Thomas Vanek broke out of his scoring slump with the Montreal Canadiens in a big way.
[b]Frank Gore Super Bowl Jersey[/b] . The Habs hope their recently-acquired winger can stay hot on Thursday night in a home matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Catch the action on TSN Habs starting at 7:30pm et/ 4:30pm pt. The Canadiens acquired Vanek from the New York Islanders prior to the trade deadline in an effort to upgrade their offense for a playoff push. However, Vanek failed to score a goal in his first five games with Montreal, held to just a single assist. The two-time 40-goal scorer finally broke out in Tuesdays big 6-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche, netting a hat trick to spoil Patrick Roys return to Montreal. Roy made his first appearance in Montreal as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche and received a warm reception early in the game before Vanek stole the show. "It was unbelievable," Vanek said of his three-goal night. "This place is electric." Brandon Prust had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who have won three in a row. Travis Moen and Dale Weise also lit the lamp, while Carey Price made 25 saves. Prust will sit out tonights contest with an upper-body injury after skating for only 10 minutes at Thursdays morning skate. Ryan White draws into the lineup in his place. Montreals current win streak has it tied for second place with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division with 83 points. That is three ahead of the fourth-place Toronto Maple Leafs. Columbus is also pushing for a playoff bid as it sits two points behind the New York Rangers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets are also even with the Washington Capitals with 76 points, but have two games in hand to hold the current tiebreaker for the second wild card position in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets were riding a seven-game point streak going into Tuesdays home matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes and fell in defeat 3-1. Columbus was nearly shut out before Boone Jenner lit the lamp with 50 seconds to go, deflecting Ryan Johansens shot past Carolina goaltender Anton Khudobin. Still, the Blue Jackets fell to 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Sergei Bobrovsky gave up three goals on 20 shots through two periods, while Curtis McElhinney did not face a shot in the third period during his relief appearance. Columbus outshot Carolina 19-0 in the third period. "We attempted 79 (shots) -- 47 were on net," said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. "It seemed like we had some quality chances. We hit a couple posts. We had our opportunities." The Blue Jackets activated forward Jared Boll from injured reserve on Wednesday. He had missed the past 45 games due to a torn ankle tendon suffered in late November. The 27-year-old scored one goal and racked up 38 penalty minutes in 21 games before suffering the injury. The Blue Jackets have lost both of their previous meetings with the Canadiens this season, including a 5-3 loss in Montreal on Oct. 17.
[b]Roger Craig Super Bowl Jersey[/b] . -- ETwaun Moore had 14 points in 30 minutes, and the Orlando Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons 87-86 on Sunday night.
[b]Tom Rathman Super Bowl Jersey[/b] . -- Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:39 left in regulation to help the San Jose Sharks overcome a two-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night.MARIBOR, Slovenia - Eden Hazard had a late penalty saved as Chelsea missed a chance to advance from Group G in the Champions League on Wednesday, drawing 1-1 with Maribor.Unrecognizable from the side that was crushed 6-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, Maribor took a deserved lead in the 50th minute when Agim Ibraimis superb curling shot beat Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.Chelsea, which leads the group with eight points, equalized in the 73rd minute through Nemanja Matic who latched onto a John Terry header to score from close range.Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho felt his side had become complacent in what many expected would be another straightforward victory over the Slovenians.Many times surprises happen when people are not fully focused, when they believe the game cant be a difficult one, Mourinho said. Only when Maribor scored did the players realize the game was in danger. After that, a fantastic reaction. We deserved to win, clearly.Mourinho reacted to a poor first-half showing by his side at the Stadion Ljudski vrt by making a double suubstitution at halftime, introducing striker Diego Costa and Oscar.
[b]Marquise Goodwin Super Bowl Jersey[/b]. Luka Zahovic missed a fine chance to double the advantage and enhance Maribors claims of inflicting Chelseas first defeat of the season, before Matics effort 17 minutes from time saved the Blues blushes.Maribor goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic saved well from Hazard and Costa, who had the ball in the net after 79 minutes, only for the strike to be ruled out for offside.The decision by Italian referee Daniele Orsato was criticized by the Chelsea coach.We scored two goals, two very good goals. The second goal, the referee decided to disallow but its a clear goal, Mourinho said.We didnt reach the number of goals that we should have in the second half, but the team played well... And the referees team did not have a good night.Hazard was fouled for the 85th-minute spot-kick, but the Belgians effort was too central and Handanovic saved.Maribor remains rooted to the bottom of the group with three points. Schalke is second on five points, one more than Sporting in third. ' ' '
