Thomas Vanek broke out of his scoring slump with the Montreal Canadiens in a big way.
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. 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.
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. He just didnt expect them to be this good.
Darrun Hilliard scored 19 points to lead No. 6 Villanova to a dominating
77-59 victory over Georgetown on Saturday, preserving the Wildcats
hopes of a No.
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. On Saturday, the paths of Drew Tate and Kevin Glenn cross again as
opposing quarterbacks.OAKLAND, Calif. -- Michael Choice singled in the
go-ahead run in the ninth inning and the Texas Rangers rallied to beat
the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Josh Wilson doubled to drive in the tying run just ahead of Choice, who
began his career with the As.
Alexi Ogando (1-1) recorded one out in the eighth to pick up the win.
Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Luke Gregerson (0-1) took the loss after blowing his third save
opportunity. He gave up two runs on three hits. Gregerson appeared to
have pitched out of trouble when he threw out pinch hitter
Mitch Moreland at the plate on a safety squeeze by Leonys Martin for the
second out.
Martin stole second and scored when Wilson, who cost the Rangers two
runs with a fielding error in the fourth, doubled.
Donnie Murphy had two hits and drove in a run for the Rangers, who won
their seventh in eight games.
Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Donaldson and Eric Sogard drove in
runs for the As, who lost their second straight for the first time this
season. Josh Reddick had two hits.
As starter Tommy Milone allowed three runs on five hits. He walked four
and struck out one.
Nick Martinez was recalled from Double-A to make the start for the
Rangers. He lasted five innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He
walked three and struck out one.
Three of Milones walks came in the first inning, when the Rangers took a
2-0 lead. Murphy singled home one run and Robinson Chirinos walked with
the bases loaded.
The As answered in their half of the first. Jed Lowrie doubled and
scored when Donaldson singled. Cespedes hit a double, allowing Donaldson
to score.
The Rangers regained the lead in the thirrd.
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Alex Rios walked and went to third on Prince Fielders single.
Kevin Kouzmanoff hit into a double play, with Rios scoring.
Kouzmanoff left the game after the top of the fourth with tightness in
his back. Luis Sardinas entered the game at second base, with
Josh Wilson moving to third.
With one out in the fourth, John Jaso singled and Reddick reached base
when Wilson mishandled his grounder. Sogard hit a sacrifice fly and
Crisp followed with his double.
Rangers relief pitcher Pedro Figueroa left the game with an apparent
back injury after hitting Reddick with a pitch with two outs in the
eighth. Ogando replaced him.
NOTES: As OF Coco Crisp, who fell hard and bruised his ribs during
Monday nights game, had X-Rays taken that were negative. ... As LHP
Eric OFlaherty (Tommy John surgery) threw all his pitches at full
distance during a bullpen session, encouraging As manager Bob Melvin to
ask if he was available for an inning. . The As rejected the
Oakland-Alameda County Authoritys 10-year lease proposal. ... RHP
Sonny Gray (3-0, 1.80) pitches for the As in Wednesdays matinee game and
will make his first start against the Rangers. He is currently 6-0 over
his last eight starts dating to last year. ... LHP Martin Perez (3-0,
1.86) will take the mound for the Rangers. He has not allowed a run over
his past 17 innings. He will be making his sixth start against the As,
his most against any team. ... RHP Colby Lewis (1-1, 4.22) is set to
start Fridays game in Seattle but the rest of the weekend rotation is in
a state of flux, with LHP Robbie Ross, LHP Matt Harrison, currently on
the DL with a back problem, and RHP Yu Darvish all in the mix.
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