nded with an impres

UNIONDALE, N. nfl jerseys china .Y. -- The New York Islanders were even with the Florida Panthers in the first period, and coach Jack Capuano liked nothing about it. He let his players know it, and they responded with an impressive final 40 minutes. Josh Bailey had a goal and assist, and the Islanders kept up their strong finish with a 4-2 victory over the Panthers on Tuesday night. "We got off to a real slow start," Capuano said. New York, on the verge of elimination in the Eastern Conference playoff race after qualifying for the post-season a year ago, quickly bounced back from Quinton Howdens short-handed goal less than two minutes in and sent the Panthers to their fourth straight loss. Travis Hamonic, Matt Martin and Mike Halmo also scored, Colin McDonald had two assists, and Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves for the Islanders, 4-0-1 in their past five. "Guys have done a good job keeping each other up, keeping the spirits up even though it can be tough," Bailey said. "When you think about last year down the stretch and how much fun it was, its difficult. We definitely dont want to find ourselves here ever again, but youve still got a job to do." Florida, which won two earlier meetings this season, is one of three NHL teams with fewer points than New York. "No one is happy with where we are," Martin said. "Its a rough year and a year were not proud of, but to be going down the stretch with some wins and playing good hockey definitely feels a little bit better." Brandon Pirri closed the scoring for Florida, making it 4-2 with his 11th goal -- on a power play -- with 5.9 seconds left in the game. Scott Clemmensen stopped 36 shots for Florida, which lost 6-3 at New Jersey on Monday. "We let them capitalize on too many chances," Panthers centre Nick Bjugstad said. "We have to stay positive and try to end the season with better efforts." The action started quickly for the Panthers, who scored short-handed for the second straight night -- the fourth time that has happened in team history. On his first NHL shift, defenceman Jonathan Racine was called for interference when he levelled forward Cal Clutterbuck 42 seconds in. Florida then struck first. Howden knocked the puck free at the left point and raced the other way alone. He easily stayed in front of Frans Nielsen and beat Nabokov at 1:50. The Islanders tied it on the same power play, 45 seconds later, when Hamonic netted his third goal. Bailey won a faceoff and got the puck back to Hamonic, who snapped a shot through traffic at 2:35. "The surge started to go our way a little bit, but we didnt play our style in the first," Capuano said. "I wasnt happy at all, and I know the guys werent happy, either, but youve got to find a way. You cant have slow starts in this league." Florida gave the Islanders two other power plays in the period in which the Panthers were outshot 11-5. They were about to get an advantage with 2:19 left when Matt Carkner high-sticked Scottie Upshall in front of the penalty box and knocked him to the ice. But Panthers teammate Erik Gudbranson charged Carkner, and they immediately fought. Gudbranson was given an extra penalty for instigating, wiping out the power play. The Islanders added two goals in the second, including Baileys seventh 17 seconds after he served a penalty. McDonald got two whacks at the puck, and Bailey slammed in the rebound at 11:18. New York stretched the lead to 3-1 with 2:24 remaining. McDonald knocked the puck away from Racine at the left point and took off alone. The hard-charging Martin came down the middle and ripped in the rebound of McDonalds shot for his eighth goal. "They kept coming at us, kept crashing the crease," Clemmensen said. "They never stopped working, never gave up on plays all night." Halmo converted his rebound 4:21 into the third to make it 4-1. It was his first NHL goal in his 13th career game. "Everyone in here wants to play hard and be successful and give management something to think about for next season," Martin said. "Were in a profession where no ones job is really safe, so if you want to play here, youve got to show it." NOTES: For the third straight year, Martin was given the teams Bob Nystrom Award, honouring leadership, hustle and dedication. ... Racine and RW Bobby Butler were recalled from San Antonio (AHL) on Tuesday. Butler was scratched. ... With Montreal clinching a playoff spot, the trade between the Canadiens and Islanders in which Thomas Vanek was dealt by New York is completed. The Islanders will receive an extra second-round draft pick and give up their fifth-rounder to Montreal. cheap nfl jerseys . Louis Cardinals have agreed on a four-year contract, giving the All-Star a fresh start after his Biogenesis drug suspension last summer. jerseys from china . Johnson, 34, appeared in three games for the Baltimore Orioles last season after being acquired from the New York Yankees organization on Aug. 30. The six-foot-two, 210-pound native of Coon Rapids, Minn.INDIANAPOLIS - It was just before 2pm local time when the Raptors landed on game-day, five hours prior to tipoff and 38 hours after they were originally scheduled to touchdown in Indianapolis. Creatures of habit, the Raptors were expecting to fly out after their previous game - a hard-fought loss in Miami on Sunday - practice on Monday and shoot around ahead of an already daunting match-up with the league-best Pacers, a team they had defeated at home a week earlier. Instead, Mother Nature threw them a curveball and they had no choice but to adjust. A major snowstorm and frigid temperatures in Indianapolis resulted in the altered itinerary, a reasonable excuse for a team that has vowed to stop making excuses, and to their credit they refused to take the bait. "We can have all the excuses in the world, but in a game like this you have to man up and bring it," Dwane Casey said after his road-weary club dropped Tuesdays sluggish rematch with the Pacers 86-79 in snow-covered Indianapolis.  "Its a mans league. I expected us to have a little bit of a hangover with the bullcrap with the travel but I thought we put ourselves in a position to win. Now weve got to close the deal." Not one Raptor player would use the teams travel nightmare as justification for the loss; they would barely even acknowledge it in the visitors locker room post-game. It was the type of easy out they used to fall back on, almost routinely. This time they did what winning teams do. They owned it. "[We] had the opportunity, but didnt make shots," said Kyle Lowry, who had 16 points to go along with just two dimes, his lowest assist total since November 11th. "They beat us. We were a little bit off, schedule off, routine, but still had a chance to win, so cant really say it messed us up too much." The loss was just their fifth in 15 games since the trade, dropping a game below the .500 mark. "We came out a little sluggish, had a couple turnovers at the beginning, shots werent falling for us and we got out-rebounded," said Amir Johnson, coming off his worst outing of the season. "Theres your ball game." More often than not, the Raptors were a step sloow against a team that prides itself on pounding opponents into submission, especially at home, where theyve suffered just one loss. cheap jerseys from china. Toronto was out of sync, looking nothing like the club that stunned the Pacers at the Air Canada Centre last week. The Raptors managed just 18 assists, failing to reach 20 dimes for only the fourth time in the last 15 games. They were out-rebounded by 17 and bested by 14 in the paint, 11 in second-chance points. True to character they nearly made something out of nothing, cutting their deficit - once as big as 17 - to six down the stretch before eventually succumbing to the home teams punishing brand of basketball. "Guys were just a little bit off from their rhythm," Lowry said. "Not making shots, just the timing of everything was just a little off tonight." DeMar DeRozan scored the teams final 17 of the third quarter and finished with 28 and Patrick Patterson - playing in place of Johnson - had 11 of his 20 points in the fourth.  Johnson was not himself, finishing scoreless on five attempts in just over 20 minutes of action. Battling a cold on top of the travel snafus, the Raptors forward struggled through fatigue, looking out of breath on a couple of occasions in the first half. With Patterson playing well, Casey opted to ride the hot hand and sit Johnson in the fourth. Jonas Valanciunas also had an off night, held to just four points in 32 minutes and outplayed by Pacers centre Roy Hibbert on both ends of the floor. The team checked in and out of its Miami hotel three times before eventually taking off for Indianapolis at 11:30am Tuesday morning. There, they spent less than an hour at the hotel before boarding three busses to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, skipping shoot around and putting a dent into most of their game-day routine. "Youve just got to get your body going," Johnson said before the game. "After sitting down for a couple of hours, youve got to [stay active]." "Adversity sometimes comes in different ways," Casey said. "Its a good character builder for us. You hate to be against the best team in the conference but it is what it is." cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '