PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers picked up their defence and their drive to snap their losing streak. Playing the lowly Buffalo Sabres helped, too. Brayden Schenn scored two goals, and the Flyers broke a four-game skid with a 5-2 win over Buffalo on Sunday night. Philadelphia, 0-2-2 in its previous four games, maintained third place in the Metropolitan Division -- two points ahead of Columbus -- by winning for the second time in eight games (2-4-2). With four games remaining, the Flyers trail the second-place New York Rangers by two points, but have a game in hand. "Our intensity was up and guys were skating and working right away in the game," Philadelphia coach Craig Berube said. "It was important for the confidence level just to get guys spirits back up." The Flyers hadnt played poorly during the losing streak, which included two defeats to Boston and one to St. Louis. The Bruins and Blues lead their respective conferences. Schenn, Vincent Lecavalier and Zac Rinaldo scored second-period goals to put Philadelphia ahead 4-0. Matt Read also scored and Mark Streit had three assists. "I thought we played a solid team game, defence-first mentality," Schenn said. "Two points is key. We just have to worry about ourselves and worry about the two points each night." Cory Hodgson and Mike Weber scored third-period goals for Buffalo, which lost its sixth straight road game and fell to 2-13-1 in its last 16 overall. The Sabres, assured of finishing with the fewest points in the NHL, have scored eight goals during their road skid. Buffalo, already missing 10 players due to injuries, might have lost another as Chad Ruhwedel sustained a concussion on a third-period hit by Rinaldo, who was given a match penalty for the blow to Ruhwedels head. "Theres no big brother for them," Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said of his inexperienced players. "They have to sink or swim, and certain games like this, its going to catch up to us." Rinaldo, who entered with a team-high 137 penalty minutes, racked up 16 on Sunday and could face an NHL suspension. "I had a lot of speed going at him. I put my shoulder down, and as he shot the puck my shoulder hit him clearly," Rinaldo said. "Proof is in the pudding right there. I shouldnt have done it. Theres no need for it. Were up 4-0, but its part of the game. "That always happens with me. I get on a good streak and then something bad always happens. I try not to think about it too much." Read got Philadelphia on the board 6 1/2 minutes into the game by scoring on a rebound. After Buffalos Cory Conacher turned the puck over, Streit fired a slap shot that caromed off the post to the slot, where a wide-open Read unleashed a wrister past rookie goalie Nathan Lieuwen. "As soon as (Read) got that goal, it gave us a boost and we started scoring goals," Schenn said. The Flyers turned the game into a rout with three second-period goals. Rinaldo, known more for pesky play than scoring, netted his second goal of the season when his wrist shot went off Lieuwens glove and trickled over the line to make it 2-0 with 12:20 left. Schenn deflected in Streits slap shot on the power play with 5:40 remaining, snapping the Flyers 0-for-12 skid on the man-advantage and stretching the lead to three goals. Lecavalier then put a shot above Lieuwens right shoulder just over 1 1/2 minutes later from the top of the right circle. Mason earned an assist on the goal for his first point of the season and seventh of his eight-year career. Schenn scored his second goal with 4:50 left in the game when he fired a wrist shot past Lieuwens glove. Lieuwen, making his fifth career start, had 32 saves. "When you have an experienced team in front of an inexperienced goaltender, theres positions where you cover up for the mistakes," Nolan said. "They dont have to get shots from all over. Its one of those situations where it is what it is, and theyre getting a lot of work." NOTES: The Sabres were without wingers Drew Stafford (33 points) and Chris Stewart (26), who entered ranked third and fifth in team scoring. Also out were Buffalos top two goalies, Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth. ... Philadelphia swept the season series 3-0 and won its fifth straight at home against Buffalo and eighth in 10 games overall. ... Flyers RW Steve Downie (lower body) missed his eighth straight game. ... Philadelphia will next play at lowly Florida on Tuesday and then face Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, which have both clinched post-season berths, on the road before Sundays home finale against Carolina. ... Webers goal was his first in 64 games this season. ISPA Air Max 270 SP SOE . Simon (10-3) allowed three runs on five hits and three walks in 6 1-3 innings to break a tie with the Dodgers Zack Greinke and Cardinals Adam Wainwright for the NL lead in victories. Simon went to spring training as a relief pitcher and moved into the starting rotation when Mat Latos was recovering from elbow and knee surgeries. Air Max 270 University Red . No surprise there. Kershaw, who also earned the title after throwing his first career no-hitter in June, had a 1. http://www.cheapairmax270react.com/air-m...tml.S.-Portugal game on June 22 in the Amazonian jungle city of Manaus. FIFPro, the international soccer players union, had pressed FIFA to avoid the earliest kickoffs in the hottest and most humid weather. Air Max 270 Summit White . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Air Max 270 N7 .com) - The Columbus Blue Jackets rewarded starting goaltender and pending restricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky with a four-year contract extension on Friday.CHARLOTTE - Jonas Valanciunas took a quick glance at the stat sheet, no longer banned post-game, crumpled it up into a ball and hurled it across the locker room. At the bottom of the page the final score read "100-95" - Torontos third loss in four games - but it was how they got there that had the Raptors young centre shaking his head as he destroyed the evidence. In the less literal sense he wasnt alone. The Raptors locker room was filled with distraught players drowning their sorrows in a sea of chicken fingers and mac and cheese at the post-game buffet, eager to forget about their most recent setback. "We cant really panic, but weve got to hold each other accountable," said Greivis Vasquez, moments after his team failed to close out what would have been a historic comeback in eventual defeat to a familiar, albeit perplexing foe, the Charlotte Bobcats. "Its easy when we win and you smile and youre cool, youre hanging around, but when you face adversity or obstacles, thats when you really show your character, so now weve really got to show what [were] made of." For Vasquez - who helped engineer Torontos late-game run - his teammates and his coach, there were no moral victories to be celebrated after cutting a 30-point third quarter deficit to one with 26 seconds remaining. No moral victories, not anymore, not if they fancy themselves a playoff contender. Instead the question was, how could they fall behind by 30 to the Bobcats - who had lost 10 of 13 and were playing without Kemba Walker - in the first place? "Effort," Kyle Lowry said, and repeated six times in a three-minute scrum. For the final 16 minutes they played with plenty of it, outscoring the nemesis Bobcats 54-29 to close out the game. For the first 32 it was nowhere to be found. "Thats it, effort," the Raptors point guard continued. "That simple. Effort." Its not that simple, not for the teams fans or coaching staff that were left to wonder where that effort went for two and a half quarters in a game the Raptors sorely needed. "Its a long season but you tell a lot about who you are in these situations," Dwane Casey said. "Today was a gut-check game and the fourth quarter we turned it around but its about what we did in the first three quarters thats disappointing." Coming off a loss to the corpse of the Los Angeles Lakers 24 hours earlier, and an equally disheartening defeat in Boston last week, the Raptors scored a season-low 11 points in the first quarter. For the second straight day they attempted nearly three times as many three-pointers as free throws and allowed the leagues 28th ranked offensive team to score 100 points on 49 per cent shooting. The loss was their seventh straight in Charlotte to a Bobcats team that has been varying degrees of terrible throughout that span of Raptors fuutility.dddddddddddd "Weve got to take these two losses to heart," said Vasquez who had 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, his best line as Raptor. "Were professionals, we know what were playing for, so, [theres] no excuses on this team. Some guys just got to step up and understand what were playing for." "I think were fine," he continued. "Weve just got to wake up and understand that one loss cant really take us down, but one win can really build some good momentum." Veteran bruiser Chuck Hayes put it best. "Its an emotional roller coaster in this league." A week ago they were riding high, winners of three straight and eight of 10, since then theyve crashed back down to earth. Where do they truly stand in the grand scheme of things? Likely somewhere in the middle. Success in the league is fickle, as Casey knows and Hayes has learned in his years of service. "After the momentum we had in December you would kind of hope it would shift over into the New Year but the New Year aint been so good to us so far," said Hayes, who recorded his first double-double - 12 points and 13 rebounds - since Apr. 11, 2011. "But theres a lot of basketball left." Hayes, along with fellow reserves Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, played the bulk of the fourth quarter in place of frontcourt tandem Valanciunas and Amir Johnson, who each played less than 19 minutes, and Terrence Ross, who logged 21. For the fourth straight game Valanciunas failed to eclipse 23 minutes or score in double figures, shooting 6-for-21 over that stretch. On Monday he was overwhelmed in a daunting matchup with crafty, low-post shaman Al Jefferson. The Raptors sophomore bit on Jeffersons pump fakes, got beat on the boards and most alarmingly let his frustration get the better of him. Jefferson, who had a double-double after the first quarter, finished with 22 points and 19 boards. Fellow sophomore Ross has also seen his performance slip over the teams recent slide, recording just one point on Monday, shooting 0-for-6. Meanwhile, Johnson connected on just one of his four attempts and has exceeded 10 rebounds in one of his last 15 contests. "Weve got to find a start that fits us," said Casey, who wouldnt rule out an eventual lineup change but insisted its too early to make that call. "You cant spot any team in this league 25-30 points and expect to be successful." The Raptors will be given a much-needed day of reflection before hosting the Mavericks on Wednesday. It will be the first time theyve faced a winning team in seven games. After squandering three golden opportunities in six days, it could be the wakeup call they need. "Weve got another game," said Hayes. "This is not it, [its] just a little adversity and weve got to find a way to respond." ' ' '
