Dein erstes Forum » Stanley Cup Final as an upstart eighth seed

The Edmonton Oilers are hoping their young stars are ready to go to the next level while the Flames are hoping to rebound from an opening night loss to the Vancouver Canucks as the two teams collide in Edmonton tonight. Edmonton has not been to the playoffs since reaching the Stanley Cup Final as an upstart eighth seed in 2006. Since then, the Oilers have invested a number of high draft picks into their future and are finally looking to cash in. Tonights roster will feature three players taken with the top pick: Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012). Hall has been the best of the bunch so far, notching a club-high 80 points in 75 games last year off 27 goals and 53 assists. Also expected to dress tonight for the Oilers will be 18-year-old forward Leon Draisaitl, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, though defenseman Darnell Nurse, taken seventh overall in 2013, is expected to be a healthy scratch. General manager Craig MacTavish, who took over for the fired Steve Tambellini in April, has already begun to alter his roster, a makeover that started at last seasons trade deadline. MacTavish dealt center Sam Gagner to Tampa Bay for gritty forward Teddy Purcell and signed forward Benoit Pouliot to a five-year deal after Pouliot notched 36 points in 80 games with the New York Rangers last season before adding another five goals and 10 points in 25 playoff contests. While young defenseman Nurse and Oscar Klefbom watch as scratches, blueliners Nikita Nikitin and Mark Fayne are in line to make their Edmonton debuts and hope to add stability to a unit that used 14 different defensemen a season ago. Ben Scrivens, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in January, will get the start in net on opening night for the Oilers. He is 0-1-0 in two games (1 start) versus the Flames, giving up five goals on 35 shots. Viktor Fasth is expected to start on Saturday in Vancouver for Edmonton. The Flames will play for a second straight night after beginning their season at home on Wednesday with a 4-2 loss to the Canucks. Paul Byron and Jiri Hudler lit the lamp in the second period for Calgary, which lost its eighth straight game against Vancouver. Jonas Hiller allowed three goals on 32 shots in his first game with the Flames. We have a young team and were going to learn, Calgary head coach Bob Hartley said. Its too bad because in the third I felt like thats where we played our best hockey. Center Sean Monahan was a game-time decision last night for the Flames due to illness, but ended up logging nearly 18 minutes of ice time versus the Canucks and had an assist. The Flames begin a six-game road trip tonight with Karri Ramo in net. He has split two previous games against the Oilers with a 2.53 goals against average and .928 save percentage. Calgary has also made two line-up changes for tonight. Raphael Diaz will replace Dennis Wideman on defence while David Jones will play up front in place of Brian McGrattan. The Flames won three of five versus the Oilers last season as the home team lost all five encounters. Edmontons Jordan Eberle has 20 points in 21 career games versus Calgary. Authentic Air Jordan China . Their 9-19 record remains identical to the crosstown rivals in Brooklyn and trails both Toronto and Boston in the Atlantic Division. Raymond Felton, their declining point guard, is back on the sideline nursing his third injury of the season. Cheap Authentic Air Jordan Online .Y. - Everyone expected Clayton Kershaw to pitch a shutout, and he did — a unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. http://www.cheapauthenticairjordan.com/. The Bulls seem to be getting along fine without him. D.J. Augustin scored 27 points in a start for Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson matched a career high with 26 filling in for Carlos Boozer as the Bulls improved to 7-2 since trading the popular Deng with a 98-87 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Wholesale Authentic Air Jordan Free Shipping . Wheeler said Kane was just making a joke that was misunderstood and misinterpreted by "Winnipeg folks" and the media once again. Wheeler repeated that he believes Kane is a player who has the ability to help the Jets get to the next level as they try once again to reach the playoffs in 2014. He made the comments initially in an interview, when asked how the Jets could compete in the Central Division with teams that have made some high-profile off-season signings. Discount Authentic Air Jordan .C. Lions 35-14, was named the CFLs offensive player of the week Tuesday. Sheets recorded his ninth 100-yard rushing performance of the season to tie the Riders club record. ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orlando Magic have made no secret that the future of their franchise will depend on how well they can develop their young players. Rookie Victor Oladipo is a key cog in that group and provided a glimpse of what team officials hope that future will look like. Arron Afflalo scored 32 points and Oladipo had 30 points, a career-high 14 assists and nine rebounds as the Magic rallied to beat the New York Knicks 129-121 in double overtime on Friday night. The Magic trailed by as many as 14 points, but got 25 points and 10 assists from Oladipo after halftime to stave off the Knicks. Tobias Harris added 22 points. "Every game I control one thing -- my energy that I bring to both ends of the floor," Oladipo said. "Im just trying to do that every game, whether its a good game or a bad game." Orlando snapped a three-game losing streak in its first game following the departure of Glen Davis, who had the remainder of his contract bought out earlier in the day. Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said he thought Oladipo played a complete game. The rookie logged a team-high 49 minutes. "He got what he wanted to on both ends of the floor," Vaughn said. "On the offensive end, in a lot of different places we kind of let him go and it was his decision to make." Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 44 points, but only 14 came after the third quarter. The Knicks loss ended their eight-game win streak over the Magic. It was also the latest head-scratching loss for a New York team that has last four of its last five and is yet to post back-to-back wins this month. "Every game right now is important," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "They made the run at the start of the fourth and we couldnt get it back. Its a tough loss." Afflalo found Oladipo for a layup to put the Magic in front 117-113 in the second overtime. But Afflalo injured his right ankle in the process by stepping on Raymond Feltons foot and didnt return. He will be evaluated before the teams upcoming four-game road trip. Orlando was dealt another blow on the Knicks next possession when centre Nik Vucevic was whistled for his sixth foul. Anthony then hit a pair of free-throws to get New York back within a basket.dddddddddddd Oladipo answered, getting fouled when he fought past Tim Hardaway Jr. for a layup. He completed the three-point play to push the lead back to 120-115. The Knicks got it back to a point before another three-point play by Oladipo made it 125-121 with 30.7 seconds left. Felton had a 3-pointer rattle out on the other end, forcing the Knicks to foul and Orlando sealed the win at the free throw line. "It is just another game that I feel that we gave away," Anthony said. "We were up and had a comfortable lead. They fought back and never quit." Felton hit back-to-back jumpers to put New York up 113-111 with less than three minutes to play in the first overtime. Oladipo quickly countered on the other end with a driving layup before Felton sprinted ahead and found Tyson Chandler for a reverse slam. But the ball bounced off Chandlers head and popped up and out of the basket. Chandler was called for offensive interference and the basket was waved off. The Magic got the ball, but Afflalos pass was knocked away by Chandler and prompting a Knicks timeout with 41.6 remaining. Anthony briefly got open in the lane, but could only get off a leaning 16-footer that hit the rim and was rebounded by the Magic, who called their own timeout with 8 seconds left. Orlando got up several shots at the rim, but Vucevics final tip attempt fell short. The Knicks led by as many as 14 in the third quarter before the Magic trimmed it to 86-83 in the opening minutes of the fourth. Afflalo sent it to overtime when he hit a step-back jumper with 42.9 seconds left to tie it 106-all. As solid as his performance was, Oladipo said hes not satisfied. "Theres so much room for improvement. I can get so much better," he said. "I really feel like I havent scratched the surface of how good Im going to be. I honestly believe that." NOTES: The Magic improved to 1-4 in overtime games this season. ... J.R. Smith made his 12th start of the season in place of injured swingman Iman Shumpert, who is expected to miss about two weeks with a sprained ligament in his left knee. ... Former Magic player Penny Hardaway was honoured in a ceremony as part of the teams ongoing 25th anniversary season celebration. ' ' '