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HAMILTON, Ont. -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Olkinuora made 16 saves in the first period, and 30 overall, for his first professional shutout, as the IceCaps defeated Hamilton Bulldogs 3-0 Saturday in American Hockey League action. The goaltender deflected attention from his own accomplishment, and instead complimented his teammates on their recent form. "It feels good," said Olkinuora of his shutout. "But more importantly, it feels good to win again. Its a lot of fun. "The guys have found a way to play effectively and be tough to play. Weve been making smart decisions with the puck, and its fun to play behind these guys." Kael Mouillerat, Carl Klingberg and Eric ODell scored for the IceCaps (15-10-3). Dustin Tokarski stopped 36 shots for the Bulldogs (12-12-3) . The Bulldogs got the better of an entertaining first period in which both teams enjoyed quality scoring chances. A giveaway at the defensive blue line by Hamilton winger Nick Tarnasky gave Jerome Samson room to operate along the right wing. The St. Johns forward moved in to the hashmarks and released a rising wrist shot that beat Tokarski but rang off his near post. Just over ten minutes into the first period, another Tarnasky giveaway sent the IceCaps into the Bulldogs zone on a 2-on-1 break, but Tokarski was alert in sliding to his left and snaring the one-time shot with his glove. Tarnasky found himself in the spotlight once again with 4:17 to play in the first period, when he enjoyed Hamiltons best opportunity to score the games first goal. A cross-ice pass found him posted just outside Olkinuoras crease at the right post, but Tarnasky couldnt corral the puck, and the goaltender recovered and sprawled to deny the chance. Olkinuora enjoyed the heavy workload in the opening period, and argued that it helped him to find his rhythm on Saturday. "You could say that it gets you into the game," he said. "Every game is different, but I do enjoy games where you can get into the action pretty early and often. Obviously, I dont tell the guys that." The IceCaps enjoyed a lengthy two-man advantage early in the second period, as Maxime Macenauer was whistled for slashing at 2:43 and Mike Blunden followed with a delay of game infraction 22 seconds later. Tokarski was sharp in denying St. Johns on multiple occasions, as Hamilton held the visitors off the scoreboard over the course of the 5-on-3. There was little for the goaltender to do, however, when the IceCaps opened the scoring at 7:48 of the second period. Samsons initial slap shot was kicked aside by Tokarski, but fell to Mouillerat in the low slot, and he circled the fallen goaltender and slid a shot inside the near post as Tokarski dove unsuccessfully to meet it. The IceCaps made it 2-0 at 14:35 of the second, when Carl Klingberg converted his second breakaway opportunity of the game. Latching onto a loose puck in the neutral zone, the St. Johns forward shifted from his backhand to his forehand side and slid the puck past Tokarski. Hamilton coach Sylvain Lefebvre bemoaned his teams inability to gain momentum in the second period, even after successfully killing the two-man advantage. "We played well in the first, but in the second, penalties killed us," he said. "Usually when you kill a 5-on-3, you have good chances to win the game. We just couldnt get the momentum, and when you take too many penalties, it taxes some of the players and others sit on the bench and wait." St. Johns struck early in the third period to extend its lead to 3-0 and put the game out of reach. The initial point shot by Brenden Kichton was saved by Tokarski, but the rebound bounced to ODell, who easily slotted the puck into the open net at 3:54. Olkinuora made an exceptional save to preserve his shutout bid with 3:21 to play, picking Martin St. Pierres close-range wrist shot out of the air with his glove. The goaltender pointed to improved breakouts and decision-making as the factors that improved his teams play in the final two periods. "I think our guys made an adjustment and a push," said Olkinuora. "We had over 20 shots in the second period and its all because we found a way to go out of our zone cleaner, and we made smarter decisions." Shane Vereen Jersey . LOUIS -- Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks won the matchup of unbeaten teams. Jay Bromley Jersey . And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist . http://www.nygiantsfanatic.com/c-13-gia ... ersey.aspx. - Houston defensive end J. Phil McConkey Jersey . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Jersey . Cleveland has won the first two of this set and has won six straight games since losing back-to-back tilts to open the year. Seattle, on the other hand, has now lost six in a row following consecutive wins to kick off its campaign.NEW YORK -- New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano asked for more than just offence from his top line when they took on the rival New York Rangers. John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. Nash scored twice in the first period, but the Islanders erased a two-goal deficit for the second straight day and beat the Rangers 5-3 on Tuesday night. "There was a time during the first period that I was going to probably break that line up," Capuano said, "but I wanted to see how they handled it. I thought they responded as the game went on and did a good job." Nash didnt do any more damage, Vanek scored the tiebreaking power-play goal with 4:38 left, Tavares had three assists, and Okposo added two as the Islanders won for the ninth time in 11 road games. The Islanders have won two of the first three meetings with the Rangers. The teams will play twice more in the next 10 days, including outdoors at Yankee Stadium. "Division games are huge this time of year. Its nice to beat these guys," Tavares said. "They got those two early goals, but I think for the most part we were the better team. We did a good job ... and finished off the game. Big win. Character win." Vanek capped the comeback as the Rangers were trying to kill a penalty for too many men. Colin McDonald and defenceman Thomas Hickey scored in the second period to get the Islanders even. Matt Martin scored a rare goal in the first, and Frans Nielsen added an empty-netter. Kevin Poulin made 30 saves in front of a nearly full crowd on a snowy night in New York. "The secondary guys came up big," Capuano said. "Our top line struggled a little bit in the first, but they came around. Your best players have got to be your best players. We were fortunate with that break with the too many men, but we were able to capitalize." Nash posted his second straight multigoal game, and Chris Kreider added a goal for the Rangers, who had won three in a row. Cam Talbot made 32 saves while subbing for Henrik Lundqvist, who missed the game due to illness. It was the first time in eight games the Rangers allowed more than two goals. "We wanted the two points, and we put ourselves in a ggood position to get them," Nash said.dddddddddddd "We didnt get the job done." The Rangers pressed hard in the final minute after Talbot was pulled for an extra skater, but couldnt tie it. Unlike Monday in a 4-3 shootout win at home over Philadelphia, the Islanders didnt wait until the third period to tie it. "It was a good win," Capuano said, "but weve got a stretch coming up where weve got to make sure that were focused and were committed and doing the right things." After Kreider restored the Rangers two-goal lead at 9:34 of the second with a power-play goal, Hickey began the comeback with his fourth of the season off a perfect feed from Okposo with 6:38 left in the period. Just 3:14 later, McDonald got to a rebound off a hard shot by Tavares and fired a drive that beat Talbot for his fourth of the season to tie it. "Youre up 3-1 and you think maybe you can get through the period and play a good solid third, but we didnt," forward Brad Richards said. "We made some mistakes. Some nights other teams will capitalize, and some nights you get away with it. We didnt get away with it." For the second straight game, Nash struck quickly and gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Nash took a pass from behind the net from Kreider and wristed a shot past Poulin at 1:02 -- 8 seconds faster than Sunday when he put New York in front against Washington. The Islanders put lots of pressure on the Rangers in their end, but couldnt get a shot past Talbot. When Okposo failed to cleanly handle a pass near the right circle, Rangers defenceman Dan Girardi spotted Nash alone at centre ice and sent a pass to him. Nash received the puck with his back to the Islanders net, and quickly turned up ice and came in on a breakaway. Nash shifted the puck several times on his stick before sliding a shot in at 11:07 for his 16th of the season, fifth in three games, and ninth in nine games. The Islanders got one back with 2:38 left in the first when Martin took a pass in the slot from Tavares and scored his third of the season. NOTES: Martin went 38 games without a goal, dating to Nov. 1 at Ottawa. Hickey netted his first in 12 games, dating to Dec. 29 at Minnesota. ... Nash netted the winning goal in the previous four games in which he scored. ... The Rangers signed G David Leneveu to back up Talbot. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '