NASHVILLE Authentic Joe Pavelski Jersey , Tenn. (AP) Facing a tired team, the Nashville Predators jumped on Winnipeg early.Pekka Rinne made 32 saves and the surging Predators scored two short-handed goals in beating the Jets 3-1 on Tuesday night to tie for the top spot in the NHL standings.Kevin Fiala, Austin Watson and Viktor Arvidsson had the goals for Nashville, which has won 11 of 12.The Predators reached 100 points in 69 games, the fastest mark in franchise history. The defending Western Conference champions are even with Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay – and Nashville has played one fewer game.Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, losers of three straight. Winnipeg fell eight points behind the first-place Predators in the Central Division.”We had marked it as a game that had to go our way as we sit here and push towards it late in the season,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. ”Trying to battle for what we need to do in order to better ourselves for the playoffs and obviously the division and the conference. Those are things we talk about, so the two points were very important.”Nashville scored three goals before the game was nine minutes old. Playing the finale of a six-game road trip, their longest of the season – and their second game in two nights – the Jets came out sluggish against the speedy Predators.Fiala scored the first goal at 2:48 of the opening period.Roman Josi carried the puck up center ice before sending a pass to Kyle Turris on the right side. Turris returned the pass to Josi as he continued through the slot and he immediately fed a trailing Fiala with a backhand pass. He had an open net, and he buried a snap shot up high for his 22nd goal of the season.”I think every season you play, you want to climb up in the standings,” Josi said. ”You want to finish as high as you can. It’s definitely one of our goals. It’s huge for the playoffs to get that home-ice advantage. It’s definitely on our mind and we want to stay there now and get better.”Watson and Arvidsson scored short-handed goals 34 seconds apart on the same penalty kill to make it 3-0. It was the first time in Predators history that they scored short-handed twice on the same power play.”Right now, the team is playing great,” Watson said. ”Our penalty kill has done a good job of taking away time and space and forcing turnovers. When you get a chance to jump on it, it’s nice. Every time a couple go in for you, it helps.”Jets coach Paul Maurice called a basketball-style timeout following Arvidsson’s goal. Following the stoppage, Connor Hellebuyck took over in goal for starter Michael Hutchinson. After the first period, the team announced that Hutchinson would not return due to an upper-body injury. Hutchinson stopped 12 of the 15 shots he faced in 8:45 of action.Nashville poured 24 shots on the Winnipeg net in the first, its most in a period this season.After the first, Winnipeg founds its legs and put 27 shots on Rinne in the final two periods.”In a tough situation, I really liked the way we stayed with it,” Maurice said. ”There wasn’t anything easy there for us tonight. The bench was good. They kept battling and we kind of shut the game down well in the second period, which is hard to do Joe Thornton Jersey , and had a good push in the third. That’s what I’m taking from this one.”Hellebuyck made 30 saves in relief.Connor got Winnipeg on the scoreboard at 1:08 of the third with a power-play goal when he tapped in the rebound of Blake Wheeler’s shot from the right side.”I saw a team that was down about half their players and playing the back end of a back-to-back,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said of his team. ”We went into a tough overtime last night. We knew the first was going to be tough for us. They came out hot.”Patrik Laine picked up an assist on Connor’s goal, extending his franchise-record point streak to 13 games.Watson also did some strong work in his defensive zone to help Rinne. With just more than eight minutes gone in the third, he cleared a puck that was headed into the net after Rinne got a piece of a shot from Laine.NOTES: Watson’s four short-handed goals this season place him one behind NHL leader Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers. … Nashville is 34-3-5 when scoring first. … Winnipeg successfully killed off all three Nashville power plays. The Jets have not allowed an opponent to score on the man advantage in five of their last six games. … Jets C Paul Stastny was a late scratch. Maurice said Stastny experienced tightness during warmups and could not play.UP NEXTJets: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.Predators: At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.— NBAOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) DeMarcus Cousins will be ready to play at some point this season. And when he is, the two-time defending NBA champions will be waiting.Adding a fifth All-Star to their already glitzy lineup, the Golden State Warriors have come to terms with Cousins on a one-year, $5.3 million deal – not the biggest money move on Day 2 of the NBA free agency period, but the most intriguing. The low-risk, high-reward deal was confirmed by two people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because nothing can yet be signed.The Warriors will be adding Cousins to a lineup that includes All-Stars Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, as well as a former NBA Finals MVP in Andre Iguodala.LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rajon Rondo is teaming up with LeBron James.A person with knowledge of the situation says Rondo has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. ESPN, which first reported the agreement, said Rondo will make $9 million.The Lakers become Rondo’s sixth team. He averaged 8.3 points and 8.2 assists for New Orleans last season.The Lakers also agreed to a one-year deal worth just under $2.4 million with JaVale McGee, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.The Lakers will be the sixth club for McGee, who had some spectacular moments in the NBA Finals against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. McGee shot 16 for 20 – 80 percent – from the floor in the finals, and the Warriors were 7-1 in playoff games in which he started.SALT LAKE CITY – Derrick Favors was a top priority for Utah, and the Jazz have succeeded in their quest to retain him.A person with knowledge of the negotiations says Favors and the Jazz have come to terms on a two-year contract that could be worth up to $36 million.Favors averaged 12.3 points last season for the Jazz, who reached the Western Conference semifinals.He turns 27 later this month and the deal represents a nice raise for Favors, who made $12 million last season.NHLCALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Forward James Neal signed a five-year, $28.75 million contract with Calgary Joonas Donskoi Jersey , giving Johnny Gaudreau and the rest of the Flames a much-needed scoring boost.Neal has topped 20 goals in each of his 10 NHL seasons, and was considered the top player left on the free-agent market a day after the NHL’s signing period opened.The signing also comes a day after general manager Brad Treliving talked of a need to upgrade his forward positions to take the pressure off of Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk.Calgary becomes Neal’s third team in as many seasons. He was selected by Vegas in the NHL expansion draft a year ago, and scored 25 goals and 44 points in 71 games for the Golden Knights.The 30-year-old Neal also played for Pittsburgh and Nashville, and has 263 goals and 495 points in 703 career games.The Flames also signed forward Derek Ryan to a three-year, $9.375 million contract. Ryan scored 15 goals and 38 points in his second full season with Carolina last year.SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – The San Jose Sharks re-signed center Joe Thornton to a one-year contract and signed restricted free agent forward Tomas Hertl to a four-year deal.Thornton tested the free agent market last summer before returning to San Jose on a one-year, $8 million deal but was intent the whole time this year on staying with the Sharks and signed a $5 million contract on his 39th birthday.The 24-year-old Hertl had 22 goals and 24 assists in 79 games this past season.LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge has dismissed a misdemeanor domestic abuse conviction against former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov, a move that could clear a path for his return to the NHL.The judge granted Voynov’s request to dismiss his conviction – over the objection of Los Angeles County prosecutors – three years after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of corporal injury to a spouse.Police said he punched, kicked and choked his wife at their Redondo Beach home in October 2014 after a fight that began at a party attended by other Kings players. He served almost two months in jail and voluntarily agreed to return to Russia after he was taken into custody by U.S. immigration officials.The Kings terminated Voynov’s $25 million contract in 2015 but with his conviction overturned, he can request a hearing with the NHL commissioner to apply for reinstatement.BASEBALLMILWAUKEE (AP) – The Minnesota Twins reinstated shortstop Jorge Polanco after he served an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.Polanco was reinstated before the Twins’ game with the Milwaukee Brewers.Speaking through the team’s interpreter, Polanco said that the time away from the game ”was very difficult.”The Twins are hoping that the 24-year-old shortstop builds off his breakout 2017 season. Polanco batted .316 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs over his last 55 games in 2017.PHOENIX (AP) – The Arizona Diamondbacks hoped to have A.J. Pollock back before the All-Star break. The center fielder’s thumb was in good shape, but he wanted to get his legs under him before returning.Pollock came back earlier than expected, coming off the 10-day disabled list and putting a key bat back in Arizona’s lineup as it tries to hold onto the NL West lead.Pollock hit fourth against St. Louis in his first game back since breaking his left thumb while diving for a ball in the outfield against Milwaukee on May 14. He got off to a strong start this season, hitting.293 with 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 40 games before the injury.SAILINGSAN DIEGO (AP) – U.S. Olympians Caleb Paine and Bora Gulari are on the initial roster of 17 sailors announced by American Magic, the America’s Cup challenger backed by the New York Yacht Club.They are joined by veteran America’s Cup helmsman Dean Barker of New Zealand and Paul Goodison of Britain, an Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion in the foiling Moth class.The roster includes three sailors who have won the America’s Cup and eight who have sailed in the Olympics. The team members have done a combined 31 America’s Cup campaigns. Nine of the 17 are Americans.BASKETBALLMANILA, Philippines (AP) – Basketball’s international governing body has opened disciplinary hearings against Australia and the Philippines after a wild brawl that included Milwaukee Bucks forward Thon Maker broke out in their Basketball World Cup qualifying game.The fight spilled into the area behind the baseline and video showed a chair being thrown at the back of an Australia player either by a fan or member of the Philippines team staff. Former NBA player Andray Blatche, now playing for the Philippines, appeared to throw multiple punches, while Maker came at a Philippines player with legs flying high as it continued.A total of 13 players were ejected after the melee that began in the third quarter of Australia’s 89-53 victory following a collision in the lane. The game continued with just three players from the Philippines.
