(SportsNetwork. Nike Roshe Run Mesh .com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to pick up where they left off before the Olympic break when they visit the John Tavares-less New York Islanders in Thursdays clash at Nassau Coliseum.Toronto was one of several NHL teams that had hot streaks interrupted by the NHLs Olympic break. The Maple Leafs had won five of six right before the hiatus and the club is 11-2-1 over its last 14 games.With 70 points, the Maple Leafs are currently holding on to the seventh of eight playoff spots in the East. Toronto also is just one point in back of both Tampa Bay and Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division. The top three teams in each division get an automatic bid to the postseason.Toronto is aiming to qualify for the postseason for the second straight spring. Last season the Leafs halted the longest playoff drought in franchise history by making the postseason for the first time since 2004.The Maple Leafs emerge from the break with a road-heavy schedule ahead of them over the next few weeks. Toronto, which is just 11-12-5 as the away club this season, will play two straight and eight of its next 10 on the road.The Islanders, meanwhile, get to continue a five-game homestand on Thursday, but theyll do so without the services of captain and star centerman Tavares.Tavares helped Team Canada win the Olympic tournament, although he missed the semifinals and gold medal game after suffering a partial tear in the MCL of his left knee. Although the injury was originally feared to be worse, it will still keep Tavares sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. However, he will not need surgery as was originally believed.The culmination of the regular season could mark the end of the 2013-14 campaign for the Islanders, who are already 14 points out of the Easts final playoff berth.Tavares, who expects to miss 8-to-12 weeks while recovering, is New Yorks leading scorer with 66 points and is tied for the team lead with 24 goals. He is also third in the NHL in points.The Islanders lost seven of eight games before the break in a stretch that did serious damage to the clubs postseason chances. Without Tavares, the club expects to have a difficult time getting back into the thick of the playoff race.New York and the Leafs have split two meetings so far in 2013-14, but the Isles are 4-1-1 over the last six encounters between the clubs. Toronto, however, has won three straight and four of the past five games at the Coliseum.The Isles are 8-14-8 as the host team this season. The club is playing the third test of its five-game homestand tonight and will complete the stay on Long Island after welcoming New Jersey and Florida on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Nike Roshe Run . PAUL, Minn. Nike Roshe Run Pattern . The Blue Jackets entered this series against the Metropolitan Division champions as heavy underdogs, but they sit tied with the Penguins at two wins apiece. Columbus has arrived at this point with a pair of overtime victories, including a 4-3 triumph in Wednesdays Game 4 clash at Nationwide Arena that gave the franchise its first home playoff win.NEW YORK -- Jonathon Niese had retired 15 straight batters as Sundays game reached the seventh inning, and anticipation at Citi Field was building. Could this be the first no-hitter in the New York Mets 51-season history? Then Dan Uggla worked out a 10-pitch walk, and Atlantas Freddie Freeman singled cleanly to right on the next pitch. The Mets wait reached 7,191 games and counting. No matter, Niese was smiling when it was over. New York completed a season-opening sweep with a 7-5 victory over the Braves. For the first time in 27 years, and only the third time ever, the Mets are 3-0 while the Yankees are 0-3. "Were going to surprise some people this year," Niese said. New York is 3-0 for the first time since opening with four wins in 2007. The Mets have a .320 batting average and a 1.67 ERA. "Were excited -- 3-0, man. You cant draw it up any better than that," Daniel Murphy said. Atlanta, hoping to rebound from Septembers 9-18 collapse, is 0-3 for the second time since losing its first 10 games in 1988. The Braves are hitting .151 with seven runs and 14 hits. "Its never good to come into the season and get swept," Brian McCann said. "Nobody in here is thinking about last year." Same with the Mets, coming off their third straight losing season and overshadowed in New York by the glamorous Yankees. Pitching for the first time since the Mets gave him a $25.5 million, five-year deal, Niese (1-0) allowed just two balls out of the infield through six innings. Freeman singled on his 99th pitch, a fastball that was up. Mets manager Terry Collins doubted Niese would have pitched the ninth, even if the no-hitter was within reach. Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen had decided on a 115-pitch limit, and the manager recalled how he took out Sid Fernandez from a Class-A game for Vero Beach in 1982 when the pitcher had a no-hitter and 21 strikeouts through seven innings but had thrown 130 pitches. "You dont sacrifice his health for an inning," Collins said. Niese, overpowering Atlanta with a 93 mph fastball, had been thinking about a no-hitter since "I guess the first inning." He was pretty sure the pitch count wouldnt have prevented him from going for it. "Id have ran back out. It would have been hard to take me out," he said in front of his locker, where an unknown prankster taped up a paper that read "Niese-ter bunny" with a photo-shopped picture of the pitcher in a white rabbit suit, holding a large carrot. He allowed four runs -- two earned -- and two hiits in six-plus innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. nike roshe run women. It also was his first outing since a $10,000 off-season nose job -- paid for by former teammate Carlos Beltran -- to correct a deviated septum. Nieses 2011 season was cut short Aug. 23 when he strained an intercostal muscle. Niese lasted just two more batters after Freeman. Right fielder Lucas Duda, looking into a sunny, cloudless sky, dropped Matt Diazs fly ball for a run-scoring error that made it 7-1, and Jason Heyward chased Niese with a two-run double. Pinch-hitter Jack Wilson added a sacrifice fly off Manny Acosta. New Yorks Ruben Tejada had a career-best four hits, and Frank Francisco became the first Mets reliever with saves in his first three games. "This means everything," Collins said. "Weve done a lot of talking in spring training about getting ready to compete, getting ready to prepare to compete. I told those guys in our first meeting: Youre professional baseball players, and there are expectations in this town and in this clubhouse." Mike Minor (0-1), who impressed the Braves by throwing 14 consecutive scoreless innings in his first four spring training starts, gave up six runs, six hits and four walks in five-plus innings. Before a crowd of 27,855 on Easter Sunday, more than 14,000 short of capacity, sacrifice flies by David Wright in the first and Duda in the fourth built a lead. Murphy hit a two-run double in the fifth, and the Mets made it 7-0 in the sixth on Scott Hairstons RBI double against Cristhian Martinez and Tejadas two-run double. McCann, who had been 0 for 10 in the series, homered in the eighth over the newly pulled-in fence in right, a ball that likely would have been a flyout in previous seasons at Citi Field. "Were fine," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Four or five of those hits together, and well be fine." NOTES: San Diego (6,846) is the only other big league team without a no-hitter. ... Niese pitched a one-hitter against San Diego on June 10, 2010, allowing Chris Denorfias leadoff double in the third. ... The Mets also opened 3-0 while the Yankees went 0-3 in 1973, according to STATS. ... Wright has 728 RBIs, five short of Darryl Strawberrys club record. ... The highlight of the Mets three-game series against Washington figures to be Wednesdays finale, with Johan Santana pitching against Stephen Strasburg. New York is selling $2.50 tickets for that game, to be played on the 50th anniversary of the Mets debut. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '
