Cabrera has five homers on the season, | Forum
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Feb 27 '18
HAMILTON - The Abbotsford Heat twice battled back from a goal behind on Sunday, before finally edging ahead in the shootout. Philadelphia 76ers Jerseys . Markus Granlund scored the shootout winner as the Heat defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 in the American Hockey League. "It was tough on us, losing the last few games, and with this being our last game before Christmas we will definitely take the win," said Granlund. Dean Arsene and Ben Hanowski had goals for the Heat (21-9-2), while Joni Ortio stopped 32 shots. The win ended a three-game losing streak for Abbotsford. Joonas Nattinen had a goal and an assist, and Joel Chouinard also scored for the Bulldogs (12-14-4). Dustin Tokarski made 39 saves. Hamilton has now lost five consecutive games. "We have to bring those points home," said Hamilton head coach Sylvain Lefebvre. "Its disappointing. "Abbotsford is a good team, and theyre not in first place in our conference for nothing. Theyre a team that battles and competes." Granlund scored on Abbotsfords second attempt of the shootout, while Corban Knight added a goal on the fourth attempt. Ortio stopped all four Hamilton shots. A penalty to Hamiltons Mike Blunden just 49 seconds into the first period put the Bulldogs on their heels, and the hosts struggled to exit their defensive zone early in the period. It took Hamilton nearly seven minutes to register its first shot, but the Bulldogs began to manufacture offensive pressure with the trio of Nattinen, Justin Courtnall and Stefan Fournier establishing a cycle midway through the period. The Heat forced several tough saves from Bulldogs goaltender Tokarski, with the sharpest of those coming with four and a half minutes to play in the period. Abbotsford broke into the offensive zone through the right wing, and Tokarski denied a low slap shot intended for his far post and smothered the loose puck. The goaltender turned aside all 13 shots he faced in the first period, while his counterpart Ortio successfully stopped nine. Hamilton capitalized on offensive pressure in the aftermath of a power play to open the scoring at 4:35 of the second period. Morgan Ellis took a low slap shot from the point that bounced to Fournier in the low slot, and he tipped it ahead to Nattinen. The centre moved to his backhand and slotted the puck past a diving Ortio. As Abbotsford chased an equalizer, it was Blunden who nearly doubled Hamiltons lead a minute and a half later when Martin St. Pierre found him with a cross-ice pass and the winger fired a rising wrist shot that Ortio knocked to the corner with his shoulder. The Heat found the tying goal on a seemingly harmless play, as Arsene took a long-range wrist shot that eluded Tokarski and clipped his far post as it crossed the goal line at 9:56 of the second period. Arsenes goal was his first of the season. Hamilton re-established a lead at 11:18 of the second period, when another defenceman, Chouinard, scored his first goal of the season. Jordan Owens found Nattinen in the high slot with a centring pass, and the forward responded to defensive pressure with a drop pass to Chouinard at the blue-line. The defenceman fired a low slap shot that moved through traffic and beat the screened Ortio. The Heat struck early in the third period to level the game once again, as Hanowski pounced on a rebound to score at 4:47. Tokarski reacted well to stop Josh Jooris initial shot with his left pad, but Hanowski beat the Bulldogs defenders to the rebound and chipped it high and past the downed goaltender. The play was wide open and frantic in the final minutes of the third period as both teams searched for a winning goal. Tokarski made two exceptional saves before the period came to a close, and denied Sven Baertschi from close range without a stick with 23 seconds to play. Lefebvre was not content with his teams loose play in the period that repeatedly forced Tokarski into action. "Thats not the style that we want to play," he said. "We got stuck in our own zone on a few long shifts, and (Abbotsford) got a few good scoring chances. Thats where Tokarski had to be good, and he gave us a chance to win the game tonight." Abbotsford enjoyed a minute and a half of 4-on-3 power-play time to open the overtime period, but could not find a way past Tokarski. Robert Covington Jersey . TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted Monday morning that Callahan - who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, is now open to a six-year contract at less than $7 million per season. Darryl Dawkins Jersey . McCutchen was cut before the series opener against Seattle on Monday night, when Lewis was set for his first start for Texas since July 18, 2012. Texas selected Lewis contract from Triple-A Round Rock.TORONTO -- The series opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles was a pitchers duel for the first five innings. It turned into a power game after that and Torontos boppers were up to the task. Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie and Melky Cabrera belted three-run homers as the Blue Jays dumped the Orioles 9-3 on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. Encarnacion got things started in the sixth inning, Lawrie would later give the Jays the lead and Cabrera added some insurance as Toronto improved to 11-9 on the season. "Home runs come in handy," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "Home runs do win. We had the three big ones." Nelson Cruz hit a three-run shot for Baltimore (9-10) in the top half of the sixth inning before Encarnacion ended his 25-game home run drought to pull Toronto even. Lawrie, from Langley, B.C., cracked the tie in the eighth inning with a blast off Evan Meek (0-1) to help make a winner of reliever Steve Delabar (2-0). Cabrera, who has hit safely in 19 of 20 games this season, went deep off Josh Stinson later in the frame. Juan Francisco and Josh Thole chipped in with two hits apiece for the Blue Jays, who outhit the Orioles 9-8. Toronto starter R.A. Dickey and Baltimores Miguel Gonzalez were both in form early on. Dickey was the first to hiccup in the sixth inning after Baltimore got a rally started by taking advantage of some sloppy defence. Steve Lombardozzi hit a flare to shallow left field that dropped in between Cabrera and Jose Reyes. Both Blue Jays seemed to think the other had a read on the ball but neither did. Lombardozzi reached second on the play and Nick Markakis followed with a walk. Cruz then stepped into a 1-1 fastball for his fourth homer of the season. Dickey recorded the next two outs but then loaded the bases by walking Steve Clevenger, hitting Delmon Young with a pitch and walking Ryan Flaherty. A Jonathan Schoop strikeout kept the damage to just three runs. A Baltimore error helped the Blue Jays rally in the bottom half. Cabrera reached when Lombardozzi flubbed a grounder and Jose Bautista singled to set the stage for Encarnacion, who launched a blast into the first row of standing-room only seats above the first deck in centre field. "Hes a home run hitter," Gibbons said. "To get that first one, Im sure hes breathing a little bit easier." It was the fourth-longest home run drought of Encarnacions career. Gonzalez, who struck out a season-high seven batters, lasted 5 2/3 innings as Balttimore fell to 5-6 on the road this season. Ben Simmons Jersey. . "With Encarnacion you cant double up, youve got to keep the ball down and make better pitches," Gonzalez said. The Baltimore starter allowed four hits and two earned runs while walking a pair. "Miguel was very close there," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "If we do a couple of things differently he probably pitches six or seven innings. He had good stuff obviously. He gave us a good chance to win. I cant fault his effort." Dickey struggled again when he came back out for the seventh inning but got a big assist from the Toronto bullpen. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Neil Wagner came on in relief and got Cruz to ground out. Southpaw Brett Cecil relieved Wagner and walked Chris Davis to load the bases. Cecil got cleanup hitter Adam Jones to wave at three straight pitches before striking out Clevenger to snuff the threat. "Thats the ballgame right there," Gibbons said. "But our bullpen is good. Weve had a couple hiccups in the past week but our bullpen is as good as anybodys." Delabar came on for the eighth inning and put a runner on with a one-out walk. Jonathan Diaz and Reyes then combined for a nice 4-6-3 double play to retire the side. Notes: Dickey, who tied a season high with six strikeouts, was pulled after facing two batters in the seventh inning. He allowed six hits, three earned runs and three walks. It was his second quality start of the season. ... The crowd let out a cheer when the halftime score of the Toronto Raptors NBA playoff game was shown on the big screen. The Raptors led Brooklyn 45-39 after two quarters and went on to beat the Nets 100-95. ... Cabrera has five homers on the season, one more than Lawrie. ... Announced attendance was 14,866 and the game took two hours 54 minutes to play. ... Dustin McGowan (1-1) is scheduled to start the second game of the three-game series on Wednesday. The Orioles will counter with fellow right-hander Chris Tillman (1-0). ... The Blue Jays will close out the homestand with a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. ... It was the fifth game of a seven-game road trip for the Orioles, who were coming off a four-game series split in Boston. ... Bautista has reached base safely in all 20 games this season. Its the teams longest season-opening streak of its kind since Vernon Wells reached base safely in 29 straight games to open the 2006 campaign. ... Cecil has yet to allow an earned run this season. He has 15 strikeouts over 8 2/3 innings. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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