Shoutbox » r, and hes been one of the better hitters

CALGARY -- With friends and family in the stands, Brayden Schenn had a night to remember. Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. "Its obviously a good building to play in," said Schenn, who hails from nearby Saskatoon. "I had friends and family here. Its obviously nice to have a big night here." Among his cheering section at the Saddledome were his parents Rita and Jeff and sisters Madison and Macy. "My immediate family drove down," explained Schenn, whose older brother Luke also had an assist during the win for the Flyers. "Its nice to have a good game in front of them." The 22-year-old forward also scored one night earlier during Philadelphias 4-3 shootout win in Vancouver over the Canucks to snap a 16-game goalless drought. "I guess that happens to most guys," said Schenn, who played in the Western Hockey League for both the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades. "They go through slumps and they get a little shot of confidence. Tonight, as a line, as a team, as a whole we worked hard. At times there we were obviously playing in our own end a bit, but thats two games in two nights. It was good to come out on top." Philadelphia coach Craig Berube was definitely pleased to see Schenn contribute with goals in back-to-back games. "It helps," Berube said. "Guys that score goals, they lose their confidence when they dont score. You get a goal, it gets you going a little bit. He looked really good tonight." Mark Streit, Scott Hartnell and Braydon Coburn also scored for the Flyers (20-16-4), who have won four straight games and six of their past seven. Wayne Simmonds chipped in with two assists, while goalie Ray Emery made 23 saves to improve his record to 4-7. Rookie Sean Monahan scored the lone goal of the game for the Flames (14-20-6), who have now lost three straight after dropping a pair of 2-0 decisions at home to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday and the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. "Putting the puck in the net gives you confidence and its big for me to put the puck in the net, and that helps the team, but at the end of the day I want to win games," Monahan said. Calgary forward Lee Stempniak, who hasnt recorded a point in 11 straight games, said the Flames have to start believing in themselves again in order to snap their losing streak. "You certainly feel a little bit better if youve been scoring, but, to me, thats a little bit of a cop-out," he said. "Youve got to take ownership of it and be ready for the next opportunity that comes." Starting his fourth straight game for the Flames, Reto Berra made 17 saves in a losing cause. The game marked the debut of forward Kevin Westgarth, who was acquired by the Flames from the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday in exchange for centre Greg Nemisz. Westgarth played on a line with Joe Colborne and Brian McGratton. "Ive been a healthy scratch for a little bit here and coming and jumping in the game right away is awesome," Westgarth said. "What I want to do is play hockey." Streit put the Flyers up 1-0 at 3:15 of the opening frame when his let go a wrist shot from the point that found its way into the top corner over the outstretched glove of Berra, who was screened by Simmonds and Hartnell on the play. The Flyers continued to pour on the pressure as Streit rang a shot off the post before Brayden Schenn appeared to score to put Philadelphia up 2-0, but the goal was waved off because Hartnell made contact with Berra after taking the initial shot on goal. Monahan tied the game at 1-1 with his first goal in seven games at 14:30 of the second. Monahan skated down the left wing into the Philadelphia zone on a two-on-one with Stempniak. Instead of passing, Monahan fired a shot to the far side into the net over Emerys left pad to end Calgarys goalless drought at 159 minutes 35 seconds. Jakub Voracek then had a chance to regain the lead for the Flyers, but he fell down in the slot and Berra poke checked the puck out of harms way. With 1:29 left in the second, Schenn put Philadelphia back up by one when he spun and fired a shot from the slot past Berra. Hartnell added an insurance marker for the Flyers at 10:14 of the third when he tipped Luke Schenns point shot past Berra. Coburn rounded out the scoring with a late empty-net goal while the Flyers were killing a penalty. Notes: Calgary now has an all-time record of 12-8-3 on games played on New Years Eve. a Heading into Tuesdays game, the Flames had won the last six times they have played on New Years Eve, including a 3-2 win at home over the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 31, 2010. a After playing 6:24 in the first period, Philadelphia forward Matt Read left the game with upper-body injury and didnt return. a The Flyers have now won five straight games at the Saddledome against the Flames. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . The underachieving franchise finished 17th in the 19-team league with a 6-17-11 record this season. "Our soccer team is absolutely in complete disarray," said Leiweke, drawing laughs during an Empire Club luncheon speech about the future of MLSE teams and plans to improve them. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys . No such luck. Wiggins owned the end of Parkers impressive homecoming. The Kansas star scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, outplaying Parker down the stretch and helping the fifth-ranked Jayhawks knock off No. http://www.nflcheapjerseyschina.com/ . - For years William Gay kept quiet. Cheap NCAA Jerseys .J. - Henrik Lundqvist has done more than set a couple of franchise records for the New York Rangers this week. NFL Jerseys China . Wiggins, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward who plays his first exhibition game on Wednesday against Pitt State, was the top prospect in the class of 2013.CLEARWATER, Florida – J.A. Happ got the start in the Blue Jays rain-shortened, Grapefruit League opener against the Phillies but it was Todd Redmond who left an early impression on his manager. "Redmonds like anybody else, hes going to get hit every now and then but all weve ever seen out of him is good pitching and he gets guys out," said John Gibbons. "Hes pretty polished." The 29-year-old pitched two clean innings, the second and third, striking out a batter over 22 pitches. He got the win, for what thats worth on February 26, in a 4-3 game called midway through the seventh. Redmond is among more than a half-dozen pitchers in contention for the last starting rotation spot. While not much can be made of one outing, Redmonds performance resonated following a comment Gibbons made before the game. "Usually what happens, when theres a spot open, the guy that takes it, some of those guys have those springs where theyre good all spring and theres no doubt about it ... a lot of times that guy from day one, man, hes standing out and theres no hiccups." All Redmonds ever wanted is an opportunity. Here it is, less than three months before hell turn 29. Think hes overwhelmed? Redmonds been around too long – eight minor league cities over nine seasons – to get rattled by the best chance hes had to crack an opening day roster. "Im an easy-going guy," said Redmond. "Just give me the ball, Ill go out there and pitch. Same thing as I do every day. I pitch." Redmond made 17 appearances for the Blue Jays last season, 14 of them starts. Hed only made one previous appearance in the majors, a start for the Reds in 2012 that didnt go well. Familiarity breeds a sense of comfort. "I have a little more confidence coming into camp. Of my stuff, not of me, just of my stuff. More trusting of my ability," he said. As a starter last season, Redmond slowly earned Gibbons trust, which allowed Redmond to pitch deeper into games. If hes going to succeed at the major league level, however, Redmond will have to vastly improve his numbers facing hitters for a second and third time through the order. Batters have a .627 on-base plus slugging percentage against Redmond the first time through. Redmonds OPS against spikes to .939 when the lineup turns over and .914 the third time around. He insists durability isnt an issue. "My entire career, if you look at my minor league side of it, I dont think Ive ever thrown under 160 innings a year," said Redmond. "The workload. Thats one thing I take pride in is being able to go out there every fifth day and take the ball." Redmonds almost right. In the seven seasons between 2007 and 2012, he logged at least 160 innings five times and never through less than 145 innings. Having worked a modified heavy ball program this offseason, he would typically stretch with the one-pound or two-pound weighted ball prior to throwing, Redmond says his should feels strong as he makes the push for a job in the rotation. "Hes been a good pitcher in the minor leagues," said Gibbons. "Every year hes pretty steady and he never really had that opportunity until he came here last year. If this is his year he makes it and he goes on to have a good year, hell be a big league player and II dont think there will be any looking back.dddddddddddd" DRABEK UNHAPPY WITH PERFORMANCE Kyle Drabek was visibly upset with his first spring performance, a line that looked like this: 1.2IP/1ER/1H/3BB/1K. In his only full inning of work, Drabek threw 11 pitches but only four for strikes. A candidate for that final rotation spot, he was most bothered by the lack of command. "Ive had it so good in all the bullpens," said Drabek. "Its just frustrating for me to kind of fall back into being wild a little bit. I know what I can do and thats not me." "Kyles whole thing, get it into the zone and hes fine," said Gibbons. "Hes had a long layoff through the surgery. He pitched some last year but in a lot of ways, hes been out for so long it may be something that he can build back into." The 26-year-old has a history of control problems. Hes averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings over 169 1/3 big league innings. Returning from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery last season, Drabek vastly improved his walk rate, issuing just six bases on balls over 43 innings. BAUTISTA IMPRESSIVE It took Jose Bautista all of three pitches to appear in midseason form. He smacked a 2-0, Roberto Hernandez fastball out of the park, literally. The drive to left field cleared the Phillies bullpen, the walkway behind the bullpen and the fence beyond the walkway. "I dont know, for whatever reason, I feel like Im seeing (the ball) better," said Bautista. "Theres nothing that I could have done different. Im not going to go to play winter ball right now. Its kind of odd because I havent played since August. But Im not complaining." CABRERA LIKELY TO HIT SECOND Its not even March, everyone is healthy, and manager John Gibbons is able to envision putting together a full lineup, something he wasnt able to do all of last season. Jose Reyes will lead off and, as the plan was at this time last year, Melky Cabrera has the inside track to bat behind him. "The only real downfall is he does hit a lot of ground balls but you look at what hes done the last few years, take away last year, and hes been one of the better hitters in baseball," said Gibbons. "We like guys there that can get a lot of hits. Hes a switch-hitter, he can manipulate the bat a little bit, he knows how to do those things. Ideally, if hes the player we expect him to be, than hed be a good guy for that spot." One thing Cabrera doesnt do often is walk, an ideal trait of a two-hole hitter and something that would get him on base more often ahead of sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. After walking 56 times in 2006, his first full year in the big leagues, Cabrera hasnt had more than 43 bases on balls in a season. A HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE Nobody wants to read about or hear about injury as an excuse for the Jays disappointing 2013 year. But a little perspective never hurt anyone, either. Last season, manager John Gibbons had these six players – Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie – in the lineup at the same time on only eight occasions all year. It happened over an 11-day period, starting on July 21 and ending on August 1. ' ' '