My thumb is up to Saturdays First Star. Ill pick one every week here and this week, its James Reimer. It probably wasn’t James Reimer after two periods, but it certainly was after three periods, as his Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Forty minutes into the game, Reimer had made 19 saves. In the final period, he stopped the puck 26 times for a 45-save performance in a game that could actually be called “stirring. That’s an adjective that doesn’t often apply to a game at Air Canada Centre, for a variety of reasons - the home team, the visiting team, the atmosphere or all of the above. This time, they all added up to an exciting night and Reimer stood tall as the reason the Leafs won and as a reminder of why he’s still a Leaf. Surely, there have been times the Leafs have considered trading him, and times he wished for that, but for every time that seemed like a good idea, there’s a time like last night. -- My thumb is down to injuries...well, that goes without saying, so lets say Thumbs down to too many injuries. How many is too many? Count up the number of injuries plaguing the Columbus Blue Jackets and thats too many. Theyre playing without a Vezina Trophy goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, their highest-scoring defenceman, James Wisniewski, and six of their 10 best forwards. Its a big year for the Jackets, as they try to build on last seasons playoff showing against Pittsburgh and Columbus is playing host to the All-Star Game. Ryan Johansens messy contract negotiations threatened to spoil his and the teams start, but Johansen has played well. Its too bad much of his scoring support is missing. Scott Hartnell is the only other top forward who has suited up for every game and Hartnell has just one goal with his new team. Injuries arent supposed to be used as an excuse, but injuries that potentially can completely ruin a season might be different. Juuso Riikola Jersey . - Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Jason Babin is now a free agent. Ed Olczyk Jersey .com) - The collective hearts of Chicago Bulls fans sank on Friday night when Derrick Rose went down with a leg injury against the Cleveland Cavaliers. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/971q-kris-letang-jersey-penguins.html . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive. Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are tightening the race for second place in the Atlantic Division. Fake Penguins Jerseys . -- The guys in green raced off the court and into the locker room where they danced and sang, compared whose shot was most likely to end up featured on "One Shining Moment," and checked Twitter to see who was giving them a shoutout.SOCHI – If its not Canada, it could be the inspired bunch from the host-country. If its not the Russians, it could be the Swedes, Finns, Czechs or Americans. The gold-medal winner likely will come from this group in Sochi, but forecasting the Olympic champion in the mens hockey tournament has never been easy. Since the participation of NHL players in 1998 there have been three different winners in the Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden and Canada again in four Winter Games. Its a short-term event and things can go wrong in a hurry for the top teams. A hot goaltender can steal a game in the medal round and all of a sudden a favourite is sitting on the sidelines. Just ask Hockey Canada. Were the Canadian teams that won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 or in Vancouver in 2010 any better than the 1998 group that was stoned time and time again by Dominik Hasek in Nagano? Just ask Sweden about 2002, when goalie Tommy Salo surrendered that fluky late-game winning goal offf his bean from 70 feet out off the stick of Belarus defenceman Vladimir Kopat.dddddddddddd Who would have thought Switzerland could have pulled off its surprise run to the final at the world championship last spring? Like the sophisticated watches the Swiss are known for, the hockey teams timing was impeccable. It peaked at the perfect moment for wins over the Czech Republic and United States in the quarterfinal and semi-final, respectively, only to lose to Sweden in the finale. So, with all that in mind, what country will give Canada the biggest challenge in its gold-medal defence at the 2014 Winter Games? Here are the odds as of Monday night from bodog.ca. • Canada 19-10 (about 2-1)• Russia 12-5• Sweden 9-2• USA 6-1• Finland 11-1• Czech Republic 12-1 And, if you like to play the long odds: • Switzerland 25-1• Slovakia 33-1• Norway 200-1• Latvia 400-1\• Austria 750-1• Slovenia 1,000-1 ' ' '