with the first one resulting in a one-handed

ST. LOUIS -- Backup goalie Petr Mrazek kept the injury-riddled St. Louis Blues down heading into the playoffs with his second career shutout in a 3-0 victory for the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. The Blues had been in contention for the No. 1 overall seed but lost their last six and missed a chance at taking the Central Division with Colorado clinching on a tiebreaker before playing at Anaheim Sunday night. Minus three of their top five scorers, their top faceoff man and two top defencemen, they were shut out for the second straight game and third time during the slump. Justin Abdelkader scored twice, Riley Sheahan added a goal and Pavel Datsyuk had two assists for the Red Wings, who are locked into the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will play Boston. The Blues set a franchise record with 52 wins but are the third seed in the Western Conference entering a first-round series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. Theyre scuffling to say the least with the franchises longest losing streak since a seven-game skid from Dec. 26, 2009 to Jan. 7, 2010, and theyve mustered five goals the last six games. The Red Wings, who rested Jimmy Howard, Daniel Alfredsson and Johan Franzen, were 3-1 against Boston. The Blues were 3-2 against Chicago. Mrazek is 2-4 this season and has three career victories, one of them in his NHL debut in St. Louis on Feb. 7, 2013. He bested the Blues Ryan Miller, who has lost his last five decisions. T.J. Oshie (head), David Backes (foot) and Alex Pietrangelo (undisclosed) led a long list of scratches for the Blues. Oshie has 60 points, Backes 57 and Pietrangelo 51. The Red Wings were outshot 7-4 in the first period, but took the lead on Abdelkaders deflection at 13:30. Near the midpoint of the period, an apparent goal by Tomas Tatar was waved off by a goaltender interference on Joakim Andersson, who slashed Millers stick seconds earlier. Sheahan scored for the third straight game on the counter-attack with his ninth overall making it 2-0 at 16:19 of the second and Abdelkader made it 3-0 with another deflection in the third. Notes: Blues D Jay Bouwmeester played in his 717th consecutive game -- the longest streak in major pro sports -- and was the only St. Louis player to dress every game. ... Miller is 2-9-2 against Detroit. ... The Red Wings are preparing for their 23rd consecutive playoff appearance. Nike Air Max 95 Clearance . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Cheap Air Max 2017 . Dont miss a single shot, live on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Winners of their last eight games, the Heat return to Toronto for the second time in the month of November. After beginning the season 4-3, allowing 100.9 points on 47 per cent shooting, Miamis resurgent defence has vaulted them back to the top of a weak Eastern Conference. http://www.airmaxclearance.us/ .ca. Kerry, In the closing minutes of the second period of Game 4 between Pittsburgh and Columbus there were the remnants of two broken sticks behind the Pittsburgh net. Wholesale Air Max Shoes . So heres what I do when I want to get into the baseball mood—I delve into "The Baseball Project". Nike Air Max Outlet . However, after review it became clear Kadri kicked the puck in.HOUSTON - James Harden loved how the Houston Rockets played in the first quarter Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.He only wishes theyd play that way more often.Thats the beauty of this thing, Harden said. We could be so good, but at times we have mental lapses where we let teams get comfortable.Harden scored 15 of his 31 points in the first quarter and the Rockets won 112-101.The Rockets led 40-18 after one and didnt trail again to bounce back after a loss to Orlando on Wednesday night that snapped a four-game winning streak.Harden came just short of a triple-double with 10 assists and nine rebounds. Trevor Ariza added 17 points and four steals for Houston.The Thunder scored the first three points of the fourth quarter to cut it to 10, but Houston used a 12-0 run to make it 100-78 and cruise to the victory — the 200th of coach Kevin McHales career.It was the 17th 30-point game this season for Harden, who leads the NBA in scoring.Kevin Durant had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder. They have lost three of their last four games.Thunder coach Scott Brooks said his team cant play like it did in the first quarter and expect to win.We struggled getting back, Brooks said. We struggled covering the 3-point line. They were getting everything they wanted in the first quarter ... we cant give up a 40-point quarter.A 6-0 run by Oklahoma City got the team within 11 with about four minutes left, but Houston scored six quick points after that to make it 108-91.They are a very good team, KD and Russ (Westbrook) are capable of going on a run by themselves, and so we put emphasis on it to kind of slow them down and try to make other players make plays, Harden said.Harden made his fifth 3-pointer with about 4 minutes left in the third quarter before back-to-back 3s by Serge Ibaka got the Thunder to 82-71.Josh Smith got going after that, outscoring Oklahoma City 6-4 in the next 2 minutes.Houston was up 88-75 entering the fourth quarter.A 3-pointer by Patrick Beverley pushed Houstons lead to 47-26 with about 9 minutes left in the first half.dddddddddddd The Thunder rolled for a bit after that, using a 10-3 spurt, punctuated with a dunk by Durant to cut it to 50-36. That run was helped by a pair of turnovers by Harden.Westbrook had turnovers on back to back plays with about 5 minutes left in the second quarter with the first one resulting in a one-handed dunk by Harden to leave the Rockets up 54-39.Durant had 15 points in the second quarter to cut Houstons lead to 64-53 at halftime.The Rockets made three 3-pointers, with two from Harden, in the games first 3 1/2 minutes to jump out to a 12-4 lead. Howard had three dunks in the next couple of minutes to power an 11-2 run that extended the lead to 23-6.The Rockets were up by 15 later in the quarter scoring nine straight points, with the first six from Harden to make it 40-16.They made 6 of 10 3-pointers in the period with three from Harden to score their most points in a quarter this season.TIP-INSThunder: The 40 points the Thunder allowed in the first quarter were the most theyve allowed in a quarter since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. ... Westbrook finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.Rockets: F Terrence Jones remains out with nerve inflammation in his left leg. He hasnt played since Nov. 3. ... It was Throwback Thursday with both teams wearing throwback uniforms, fans receiving Clutch City T-shirts and 1980s rapper Tone Loc performing his hits Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina at halftime.HARDENS BIG MONTH: Harden was presented with a trophy for being named the Western Conferences player of the month for December before the game. Its the first time Harden has received the honour and the first time a Rocket has gotten it since Yao Ming in January of 2008. He earned it after averaging 30.6 points, 7.1 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals a game in a month where the Rockets went 9-5. He led the NBA with eight 30-point games, including three with 40 or more points, in that span.UP NEXTThunder: Host Golden State on Friday night.Rockets: Host Golden State on Saturday night. ' ' '