ITPV » for Wheeler and eleven for Kane. Jim Sla

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they give a special NHL playoff edition of Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, where the panel gives their Stanley Cup winner prediction. Bruce Arthur, National Post My thumb is up to the Boston Bruins who I think are going to be the 2014 Stanley Cup champions. Remember last season, there was a thought that Claude Julien would get fired if they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round and jeopardy could extend all the way up to the general managers chair and they did what they did. I think theyre in better shape heading into the playoffs then they were last season, when they had a compressed schedule following the Boston Marathon bombings, they were a tired team in the first round and really, more than anything, they have the easiest road to the Stanley Cup Final of any Stanley Cup contender. I think Bostons ready. Steve Simmons, SUN Media It hurts me to say this just because of the history but Im going thumbs up to the San Jose Sharks, who year in and year out disappoint at this time of year, but I look at this team and all that size up front. The move of Joe Pavelski to left wing has really completed this forward group nicely and I think Marc-Edouard Vlasics play at the Olympics taught him that hes a big-time guy now. He can elevate his game and I think that team, with Todd McLellan coaching, can come out of the west and can beat the Boston Bruins. Theyre too big and theyre too fast. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated My thumb is up to the Chicago Blackhawks because consistency is the hob gobble in little minds and nobody has a littler mind than I do. I picked them at the start of the year, I picked them at the deadline, and Im picking them now because Patrick Kanes going to be back, Jonathan Toews is going to be back, and because the Blackhawks have the best defenceman in the Stanley Cup tournament in Duncan Keith. Dave Hodge, TSN Im going to go through the apparently easy route in the east and say thumbs up to the Presidents Trophy winning Boston Bruins. Sure, they dont win as often as they lose but in this case, this is the best home team in the NHL, lots of playoff experience, theyre obviously good defensively, good goaltending, good special teams and they are reasonably healthy. Then theres that Eastern Conference path to the Stanley Cup Final again, and I think that ends up being the bottom line for my reason to pick Boston. Nike Air Max Günstig Outlet . Hoffman, the former star closer, will evaluate and help co-ordinate all pitchers at Double-A, Triple-A and the big league team. Byrnes says Hoffman "will be a key part of finishing the development of our younger pitchers. Nike Air Max Günstig Kaufen . The German has taken the pole for three straight races -- winning the first two. Hes aiming for a third consecutive win at the Yeongam circuit and, most importantly, a fourth consecutive F1 championship. http://www.airmaxschweiz.ch/ . Bell Medias 12-year partnership with the Ottawa Senators includes five major components: - English-language regional television broadcast rights for TSN – a minimum of 52 regular season and pre-season games - French-language regional television broadcast rights for RDS – a minimum of 40 regular season and pre-season games - English-language broadcast rights for TSN Radio 1200 – all games - French-language radio broadcast rights – all games - Telecommunications and retail sponsorship and activation rights "We recognized early on that our regional broadcast rights coming up for renewal was a very important asset," said Senators owner Eugene Melnyk. Nike Air Max Outlet Schweiz . The 25-year-old native of Milford, Conn., has 18 points in 41 games this season. The five-foot-eight 166-pound centre also has 28 points (10-18) in 15 games with AHL Oklahoma City. Nike Air Max Billig Kaufen . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.New York Rangers 4 Winnipeg Jets 2 (Jets 30-29-9, home 15-14-6) – The loss drops the Jets to six points back of the Dallas Stars, after Dallas picked up a single point in a shootout loss to Calgary. The Stars were up 3-1 in the third. Stars and Jets will meet at the MTS Centre Sunday night (TSN Jets, TSN 1290) in what is a must win for the Jets. The Jets and Stars will meet in Dallas later this month, the Stars have two games in hand. For the Jets its six straight without a win, five straight at home without a win. The Jets lost Ondrej Pavelec with a lower body injury after the first period and lost Chris Thorburn early in the second with a lower body injury after he blocked a shot. The Rangers opened the scoring at 1:15, Carl Hagelin deflecting a shot past Pavelec. The goal came off a face off following a very debatable icing call against the Jets. But the Jets got that one back 1:18 later, Dustin Byfuglien batting home a rebound for his 17th of the year and fourth in the last four games. Blake Wheeler and Toby Enstrom drew assists. 53 seconds later the Jets took the lead with Andrew Ladd beating Henrik Lundqvist with a wrist shot for his second in as many games and 19th of the year. Ladd has now scored five goals in the last seven games. The goal gives him a team leading 65 since the team relocated to Winnipeg. Assists went to Bryan Little and Michael Frolik. Little extending his point streak to four games. Chris Kreider with his 17th would tie the game at 11:28, with the Jets outshooting the Rangers 11-8. Al Montoya came out to start the second and the Jets came out strong, but despite a number of great chances could not get the go ahead goal. As the Rangers finished killing back to back penalties, Martin St. Louis came out of the penalty box and set up Hagelin for his second of the game at 19:52 of the period to give the Rangers the lead.dddddddddddd The Rangers are 21-1-1 when leading after two. Shots in the second were 11-7 Jets. The Jets had to kill a penalty early in the third but then again applied pressure on the Rangers. Lundqvist was terrific in picking up his 301st win, tying Mike Richter for the franchise lead. Hagelins first NHL hat-trick made it a 4-2 game and the Rangers locked it down after that. Shots in the third were 10-8 Jets and 32-23 Jets over the game. Jacob Trouba led the Jets in ice time for the 12th time this season at 23:42, Wheeler had six shots on goal, Evander Kane five, but both saw their goalless streaks go to seven for Wheeler and eleven for Kane. Jim Slater was the best face-off man winning 10 of 15. The penalty kill was four for four, the power play zero for four. "We need more out of our power play," said Captain Ladd post-game. "But the guys in here have not given up." Coach Paul Maurice also felt the struggling power play was a key part of the game. "Its tough. We had a lot of pressure before they scored their second and their third. And then the 3-2 goal clearly changed how we moved the puck and how we moved some things around – an important piece to the game. It was tough." In many parts of the game the Jets have been better in the past six games than in a lot of the games they won after the coaching change. It was a frustrated dressing room post game. "There should be frustration. We had too many good looks, too many blocked shots." Six points out with teams in between puts the Jets in a difficult spot (14 games remain), with sweeping the home and home with Dallas now a must, and clean wins to boot, no overtime. The chase resumes Sunday against the Stars (TSN Jets, TSN 1290) with the season on the line. ' ' '