Gildenregeln » emaining, we have now had 150 goals at this

Edmonton’s goaltending has turned around, a sudden reversal of fortune for Kuemper, a productive Matt Cooke and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. DeAnthony Melton Jersey . HEROES Ben Scrivens – 29-save shutout against Montreal. After a miserable start to the season, during which he stopped 80% of the shots he faced in his first three appearances, Scrivens has recovered nicely, with a .945 save percentage in the past five games, the last four of which are Oilers wins. Mats Zuccarello – Scored a goal and two assists, and had the best possession stats (16 shot attempts for, 8 against) for the Rangers in their 5-4 win over Minnesota. Derick Brassard – Also had a goal and two assists, to ignite the Rangers’ third-period comeback. With Derek Stepan injured, the Rangers needed Brassard to step up and he has, with four goals and seven points, with strong possession (55.3% of even-strength shot attempts) in nine games, playing a career-high 17:29 per game for the Blueshirts. ZEROES Darcy Kuemper – Through his first five starts of the season, the Wild goaltender had allowed a toal of four goals against and, after two shutout periods against the Rangers, it was looking like more of the same was in store, but then Kuemper surrendered five goals on 12 shots in the third period as Minnesota coughed up a 3-0 lead to eventually lose 5-4. Questionable Rangers Hits – Both Rangers LW Chris Kreider and D John Moore were ejected from the game for delivering questionable hits. Kreider caught Wild D Jonas Brodin with a shove from behind approaching the end boards behind the Wild net and Moore laid out Wild C Erik Haula with a high and late hit after Haula had directed a shot towards the Rangers net. Kreider appears to be off the hook, while Moore is facing a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety. SHORT SHIFTS With a goal and an assist against the Rangers, Wild LW Matt Cooke now has five points in seven games, while playing only 10:58 per game. According to Puckalytics, Among players to play at least 50 minutes at 5-on-5, Cooke ranks 13th in points/60 minutes with 4.07…The player who ranks first, Rick Nash, had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, giving him nine goals in nine games (and 6.22 PTS/60) this season…Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher generated 10 shot attempts ( 4 SOG) and had an impressive possession game (20 shot attempts for, 7 against, 74.1%)…Montreal’s top possession player was D Nathan Beaulieu (15 for, 5 against, 75.0%)…Wild RW Jason Pominville had 10 shot attempts (5 SOG)…Edmonton’s line of Boyd Gordon, Matt Hendricks and Jesse Joensuu started every one of their shifts in the defensive zone. In Gordon’s case, that was 11 defensive zone starts, with none in the offensive and neutral zones. They also spent most of their night remaining in the defensive zone, as all three had fewer than 15% of the shot attempts when they were on the ice at even strength LINEUP NEED TO KNOW With Nikita Nikitin out, Brad Hunt was inserted into the Oilers’ lineup. Hunt played 18:26, though had some possession problems (6 shot attempts for, 13 against, 31.6%) against Montreal. Once Moore was ejected, Rangers D Kevin Klein played a season-high 23:19, putting up a goal and an assist. FANTASY FOCUS It’s a busy night on the ice, with a dozen games. Here are a handful of players that you may want to consider for your roster: Dennis Wideman – The Flames’ defenceman has scored goals in four straight games and has played more than 23 minutes in three of the past four games. Damien Brunner – Scratched early in the season, the Devils’ winger has three points in his last three games and has played more than 17 minutes in three of his four games since he was inserted into the lineup. With Martin Havlat and Mike Cammalleri out, there is room for Brunner to play in a scoring role with New Jersey. Nikita Kucherov – As injuries pile up among Tampa Bay’s forwards, Kucherov is taking advantage of an increased role, with four points in the past two games, the first two games this season in which Kucherov has played at least 14 minutes. Dany Heatley – The veteran power forward is expected to make his Ducks debut tonight in Chicago, in the plum spot on left wing with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Nick Bonino – There were questions about whether Bonino would be able to handle the second-line centre role in Vancouver, but he’s off to a fine start, with seven points in eight games and all of his points have come at even strength, another positive considering that he scored 20 power play points of his career-high 49 total points last season. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Vince Carter Jersey . Although Olivetti, a qualifier, had 13 aces, he failed to force a single break-point chance on Gasquets serve and lost his own three times. Gasquet next plays third-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, who won had 18 aces in a 6-2, 6-4 win against seventh-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. Mike Conley Jersey .Those stars, most notably the top line of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel, struggled against the Montreal Canadiens and must be better as the Leafs look ahead to facing the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers this weekend. https://www.cheapgrizzlies.com/444p-pau-gasol-jersey-grizzlies.html . Bjoerndalen broke the record he shared with cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie, also matching his fellow Norwegians record of eight gold medals. Bjoerndalen earlier won gold in Sochi in the mens sprint biathlon.Day in 100 words or less It was supposed to be a day without drama. A day the bookmakers told us would be rudimentary, seeing France and Germany breeze by Nigeria and Algeria respectively. We should have known better. France were average for 70 minutes and good for 20, scoring late to prevent Nigeria from moving on. Germany, on the other hand, were pathetic for 70 minutes, average for 20 and marginally better in the extra time they needed to see off Algeria. Germany 2-1 Algeria (AET) Germany are in Brazil to win the World Cup. They may be only three wins away but based on this display those victories are going to be very difficult to find. World Cup winners are allowed slow starts and mixed performances along the way, but Joachim Lows side have a lot of work to do between now and July 13. In the end they, just, deserved the win in Porto Alegre but Algeria played a huge part in an enthralling match. They also did a great job at targeting Germanys high defensive line. The problem for Germany was not the position of the line, but the amount of things they did wrong while playing with it. It was clear they didnt want playmakers dropping in between the lines and with Algeria playing deep, Germanys high line made sense. Except, the players didnt orchestrate the game-plan properly. The full-backs are supposed to drop deep to cover any attackers in behind but their positioning was poor. In front, the midfield of Germany did little to press Algeria into a mistake and far too often balls were easily played over the top, forcing Per Mertesacker and Jerome Boateng to regularly turn and face their own goal, an area many centre-backs are not comfortable with. Thankfully, they had Manuel Neuer in behind and he made an incredible amount of clearances outside of his box. Stats powered by Opta Germanys problems continued in possession. They head into the quarter-finals with too many of their key players either not fit or not playing well. This is a team that became obsessed with Spain after losing to them twice at Euro 2008 and at the last World Cup but at the moment they have a balance issue with their front six. Bastian Schweinsteiger, so crucial to their hopes, limped off in extra time and will desperately be needed in the quarter-final. Philipp Lahm is a fine midfielder but his value is much higher as a full-back. Forced into that change when Shkodran Mustafi was stretchered off, Lahm at full-back gives Germany an outlet his teammates trust in a wide area. It also unleashes Sami Khedira into midfield, a player, himself, who is not fully fit but who brings something completely different to the midfield with his penetration. Think Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso from 2010 - that is what Khedira and Schweinsteiger can be. A pair with great strength who can dictate the tempo and direction of a match. Germanys Xavi, Toni Kroos, is a fine player who can dictate the pace and tempo but demands calculated and intelligent movement in front of him. He is not a true playmaker who will beat two or three men and score an individual goal. This puts tremendous pressure on the front three. Again, thinking of Spain, these three are essential for success. Mario Gotze and Mesut Ozil are not natural wide players. They like to operate centrally in spaces between the lines but that makes Germany easy to defend against. Germany needed width, much like Spain did in 2010, and on came their Pedro, Andre Schurrle for Gotze. Ozil, however, was no Andres Iniesta. He is a defensive liability when an opponent is not in possession of the ball and when in possession he is not at his best on the left flank. Ozil likes to make quick movements, quick passes to feet, and out wide that requires full-backs to get forward, something this German team does very little of. Thomas Muller, one of the bright spots for Germany against Algeria, is a vital player for Lows system. However, the jurry is still out on what his best position is. Memphis Grizzlies Gear. . Germany started with a false nine in this tournament, then went to Muller as the target man, but it was clear how valuable he is on the Schurrle goal, as his direct running into space and creativity set up the Chelsea man for a moment of brilliance on the goal. Their next opponents, France, may just be exactly what they need. France are a talented team but they have not been tested enough when forced to defend a lot, they tend to play slowly in possession and Germany should control possession and could do what Spain did to France two years ago at Euro 2012. That is easier said than done, however, and Germany will need to be far better to stay in Brazil. What they do have, though, is a cast of characters who are genuine world class stars. If any team can turn this around quickly it is this one. France 2-0 Nigeria There is a very thin line between success and failure at World Cups. The line is different for every team. Frances victory over Nigeria saw them jump over that line. Whatever happens from now on, this World Cup has become a success for a French team some thought wouldnt qualify after their loss in Ukraine last October. Against Nigeria they were far from perfect but their maturity came through. Under Didier Deschamps there is no room for complacency and France were a united front. For the second successive day, a European team grew stronger as the game wore on and a key tactical switch made the difference. Deschamps chose to play Karim Benzema with Olivier Giroud but Nigeria exploited this, creating overlaps out wide on the left where the Real Madrid man operated. This forced Blaise Matuidi to cover and help Patrice Evra, opening up spaces in midfield. During the second half Antoine Griezmann was introduced for Giroud and the balance of the side was much better. Benzema was not at his best but, importantly, France were able to pull through in a game where he didnt carry them. The goal came from a set-piece and the Nigerian goalie, Vincent Enyeama, who had been excellent, made one error in judgment and allowed Paul Pogba to nod home the winning goal into an empty net. Laurent Koscienly, a menace to defend at set plays throughout, played a huge part by attracting two defenders that the goalkeeper didnt trust to deal with the Arsenal man. It was a fitting goal for Pogba, who was the best player on the pitch. In all, many French players who have excelled at the highest level, the Champions League, performed very well like Mathieu Valbuena, Laurent Koscielny, Raphael Varane and Pogba. Nigeria go home with their heads held high with many of their players having had an excellent World Cup. Man of the Day Nominees Ahmed Musa – The Nigerian attacker has had a fantastic World Cup and his speed on the counter caused France a number of problems. Paul Pogba – The Juventus man had easily his best performance at the World Cup so far and scored the crucial goal. Andre Schurrle – Once again another substitute at this World Cup made a big impact on the game. Manuel Neuer – The German goalkeeper was sensational, often playing as an 11th outfield player, sweeping up behind his defence. Essaid Belkalem – The Algerian defence was brilliant, led by the 25-year-old Watford defender. The winner... Manuel Neuer – Arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the world today had a monumental match when his country needed him the most. What comes next? Argentina vs Switzerland (12pm et/9am pt) and Belgium vs USA (4pm/1pm) Burning question for Tuesday Will Belgium start a game better than they have done so far in this World Cup or will they once again start slowly and allow the USA confidence to build? Key stat of Day 19 With 10 games remaining, we have now had 150 goals at this World Cup. That is more than we had in 2006 and 2010. ' ' '