Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork. Cheap Pacers Jerseys .com) - Ted Ligety skidded out, sliding onto his left side. No, the American skier hadnt just blown another chance to take his rightful place as the Olympic giant slalom champion. He was celebrating. In clear conditions at the Rosa Khutor course, Ligety carved out a big lead with a masterful morning run Wednesday that all but guaranteed him the gold barring a big mistake in the afternoon. Teammate Bode Miller called it a "clutch performance." You might call it a moment eight years in the making. Ligety took a lead of .93 seconds into the second run, then held on to beat Frances Steve Missillier by .48 seconds for his second Olympic gold medal but first in the event hes dominated for years on the World Cup circuit. Ligety finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 45.29 seconds, winning the first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics for the U.S. alpine skiing team. Alexis Pinturault earned the bronze behind his French teammate. Widely considered the best giant slalom skier of his generation, Ligety skied out of the race in 2006 and finished ninth in 2010. Until he filled the biggest hole in his resume on Wednesday, Ligetys greatest Olympic feat had been a surprising win in the mens combined as a 21-year-old in 2006. "Today was awesome. Theres not really any other way to put it," said Ligety. "This is something Ive been working for since I was a little kid. Being the favorite in alpine skiing is never easy, because its an event thats so far from being guaranteed and not an event thats super simple to win even if youre skiing the best in the world." Miller finished 2.53 seconds behind Ligety in 20th place in what could be the 36-year-olds final Olympic race. Miller became the oldest Olympic medalist in alpine skiing on Sunday when he tied for bronze in the Super-G for his sixth Olympic medal, including a silver in the giant slalom in 2002. "Its asking a bit much of my left knee still on those kinds of bumps. Right in the middle, theres a left-footed turn that just seems like crazy big bumps. I just look at it thinking maybe I could do it, but confidence-wise I dont feel comfortable dropping it in that way and its cost me both runs there. This is pretty aggressive stuff for the lower leg," noted Miller. Ligety is only the second American skier with two Olympic alpine gold medals after Andrea Mead Lawrence, who won both womens slalom events at the 1952 Oslo Games. He finished his first run in 1:21.08 and had the 14th-fastest time in his second run, 1:24.21 -- more than a second slower than Missillier but good enough. Ligety appeared relieved at the bottom of the hill, sliding into the snow and exhaling. Defending Olympic champion Carlo Janka of Switzerland finished in 13th place and Sochi downhill gold medalist Matthias Mayer of Austria ended sixth. Dudley Bradley Jersey . - Free agent defensive end Will Smith has signed with the New England Patriots. Indiana Pacers Shirts .C. -- The Edmonton Oilers used a late-power-play goal to get a hard-fought road victory. https://www.cheappacers.com/253k-c-j-miles-jersey-pacers.html . The victory strengthened Liverpools position in the top four after Tottenham lost 1-0 at Norwich in the days late kickoff, cutting the north London club six points adrift of fourth place and the final Champions League slot for next season.Wayne Simmonds is on a stretch not seen by a Philadelphia Flyers skater in 32 years. The Vancouver Canucks will be tasked with slowing him down when they host the Flyers Monday night. The red-hot winger looks to extend his goal-scoring streak to four straight games on Monday night when the Flyers resume their road trip against the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks played for the first time in a week on Sunday night in Calgary and did so without No. 1 netminder Roberto Luongo due to a lower-body injury that has him day-to-day. Vancouver didnt miss a beat with backup Eddie Lack in net as the rookie posted his second career shutout with an 18-save effort in the 2-0 win. Jannik Hansen and Mike Santorelli each scored a goal for the Canucks, who have won three in a row and are 10-1-1 overall in December. "I thought we played in the areas and we played hard. Im very happy we found a way to get it done," Canucks coach John Tortorella said. Vancouver did lose defenseman Andrew Alberts 2:43 into the game when he took an elbow from Calgarys Brian McGrattan, who was given a major penalty and game misconduct for the hit. Alberts did not return to the game. The 25-year-old Simmonds meanwhile, netted two of Philadelphias three power-play goals in Saturdays 4-3 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers. Scott Hartnell had the other and Steve Mason made 13 saves and another two stops in the tiebreaker. Michael Raffl had the winner for the Flyers in the third round as he skated down and out to the left, out-waiting Edmonton netminder Ilya Bryzgalov before throwing the puck in under the crrossbar for the win. Goga Bitadze Jersey. "I didnt really expect to be sent out there. I really enjoyed it," said Raffl, who took his first chance in an NHL shootout in his 26th career game. It was the first time Philly faced Bryzgalov since buying out the final six seasons of his eight-year, $51 million deal over the summer. Philadelphia trailed 2-0 after the first period, but Simmonds led the comeback charge with his third straight two-goal game. He is the first Flyer to post such a streak since Reggie Leach in 1981. "Obviously we had (Bryzgalov) the last two years and I actually thought he played a really good game. He made a lot of stops for them," Simmonds said. "We just had to keep crashing the net, and we had some pretty nice goals in that shootout. It was nice to get the two points." Philadelphia improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games and won the opener of six-game road trip, snapping a six-game losing streak as the visiting club. Simmonds has nine points over a five-game point streak, while Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux, who also scored in the shootout, extended their respective runs with two assists each. Voracek has six goals and nine helpers over a nine-game point streak, while Giroux has posted five goals and 10 assists during an eight-game run. The trio will try to help the Flyers avenge a 3-2 home loss to the Canucks on Oct. 15. Vancouver has won three of its past four versus Philadelphia overall. That includes a 6-2 victory the last time the clubs met in Vancouver on Dec. 28, 2010. Philadelphia had won seven in a row as the guest in this series before that meeting. ' ' '