EDMONTON -- Jesse Joensuu was one of the least heralded free-agent signings the Edmonton Oilers made this summer, but he is starting to make a name for himself now. Will Middlebrooks Jersey . The 25-year-old Finnish forward scored his third goal of the pre-season and was named the games first star as the Edmonton Oilers won their third consecutive game, defeating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Monday night. After bouncing back and forth between the New York Islanders and their American Hockey League affiliate in Bridgeport Sound over a four-year period, Joensuu went back to Europe and played in the Swedish Elite League during the 2011-2012 season and rediscovered his game. A sports hernia limited Joensuu to just seven games in his return to the Islanders last season before he opted to sign on with Edmonton. It has been a long road for the six-foot-four, 210-pound winger, but he feels he is finally poised to make his mark on a regular basis at the NHL level. "Im just really happy that I have been able to compete with everyone at the same level and that I am not hurt," said Joensuu, who has four points in four exhibition outings. "Compared to my previous training camps with the Islanders, this is like night and day. I feel like I belong and am competing at the same level as the guys I want to play with. Before I was just trying to survive and didnt feel comfortable at all." Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said that Joensuu has made a very good case for himself to this point. "He has played nothing but well for me," said Eakins. "We need that size and he brings that. He protects the puck well and is strong on his stick. He made some big plays on the boards in our zone in this game and those are critical plays. Everybody likes the flash of a nice pass or a big hit, but you win the game along the wall just inside the blue-line. ... "The other thing I like is that he is vocal on the bench. You dont get that a lot sometimes from the European guys. He is vocal and into the game, which is another thing we value here." Will Acton also scored for the Oilers (4-1-1), who did not dress many of their top offensive threats for the game. Chris Thorburn replied for the Jets (1-3-2), who have lost three straight in exhibition play. It took a while for either team to get on the board in a penalty-filled first period. The Jets finally started the scoring with just under a minute remaining as a Thorburn shot that appeared to be going wide hit the stick of Oilers starter Devan Dubnyk and deflected into the net. Edmonton tied the game just under three minutes into the second period when Tyler Pitlick put the puck in front of the net for a hard-charging Joensuu to direct past Jets goalie Edward Pasquale. It was Joensuus third goal of the pre-season. The Oilers went up 2-1 midway through the second period, when Acton deflected an Anton Belov point shot through Pasquales legs. Dubnyk made up for his gaffe earlier in the game with a five-alarm glove save on Olli Jokinen late in the second on a Winnipeg power play. There was no scoring in the third period. The Oilers play again tomorrow at home to the New York Rangers. The Jets are off until Thursday when they will welcome the Boston Bruins. Notes: It was the second pre-season meeting between the two teams. The Jets won the first match-up 3-2 on Sept. 18. ... The Jets were making their first visit to Rexall Place since March 1996. The Oilers and Jets will face off to start the regular season on Oct. 1 in Edmonton. ... After being roughed up in their last game against the Vancouver Canucks, resulting in a broken jaw and several missing teeth to centre Sam Gagner, the Oilers added some toughness in the form of Steve McIntyre on Monday. McIntyre, who will be joining the Oil for the third time in his career, was picked up off of waivers from Pittsburgh. ... Hulking 6-5 centre prospect Adam Lowry played in his first game of the pre-season for Winnipeg since hurting his neck in the first scrimmage of camp.Ryan Braun Jersey . Whether its a sign of things to come remains to be seen, but that question will likely be answered within the next week. Nash is the biggest name in the NHL rumour mill heading toward the Feb. Martin Maldonado Brewers Jersey .C. -- The buzz is back in Charlotte.SOCHI, Russia – If not quite the underdog, Drew Doughty believes, at the very least, that the Canadians are being overlooked, doubted and probably even overly dissected heading into Fridays semifinal matchup with the Americans. "I think a lot of people are counting us out," said Doughty. "If everyone wants to count us out, were going to use that as motivation." Doughty wouldnt go quite so far as to label Team Canada as the underdog, but its clear that the overwhelming degree of scrutiny has some members of the squad feeling as though theyve been doubted just a little too much. "We dont see ourselves as the underdog," Doughty said, the defender leading the Canadians with four goals. "I think both teams are really evenly matched. I dont know who Id give the upper hand to at this point. Im obviously more confident in my team than I am in theirs..." Like the Americans, Canada has yet to lose in these Olympics, but unlike their rivals to the south, they failed to exactly dominate in victory, scratching out close wins over the Norwegians (3-1), Finns (2-1 overtime) and Latvians (2-1), the last of which saw the two teams tied for most of the first 53 minutes of regulation. Head coach Mike Babcock has stressed that his team simply improves each and every day of the two-week tournament, pointing to Wednesdays struggle with the Latvians as a needed bit of adversity. Its evident, however, that the best of this Canadian team has yet to emerge. Whether it will in time for the 2010 gold medal game rematch remains in question. "Yeah were close," said Jonathan Toews after the quarterfinal win over Latvia, "not quite there yet though. Next game." Scoring concerns up front remain the most pressing issue. The Canadian forward contingent has combined for just six goals - or one more than Phil Kessel has all by himself here in Sochi - despite an overwhelming level of offensive talent. Wednesdays quarterfinal could be construed as a step in the right direction. Though they snuck just two by Kristers Gudlevskis, they managed nearly 60 shots and had numerous opportunities. Sidney Crosby, who had a breakaway in the opening minute, remains the most notable Canadian forward yet to score, but hes joined by Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry, Rick Nash, Patrick Marleau, Chris Kunitz, Martin St. Louis, Matt Duchene, and Patrice Bergeron – essentially everyone but Jeff Carter, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf and Patrick Sharp. Symmetry appears to finally be forming though. Unlike the previous four games, which saw thhe lines differ just about every night, Babcock will keep his forward combinations intact for the tilt against the Americans – save for the injured John Tavares (leg) – hopeful that theyll translate into actual production with elimination on the line. Jonathan Lucroy Brewers Jersey. "You can talk scoring chances till youre blue in the face, who cares? The score is on the board, and so weve just got to find a way to keep doing what were doing," said Babcock. "I think we like the fact that were getting a lot of chances in and around the net," said Crosby, who remains alongside Kunitz and Bergeron. "We trust theyre going to go in a little bit more if we keep getting those. I think we just try to stay the course and make sure that we focus on burying those." Theyll have to do so against the seemingly unflappable Jonathan Quick. A rock for the L.A. Kings in the postseason – he has a .940 save percentage combined in the past two springs – Quick has stopped 72 of 77 shots in three starts for Team USA, fronted by an offence thats managed 20 goals in four games. "When he gets hot, when he makes some big saves early, he seems to become unbeatable, said Doughty, who captured the Cup with Quick in 2012. "And thats why weve got to get one early on him. The only way were going to score on him is weve got to get pucks up high and weve got to get screens in front and tips." Countering Quick will be Carey Price – who has stopped 48 of 51 shots – and a stiff defensive Canadian unit thats yielded just two even-strength goals all tournament and average of fewer than 19 shots against. If theres been an obvious strength to Canadas game on the bigger Olympic ice, its been the ability to defend and defend by controlling the possession of the puck. Continuing that against an American attack fronted by Kessel, who leads the tournament with eight points, will be a new and far more difficult challenge. Crosby was among the group of Canadian players who took in the Americans classic tilt with Russia in the preliminary round and was struck, above all else, with just how fast they were as a group. He and his teammates believe theyre ready for such a fight though even if others arent quite so sure. "At this point whether we beat three favourites or zero, nobodys going to really think about that or talk about that if we get the result we want [Friday] and win the game," he said. "Our groups real confident," Babcock added. "We like what weve done. We like how our team is. We think were set up good right now. And that, to me, is the most important thing." Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
