Bayern Trupp » Raptors fifth-year guard

(SportsNetwork.com) - The sizzling St. Louis Blues will try to record a seventh straight victory when they host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in the finale of a home-and-home series. St. Louis is the NHLs hottest team at the moment, with the clubs six-game winning streak standing as the longest current run in the league. The Blues opened the season with a 2-3-1 mark, but havent lost since dropping a 4-1 home decision against Vancouver on Oct. 23. The Blues have surrendered a total of 10 goals during the six-game tear, but Jake Allen didnt allow a single shot past him in Tuesdays 1-0 win in New Jersey. Allen stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the season, while Vladimir Tarasenko stayed hot by scoring the lone goal of the game. You just try not to think of things too much and just do your job, said Allen. Of course you want to have as many goals on the board as you can get, but if everyone does their job it will come together. Tarasenko, the NHLs reigning First Star of the Week, has scored a goal in three straight games and has hit the net seven times over his past five outings. The 22-year-old Russian is leading St. Louis with eight goals and 14 points this season. Cory Schneider suffered the tough-luck loss Tuesday as he allowed just one goal on 23 shots for the Devils, who had won three of four coming into this home-and-home set. New Jersey outshot the Blues 26-23 in the game, but only managed to put five shots on goal in the final period. We just started to wear down there at the end and couldnt get that goal, said New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene. I think we had a good tempo and we were aggressive. The Devils lost defenseman Jon Merrill to an arm injury on Tuesday and he will miss tonights tilt. Forwards Mike Cammalleri (jaw/neck) and Martin Havlat (lower body) will also miss their fifth and seventh straight games, respectively. New Jersey could have forward Jordin Tootoo (bruised foot) back tonight. Tootoo, who has no points in six games this season, hasnt played since Oct. 21 against the New York Rangers. The Blues, meanwhile, could get centerman Paul Stastny back tonight after missing the last eight games with a sprained left shoulder. He hasnt played since Oct. 18, but was cleared for contact on Monday. Stastny has a goal and three assists in four games this season, his first with the club after signing a lucrative four-year deal with St. Louis over the summer. Schneider will start tonight for the Devils. He is 3-3-1 with a 1.71 goals against average in seven career outings versus St. Louis. Allen will start again tonight for the Blues. Rashan Gary Packers Jersey . The Toronto Blue Jays general manager made a series of bold moves that reshaped the club ahead of what would turn out to be a disastrous 2013 campaign. 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Kevin Durant certainly played like there was on Sunday night, scoring 36 points and grabbing 10 rebounds as the Thunder made quick work of the visiting Pacers with a 118-94 win.TORONTO - On the eve of the All-Star starters announcement, just before the leagues coaches begin to fill out their ballots for the reserves, DeMar DeRozan made his case a little bit more compelling. A career performance, just when his team needed it most, may be enough to sway a vote or two and send the Raptors fifth-year guard to New Orleans. "Oh man, hes definitely been playing well, All-Star level," said Amir Johnson, shortly after watching his teammate go off for a career-high 40 points in the Raptors come-from-behind win, 93-85 over the Mavericks on Wednesday. "Hes a big reason why weve been so successful." Coming into the game, the Raptors had dropped three of four, all to losing teams missing their best player. The 25-win Mavericks were a different animal, though they too were without leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki, and after 12 minutes this had disaster written all over it. "I thought it was going to be a blow out," Dwane Casey admitted, his team down by 19 going into the second quarter, trailing by as many as 21 in the first. DeRozan kept his team afloat in the first half. He scored 12 of their 15 first-quarter points, accounting for four of their five field goals. He was playing well, having the sort of outing that winds up forcing its way into the bottom of a somber game story, a footnote at the end of another horrific defeat. Then he took his game, and most importantly his team, to another level, a ridiculous level. "He got in the flow of the game," Casey said of DeRozan, who scored 15 points in the third quarter, then another nine in the fourth, missing just two shots in the second half. "He was running the pick-and-roll, they started blitzing him, he did a good job of finding [his teammates] and then the ball found him back and that was good. It was a growth on his part from being double teamed but being patient enough to get the ball back and be able to score." The Raptors guard was remarkable coming out of the break, knocking down off balance jumpers, getting to the rim at will but most importantly, he was efficient and he got to the free throw line. DeRozan needed just 22 shots to become the seventh player in franchise history to record 40 points, connecting on nine of 14 attempts from the stripe and knocking down his only three-pointer. He matched his previous career-high - 37, set three times - with a nifty spin and reverse layup, solidifying a new personal best on the subsequent free throw with 3:38 remaining. For him, the accomplishment was gravy. Despite his recent fourth-quarter struggles, DeRozan came through for his team in the clutch. That three-point play broke the tie and gave the Raptors a lead they would go on to hold for the duration of the night. "This loss would have hurt," DeRozan said. "We didnt want to lose three in a row. I just told myself, just try to do as much as I can to win, try to pull this one off and keep my team in it." DeRozan was saddled with more of the offensive burden on Wednesday, as fellow All-Star candidate Kyle Lowry battled a stomach flu that had the Raptors point guard running to the locker room, back and forth throughout the evening. Lowry scored just three points, misfirinng on all 10 of his field goal attempts in 35 hard-fought minutes.dddddddddddd "Once I [saw] Kyle go back [to the locker room] and he came back, he had his head down and holding his stomach, I could tell he wasnt feeling too well," DeRozan said. "He didnt stop playing," Casey said, crediting Lowry. "He dove on the floor, got his hands on loose balls, he affected the game without scoring." Casey continues to contact his fellow coaches, campaigning for both guards to get the nod and represent the Raptors as reserves in next months All-Star game, set to take place in New Orleans on Feb. 16. The starters for both East and West teams will be announced live on TNT on Thursday and the reserves, to be voted in by the coaches, will be revealed a week later, also on TNT. With representatives from Miami and Indiana expected to monopolize the Eastern Conference roster, its unlikely Toronto will have more than one All-Star. Of the two, DeRozans bid has been gaining some traction, according to league sources. Entering Wednesdays games, DeRozan ranked 12th in the NBA in scoring, fifth in the East and has tallied 20 or more points in nine of 12 contests during the month of January. Returning to Toronto for the second time since last seasons trade, Jose Calderon - beloved Raptors alum - was genuinely proud of Lowry and long-time teammate DeRozan. "Theyre just playing better, they just have that confidence and theyre playing at a very high level every game," Calderon said of the Raptors backcourt duo prior to Wednesdays game. "I really enjoy watching them and its great. Hopefully they get that call and they can be in New Orleans. Its always great to see your [former] teammates being successful and Im really happy for them." Like his first return, as a member of the Pistons last year, Calderon was greeted by a standing ovation during pre-game introductions at the Air Canada Centre. Another former Raptor, Vince Carter, received a mixed reception, which was verging on positive for the first time since his messy divorce with the franchise nearly nine years ago. Thanks to another admirable performance from the Raptors bench, who helped turn things around in the second quarter, and some late-game heroics from the slumping Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas, DeRozans career night was not wasted. Greivis Vasquez scored a season-high 17 to go along with seven assists, also picking up the slack for the flu-ridden Lowry. Meanwhile, Casey entrusted both Johnson and Valanciunas with crucial fourth-quarter playing time despite subpar starts, the frontcourt duo combining for 10 points in that final period. The Raptors 21-point comeback victory was their largest of the year, besting last months win in Dallas, where they overcame a 19-point deficit. Toronto sweeps the season series with the Mavs for the second time in franchise history and first since 1996-97, wrapping up the first half of the campaign with a winning record. "Were ahead of schedule," Casey said, assessing his teams progress 41 games in. "Were winning some games in our building and were happy with that." "But were still not a finished product. [We] have a lot of work to do." ' ' '