Bayern Trupp » Shoemaker is symptom-free

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks were coming off an ugly loss, and they had the surging Los Angeles Kings coming to town for a rematch of last seasons Western Conference finals. Enter Jonathan Toews. The Chicago captain set up two of the Blackhawks three first-period goals, leading the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 3-1 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday night. "We got a great start and didnt really let up for the next 40 minutes," Toews said. "It was a much better effort tonight. It doesnt take us long to get back to our good habits." Rookie Antti Raanta made 21 saves to help Chicago bounce back from a 7-3 loss at Toronto on Saturday night. Marian Hossa had a short-handed score that snapped Los Angeles NHL-record streak of 18 games without allowing a first-period goal. "I just tried to keep on doing the right things and tried to find the puck all the time," said Raanta, who was pulled after two periods in the loss to the Maple Leafs. Raanta was working on his first career shutout before Alec Martinez scored at 16:06 of the third. The Kings then had a power-play opportunity when Andrew Shaw was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. But the Blackhawks managed to kill it off. "We didnt have the puck very much," Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. "So a lot of the shots were standing at the blue line or sneaking in. We werent in their zone much, so we werent very effective." Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp also scored as Chicago improved to 7-0-2 in the second half of games on back-to-back nights. It was win No. 684 for Joel Quenneville, tying Pat Quinn for fourth on the leagues coaching list. The Kings (22-8-4) had won six in a row and were hoping to complete a perfect four-game trip in the same building where their Stanley Cup title defence ended in June. But the matchup of the NHLs best offensive team and the leagues stingiest defence went to the high-scoring Blackhawks, who have won four of five and lead the NHL with 53 points. "It wasnt the start that we wanted and its hard to play catch-up," Kings centre Anze Kopitar said. "Its quite a bit to overcome when its that kind of team. Its no secret we lost the game in the first period." Ben Scrivens had 37 saves for Los Angeles in his first start since Dec. 2, keeping the Kings in the game with a handful of nice stops in the last two periods. Scrivens and Martin Jones have done a terrific job in goal since Jonathan Quick was shelved by a groin injury last month. The Blackhawks (24-7-5) also were without their top goaltender, Corey Crawford. The 29-year-old Crawford is out with a lower-body injury, and its unclear when he might return. Raanta has started every game since Crawford went down on Dec. 8. He made his best stop against Los Angeles in the second, sticking his right skate out to turn away Kopitar on a prime opportunity. "It shows a lot that a young rookie goaltender like him can come back and play with confidence like he did tonight," Toews said. Chicago beat Los Angeles in five games in the playoffs, and went on to win the title for the second time in four seasons. The series against the Kings culminated with a hat trick for Patrick Kane in the deciding game, including the decisive score in the second overtime off a pass from Toews. Toews picked up right where he left off in the first game of his season between two of the NHLs best teams. First, he won a battle for the puck with Los Angeles defenceman Jake Muzzin behind the Kings net, and then threw it in front for Hossas 14th goal at 5:45 of the first. After Versteeg scored on a 2-on-1 break, Toews made a great cross-ice pass to Sharp for a power-play goal that made it 3-0 with 29 seconds left in the period. "I think Jonathan Toews in the first period pretty much just said, OK boys, my time there," Sutter said. NOTES: It was Bryan Bickell bobblehead night, but the big forward remained out with a lower-body injury. Quenneville said Bickell probably will accompany the team to Nashville for Tuesdays game against the Predators, but its more likely he returns on Friday against Vancouver. "He did well today," Quenneville said, "so hes close." ... Kings D Willie Mitchell was scratched due to an illness. He played in each of Los Angeles first 33 games of the season. ... Quenneville said goaltender Jason LaBarbera "could be in the mix" with the Blackhawks soon. LaBarbera was acquired in a trade with Edmonton on Saturday and assigned to Rockford in the AHL. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . 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. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic .Y. -- First, Ryan Miller. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/.J. Mayo made seven three-pointers and scored 25 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 20, and the Milwaukee Bucks placed seven players in double figures in a 130-110 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost their 11th straight game on Monday night. Cheap Soccer Jerseys .com) - The Calgary Flames were again involved in a game in which a team was held scoreless, only this time they came out on the winning side. Soccer Jerseys China .com) - The 2014 Holiday Bowl is the first postseason venture pitting a pair of ranked foes against each other, as No.OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Athletics are tired of squandering chances, especially in late September and on a night Sonny Gray more than earned a positive result.Gordon Beckham homered for the division champion Los Angeles Angels, who dropped the As into a tie for the top AL wild card with a 2-0 win Tuesday night.Grey fanned Mike Trout three times among his career-best 12 strikeouts, one month to the day after Jon Lester struck out the Angels slugger three times at the Coliseum. But Gray had nothing to show for it as Oakland was shut out for the seventh time since Aug. 1.Its one of the major themes of the last month, month and a half, left fielder Sam Fuld said. Weve had opportunities. Youve got to take advantage of those opportunities.Oakland and Kansas City are tied for the two wild-card spots at 86-71, three games ahead of Seattle with five to play. The Royals beat Cleveland 7-1 earlier Tuesday night and won the season series with the Athletics 5-2, giving Kansas City the tiebreaker.That means if the Royals and As win the wild cards and finish with identical records, Kansas City would host their one-game playoff next Tuesday.Wade LeBlanc (1-1) ran his scoreless stretch to 15 2-3 innings over his last six outings, allowing five hits in 5 1-3 innings for the AL West champions. LeBlanc is the second of three straight left-handers the Angels are throwing in this series.He is making his case to be on the post-season roster.Any time players perform well, its going to help you to be stronger and help you make decisions, manager Mike Scioscia said. We havent made any decisions yet but these are two strong starts from Wade.Gray (13-10) is 0-3 in his last six starts. The right-hander has one victory in 11 starts since a 5-0 July that earned him AL pitcher of the month honours.Of Trouts 13 games with three or more strikeouts, three are against the As. Gray struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced.That was terrific, manager Bob Melvin said. He was up for it today. You could see when he came in the dugout there was a look in his eye he was going to get after it.The As had a chance to tie the game in the fifth after Josh Reddicks one-out double. Eric Sogard grounded out two batters later on an off-balance throw by second bbaseman Howie Kendrick that just beat Sogard, who slid headfirst.ddddddddddddLos Angeles went ahead in the second on an unearned run when Erick Aybar scored from third during a rundown. Efren Navarro was caught stealing at second on a 2-6-3-4 double play after Hank Conger struck out swinging.Beckham hit his ninth homer leading off the sixth.We lost. Whatever I did wasnt good enough tonight. It doesnt matter, Gray said.The As loaded the bases in the eighth against Joe Smith, who retired Stephen Vogt on a shallow fly to right to escape unscathed. Huston Street finished the three-hit shutout for his 16th save with the Angels and 40th overall.I left a small village of runners in scoring position, Vogt said.Oakland was shut down after scoring 16 runs over its previous two games. That outburst came after the As totalled only 19 runs in their previous 10 contests.We had some opportunities, and one or two more hits and its a different game, Melvin said.TRAINERS ROOMAngels: Jered Weaver (18-8) had the flu for a second straight day and left the ballpark. Scioscia said there is flexibility to push Weavers next start from Friday to Saturday if the right-hander needs an extra day. ... 3B David Freese was held out of the lineup after he experienced tightness in his upper back earlier in the day. ... OF Josh Hamilton hit off a tee for the second straight day. He missed his 18th game in 19 because of pain in his upper body. ... Scioscia said RHP Matt Shoemaker is symptom-free from a strained left oblique but wont pitch again in the regular season. He still needs to throw off a mound. You dont want to jump over a step and risk setting yourself back, Scioscia said.Athletics: C Derek Norris was the DH for a second straight day after requiring an injection in his troublesome shoulder. He is slated to start Wednesdays series finale.UP NEXTAngels: LHP Hector Santiago (5-9, 3.98 ERA) has pitched two or fewer innings in each of his past two starts a€” both losses a€” after winning his previous three. He had no-decisions with a 1.00 ERA in his first three outings against Oakland this season.Athletics: Lester (16-10, 2.41) looks to improve on his 3-1 September record and beat the Angels for the first time in three starts this year. ' ' '