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The Toronto Raptors will try to take another step back toward the postseason on Wednesday night when they open their season against the Boston Celtics at the Air Canada Centre. You can watch the game live on TSN2 at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Raptors finished the 2012-13 season with a 34-48 record, but have plenty of optimism going forward after finishing 18-18 once the team acquired forward Rudy Gay. Gay and fifth-year pro Demar DeRozan led the Raptors to a 6-1 preseason record, which included two victories over the Celtics. The spotlight for the Raptors will be on sophomore player Jonas Valanciunas, who is expected to have a breakout season after several strong performances in the NBAs Summer League. Despite the promise of several young players on the Raptors roster, head coach Dwane Casey knows his game plan will be about more than winning games on talent alone. "We have to be a team that competes, that scraps, that fights," Casey said. "Were not going to out-talent anyone, were not going to just go out and jack up threes over anyone. Weve got to outscrap and outfight anybody we go against. Thats what Ive got written down on a piece of paper in my mind." This game will be the first step for the Raptors in their quest towards making the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and ending the longest playoff drought of the teams 19-year history. MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke said "theyre out to prove something this year" when asked about Canadas lone NBA entry. General Manager Masai Ujiri backed Leiwekes statement, describing the teams identity as being all about "toughness." While the Raptors hope to fight towards the playoffs this season, the Celtics seem to be headed in an opposite direction. The Celtics traded stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason, in addition to dealing their head coach, Doc Rivers, to the Los Angeles Clippers. The former powerhouse Celtics are now in the midst of a major roster overhaul and are expected to struggle mightily. The lone all-star who remains with the Celtics, Rajon Rondo, will not play as he continues to rehab a torn ACL. This game will be the first look at the rebuilding Celtics and should feature plenty of playing time for Canadian Kelly Olynyk. Olynyk was taken 13th overall by the Celtics in this years draft and finished third on the team with 72 points in eight preseason games. Wednesday night will mark the opening of the Raptors 19th season in the NBA. Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . The Padres made the moves before Fridays game at Washington. They promoted infielder Jace Peterson from Double-A San Antonio and right-hander Kevin Quackenbush from Triple-A El Paso. Joe Sakic Jersey . Thats when the eight-time champion revealed that a painful back is slowing his serves -- and, all in all, giving him more trouble than his opponents so far. http://www.hockeyavalanche.com/authentic-rob-ramage-avalanche-jersey/ . This weeks Raptors Report puts a bow on Gays brief, 10-month tenure in Toronto and ponders how his absence will affect the teams offence. Are they a better team without him? In addition to acquiring some valuable cap flexibility, what impact will the four incoming players have this season and beyond? Click here for the Dec. Adam Foote Jersey .com) - Demario Richard posted four touchdowns and Kweishi Brown came up with a key late interception as No. Rene Robert Jersey . Forward Iker Muniain scored the winner in the 70th minute after Bilbaos incessant pressure recovered the ball and sparked a counterattack inside Barcelonas half. Neymar was once again tagged to pick up Messis goal-scoring duties, but when he wasnt frustrated by slippery footing Bilbaos defence got the better of him. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Chicago Blackhawks were chasing for much of the game, and the Minnesota Wild just kept generating chance after chance to score. Once overtime arrived, though, all Patrick Kane needed was one friendly bounce to finish off another opponent. Kane scored on a backhand at 9:42 of the extra period to lift the Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the Wild in Game 6 to clinch their second-round Western Conference series on Tuesday night, the fourth playoff overtime winner of his career. "Hes a special player, and guys have that instinct, have that knack of finding pucks, wanting to be out there, wanting to score," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. Kris Versteeg scored 1:58 into the game and Corey Crawford came up with tough save after tough save among his 34 stops for the Blackhawks, who advanced to the Western Conference finals to meet either Anaheim or Los Angeles. The Ducks lead the other semifinal series 3-2, with the Kings hosting Game 6 on Wednesday night. Since 2009, the first post-season appearance for Kane and co-star Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks are 14-0 in Games 5 and 6 of playoff series that were tied after Game 4. Theyre also 12-2 in games with a chance to win a series, including 6-1 on the road. "We probably didnt play our best tonight, but just finding a way to win is something this team has done for many years now," Kane said. Erik Haula scored his fourth goal of the playoffs and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots for the Wild. Minnesota pushed a frenetic pace for much of the night but paid for all those missed prime opportunities when a simple dump-in behind the net by Brent Seabrook took a strange bounce off the glass back toward the slot. The puck slid past Peter Regin as he was tied up with a defenceman. Kane snagged it, deked once and flipped it into top of the net. He said he wasnt sure right away if the puck was in. But he soon found out. "It seems like it was not our luck tonight," said Bryzgalov, who nearly matched Crawford save for save. "We hit some posts in the third period and they got like the first goal after some crazy two bounces." The Wild kept up the pressure on Crawford that they created in the middle of the game, but whether it was the goalies pads, blocker or a crossbar in the way, the pucks didnt go in.dddddddddddd. "We really believe that we were capable of doing more than just winning this game," a dejected Wild coach Mike Yeo said, adding: "Our guys did everything that we asked and they laid it on the line, and thats what hurts." The Blackhawks scored first in six of their previous 11 games in these playoffs and won each time, their only victory without taking the first lead coming in Game 5 against the Wild. Versteeg put them right back in control just 1:58 in on his 28th birthday, when he outmuscled Keith Ballard for possession in the corner and flipped an bad-angle shot that bounced awkwardly among the bodies around the crease, hit the back of Clayton Stoners leg and skidded past Bryzgalov. The Wild got their break -- or, rather, breakaway -- soon after the first intermission when Haula sped to snag a pass by Matt Cooke that banked perfectly off the boards and he snapped the puck on the rush past Crawfords glove. Each side brought an aggressive game plan, with defencemen pinching down often and all kinds of rushes developing both ways, particularly in that breathless penalty-free second period that had the home team buzzing so much that Quenneville used his timeout. Crawford made two saves apiece on a pair of breakaways by Justin Fontaine. Cody McCormick tried a spin move to fend off Duncan Keith and nearly got the puck past Crawford, who used his left pad to stop it. "On the road this was probably one of my bigger games of the playoffs so far," Crawford said. "This team seems to enjoy that position where we have a chance to eliminate and move on to the next series. We had a chance to do that and we stuck with it all game." NOTES: Kane moved into the NHL lead with 35 post-season goals since 2009. ... The Wild had goalie Darcy Kuemper dressed for action for the first time since he was removed in the third period of Game 6 of the first round series against Colorado because of what the team labeled an upper body injury. ... The Blackhawks fended off two more power plays in the third period and dropped the Wild to 2 for 20 in the series. ' ' '