Bla Bla » the issue becoming a political battleground

DALLAS -- Being the subject of trade rumours has not slowed down Martin St. Louis. St. Louis scored two goals for the second consecutive game to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon. The Lightning had lost five of their previous seven games, including a 3-2 loss to Nashville Thursday. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said he wasnt thinking about that game when Dallas cut a 3-0 second-period deficit to 3-2. The Lightning won despite being outshot 41-21. "Clearly we were under siege for the second half of that second period, but I thought our goalie stood tall. Guys committed to blocking shots and kept pucks out." The 38-year-old St. Louis has been the subject of trade rumours, but with the Lightning fourth in the NHLs Eastern Conference, they might not want to send away their scoring leader. "That kid comes to play, and thats what you want in a player," Cooper said. "And all this speculation of him being moved or asking for a trade, that doesnt come into one spot of our locker room of trying to win a hockey game. "We needed four goals to win tonight, and he had two of them. You need that from one of your go-to guys." Nate Thompson and Sami Salo also scored for Tampa Bay. Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat each had two assists. Goalie Ben Bishop cooled off Dallas by making 39 saves for his 29th win. Antoine Roussel and Vernon Fiddler each had a goal and an assist for Dallas. "Hes a big man," Fiddler said of the 6-foot-7 Bishop. "He covers a lot of the net. He made some big saves." The four goals allowed by Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen were his most in 12 games, since a 4-3 loss to Colorado Jan. 27. He made 17 saves. The Stars, who had been 7-1-2 in their previous 10 games, remained eighth in the Western Conference. St. Louis scored just 1:25 into the game. Eric Brewer sent a shot from the slot wide right, but the puck hit St. Louis left leg and deflected into the near side of the net past Lehtonen. The Lightning had another chance on a 2-on-1 rush 7 minutes later, but Lehtonen deflected Ryan Malones shot away into the left corner. At 12:09, Thompson gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead by deflecting Hedmans drive from the left point over Lehtonens left shoulder. That was the seventh shot on goal, equaling the Lightnings total for the final two periods in Thursdays loss to Nashville. Hedman earned his 100th career assist. "They got a break on the first two," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "One was off the side of St. Louis, and the next shot was about 4 or 5 feet high and probably going wide, but they got a stick on it." Tampa Bay outshot Dallas 11-8 in the period. The Stars dominated the second period, outshooting the Lightning 18-7. However, Tampa Bay scored on St. Louis breakaway for a 3-0 lead at 14:31. Dallas intensified its pressure, and scored twice to go into the final period trailing 3-2. At 15:50, Roussel deflected Kevin Connautons shot from the left wing boards off Lightning defenceman Michael Kostkas skate and past Bishop. Fiddler scored on a wraparound at 18:11. It was only the fourth goal for Fiddler and 10th for Roussel, who play on a defensive line with Ryan Garbutt. They combined for nine shots on goal Saturday. "When the Olympic break ended, we had a fresh start," Fiddler said. "We know weve got to get scoring throughout the lineup." The Stars had chances while on a power play for the periods final 22 seconds, but couldnt score again. "It was good we had the intermission to kind of talk about things," Bishop said. "I think Samis goal (at 7:12 of the third) was big. I think that was what sealed the game and kind of gave us a little more oomph there to finish the third period and kill off a couple penalties." In the third, Fiddlers line continued to pressure Bishop. He stopped good scoring chances by Fiddler and Garbutt early in the third. "We needed to fight back, and we did," Ruff said. "When it was 3-2, we had two or three unbelievable opportunities to tie it up. If Fiddler takes another look and just gets it up, its in the net." Salo extended Tampa Bays lead to 4-2. He took a pass off a faceoff in the neutral zone, skated in to the high slot and sent a slap shot into the top of the net. "I think we kind of burst their bubble when we got that fourth one," Cooper said. NOTES: Before Thursday, St. Louis hadnt scored since a four-goal game Jan. 18. He has scored 29 times, with multiple goals in seven games. He has a five-game point streak (four goals, three assists, seven points). ... Palat has at least a point in four consecutive games. ... Dallas had outscored its previous 10 opponents 31-13. ... The Lightning have a 5-0-2 record in the past seven games against the Stars. The teams hadnt met in more than 2 years, since Tampa Bays 2-1 victory Jan. 20, 2012, in Dallas. ... A puck sent into the Stars bench hit Ruff in the head, cutting him between his eyebrows. "Ive been hit harder. I have a small cut and a little headache," he said ... The Stars are 1-5-3 this season in games when theyve had 40 or more shots on goal. . Dallas defenceman Brenden Dillon was inactive because of a lower-body injury. Isaiah Johnson Jersey .The other side of the Bruins special teams unit delivered in the end.Gregory Campbell netted the game-winner with less than 10 minutes remaining and the Bruins fended off a late four-minute San Jose power play to earn a wild 5-3 win over the Sharks. Adam Vinatieri Jersey . – Team Canadas Brooke Henderson carded a 4-under 67 at Craigowan Golf and Country Club to jump into the lead at the Canadian Womens Amateur Championship on Wednesday. http://www.cheapcoltsjerseysauthentic.co...geathers-jersey. Its the second time this season that Milan has been sanctioned by the league judge, after fans also subjected Napoli supporters to discriminatory chants. The ban will come into effect for Milans next match, against Udinese on Oct. Justin Houston Jersey . Chris Heisey connected for his first grand slam and Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in a career high-tying four runs as Cincinnati took advantage of Tampa Bays depleted pitching staff for a 12-4 victory on Sunday. LeRaven Clark Jersey .com)LeBron clearly likes his Italian sports cars, and thats ok with me, so up next up is the 458 Spider.F1 teams have rejected a proposal to introduce an aggregate system for qualifying and are continuing to push for 2015s format to return. Sky Sports News HQ understands the teams have written to the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to outline their opposition to the proposal of aggregate times in qualifying.With unanimous agreement required to change the regulations mid-season, the failure of teams to back the FIAs idea means the heavily-criticised elimination system will stay in place for next weeks Chinese GP. Teams have argued since the new-for-2016 qualifying rules flopped on their debut at the Australian GP that they wanted the 2015 rules to be reinstated.How aggregate qualifying would workHowever, the FIA and Ecclestone have resisted a complete U-turn and instead proposed other alternatives, with the issue becoming a political battleground. After some teams failed to back a proposal to only change Q3, the FIA floated the aggregate system for China - round three of the 2016 season - after another meeting discuss the way forward took place last Sunday in Bahrain. Although some team bosses initially gave the new idea more favourable response, further analysis in the following days appears to have shown the aggregate system would not prove any better than the little-loved elimination rules.Several drivers have been outspoken in their criticism of the system, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel labelling the idea s***.In a Sky Sports online vote, the proposed aggregate system proved more popular than the current elimination format - fans still overwhelmingly backed a return to last years rules. We expressed our opinion and all teams have had the same opinion that we probably need to go back to 2015, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said in Bahrain.But there are various agendas and the [Sunday] morning proved its not an easy one. So I cant really tell you. Last time I told you [qualifying would be changed] I was totally wrong.A return to the old system has not yet been given to the teams as an option.Speaking after the pre-race meeting in Bahrain attendedd by all 11 teams, the FIA, Ecclestone and tyre supplier Pirelli, Todt said: You need to be patient, by Thursday you will have all the information.dddddddddddd I hope that fans will be happy. Is it time to change the qualifying format after just two races of the new season? Some of F1s leading drivers have their say The idea of aggregating two lap times together has been used in F1 before - albeit to little success in 2005 in a system that lasted just five races.With the latest furore over qualifying dominating the start of the 2016 season, the teams, Ecclestone and the FIA have become increasingly entrenched in their respective positions.Ahead of further key votes on F1s future in the coming months, Sky Sports Craig Slater said: What we have in Formula 1 at the moment is a full-blown civil war. On the one hand, Ecclestone and Todt who want to take the sport in one direction, and the teams who are extremely reluctant with the way they are ruling things at the moment. Chinese GP on Sky TV times and full schedule for Shanghai Also See: How would aggregate qualifying work? Ecclestone: Ferrari are F1