Funkerstation » Gaze, the possibility of the Aus

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nathan MacKinnon had been waiting for the puck to go in for him. The Colorado Avalanche center entered his fourth NHL season with plenty of promise, only to score just twice in the seasons first 15 games.The top overall draft pick in 2013 was feeling a bit better Saturday night after scoring the game-winning goal.MacKinnon brought the puck up the center of the ice and used a Wild defenseman to screen his shot, scoring with 10 minutes left to finish off Colorados third-period comeback. He added an assist in the Avalanches 3-2 win at Minnesota.MacKinnon has scored in back-to-back games to rekindle hopes of a big season after he signed a seven-year, $44.1 million contract extension in the offseason.I feel like Ive had a lot of good chances the first 17 games, MacKinnon said. When I went 10 straight without a goal, I felt like, you dont deserve goals, but you feel like youre around the net and it should start going in. It was tough there for a while and its nice to finally see a couple go in, for sure.Calvin Pickard stopped 41 shots in beating the Wild for the second time this season. Hes allowed two goals on 73 shots.If youre sharp, they throw a lot of pucks to the net and both games weve played weve been good at boxing out rebounds and letting me see the puck, Pickard said. We did that again tonight, with big efforts from our D and our forwards helping out down low as well.The Avalanche trailed 2-0 heading into the final period, but goals by Mikko Rantanen and Carl Soderberg just 3 minutes apart tied the game.Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves for Minnesota, but his shutout streak was snapped at 156 minutes, 6 seconds. Charlie Coyle and Tyler Graovac scored for the Wild, who had been 6-0-1 when leading after two periods.We stopped playing, Dubnyk said. I dont know what happened. Thats not like us. Things are going to happen, and they might get one or two, but we just stopped playing in our end. I dont know if we thought it was going to be an easy third with the way the game was going, but we had a pretty good game going and thats a waste of a game.Colorado earned its first victory of the season when trailing after two. The Avalanche were 0-9-0 when entering the second intermission with a deficit.Third periods havent been our friend this season, MacKinnon said. Weve been struggling late in games. For whatever reason, we cant seem to tie it up and get the win. Were going to feed off this. Scoring three goals in the third period is big, after being shut out after two. Beating a goalie like Dubnyk is no easy task.Dubnyk had allowed just nine goals in his previous nine starts.The flurry of goals came in the third, but the teams traded shots in the first. They combined for 41 shots in the period, setting a Minnesota record for one period. The Wild had 21 shots, a franchise mark for the first period.Game notesMinnesota forward Zach Parise was scratched prior to the game with an illness. He had returned to play two games after missing six because of a lower-body injury. ... Colorado C Matt Duchene (concussion) missed his fourth straight game, while F Gabriel Landeskog (lower-body injury) missed his second game in a row. ... The Avalanche were fifth in the NHL in most penalty minutes per game coming in and proceeded to take five minor penalties. The Wild went 1 of 4 on the power play. ... Minnesota started a stretch of three straight games and four of five against Central Division opponents. ... Wild D Marco Scandella (high ankle sprain) returned to practice Friday. Scandella has missed eight games and is eligible to return from long-term injured reserve next week.UP NEXTAvalanche: Colorados three-game road trip ends Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.Wild: Minnesota has a one-game trip to Dallas on Monday.Balenciaga Shoes Sale . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Cheap Balenciaga . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. https://www.fakebalenciaga.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Fake Balenciaga 2020 . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Fake Balenciaga For Sale . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Theres one team that has lived up to high expectations -- even surpassed them -- at the Rio Games in mens basketball.Its the one with a roster loaded with skilled and experienced NBA players, an overall No. 1 draft pick, a backcourt featuring two guards with championship rings and a strong belief it can capture gold in Brazil.The favored U.S. team, to this point unbeaten but shockingly underwhelming, had better be careful.Australia just might win it all.Bonded by a deep commitment to the national team and each other, the Aussies have been the most impressive team in this tournament, which many expected to be dominated by Team USAs super-squad trying to win a third straight title. However, Australia, seeking its first Olympic medal with a program aided by players developing their games on college teams in the U.S., is focused on ending Americas run.No disrespect to the U.S., but we dont want to go into an Olympics aiming for second or fourth, center Andrew Bogut said after the Aussies put a fright into the Americans in group play before losing 98-88. We have a goal of being first.In some hoop circles, Australias performance has been a surprise. Not to the Americans.They play aggressive, said U.S. forward DeMar DeRozan. They execute extremely well, and thats a team thats been playing together for a while.International basketball observers have seen this Australian ascension coming.With Bogut, the 7-footer selected first by Milwaukee in the 2005 draft and four other players currently on NBA rosters, the Aussies, as fans in the U.S. have learned, play with a street-tough tenacity. Add in that guards Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, and big man Aron Baynes have won league titles, and its no wonder the team from Down Under is on the way up.Its been rising for a while, said Australian assistant coach Luc Longley, who played on three Olympic teams and won three championships with the Chicago Bulls. I dont think this is a flash in the pan.It shouldnt be. Australia, which has finished fourth three times and will play Lithuania in Wednesdays first quarterfinal, has depth. Missing from the 2016 Rio team are forward Ben Simmons, the former LSU star picked first in this years draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, and Thon Maker, selected No. 10 by the Bucks. Also, Utahs Dante Exum was unable to play while recovering from a torn ACL suffered with the national team last summer.Three-time Olympian Joe Ingles, who has sppent the past two seasons with the Jazz, sees bright days ahead for Australia.ddddddddddddWere not all 18 years old anymore, but weve been together a long time and obviously with Ben and Thon and Dante and all these kids coming through. Dellys still young, weve still got a pretty young group -- apart from David, the forward said, referring to 36-year-old center David Andersen. But the rest of us are all 28 and under. I think we can sustain it for a little while, and the junior development of what we have in Australia is really good and we can continue to produce good players.Theres something else about the Boomers, as theyre known back home. They are a close-knit group, which grew tighter last year when Mills organized a team trip to Uluru, the iconic rock formation in central Australia considered sacred by the indigenous Aboriginals.The experience was life-changing for Mills, who has Aboriginal roots. He said the time spent together helped the Aussies better appreciate what it means to play for their homeland.Just to get to know everyone on the team and the meaning behind doing that was to find that deeper meaning of why we play for Australia and why we represent our country, said Mills, who has been with the San Antonio Spurs since 2011. I think everyone found that individually and as a team as well.As a reminder, the Australian team has a banner from its trip to Uluru hanging in the athletes village in Rio.To five-time Australian Olympic guard Andrew Gaze, the possibility of the Aussies stepping up onto the medal podium in the next few days, isnt all that surprising. Gaze has been impressed with this Australian groups resolve and its ability to crystallize in a short period.The flag bearer for his country at the 2000 Games, Gaze, who remains the second-leading scorer in Olympic history, was a win from a bronze in 1988 but ran into a U.S. team smarting from a loss to the Soviet Union.The Aussies came up short again eight years later in Atlanta, losing to Lithuania, which beat them again at Sydney.Weve been knocking on the door for a long, long time, Gaze said.If the green-and-gold can get to the gold-medal game, the U.S. could be waiting.Were not intimidated, Ingles said following the teams matchup in the preliminary round. Were not scared of anyone. We hope we can get another crack at them. ' ' '