Die Macht » Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins

NEW YORK -- The Tampa Bay Lightning continue their six-game road trip on Sunday night when they visit the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.After starting the jaunt with victories against the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Lightning have dropped consecutive 3-1 decisions to the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils. Although the Lightning started 5-1-0 and hold a 5-3-0 record, slow starts have been an issue all season -- the team has scored in just one first period in eight games.Weve got to find ways to start games on time, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said to the Tampa Bay Times. You can have all the skill in the world, but if you dont stick to the game plan and structure and work at it, youre going to win a couple games because youre more skilled than the other team. But usually youre not going to win in this league. The parity is too great.Goaltender Ben Bishop is expected to get the start in net after watching backup Andrei Vasilevskiy allow three goals on 23 shots Saturday. Right winger Nikita Kucherov, who missed the game Saturday with an upper-body injury, is listed as day-to-day.Is it possible that Kucherov, who led the team with 30 goals last season, is back in time to face the Rangers?Could is the word. Can he? Im not so sure, coach Jon Cooper said to the Tampa Bay Times before Saturdays game. But I know hes feeling much better today...Its not a good situation, but lets just hope its only a couple games or maybe one game.Kucherovs offensive talents could be sorely missed against the Rangers (5-3-0), who lead the NHL in goals per game at 3.63. They remodeled the team in an attempt to add speed throughout the lineup and it has worked beautifully.The problem is whether the quick team has the makeup to score enough ugly goals when the pretty ones arent coming. That was the case in a 3-2 road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, when the Rangers couldnt get anything done in the dirty areas with their opponent sitting back and playing it safe with a lead.You know that teams are going to be patient back there, captain Ryan McDonagh said to the New York Daily News. Weve had a couple of games now needing a goal like that. We certainly had some chances, but you know theyre going to be sagging, theyre going to be taking away a lot of the slot area...So guys going to the net and getting a rebound is something we have to look at a little bit when we find ourselves in that situation.If the Hurricanes gave the league a blueprint for slowing the Rangers offense, it may be something the Lightning employ Sunday. After all, they are playing the second half of a back-to-back while the Rangers are at home and rested so turning the neutral-zone to mud could benefit the road-weary Lightning.Shooting pucks...thats something weve got to learn, Rangers center Derek Stepan said to the New York Daily News. When teams get up and are going to sit in that neutral-zone trap or whatever you want to call it, we have to find a way to get through it with speed and generate offense. New England Patriots Jerseys .Y. -- Leading 3-0 with only 11:25 left, the Colorado Avalanche committed a seemingly meaningless penalty to give the New York Islanders a power play. Andre Tippett Womens Jersey . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. http://www.patriotsjerseysauthentic.com/Tom-Brady-Super-Bowl-Jersey/ . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Rob Gronkowski Womens Jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Custom New England Patriots Jerseys . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Free agent point guard Ty Lawson has signed with the Sacramento Kings.The team on Wednesday announced the deal for Lawson, who updated his Twitter account with a photo of himself in a Kings jersey and wrote, Cant sleep... Im sooo excited for this season.He averaged 5.7 points and 3.6 assists while spending last season playing with the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers after spending his first six years with Denver.dddddddddddd.In seven NBA seasons, the 28-year-old Lawson has averaged 13.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 29.8 minutes per game. ' ' '