point with Letang

SAN JOSE, Calif. cheap nfl jerseys . -- After struggling to stop anybody during a gruelling nine-game road trip, Antti Niemi and the San Jose Sharks stopped everything against the NHLs most prolific offence. Ryane Clowe scored the lone goal early in the first period, and Niemi made it stand up with 26 saves for his fifth shutout as the Sharks celebrated their return home by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Tuesday night. "He had struggled a little bit but I think tonight he played great, saw all the pucks," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. "This should definitely get his confidence back. He looked good and comfortable. It was nice to see." The Sharks had gone 2-6-1 on the 17-day trip that knocked them out of first place in the Pacific Division and into a precarious position for a playoff berth. With little room for error in the final quarter of the season, the Sharks managed to hold on thanks to a strong bounceback performance by Niemi to beat the Flyers for the ninth straight time. Niemi lost four of five games on the trip and didnt even make it out of the first period in two of those games. But he was up to the task in his first meeting against the Flyers since beating them to win the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010. The Sharks allowed 35 goals during the road trip but gave up none to the NHLs highest-scoring team, surviving a wild scramble in front of the net in the final minute when Torrey Mitchell and Daniel Winnik blocked shots, and Niemi made a save in the final seconds against Scott Hartnell. "It was a perfect defensive game against the best offensive team in the league," defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. "We set the bar pretty high. If we can do it against them we can do it against any team." Ilya Bryzgalov made 22 saves for the Flyers, robbing Thornton and TJ Galiardi early in the third period to keep the deficit at one. But Philadelphia never got the equalizer and remained 11 points behind the first-place New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia was shut out for the second time in three games, also losing 2-0 last Thursday in Edmonton. "Its kind of tough when most of the shots from the defence are getting blocked," Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr said. "We have to find a way to somehow get it in. Maybe shoot quicker a little bit, I dont know. Were waiting too much. We have to find better timing." The Flyers briefly lost forward Danny Briere late in the third period when his head crashed into the boards following a hit from behind by Vlasic. There was no penalty called on the play, and Briere returned. "It seemed like a tough call," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It seemed like (Vlasic) pushed him head first, and somebody can get hurt like that. But I havent seen it to comment on it. Hes fine. Right now he is anyway." The game marked the San Jose debuts for Winnik and Galiardi, acquired before Mondays NHL trade deadline for forward Jamie McGinn and two prospects. But the Sharks were far from complete as All-Star forward Logan Couture sat out with a lower body injury after taking three hard hits in Minnesota on Sunday. Defenceman Douglas Murray remained sidelined by a throat injury, and coach Todd McLellan missed the game with concussion symptoms after being hit in the head by a stick in Minnesota. Assistants Matt Shaw and Jay Woodcroft ran the team in his place. The Sharks got off to a fast start in their first home game since Feb. 10, with Clowe beating Bryzgalov with a wrist shot just 1:22 in. Niemi, who struggled most of February, did the rest. He made a pad save on a deflection, and stopped Brayden Schenns rebound attempt in the closing seconds of the period. "Thats the Nemo that we know," Shaw said. "He has that ability to win us a game, and he did that." The teams combined for just 13 shots in the second, with the Flyers failing on two power-play chances, and the Sharks unable to convert on their opportunity with the man advantage. Bryzgalov kept it a one-goal game with a strong stop against Patrick Marleau, who was alone in front in the closing minutes of the second. NOTES: The Sharks had the lead after the first period for just the 15th time in 62 games this season. They are 12-2-1 in those situations. ... The Flyers havent won back-to-back games since Jan. 10-12 at Carolina and the New York Islanders. ... Philadelphia was shut out for the fifth time this season. ... Niemi has 18 career shutouts. nfl jerseys china . Wideman was hospitalized in a Washington hospital with a significant leg hematoma as a result of a hit Tuesday by Carolinas Tuomo Ruutu. cheap jerseys from china .C. -- In a business where players and management are often looking at the long term, a six-month contract extension was the best solution for Kenny Miller and the Vancouver Whitecaps. http://www.wholesalenfljerseychina.net/ . -- Adrian Peterson shouldnt have any reason to get "hot" at Minnesota Vikings coach Leslie Frazier this week. PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins locked up another elite young player long term and kept a key player off the market Tuesday, agreeing to terms with defenceman Kris Letang and re-signing forward Pascal Dupuis. A finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHLs top defenceman, Letang received an eight-year, $58 million contract extension. He would have entered the final season of an existing contract that carried an annual salary-cap hit of $3.5 million. That will now jump to $7.25 beginning in 2014-15. Dupuis potentially couldve been a free agent this week and cashed on his 11-point post-season, but chose to stay to sign a $15 million, four-year deal. Letang, 26, tied for the scoring lead among NHL defencemen last season with 38 points in 35 games. He has 44 goals and 165 assists in 385 career games over six-plus seasons. Letang joins star centres Sidney Crosby (12 years, $104.4 million) and Evgeni Malkin (eight years, $76 million) as players the Penguins have given long-term contracts to in the past 13 months. Under the collective bargaining agreement, Letang cannot sign until Friday. The pact -- the longest allowable by terms of the new CBA -- will run through the 2021-22 season, when the 6-foot, 201-pound native of Montreal will be 35. Beginning in 2014-15, the Penguins will be committing $25.45 million of salary cap space to just three players for every season until 2021-22. For the 2014-15 season alone -- counting contracts given wingers James Neal and Chris Kunitz, defenceman Paul Martin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury -- the organization already has $44.3 million of cap space accounted for just seven players. The salary cap for the 2013-14 season is projected at $63.4 million, although it is expected to increase dramatically the following year. The swift and skilled Letang is one off the NHLs top offensive defencemen. cheap jerseys. But at times, the former third-round pick has been criticized for play in the defensive end -- most recently during a stunning sweep of the Penguins by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals. Letang had no points in the series and was a minus-5 over the first two games. During Pittsburghs run to the Stanley Cup in 2009, Letang had 13 points, tying for the post-season lead among defencemen with four goals. Over the past three seasons, Letang leads all NHL defencemen in assists (107). His 0.77 points-per-game average over that span ranks second to Ottawas Erik Karlsson for players at that position. Since the end of the regular season, general manager Ray Shero has said extending Letang was a priority. Before the Penguins were swept by Boston, they defeated the Islanders and Senators in the first and second rounds, respectively. Though he and agent Kent Hughes talked for a while, Shero could have traded Letang during the NHL draft Sunday. A similar scenario played out last summer, when centre Jordan Staal rejected a 10-year contract offer and Shero dealt him to the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade announced from the podium. It never reached that point with Letang. Pittsburgh also didnt have to deal with replacing Dupuis. The 34-year-old winger was third on the team in goals, tied for third with 38 points and led the league with a plus-31 rating, the first Penguins to pull off that feat since Ron Francis did during the 1994-95 season. He is also a key penalty-killer, who blocked 36 shots and is tied for the NHL lead with eight short-handed goals over the past three years. Dupuis, who also helped the Penguins hoist the Cup four years ago, has 175 goals and 374 points in his career with Minnesota, the New York Rangers, Atlanta and Pittsburgh. wholesale authentic nfl jerseys ' ' '