Bilder » rest of the way, fading down the stretch.

The Calgary Flames will try to keep their place among the top teams in the Western Conference tonight when they host the always-tough Chicago Blackhawks. The Flames (12-6-2) are coming off Tuesdays 4-3 shootout win over Anaheim to pull within one point of the Ducks for the Wests best record. Calgary rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period en route to a third straight win and seventh in nine games. The Flames have already won four times when trailing after two periods, matching their total from last season. Weve done a good job this year so far of sticking to our game and when we havent had the first and second period that wed like weve found a way to find our legs in the third, said Dennis Wideman, who scored twice. Its a big win for us because it gives the young guys the confidence to know they can go up against the best and we can win games. Wideman, who is tied for the NHL lead for goals by a defenceman at seven, recorded his first of the season against Chicago last month. The Flames will be without David Jones (upper body) and Kris Russell (lower body) against Chicago. Both are listed by the club as day-to-day. Andrew Shaw will not be in the lineup for Chicago with an upper-body injury. The Blackhawks (10-7-1) are searching for consistency in several areas as they open a six-game road trip while the circus moves into the United Center. But they look just fine in goal with Corey Crawford and his steady, even-keeled approach. I think his focus has been excellent every day on the ice, practice days as well, Quenneville said after practice on Wednesday. He really seems like hes concentrating on the next shot, the next situation. His preparations been excellent. The next challenge for Crawford is helping make up for the loss of rookie defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who broke his left kneecap when he took a puck off his leg during Sundays 6-2 victory over Dallas. The 23-year-old van Riemsdyk will have surgery on Thursday and is expected to be sidelined for three to four months. Van Riemsdyk had been a pleasant surprise for Chicago, playing mostly with David Rundblad or Michal Rozsival on the third defensive pairing. Adam Clendening was promoted from the minors on Tuesday and likely will make his NHL debut on the upcoming road trip. Quenneville could slot Clendening into van Riemdsyks spot, or he might tinker with his top four defensemen to spread out his most reliable players. The Blackhawks also are playing without forward Patrick Sharp, who had a team-high 34 goals last season and is out with a lower-body injury. The team said Sharp would miss three to four weeks after he was hurt Nov. 4, and Quenneville has stuck with that timeline when asked about the winger. Crawford, 29, missed six games earlier this season with an upper-body injury, but he has started every game since his return. He likely will shoulder much of the load on the road trip, which begins with a Canadian swing and closes with stops in Colorado, Anaheim and Los Angeles. The challenging stretch comes at an important time for the Blackhawks, who have won three of four after a slump of six losses in nine games. Nashville and St. Louis are off to a strong start in the Central, and Chicago also needs to make up ground in the Western Conference. The circus trip has been kind to the Blackhawks in the past. They went 6-1 on the trip last season to improve to 22-11-4 on the circus run since captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane entered the league in the 2007-08 season. Theres a lot of experience and guys that have been through these situations. A lot of us have been on these long road trips, said Kane, who turned 26 on Wednesday. We enjoy them. We have fun with them. Its fun to spend time with the guys. Like I said before, it makes all that better when you win games. Chicago hasnt enjoyed much success in Calgary, though, going 2-4-1 there since the start of the 2010-11 season. Its been an especially tough place for Toews, who hasnt scored in 15 games in Calgary - including the playoffs. The Blackhawks had a season-high 50 shots on goal at home against the Flames on Oct. 15, but only Shaw scored in a 2-1 overtime loss. Mikael Backlund beat Crawford for the winner on Calgarys 18th shot. Flames Projected Lines Forwards Glencross-Monahan-Bouma Gaudraeu-Granlund-Hudler Baertschi-Byron- Jooris Bollig-Ferland-Setoguchi Defence Giordano-Brodie Smid-Wideman Diaz-Engelland Goalies Hiller - starting Blackhawks Projected Lines Forwards Saad-Toews-Hossa Versteeg-Richards-Kane Bickel-Smith-Morin Carcillo-Kruger-Nordstrom Defence Keith-Seabrook Hjarlmarsson-Oduya Clendening-Rosival Goalies Crawford - starting Discount Asics Canada . Its the second of three meetings between these teams this season. Vancouver was a 2-1 winner on home ice December 22nd. Asics Shoes Canada Sale . Two weeks after suffering a concussion, Foles will start in place of Michael Vick, who is out for the second time this season with a hamstring injury. http://www.discountasicscanada.com/ . Here is a look at all the moves through the first week of NHL Free Agency. The most significant deals will get the full Numbers Game column treatment, like these:Briere-for-Parenteau trade. Asics Canada Sale . They actually finished with a better record in ‘07 than they did in ‘06 but only marginally, going from 61 victories to 66. Asics Clearance Canada . Rajon Rondo had 18 of Bostons season-high 38 assists and the Celtics committed just seven turnovers in a 118-111 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night.DAYTON, Ohio -- Given a second chance, T.J. Warren put on a show in the NCAA tournament. The hard-to-guard sophomore forward scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half on Tuesday night, showing why he was the ACCs player of the year, and North Carolina State led most of the way in a 74-59 victory over Xavier in the NCAA tournaments First Four. N.C. State (22-12) didnt have much time to celebrate. The 12th-seeded Wolfpack headed to Orlando, Fla., for a game on Thursday against St. Louis in the Midwest Regional. Warren had the most to do with it. He made up for a freshman tournament flop on the same floor a year earlier and prevented Xavier (21-14) from getting any traction in the second half. "Hes just a great player," coach Mark Gottfried said. "Its hard to keep him down for a whole 40 minutes." Centre Matt Stainbrook led Xavier with 19 points and nine rebounds despite an injured left knee. Leading scorer Semaj Christon was limited to 14 points, and Xavier made only 2 of 14 shots from beyond the arc. Xavier was playing in a familiar arena less than an hour from campus. Familiar, but not entirely friendly. Fans of the Dayton Flyers -- a long-time rival -- booed loudly as they took the court, making for a mixed welcome with a lot of Musketeer fans in the stands as well. Warren made it all a moot point, helping N.C. State take all the drama out of the game over the final 11 minutes. Ralston Turner added 17 points. The Wolfpack went six years between NCAA appearances before Gottfried got them there three years in a row. This was his youngest and least-experienced team: Only two players with tournament experience. They got one of the final at-large bids with a strong closing run, winning ffive of their last six games, including an upset of Syracuse in the ACC tournament.dddddddddddd. Warren was the key. And he really wanted a second chance at the NCAA tournament. As a freshman last year, he managed only four points as N.C. State lost to Temple 76-72 at the University of Dayton Arena in its opening game. Hes grown a lot in one year, leading the ACC with 24.8 points per game this season and hitting the 40-point mark twice. He got off to a bad start on Tuesday, missing his first two shots and picking up two fouls in the first 4 minutes, 14 seconds. Warren checked back into the game and hit a jumper for his first points at the 11:29 mark. Christon, who was Warrens roommate at Brewster Academy for one year, kept the Musketeers in it during the first half. He scored off two drives to the basket, starting an 8-1 run. Stainbrooks reverse layup trimmed it to 27-26 with 2:22 left. Jordan Vandenbergs three-point play gave N.C. State a 34-28 advantage at halftime. Dee Davis hit Xaviers first 3-pointer, and Christon scored on a fast-break lay-in that cut it to 39-37. Thats when Warren took over. He had a pair of pull-up jumpers, followed by a steal and a lay-up as N.C. State rebuilt the lead to 51-42. He had another pull-up jumper and a fast-break dunk that made it 57-47 with 7:56 to go. Xavier never got closer than seven points the rest of the way, fading down the stretch. The biggest question for Xavier was how Stainbrooks left knee would hold up. The Big Easts second-leading rebounder sprained a ligament, sat out the final regular season game and was extremely limited in two Big East conference games. He was back in form, but Xavier didnt have enough other scoring options to keep up. ' ' 'diums up and ready to go on time is important for a new era of stability in the league. An thought we say this at the end of every Grey Cup (and its the truth), this years event was a complete success on many fronts. Sure, you would want a more competitive game. But in terms of a city hosting a sporting event, this one past holds its own high degree of success. Many thanks to the planners, investors, workers and especially the volunteers. You hit a home run in making all feel welcome - except the Hamilton Tiger Cats (But watch out, they may be back next year)! And as many Rider fans will surely respond, "So will we!" ' ' '