Post by jenny123 on Dec 19, 2013 0:40:03 GMT -5
WASHINGTON -- Matt Besler scored in the 54th minute to lift Sporting Kansas City to a 1-0 victory over D.C. United on Saturday night, earning the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Sporting (13-9-12), which closed the season with a five-match unbeaten run, will play a two-leg conference semifinal against the higher remaining seed from next weeks wild card round. United, eliminated from playoff contention with a draw against Portland last Wednesday, finished 0-5-1 in its last six matches. Besler scored on a turnaround shot on a rebound effort following Kei Kamaras corner kick header off the post for the only goal of the match. Replays appeared to show that Omar Bravo tapped the rebound away from D.C.s Austin Da Luz, and toward Besler, though Bravo was not credited with an assist. Herman Edwards Jersey . Pfft, he thought. Too much pressure. The three bottles of bubbly he opened at Citi Field on Friday night, though, did the trick just fine. Redmond toasted with his coaches and owner Jeffrey Loria after the Miami Marlins finally broke out the bats and rode an impressive performance by Alex Sanabia to a 7-5 victory over the New York Mets. Riley Cooper Jersey . Gaunce scored consecutive goals in the first and second periods as Belleville beat the Generals 4-1 in the Ontario Hockey League on Wednesday. www.nickfolesjerseys.com/ . Rooneys strike, which sealed a 2-1 derby victory for United at Old Trafford in February 2011, was on a shortlist of 10 goals in a poll organized by the Premier League to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Wes Hopkins Jersey . The season-ending injury for the second-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech came in the Cardinals 28-20 loss at Green Bay Friday night. DeMeco Ryans Jersey . Rihards Kuksiks added 22 points for the Sun Devils (11-18, 3-14 Pac-10), while Jamelle McMillan chipped in with 11 points and six assists in the win. Oregon (14-15, 7-10) was paced by Jay-R Strowbridge who scored 17 points in a losing effort. DALLAS -- Make it 22 and counting for the Detroit Red Wings. They are headed to the playoffs for the 22nd straight season after Henrik Zetterberg had two goals and an assist in a 3-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Jimmy Howard made 17 saves to post his fifth shutout of the season as Detroit secured the seventh spot in the Western Conference. Its the lowest playoff seed for the Red Wings since the NHL moved to the 1 vs. 8 conference format in 1993. Jonathan Ericsson also scored and Pavel Datsyuk had three assists for the Red Wings, who own the longest active playoff streak in major professional sports, six years longer than the San Antonio Spurs stretch of post-season play in the NBA. "To be able to be back in the playoffs is a great feeling," Howard said. "The streak means a lot to all of us, it just says how high the bar was set before us. Its good for us to go out there and have high expectations." After losing several veterans who contributed to their four Stanley Cups and six finals appearances during the course of the streak, including future Hall of Fame defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings had some uncharacteristic struggles early in the season, but managed to bounce back and finish strong. "Obviously, Im proud of the guys," coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought as an organization, we did a real good job of rebuilding our D here on the fly." Detroit closed out the regular season with four consecutive wins by a combined score of 15-3. It will face second-seeded Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs. "Were happy the way were playing right now but still, we havent really done anything," said Zetterberg, who has two goals and eight assists over the last four games. "This is not the end. We want to put a good run here. Weve got to keep playing well. We face a good team and we have to play good hockey if we want to continue playing." Richard Bachman made 34 saves for Dallas, which dropped its fifth consecutive game. It was eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday for the fifth straight season, the longest drought in franchise history. "I thought we battled hard," said defenceman Stephane Robidas, one of three players remaining on the Stars roster from their last playoff team in 2008. "Even though the game didnt matter for us, I dont think we gave upp and thats one thing we can be proud of the last month.dddddddddddd We gave it everything we had and came up short." The Stars head into the off-season with the futures of general manager Joe Nieuwendyk and coach Glen Gulutzan in question. Nieuwendyk, whose teams have been in playoff contention into the final week in three of his four seasons as GM, is entering the final year of his contract, and the Stars have a team option on Gulutzans deal. "Thats not under my control right now," Gulutzan said, regarding his job security. "Im going to continue to work. Im going to continue to do what I do until Im told otherwise. Thats all you can do. "All I can say is that Joes been tremendous for me. I think hes done a hell of a job. You can see with our farm team and the young guys that we have here." Despite trailing the Wings in shots on goal by a 26-13 margin, Dallas trailed just 1-0 at the start of the final period and went on the power play, but Zetterberg converted a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 at 1:57. A nice lead pass from Datsyuk sent Zetterberg in on a breakaway and, after making a slick move to his backhand, he slipped it between Bachmans pads for his 11th goal of the season. Ericsson added his third of the year at 6:30, when his wrist shot from the high slot beat a screened Bachman just inside the right post. Howard made perhaps his best save of the night with 7:41 remaining when he stopped Antoine Roussel after he raced in on a short-handed breakaway. Zetterberg put Detroit in front with 1:43 left in the opening period. After battling Brenden Dillon for the puck in the right corner, Zetterberg slid a pass into the crease that ricocheted off the skate of Dallas defenceman Alex Goligoski between Bachmans pads and in. "Of course, its nice to get the lead," Zetterberg said. "I think we created a ton of chances before that and they didnt go in. Their goalie made some good saves and of course its nice to see that one go in." NOTES: Red Wings C Johan Franzen did not record a point, after totalling four goals and an assist in the previous three games. ... Dallas had a chance to post a winning record for the 17th straight season, needing just one point to keep that streak going. ... Dallas honoured current players LW Loui Eriksson and C Jamie Benn for being part of its 20th anniversary team. ' ' '