Fucale has a 2.51 GAA and .902 save-percentage in 28 games in the QMJHL. Paterson and Fucale are expected to split the starts in the first two pre-tournament games, on Friday against the Finns and Sunday against the Swedes. Who starts the final tune-up on Monday against the Swiss may provide a good indication of who will also get the honour of starting on Boxing Day when Canada opens the tournament against Germany. Sutter has made it clear he wants the battle to be the No. 1 goalie to wrap-up sooner rather than later. "I think you got to have somewhat of a clear mind about who your guy is going to be and start with it that way and if you have to change you can always change," said Sutter. "I dont think you can rotate in the tournament. I think you got to get someone really solid and hot going into it and thats our goal. But, at the same time, you got four round-robin games and the other guy has to play in at least one of them." Sutter leaned heavily on his starter in his two previous tenures behind Canadas world junior bench. In 2006, Justin Pogge started all six games en route to being named tournament MVP. Devan Dubnyk was the backup. In 2005, Jeff Glass got five starts, while Rejean Beauchemin got one. Sutter hinted that this time around the backup will probably get at least one game. Whoever plays will be facing sky-high pressure. When the world juniors are held overseas, Canada has never won gold without having the tournaments best goalie. Steve Mason was the last to do it backstopping Canada to gold in 2008 in the Czech Republic. Paterson and Fucale are well aware of all the hand-wringing about Canadas so-called crisis in the crease and have tuned it out. "Obviously, Ive heard a lot about that the last couple of years, but I think its out of our control," Paterson said. "Obviously, the results havent been there the last couple of years, but as far as me and Zachs concerned were just looking to have a good couple of practices here." "We heard a little bit of talk about it," said Fucale, "but, you know, the last four, five years, Im pretty sure theyve been doing their best to give the team a chance to win and all I want to do, me and Jake, we want to be prepared and coming into the first game want to be in top shape. "You got to make sure everyones ready to play. Me, the goalie, you have to make a difference. Im just looking forward to that first game." ' ' '