Panthers D Erik Gudbranson left in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars three Olympians sent their team into the Olympic break on a high note Saturday night. John Cullen Jersey . Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Canadas Jamie Benn assisted on Whitneys goal. The victory moved Dallas into the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time this season. "Weve come from a long way," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Youve got to give the guys credit for digging in. "I thought if we got within three or four points at the break, we could be a serious contender. Weve exceeded that." The Stars and Coyotes have identical 27-21-10 records for 64 points, but Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Phoenix, which fell to ninth. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said his teams position at the break is "probably about where we should be. I think were better than that, but thats where we are." "Im not worrying about that too much yet," Lehtonen said of Dallas position in the standings. "Its good that were moving to the right direction. We just have to keep going." He was more impressed by defeating Phoenix twice in five days to make up four points on the Coyotes. "They were huge games both times. I really like it when we play well as a team." Dallas limited Phoenix to 27 shots, 13 in the third period. Lehtonen shut them out until Radim Vrbata scored on a power play with 15 seconds remaining. The Coyotes had six skaters to the Stars four because Tippett had pulled goalie Mike Smith, who had 31 saves. "Again (Lehtonen) was rock solid," said Ruff, an assistant coach for Canadas Olympic team. "He came up with some big saves. One when we were killing a penalty he went down low and made a glove save. He made a big stop on their breakaway when they were short-handed. "The only thing I would like to have seen was for him to get the shutout." "We couldnt generate too much offensively," Vrbata said. "But I think (Smiths) playing the way we know he can play. Hopefully, hes going to stay like that and we can do a little better for him." Whitney scored just 2:10 into the game. Nichushkin scored at 19:26 of the second period, deflecting in a shot by Trevor Daley. Dallas took the early lead when Whitney carried the puck into the Phoenix zone along the left side, skated into the slot and sent a wrist shot past Smith into the upper right corner of the net. "It was kind of not much happening in the first period until we decided we didnt want to back check on a play and give them the first goal," Tippett said. "That was something we talked about as a group, if we get behind its going to be much tougher on us." The Stars ended the first period a man up and put three shots on Smith for a 7-4 edge in shots. One of Dallas shots was short-handed, as the Stars made it difficult for the Coyotes to get out of their end. Midway through the second period, Dallas had two good scoring chances, but Smith gloved a high drive by Sergei Gonchar and stopped a tip-in attempt by Benn in front of the goal. Nichushkin deflected Daleys slap shot from the blue line for the rookies 13th goal with 34 seconds left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. The goal was reviewed to see whether Nichushkins deflection was on a high stick. NOTES: Whitney has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against Phoenix. ... Coyotes D Derek Morris (upper-body injury) was inactive. He was hurt during Phoenixs victory over Chicago Friday. C Martin Hanzal, who missed that game because of illness, returned against Dallas. ... The Stars have not allowed more than 28 shots in any of their last 11 games. ... Vrbata has scored three goals in the last four games. ... Saturdays game was delayed briefly in the second period when linesman Ryan Galloway was upended in a collision with Whitney along the boards. Galloway stayed in the game. ... The public address announcer saluted the five Coyotes and three Stars who will be competing in the Olympics. Smith, a former Stars goalie, received almost as strong an ovation as the Dallas players. Ron Francis Jersey . DArnaud hit one of three doubles for the Mets as they took a 4-0 lead in the first. Then the catchers seventh home run of the season broke the game open in the fifth. The 41-year-old Colon (10-8) retired the first 20 batters in his last outing Wednesday against Seattle, eventually allowing two runs on three hits in 7 1-3 innings in a 3-2 win. Paul Coffey Jersey . And yet as they left TD Garden amid the slush and snow of a winter storm on Thursday evening, there was a sense among the Leafs that they had finally stood toe to toe with their long-time bully, only to fall just short. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/2141q-rod-buskas-jersey-penguins.html . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Boston Bruins domination of the Florida Panthers continued. Well, the Bruins are beating just about everyone lately. Torey Krug scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Bruins won their season-high fifth straight with a 5-2 victory over the Panthers on Sunday. Chad Johnson made 20 saves, and Chris Kelly, Jarome Iginla, Patrice Bergeron and Andrej Meszaros also scored for Boston. Bergeron also had two assists for the Bruins, who are 7-0-3 during a 10-game stretch on the road, their longest such point streak since 2010-11. The Bruins have taken 14 of 16 from the Panthers, including eight straight by a combined 33-10 score. Boston is now in first place in the Eastern Conference. "Weve worked hard to get ourselves back at the top of the conference," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "By the looks of it, itll probably be a battle right until the end." Jimmy Hayes scored both goals for Florida, and Roberto Luongo stopped 37 shots. The Bruins broke a 1-1 tie on Krugs goal with 12:22 left the third. Krug took a pass from Brad Marchand in the slot and backhanded it past Luongo. "It seemed like their guys were a little bit tired and I thought I could jump up and beat a couple of guys," Krug said. "March made an unbelievable play and I was lucky enough to put it in." Three goals were scored in a span of 52 seconds later in the third, two by Boston. The Bruins stretched their lead to 3-1 on Bergerons goal with 6 seconds left on a power play. His one-timer went between Luongos pads at 11:21. "It was a big game for us. I think we played a solid road game and we came out with the two points," Bergeron said. The Panthers closed to 3-2 when Hayes found a loose puck in front and jammed in between Johnsons pads for his second goal at 11:42 for his first career multigoal game. The Bruins made it 4-2 on Iginlas goal 31 seconds later when his wrist shot went over Luongos shoulder at 12:13 for his 20th of the season and 550th career goal. Iginla moved into sole possession of 26th on the NHLs career goals list. Longtime Bruins forward John Bucyk is 25th. John Marino Jersey. Kelly scored an empty-netter with 1:02 left. The Bruins beat the Panthers for the second time in six days, including a 4-1 loss on Tuesday in Boston. "Theyre still a benchmark," Panthers coach Peter Horachek said. "Theyre still the team that we have to gauge ourselves by. Thats a message to our guys, thats where we need to be." The Bruins tied it at 1 on a power-play goal by Meszaros. His slap shot from above the right circle got past Luongo at 9:58. It was the first goal Luongo gave up in nearly 90 minutes since rejoining the Panthers for Fridays 2-0 win against Buffalo. Meszaros made his Bruins debut after being acquired from Philadelphia last Wednesday. "It was good to go out there and play. Overall, I felt pretty good and the two points is huge," Meszaros said. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on Hayes first goal at the 7-minute mark of the second. Nick Bjugstad shot from the right side and Johnson made the block, but Hayes grabbed the rebound and wristed it into the open net on the stick side. The Bruins went after Luongo from the start. He faced 27 shots in the first two periods, with at least three hitting the post, including a deflection off the skate of Panthers defenceman Brian Campbell early in the second that glanced off the iron. "You have to give (the Bruins) credit," Luongo said. "They came out hard in the third and they created some scoring chances. I would have liked to have made a few more saves there at least to keep it a one-goal game, but they have some good players there who can make some plays. "Things kind of fell apart a little bit in the third." NOTES: Bruins F Daniel Paille left with an upper-body injury after being hit by Ed Jovanovski along the boards at 3:06 of the first and did not return. ... Corey Potter, claimed off waivers by Boston from Edmonton on Wednesday, was a healthy scratch. ... Bjugstad has five points the past six games for the Panthers. ... Panthers D Erik Gudbranson left in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return. ' ' '