relievers some work on the final game of the season. Oliver, Wag

St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Under siege for much of the last two periods, Corey Crawford made 42 saves to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota outshot Chicago 37-10 after the first period, but Crawford was up to the task by stopping 35 of them to help the Blackhawks win for the second time in three games. Chicago got a pair of goals from Bryan Bickell in the third period to pull away. Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane also scored for the Blackhawks. Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville scored the Minnesota goals, with Niklas Backstrom making 16 saves on 16 shots. Minnesota was without forward Zach Parise due to the death of his father, J.P., on Wednesday. The elder Parise was a long-time NHL player himself and played nine seasons for the Minnesota North Stars. The Wild got off to a slow start in the first period and the Blackhawks took advantage. Already up 1-0 on a Sharp goal, Chicago got a great opportunity on the power play. Thomas Vanek was charged with a boarding major when he finished his shoulder- to-shoulder hit and drove Marcus Kruger into the boards right in front of Chicagos bench. On the power play, Jonathan Toews passed to Brad Richards sneaking into the slot from the blue line. With the defense converging in the crease, Richards found Kane open at the side of the net and he lifted the puck past a sprawling Backstrom for his 20th goal of the season. Early in the second period, Zucker was left open for a shot in the slot. It was blocked by Marian Hossa, but six seconds later, Zucker took another pass from Pominville in the same spot and found the back of the net on his second try to make it a 2-1 game. Chicago used its timeout in the second period to try and slow down Minnesotas momentum, but the Wild would continue to buzz. The Blackhawks restored their two-goal lead 6 1/2 minutes into the final period. Kane dropped a pass back to Bickell in transition and he fired it over Backstroms shoulder. Minnesota would get within a goal again. Seconds into a 5-on-3, Pominville used a defender for a screen and ripped the puck past Crawford to make it a one-goal game and keep the Wild on the power play. Chicago would kill the remainder of the penalty and tally an empty-net goal. Richards cleared the puck out of the defensive zone and Bickell tracked it down before putting it into the vacated net to seal the win. Game Notes Kane has five points in two games against Minnesota this season ... Kane has scored 20-or-more goals in all eight of his NHL seasons ... The Wild were without goalie Darcy Kuemper and defenseman Marco Scandella with injuries ... The Blackhawks are now 14-0-0 when leading after two periods. NFL Jerseys China .com) - Colorado forward P. Wholesale China Jerseys . The 55th-ranked Istomin saved 11 of 14 break points to win in just over two hours, setting up a second round meeting with Australian Marinko Matosevic. It was the Uzbeks third win in three matches against fifth-seeded Kohlschreiber, the 2007 and 2012 tournament winner. http://www.chinajerseyscheapnfl.com/ . That further limits the options of Australia coach Ewen McKenzie, who on Monday suspended six players who were involved in a night out in Dublin ahead of the Saturdays 32-15 win over the Irish. The Wallabies play Scotland on Saturday before facing Wales on Nov. Cheap Jerseys USA . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. Cheap Jerseys Online . Amid a rain of confetti, Shabazz Napier basked in the celebration on the court after being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four following the 60-54 win over Kentucky. TORONTO -- In a year full of disappointment, the Toronto Blue Jays were left to focus on small victories as they closed out a regular season with games that became rather meaningless several weeks ago. They were resigned to the role of spoiler and nearly put a significant dent in Tampa Bays post-season hopes on Sunday, with a furious comeback attempt coming just short as the Rays held on for a 7-6 victory. Tampa Bay locked up a tiebreaker game appearance with the win. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, were packing their lockers after a last-place finish in the American League East. The Rays jumped out to an early six-run lead but the Blue Jays would not give in. Toronto manager John Gibbons was impressed that his team refused to quit. "The guys hung in there and we made a run late, they had a shot," he said. "So Im pretty proud of them for that." At the start of the day, Tampa Bay (91-71) and the Texas Rangers were one game behind the Cleveland Indians in the race for the two wild-card spots. Cleveland defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-1 to win the first wild card and Texas beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-2. The Rays will play the Rangers in a tiebreaker game Monday afternoon. Toronto (74-88) finished last in the A.L. East division and fell to 40-41 on the year at Rogers Centre. It was the first season since 2004 that Toronto had a sub-.500 record at home. Expectations were high for the Blue Jays in 2013 after an off-season makeover. Injuries and underperformance prevented them from making strides and they barely improved on last seasons 73-89 record. "It was difficult, the last two years actually," said Toronto reliever Darren Oliver, who plans to retire. "But thats why you play this game on the field, not on paper. Hopefully these guys can get it right one of these days because I think the fans are really hungry for a winning team. I mean I know if I was a fan, I would be." The Blue Jays have not been to the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1993. "I always look at it any time youre packing your stuff up and not playing in a post-season, its a wasted year. For me personally, obviously not for the organization," said designated hitter Mark DeRosa. "A lot of good things happened for some young guys. "But overall the ultimate goal was to win the A.L. East and find a way into the playoffs and we didnt accomplish it so I would say its a disappointment." Blue Jays starter Todd Redmond (4-3) struck out David DeJesus to open the game before running into trouble. The Rays put six runs on the board in the inning. Redmond recorded just two outs in the shortest start of his career. Tampa Bay starter Matt Moore (17-4) struggled with his command in the first inning. He walked three batters but escaped unscathed by striking out DeRosa with two runners on base. The Blue Jays chhipped away at the lead in the sixth inning.dddddddddddd DeRosa energized the crowd of 44,551 with a two-run double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by J.P. Arencibia. Moore was pulled with one out in the frame. He allowed three earned runs, six hits, three walks and had four strikeouts. Oliver received a standing ovation when he came out in the seventh inning. The 42-year-old left-hander retired the Rays in order. In the bottom half of the frame, Jose Reyes scored on a one-out double by Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. Gose was held at third base and Joel Peralta relieved Jake McGee. Peralta walked Moises Sierra to load the bases, drawing a visit by Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. Home-plate umpire Paul Schrieber came to the mound and Maddon started to argue with him and was ejected. Pinch-hitter Adam Lind then grounded into an inning-ending double play. Maddon wouldnt reveal whether he was upset about ball and strike calls, only saying "I had enough." He did say he gave a message to his infielders. "I said, Listen. Thats it. Im out of this game, I know you guys are going to be fine. Im going to catch the rest of this game with a glass of wine in my hand and were going to win it." Tampa Bay very nearly lost it. The Blue Jays made it a one-run game in the eighth inning. Reyes drove in Ryan Langerhans with a single off Fernando Rodney and Gose followed with an RBI single of his own that scored Kevin Pillar. Lawrie drew a two-out walk to load the bases but Moises Sierra followed with a strikeout. The Blue Jays put a runner on in the ninth but Rodney got Ryan Goins on a lineout to end the game. It was Rodneys 37th save of the year. Gibbons gave several relievers some work on the final game of the season. Oliver, Wagner, Luis Perez, Chad Jenkins, Jeremy Jeffress, Steve Delabar and Sergio Santos all made appearances. Now the focus will shift to general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who will likely have another busy off-season ahead. The players remained optimistic that they can bounce back in 2014. "We had a lot of people that thought we were going to win the World Series," Lawrie said. "But it takes a little bit of time to build chemistry. We had a little bit of trouble keeping some guys healthy, myself included. Reyes went down, the pitching staff went down a little bit. So you know, youve got to have your guys to make that push." Notes: The Toronto players came out of the dugout in the third inning to wave their hats in appreciation for the fans support this season. ... A video of Olivers career highlights was played on the stadium big screen in the fourth inning. Oliver came out of the bullpen and stood on the warning track to watch. ... The Blue Jays season attendance total rose to 2,536,562, an increase of 436,899 from 2012. ... The game took three hours 21 minutes to play. ' ' '