ohn Salmons, adding five dimes along with his 10 points off the bench, took press

(SportsNetwork. Nmd Schweiz .com) - The surging Montreal Canadiens will try to match their longest winning streak of the season when they visit the Florida Panthers for Saturdays clash at BB&T Center. Listen to the action live on TSN Radio 690. The Canadiens have boosted their standing in the Eastern Conference playoff picture lately, winning four straight and seven of their last eight games. Another victory on Saturday would match Montreals five-game tear from Nov, 30-Dec. 7 for its longest winning streak of the season. Montreal leads Tampa Bay by two points for second place in the Atlantic Division with the top three teams from each division earning automatic bids to the playoffs. The Lightning, who visit Buffalo on Saturday, do hold a game in hand over the Habs. Tomas Plekanec did not make the trip to Florida. With Boston close to clinching the division title and Tampa Bay nine points ahead of fourth-place Toronto, it seems likely the Canadiens and Lightning will face each other in the opening round of the playoffs. The teams finishing second and third in each division will face each other in the first round. The Habs last played on Thursday when they pulled out a 5-4 regulation win in Detroit. Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek each scored during a wild third period to help Montreal down the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. The Canadiens held a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes only to see Detroit even the score on two goals from Tomas Tatar in the first 4:30 of the third period. However, Pacioretty gave the lead back to Montreal at 5:48 of the third and Vanek made it 5-3 with 8:45 remaining in the period. Detroits Johan Franzen tallied 21 seconds after Vanek, but the Red Wings were unable to get even after that. Vanek added a pair of assists and Tomas Plekanec potted a pair of early goals for the Canadiens. David Desharnais had a goal and an assist, while Carey Price survived the three-goal outburst by the Red Wings in the final frame during a 26-save effort. "The second and third periods werent good at all. We got lucky that we found a way to win," Plekanec said. Thursdays test marked the start of a four-game road trip for Montreal, which improved to 21-14-2 as the away team this season. Florida is ranked 15th out of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and is about to miss the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons. The Panthers have lost four of their last five games and were held to one goal or less for the third time during that stretch after Thursdays 3-0 home loss against Carolina. Jiri Tlusty tallied twice and Anton Khudobin posted a 35- save shutout to help the Hurricanes down Florida at BB&T Center. Roberto Luongo started in net for Florida and stopped 11-of-12 shots in the first period, but the veteran netminder was forced to leave the contest prior to the start of the second after being run over by Carolinas Radek Dvorak with just over seven minutes left in the opening frame. Dan Ellis recorded 18 saves in relief for the Panthers, who have lost four of their last five games. Luongo will miss Saturdays game with an upper-body injury, leaving Ellis to make his third start of the season tonight since being acquired from the Dallas Stars. "Its never a fun situation because you know your partner, something might not be good with him," Ellis said of coming on in relief of an injured Luongo. "But thats the job and you have to be ready when they call you." Florida is 14-16-5 as the home club this season and is completing a three-game stay in Sunrise. The Panthers will then play their next two tests on the road before finishing the regular season on a five-game homestand. The Panthers are 2-1-0 against Montreal this season, but the Habs won the last encounter when it posted a 2-1 home victory on Jan. 6. The Canadiens have won four of six overall in the series, but Florida is 3-1-1 in the last five encounters at BB&T Center. Adidas Ultra Boost Schweiz .C. -- Only two Syracuse teams have won their first 20 games, and C. Nmd r2 Herren Schweiz . Ibrahimovic put PSG ahead when he got in front of his marker to neatly flick in Lucass cross in the 59th minute. New signing Yohan Cabaye came on as a second-half substitute and headed Ezequiel Lavezzis cross against the post in the 87th. Moments later, Lucas set up another goal from the right when fellow countryman Alex turned in his corner with a strikers finish. http://www.nmdschweizkaufen.ch/eqt-outlet.html .S. Olympic hockey management team have been making what he called "ghost rosters" since August.TORONTO - Dwane Casey was visibly put off when faced with a question regarding his teams recent success and their upcoming stretch of winnable games prior to Mondays contest against the league-worst Milwaukee Bucks. "[People] keep asking that question and its not a legit question because we dont have that right, we havent arrived yet," Casey responded. "Weve got to take each game at a time, each possession at a time and look at it that way." "Thats the message Im sending to [the players]. Weve got to play basketball and be focused and not look at records." League standings are not welcome in the locker room, Casey maintained. If they were, they would show the Raptors in sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference, just barely ahead of the Hawks, following a decisive 116-94 victory over the seven-win Bucks. Since an early-December trade reversed their trajectory, Casey has kept his team focused. They have defeated the leagues best in wins over the Thunder and Pacers, they have fought hard on the road in Indiana and Miami and, perhaps most importantly, theyve taken care of business against teams that many may have expected them to look past. They havent. "No, you cant [take anyone lightly]," DeMar DeRozan said following a 19-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist performance in his teams 22-point win. "It doesnt matter who we play, its an NBA team. Besides us theres 29 other teams in this league and we prepare for each one of them the same." Casey is getting through to his troops, whether they realize it or not. "He said that [too]?" DeRozan asked with a smile after echoing his coach. "Im just being honest. I tell my guys the same thing, we dont look at who were playing. We understand each game matters more than the last one." Its not just lip service, the Raptors have been practicing what they preach. Apart from a short-lived Bucks run that cut the home teams lead to eight at halftime, the Raptors never took their foot off the gas. Their 38-point first frame matched a sseason-high for scoring in a quarter and the game was quickly put away early in the third after Toronto adjusted to the Bucks pesky zone defence. Adidas Nmd XR1 Schweiz. "We cant rely on that every night," Casey said of the teams second-half run. "That resolve, it doesnt win too many games against good teams so weve got to make sure we take care of business, and we did." "I think we came out with more effort in the second half and it seemed to work for us," said Kyle Lowry, who scored 11 of his team-high 23 points in the third quarter. Again, Lowry was exceptional, shooting 6-of-8 from the field, 4-of-5 from three-point range and connecting on all seven of his free-throw attempts. The Raptors point guard also recorded four steals and drew his league-leading 23rd charge of the season. "Just another night at the office for Kyle," Casey said. [The] charges are huge. If you go in there hes going to come from nowhere to get a charge so he does a great job of that, reading that, sacrificing his body for it. Hes done everything, defensively, offensively, hes set the tone." The playmaking ability of DeRozan - who registered four or more assists in a career-best sixth straight game - and John Salmons, adding five dimes along with his 10 points off the bench, took pressure off the Raptors point guard, freeing Lowry up on the weak side. As a team, the Raptors tallied 26 assists, shooting 51 per cent from the field and 12-of-23 from beyond the arch. Although Casey doesnt want to hear about it, Torontos next four opponents have losing records. The Raptors have won 10 of its last 11 games against sub-.500 teams and dont appear to be letting up. "Im going to say this again, we dont have any right, yet, to overlook anyone in this league," Casey repeated after his team improved to 19-17, two games above the .500 mark for the first time since March of 2010. "Its a tough league, were still building, were still getting there so I cant allow our guys to have that in their thought process." ' ' '