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. Pierre Desir Jersey Black Friday . 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. Detroit Red Wings at Ottawa Senators The 2013-14 season has largely been a disappointing one for the Ottawa Senators so far, but the club hopes to start anew when it begins the post-Olympics schedule with Thursdays home tilt against the Detroit Red Wings. The Senators, a playoff team in each of the past two seasons, are only three points behind Detroit for the last postseason berth in the Eastern Conference, but Ottawa has struggled with consistency in 2013-14. Ottawa posted a 9-2-3 record during one of its best stretches of the season from Dec. 28-Jan. 30, but the club then went 2-2-1 to begin the month of February. The Sens also ended their pre-Olympics slate by losing 7-2 to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 8. The Sens have one game at home before jetting off to Vancouver, where it will play an outdoor game against the Canucks on Saturday. The game at BC Place, which features a retractable roof, kicks off a four-game road trip for Ottawa. Star defenseman Erik Karlsson is coming off an Olympic run that saw him help Team Sweden pick up a silver medal at the recent Sochi Games, and he is eager to aid the Senators in the push to the playoffs. "Im looking forward to start playing hockey here again," Karlsson told the Senators official website. "It feels like the vibe is good in the room and were looking forward to the last stretch here." Karlsson was a teammate of former Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson at the Olympics and his countryman will play his third career game against Ottawa on Thursday. Alfredsson spent his first 17 NHL seasons with the Senators before leaving to sign with Detroit over the summer. Alfredsson, who was greeted with a standing ovation by the Ottawa crowd when he returned to Scotiabank Place on Dec. 1, has one goal and one assist in his two games against the Senators this season. On the injury front, Ottawa forward Clarke MacArthur and defenseman Chris Phillips headed into the Olympic break with injuries, but both players are expected to be ready to go for Thursdays game. Ottawa is 2-1-0 against the Red Wings this season, but Detroit has won five of the last seven meetings against the Senators overall. The Wings have won three straight, four of five and six of the past eight meetings at Scotiabank Place. The Red Wings earned a victory in their first game after the break, downing the Montreal Canadiens in overtime on Wednesday. Gustav Nyquist scored with just 27.3 seconds remaining in the extra session to help lift Detroit to the 2-1 road win. Detroit allowed the Canadiens to tie the game on Brian Giontas goal with just 28.7 seconds left in regulation but recovered to win the tilt in OT. Johan Franzen, returning from a concussion that sidelined him for 22 of Detroits final 23 contests prior to the stoppage, assisted on Nyquists game- winner as well as Todd Bertuzzis first-period power-play goal. Jimmy Howard stopped 19-of-20 shots to help the Red Wings improve to 4-1-1 over their last six outings. "We played a great game. We didnt give them much room," said Franzen. Detroit is playing the third test of a four-game road trip that began before the Olympics. The Red Wings, who are 16-9-4 as the guest this season, will cap the swing Tuesday in New Jersey. Minnesota Wild at Edmonton Oilers The Minnesota Wild hope to maintain a firm grasp on a playoff spot as they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night, when both clubs return to action following the Olympic break. The Wild come out of the hiatus a distant 10 points behind the Colorado Avalanche for third place in the Central Division, but with a five-point edge for one of the two wild card spots in the Western Conference. Minnesota won its final two games before the Olympic break and is 4-1-2 in its last seven games. While Zach Parise and Ryan Suter return from a disappointing showing by Team USA in Sochi, Russia, Mikael Granlund had a solid performance to help Finland win bronze. Granlund, who turned 22 on Wednesday, had three goals and seven points during the Olympics, getting named to the All-Tournament team. "You can tell that theyve been playing at a high speed over there, and I expect them to step right in where they left off," Wild coach Mike Yeo told his teams website of his three Olympians. Minnesota is looking to get healthy for the stretch run and is close to getting forward Mikko Koivu back from a right ankle injury that required surgery. He suffered a break blocking a shot on Jan. 4 and was unable to play for Team Finland. Koivu may return tonight or Friday versus the Vancouver Canucks. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom, meanwhile, has been out since Jan. 30 because of a strained abdominal, but could suit up tonight. If not, John Curry would serve as the backup to Darcy Kuemper. Backstrom is 25-4-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and four shutouts in his career versus the Oilers, while Kuemper has faced them once before. That came this season, a 4-1 home victory on Jan. 16 in which he made 20 saves. Minnesota has won five of six and 14 of its last 17 versus the Oilers, including two straight and seven of eight in Edmonton. With the playoffs about out of reach, the Oilers are looking to finish strong ahead of next season. They are last in the Western Conference with 47 points, 18 out of a playoff spot and five ahead of Buffalo for the fewest in the NHL. Edmonton did win five of seven before the break and kick off a five-game homestand tonight. One thing to watch for the Oilers is the situation in net, where the clubs have a pair of upcoming free agents in Ilya Bryzgalov and Ben Scrivens. Bryzgalov signed with Edmonton during the season, while Scrivens was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings. Head coach Dallas Eakins is looking for both to play well and is unsure of how the starts will be split between the two. "Its hard to say. I dont have a crystal ball next to me so itll depend on their play," said Eakins. "It may come down to if Ben plays well and Bryz is playing well, yeah we may give Ben a couple of extra starts. I think Bryz would understand that. Or, we might split it down the middle. I wont know until we get started here." Bryzgalov is 7-8-0 with a 2.64 GAA in his career versus the Wild, while Scrivens faced Minnesota for the first time in his career when he made his Oilers debut on Jan. 16 . He took that 4-1 loss, giving up four goals on 33 shots. Custom Cleveland Browns Jersey Black Friday . That will give them plenty of time to savour Robyn Regehrs first career overtime goal and try to figure out how to score more often. KWaun Williams Browns Jersey Cyber Monday . -- Navy football player Will McKamey, who has been hospitalized since collapsing at practice three days ago, has died while in a coma.Arsenal powered to a provisional seven-point lead in the Premier League after beating Cardiff 3-0 on Saturday, with Aaron Ramseys prolific season touching new heights with a double against his former club. There was more misery for Fulham at the other end of the standings, with a demoralizing 3-0 loss at fellow struggler West Ham keeping the team in the bottom three and leaving beleaguered manager Martin Jol fighting for his job. Ramsey marked his return to his boyhood club by taking his remarkable goal tally for the season to 13 in all competitions. Mathieu Flamini scored in between in the leaders 10th victory in 13 games. "This is where I started my career and where everything began, and hopefully theyve seen the player they produced today," said Ramsey, arguably the Premier Leagues star player so far this season. Everton moved level on points with second-place Liverpool and third-place Chelsea, which both play Sunday. Everton, now fourth, had a crushing 4-0 home win over Stoke that was rounded off by Romelu Lukakus eighth goal in nine league games. And in-form Newcastle is just one point and provisionally one place further back after a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion secured by goals from Frenchman Yoan Gouffran and Moussa Sissoko in the teams fourth victory in a row. At the bottom, Crystal Palace dropped to last place by losing 1-0 at Norwich in Tony Pulis first match in charge of the London side. Jol acknowledged on Friday that he could be fired if he lost against West Ham at Upton Park and again at home to former club Tottenham on Wednesday. The Dutchman is halfway there after this fifth straight league defeat. "It is not in my hands," Jol said. "If I have to worry, I was probably worried a couple of months ago because it is not one day and then the other. It is probably the last two months we have been inconsistent." Sunderland climbed off the bottom with a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa in Saturdays other game. By the end of his latest goalscoring display, both Arsenal and Cardiff fans were singing Ramseys name. The midfielder left the Welsh capital to join Arsenal in 2008 as a 17-year-old hopeful and has taken his time to mature into the kind of free-scoring player that Premier League defences juust cant cope with this season. Taylor Gabriel Jersey Black Friday. . Ramsey headed in a cross from Mesut Ozil in the 29th minute to put Arsenal ahead, and finished off the victory on a counterattack in injury time. He refused to celebrate either goal. "It shows you how much Aaron Ramsey has improved," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "We came here two or three years ago and he had a nightmare here in a cup game." "You are always torn between being happy to score and happy you can win the game," Wenger added, "but out of respect for the club where he was educated he didnt celebrate." Ozil set up Flaminis goal, too, slotting a perfectly weighted pass into the area for the France midfielder to hammer into the net in the 86th. "When you play first (on a Premier League weekend), you can only do your job and see what happens after," Wenger said after Arsenals sixth win in seven away matches in the league. "But if you do your job well, you can relax." Gerard Deulofeu, on his first league start, Seamus Coleman and Bryan Oviedo joined Lukaku in scoring in Evertons easy win over Stoke to stay undefeated at home in the league in 2013. While a lot of the plaudits fell once again on Lukaku, the performance of 19-year-old Deulofeu -- who is on loan from Barcelona -- also stood out after being handed his starting debut by Catalonia-born manager Roberto Martinez. "It was the most satisfying individual performance that we had because he had to wait for so long to get his chance," Martinez said. Fulhams loss was West Hams gain on Saturday as goals by Mohamed Diame, Carlton Cole and Joe Cole ended the Hammers five-match winless run which had left them just above the relegation zone. It remains to be seen whether Jol keeps his job through to the Tottenham game in midweek. "The manager takes all the flak really but, ultimately, the players need to take massive responsibility," Fulham midfielder Scott Parker said. 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