ST. PAUL http://www.officialblackhawksproshop.com/authentic-adidas-gustav-forsling-jersey , Minn. (AP) In a story April 3 about NHL player Eric Staal, The Associated Press misidentified the location of his Canadian hometown. Thunder Bay is located in Ontario.A corrected version of the story is below:With 40 goals for playoffs-bound Wild, Staal has right fitWith 40 goals for playoffs-bound Wild, Staal has found right place for career resurgenceBy DAVE CAMPBELLAP Sports WriterST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Eric Staal was coming off his least productive NHL season since he was a teenage rookie with Carolina when Minnesota took a flier on him two summers ago to add some depth at center.The three-year contract was modest for a player with Staal’s ability and accomplishments. The expectations were, too. Three consecutive seasons of decline in points per game, after all, don’t provide a hint that the scoring touch or passing knack is primed for resurgence.Bruce Boudreau could see the rebound potential, though. His first day of training camp with the Wild happened to be Staal’s practice debut with his new club, and a strong impression was made on the new head coach.”I said, `You know what? Everybody was wrong,”’ Boudreau said. ”Because he did the skate test on the very first day, and he blew everybody out of the water. So I said to the staff, `He should be able to play for us.”’Staal has done much more for the Wild than simply prove he can keep up and stabilize a key position with some savviness and leadership. Nobody on the team has scored more since he arrived, and with 40 goals this season he’s tied for sixth in the league through Monday’s games.”I never thought a specific number was a goal. I don’t ever usually think like that John Hayden Jersey ,” Staal said. ”Once you start a season, it can go a lot of different ways, but once the puck starts hitting the back of the net and you’re gaining confidence that way, you want to hold on to it as long as you can and accumulate as much as you can to help your team win.”Staal became just the second player in NHL history, joining Gordie Howe, to record a 40-goal season at least nine years apart with none in between. Slumps can factor into that, but so does dedication.”Look, he’s won a Stanley Cup. He’s won an Olympic medal. He’s got all the money that he’s ever going to need,” Boudreau said. ”But when he came here he wanted to prove to the world that he’s still a really good player, and to me he has.”The lanky 33-year-old with the left-handed shot has been a big reason why the Wild, despite some rough patches of the schedule and significant injury absences by several of their best skaters, have clinched a spot in the playoffs for the sixth straight season.”You want that, especially as a player who’s in the second half of his career. You want to make sure you’re in a spot to try to win again, and coming here I felt gave me that chance,” said Staal Authentic Jonathan Toews Jersey , the second overall pick in the 2003 draft who won the Stanley Cup in 2006 at age 21 but only returned to the playoffs once more with the Hurricanes. ”We’ve still got some work to do here, but hopefully we can finish strong.”Staal only has one goal-less stretch on his ledger longer than four games in a row, when he played six consecutive contests without scoring from Jan. 9-22. He still contributed four assists over that span. Not coincidentally, the Wild have only one losing streak larger than two. They dropped three in a row from Nov. 4-8.”He’s a guy we’ve definitely looked to to help lead us,” said left wing Jason Zucker, one of the many linemates Staal has saddled up to this season – without, Boudreau said beamingly, a single complaint.Durability has been one crucial component of his value, of course. Staal has yet to miss a game since signing the $10.5 million deal on July 1, 2016. The emotional steadiness he has contributed can’t be overlooked, either.”He’s been through the best of teams. He’s been through the worst of teams. He’s been the leader on all of these teams,” Boudreau said. ”He’s had to make sure he’s the steady one, because if he gets too high, maybe the rest of the group gets too high. If he was one to get too low, maybe everybody else would follow his lead.”The Wild actually left Staal exposed in the expansion draft Blake Comeau Jersey Womens , banking on his age being less attractive to the Vegas Golden Knights. His salary cap hit is only the ninth-highest on the roster.”If he was playing in Toronto, he’d be up for the MVP,” Boudreau said.Settling in Minnesota was more than satisfying for Staal, with the perennial postseason opportunities and the relative proximity to his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, about a six-hour drive away. He and his wife, Tanya, have been able to raise sons Parker, Levi and Finley, in a similar northern culture and climate that he was raised in, delighting in seeing the boys at 8, 6 and 3 years old take to the local hockey rinks or eagerly hop on their sleds after the latest snowfall.”All that stuff I grew up doing and loving, and now I’m kind of living it back through them,” Staal said. ”It’s definitely made it a ton of fun.”— SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers are glad to have Roberto Luongo back in goal.Luongo Patrick Kane Jersey , who returned to the lineup after missing five games with a knee injury, earned his 77th career shutout and the Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 5-0 on Tuesday night.Luongo made 33 saves and passed Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito for sole possession of ninth place on the NHL’s shutout list.“It was great for Lou to be back in there,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “His rebound control was amazing. I’m happy for Lou — he moved into ninth all-time and he did it in nice fashion.”Mike Hoffman scored twice. Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, and Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov also scored. Aleksander Barkov had three assists and Keith Yandle added two.“The boys did a great job,” Luongo said. “There weren’t a lot of breakdowns, a lot of odd-man rushes, breakaways, stuff like that. It really helps my game when we play like that defensively and it also translates in offense for our club. Take more of those, hopefully.”The return of Luongo was a game-time decision, and it turned out to be the right call.“It was a huge boost for the team,” Hoffman said. “He’s a solid goaltender. He definitely was a big part of this win.”Jaroslav Halak made 39 saves as the Panthers had a season-high 44 shots on goal. The Bruins lost for the third time in four games.“Tonight, it was men against boys at times, it looked like,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Some of our younger players had their hands full.”Huberdeau made it 3-0. His shot from the left circle was blocked by Halak, but the puck trickled through his pads at 15:14 of the second period. Huberdeau has six consecutive multipoint games http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-alexander-kerfoot-jersey , one short of the franchise record set by Pavel Bure.“Everything is working right now. It’s unbelievable,” Huberdeau said. “I want to try to keep it simple out there and it’s been working. I just want to keep doing that game after game.”Hoffman’s second goal with five seconds left in the second on a power play made it 4-0. Hoffman has 26 points in his last 24 games.“Tonight, we just didn’t execute in the second period and that cost us the game,” Halak said. “And we just have to regroup. That’s the bottom line. We need to find a way to win.”Dadonov’s power-play goal with 5:34 remaining in the third made it 5-0.Hoffman scored the first goal of the night. With traffic in front, Halak lost track of the puck, which was sitting on his left side at the goal line until Hoffman poked it in at 4:21 of the second.Matheson gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead when he brought the puck down the length of the ice and beat Halak on the stick side with a shot from the right circle at 13:13.NOTES: The Panthers returned goaltender Michael Hutchinson to Springfield of the AHL. Hutchinson was on loan while Luongo was out. … Huberdeau has 299 points, surpassing Nathan Horton for fourth place in franchise history. … Bruins D Charlie McAvoy took part in the morning skate. McAvoy is not expected to play Thursday at Tampa Bay, but it hasn’t been ruled out, according to Cassidy.UP NEXTBruins: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.Panthers: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
