Minnesota Wild 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (Shootout) - At 15-5-4 and 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, the Minnesota Wild continue to be on

Minnesota Wild 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (Shootout) - At 15-5-4 and 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, the Minnesota Wild continue to be one of the best teams in the NHL. Cheap Nike Shoes Online From China . The Winnipeg Jets have now lost three one-goal games to the Wild; two in Minnesota and Saturdays game at MTS Centre. That, plus the way they lost Saturdays game overshadowed a pretty good effort by the Jets. They had 39 shots on goal; the most the Wild have surrendered this season. Josh Harding was supposed to start but was injured in warm-up, so Niklas Backstrom - just off injury - took to the nets and was terrific. As was Ondrej Pavelec in the Jets net. Backstrom was first to keep his team in the game, as the Jets outshot the Wild 14-4 in the first. In the second, it was Pavelec who kept the game scoreless as the Wild outshot the Jets 17-11, dominating the early part of the period. The games first goal was scored by Michael Frolik; his sixth of the season and the ninth time this season the Jets scored first. Frolik banged home a loose puck after Backstrom couldnt handle a shot from Matt Halischuk. The line of Mark Scheifele, Frolik and Halischuk was probably the Jets best line. Minnesota tied the game in the third with Nino Niederreiter scoring his fifth. He was moved onto the top line with Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu to start the third and jammed home a rebound after Pavelec stopped the initial shot from Marco Scandella. But 2:14 later, the Jets regained the lead with Halischuks second of the year; Frolik and Scheifele with the assists. At 14:02, Scandella went off for hooking and the Jets power play that has been very good over the past four games (38.5 per cent) had the opportunity to put the game away. A tough play on a rolling puck along the boards in the Wild zone lead to a three-on-two for the Wild and a great feed by Koivu to Parise tied the game. It was Parises 17th point in the last 15 games and his first - and the Wilds first - shorthanded goal of the year. The Jets have now given up four. The Jets outshot the Wild 4-1 in overtime, with Grant Clitsome having a great chance to end it as he was one-on-one against Backstrom, but another great save by Backstrom sent the game to a shootout. A shootout that went like this - Blake Wheeler no, Parise no, Andrew Ladd no, Koivu yes, Bryan Little yes, Jason Pomminville no, Devin Setoguchi no, Charlie Coyle yes. It was Coyles first career shootout goal. The Jets are now 5-3 in shootouts. The Jets end the three-game homestand at 0-1-2. Little and Dustin Byfuglien saw their point streaks come to an end; Little at three games (1-4-5) , Byfuglien at four games (5-2-7). Byfuglien also had a four-game goal streak come to an end. Olli Jokinen led the Jets with seven shots on goal; a season high. He also won 14 of 21 face-offs. James Wright was best in the face-off category at 73 per cent winning eight of 11. Captain Ladd felt "the effort was good, but we needed a better effort on the power play. Pav made some huge saves. But we did a lot of good things." Coach Claude Noel agreed. "We had good efforts from a lot of players. Its a fine line between winning and losing for us. For the most part we played pretty well. A lot of descent players in the game. Theyve been the best team in the NHL in November and we have been in position twice to win. Our team worked hard. Gave it our all." Jets now leave on a six-game Eastern Conference road trip that starts in New Jersey on Monday, then the Islanders on Wednesday, followed by Philadelphia Friday morning. All games are on TSN Jets and TSN 1290. The following week, its the New York Rangers, Florida and Tampa. Discount Nike Shoes For Sale . At 11:06 of the first period, Neal struck Marchand with his knee when Marchand was down on the ice. Marchand remained in the game. Neal was assessed a kneeing penalty for his hit on Marchand. Cheap Nike Shoes China Free Shipping . After two months of mediocrity, perhaps the Washington Nationals have turned the page. Strasburg struck out 11 in seven innings Wednesday night and the Nationals kept the Philadelphia Phillies bats quiet yet again in an 8-4, rain-interrupted win. http://www.cheapnikeshoes.net/ . -- Wide receiver Sidney Rice should be fully recovered from a torn knee ligament by the time the Seattle Seahawks start defence of their Super Bowl title, general manager John Schneider said Wednesday.LONDON -- When Any Murray dropped the first two sets of his Wimbledon quarterfinal Wednesday, the 15,000 Centre Court spectators were reduced to a silence so complete that birds could be heard chirping. By the time his five-set comeback was nearly complete, more than two hours later, the fans were greeting each point that went Murrays way with celebrations of the sort normally reserved for a championship. Its been 77 years since a British man won the countrys Grand Slam tennis tournament, and thanks to the second-seeded Murrays 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 victory over 54th-ranked Fernando Verdasco, the locals still can hold out hope the wait will end Sunday. Murray will play in the semifinals at the All England Club for the fifth consecutive year Friday, facing No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. The other semifinal is No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia against No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. There is no doubt who will be the recipient of the most boisterous support. "Great atmosphere at the end of the match. ... I love it when its like that. It was extremely noisy," said Murray, who lost last years Wimbledon final to Roger Federer. "They were right into it, pretty much every single point." Murray needed to summon some strong tennis, and plenty of grit, for his seventh career victory. He never panicked -- no matter what all of his self-admonishing muttering and gesticulating looked like -- and eventually figured out how to handle Verdascos powerful serves and high-risk, high-reward style. "When you play more and more matches, and gain more experience, you understand how to turn matches around and how to change the momentum of games," Murray said. "Maybe when I was younger, I could have lost that match. But Ive learnt how to come back from tough situations more as I got older." Hes only 26, but he truly has matured as a player over the past 12 months. After shedding tears following the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray returned to the same spot four weeks later and beat Federer to win a gold medal at the London Olympics. Then, at the U.S. Open in September, he defeated Djokovic to win his first Grand Slam title. Wednesdays other quarterfinals lasted a mere three sets each and the most compelling segments came at the very beginning of 2009 U.S. Open champion del Potros 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5) win against No. 4 David Ferrer, and the very end of Janowiczs 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 130th-ranked Lukasz Kubot in the first Grand Slam match between two men from Poland. Janowicz, 22, reached his first major semifinal -- the first for a man from his country -- by pounding down 30 aces, and saving all six break points he faced. When it finished, Kubot walked around the net to Janowiczs side of the court and the pair of Davis Cup teammates embraced and exchanged shirts. Janowicz sat in his sideline chair, covered his face and sobbed. "Its not easy to control all of the feelings inside my body," he said. "I was never in (a major) quarterfinal before. I never had a chance to be in (the) semifinal of a Grand Slam. I never played against Lukasz before." Janowicz gave a succinct answer when asked for his thoughts about the semifinal between Djokovic vs. del Potro: "I dont care." On the fifth point del Potro played Wednesday, his left foot slid out from under him as he sprinted to reach a ball. Del Potros heavily wrapped left knee, which he hyperextended on a face-first tumble in the third round, slackened, then bent backward. "Really painful," del Potro said. "I was scared.&qquot; He fell to the turf and rolled over twice, then stayed down until a trainer came out to check on him and dispense anti-inflammatory medicine. Cheap Nike Shoes Wholesale China. "Magic pills," del Potro called them. After a 10-minute break, he resumed playing -- and playing quite well. He hasnt lost a set en route to his first Wimbledon semifinal. Djokovic also has won all 15 sets hes played, including in a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 7 Tomas Berdych to reach a 13th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, the second-longest streak in mens tennis history behind Roger Federers 23. Djokovic entered Wednesday with a 13-2 lead in their head-to-head series, but one loss came at Wimbledon in 2010, when Berdych was the runner-up, and the other came in their most recent meeting, at Rome in May. The first set was tight, and Berdych led 5-4 in the tiebreaker before faltering. He sent a return long, badly missed what should have been a routine backhand, then pushed a forehand wide for another error. That gave Djokovic the opening set, but Berdych responded strongly, breaking twice to lead 3-0 in the second. Not surprisingly, Djokovic awoke again, taking seven of the next eight games. "I dont know how I managed to turn the second set around," said six-time major champion Djokovic, who won Wimbledon in 2011. "I managed to step in and just tried to be a little bit more aggressive. That brought me a victory." Hes 8-3 against del Potro. The last time they met, though, in March at Indian Wells, Djokovic lost. And the last time they played at the All England Club, in the bronze-medal match at the Olympics, Djokovic lost, too. "Hes very tall, so he uses that serve as a powerful weapon. And of course (the) forehand, that is his signature shot," Djokovic said. "You know, its semifinals, so everything is open, on the table." The early eliminations of Federer and Rafael Nadal from the tournament opened up the draw for Murray, who has as good a chance as anyone to claim a trophy no British man has earned since Fred Perry in 1936. That certainly seemed in peril when Verdasco grabbed a two-set lead. "The second set," Murray said, "was a bad set of tennis for me." But he broke to go ahead 2-0 in the third, which he wrapped up rather easily. "Gave him a lot of confidence," Verdasco said. Trailing 3-2 in the fourth, Murray faced two break points. Said Verdasco: "The match wouldnt have been over, but I would have been real close." Murray erased one break point with a service winner, the other with an ace. Then he broke in the very next game, during which Verdasco complained to the chair umpire about too much noise during the course of play -- the "oohs" and "aahs," the yelps of excitement, the groans of disappointment. Quickly, Murray took the fourth set, too. In the fifth, Verdasco led 4-3 when Murray fell behind love-30 while serving. Again, Murray came through, taking the next four points to make it 4-4. "They gave him strength," Verdasco said. "How much, you dont know. But having the crowds support can help." At 5-5, a 21-stroke exchange closed with Verdasco dropping a backhand into the net to give Murray a break point, the last he would need. Murray came up with one of several superb returns, and Verdasco missed a forehand. That made it 6-5, and Murray served out the match to love. "Verdasco played very well," said Murrays coach, eight-time major champion Ivan Lendl. "Andy did what he had to do to win." ' ' '