Post by jenny123 on Jan 14, 2014 22:57:09 GMT -5
(Sports Network) - Three days after securing their respective divisions, the Anaheim Ducks and Vancouver Canucks will square off on Thursday night at Rogers Arena. The Ducks and Canucks are locked into the Western Conferences second and third seed, respectively, in the upcoming playoffs. Anaheim will finish behind the Chicago Blackhawks after winning the Pacific Division for only the second time in franchise history and claiming its first since its Stanley Cup- winning 2006-07 season. Vancouver, meanwhile, also secured home-ice advantage through at least the first round after winning its fifth straight Northwest Division title. Both clubs locked up their respective division crowns on Monday as the Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers and the Canucks bested the Blackhawks. Viktor Fasth made 24 saves to notch the fourth shutout of his rookie campaign as Anaheim won in Edmonton for a second straight night following an 0-3-1 skid. Fasth was backed by goals from Ryan Getzlaf, Radek Dvorak and Sami Vatanen. Corey Perry recorded two assists "We have to keep working hard. We still have things to work on," Fasth said. Anaheim won despite Sheldon Souray and Luca Sbisa sitting out with lower body injuries, while Bobby Ryan was held out due to illness. The Ducks will end their regular season on at home versus the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday and are 16-6-1 at home compared to 13-5-5 on the road. The Canucks won their eighth straight at home when they defeated the Blackhawks 3-1 on Monday. Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist to move into second place on the franchises all-time list with 758 career points, behind only twin brother Henrik Sedin (791 points). Zack Kassian and Jannik Hansen both scored for the Canucks, while Cory Schneider made 24 saves to help the team win its second straight game overall. "Were proud of what weve achieved here but its just a start," said Schneider. "Our goal is the Stanley Cup and if we keep playing the way we did tonight well be there at the end." Vancouver announced on Wednesday that Schneider is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and recalled Joe Cannata. Roberto Luongo will start tonight with Schneider out. Defencemen Kevin Bieksa (lower body) took part in the optional skate on Thursday. The Canucks have won all five of their home games this month and are 15-5-3 as the host. They end their regular season on Saturday in Edmonton. These two clubs have split their last 10 meetings. The Ducks opened the shortened campaign with a 7-3 win in Vancouver on Jan. 19, getting two goals and two assists from Teemu Selanne, while the Canucks responded six days later with a 5-0 triumph in Anaheim. Schneider made 30 saves and Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist. The Ducks are 3-0-1 in their past four in Vancouver. Team USA Jersey UK .ca! 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Rosales was eligible for salary arbitration before the deal announced Thursday. The Rangers also signed left-hander Aaron Poreda and outfielder Brad Snyder to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Quite a turnaround for the Reds, who went from dropping five in a row to winning two games in one day. A little well-timed hitting will do that. Jay Bruce hit a pair of bases-loaded singles that sent Cincinnati to a couple of wins on Wednesday, 1-0 over the Philadelphia Phillies in the conclusion of a suspended game and 11-2 in the later one. The Reds completed their first sweep of the Phillies since 1996, taking advantage of Philadelphias struggles on offence to pull out of a five-game slide. It reminded manager Dusty Baker of an acquaintances favourite saying. "Like Gary Matthews said, the only thing better than hits are more hits," Baker said. "It was a beautiful thing tonight. Its hard to figure. We get swept in Pittsburgh and then come here and sweep these guys. If anybody figures this game out, I hope they tell me." First, they concluded a game suspended overnight by rain. Several hundred fans were in the stands to see Phillippe Aumont (1-2) pick the game up in the bottom of the ninth and give up Bruces bases-loaded single only four batters later. The crowd was 16,467 for the series finale, which started an hour and a half later. Bruce had a big hand in that one, too. He had a bases-loaded single to right field -- just like the last one -- that highlighted a five-run rally in the second inning off left-hander John Lannan (0-1), who was bothered by tendinitis in his left knee. "Obviously, it was good to get this sweep after having some breaks go against us," Bruce said. "Thats the name of the game. The mark of a good team is how you come back. Youve got to rise up and minimize the damage." Lannan said hes had tendinitis above his left knee, but it felt fine when he warmed up to start the game. It began bothering him in the first inning and got worse. Hell be examined on Thursday. "Im not going to go out there and do that again," Lannan said. Reds starter Mike Leake (1-2) drove in a run with his first career triple during Cincinnatis 10-batter second inning. The Reds had two singles, a double, a triple, Todd Fraziers homer, a walk and a hit-by-pitch during the rally. Leake, who leads all major league pitchers with 49 hits over the last four seasons, also had a pair of infield singles. The three hits matched his career high -- he also did it in Philadelphiia in 2010.dddddddddddd. Leake allowed three hits and didnt walk a batter in seven shutout innings. "I needed a good performance more than the three hits, but it helped," Leake said. The Phillies managed only four runs and 13 hits while getting swept in Cincinnati. They didnt even get to swing the bat during the conclusion of the suspended game. Aumont was warming up to face Zack Cozart for the bottom of the ninth inning when heavy rained moved in on Tuesday night. Eighteen hours later, Cozart finally got his at-bat and singled to start the winning rally. Bruce finished it with his first-pitch single. Left-hander Aroldis Chapman (2-0) got the win without even warming up on Wednesday -- hed retired the last three batters before the rain came the previous night. A measure of Philadelphias offensive woes -- it ended up with as many hits as there were renditions of the national anthem in the suspended game. The Phillies managed only two singles off Homer Bailey and Chapman. The Reds allowed fans who attended the game on Tuesday to come back for the finish. There were several hundred of them in the stands when clubhouse assistant Josh Stewart sang the national anthem -- the second one of the game. The public address announcer went over the lineups again. Umpire Wally Bell was back behind the plate when the game resumed. It was the Phillies first suspended game since Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, when rain halted their matchup against Tampa Bay in the sixth inning. The only suspended game in World Series history wasnt resumed for two days, when the Phillies won it for the title. The Reds last suspended game was in 2004 against Houston, a game that was halted in the top of the 11th inning by rain. Cincinnati won it in 13 innings. NOTES: Leake became the first Reds pitcher to score three times in a game since Danny Jackson scored four runs on Sept. 4, 1988 against the Cubs. ... LH Tony Cingrani will be called up from Triple-A Louisville and make his debut on Thursday against Miami. Cingrani will be the first left-hander to start for the Reds since Dontrelle Willis on Sept. 29, 2011. ... Former Reds infielders Barry Larkin and Aaron Boone threw ceremonial pitches before the regular game. ... Phillies OF Domonic Brown had a sore back after making a diving catch and will be examined on Thursday. ' ' '