Lob & Kritik » as set a franchise record for TD passes in a season.CHE

TORONTO -- The NHL has gotten almost everything it hoped for so far at the World Cup of Hockey.In holding the first World Cup since 2004, the league and players wanted a festival of hockey that showcased the its best players. Two losses and an early exit by the United States isnt what anyone wanted for the sake of interest, but the 23-and-under Team North America put on a show and captured the attention of fans, coaches and players around the tournament.Team North America and the U.S. are out, with Canada and Russia meeting in one semifinal Saturday night and Sweden and Team Europe in the other Sunday afternoon. The quality of play has already been Olympic-level high and should only get better with at least four and potentially five games left.The winners here have been the fans, North America coach Todd McLellan said. Theyve watched some really good hockey in September and that doesnt happen very often.The NHL was panned initially for the North American and European all-star teams, but the youngsters speed, skill and scoring won so many people over that merchandise bearing the NA logo was almost entirely sold out at Air Canada Centre. Europe won people over by winning, beating the U.S. and the Czech Republic to advance.Two-time Olympic champion Canada has rolled, going 3-0 and outscoring opponents 14-3 along the way, and Sweden has leaned heavily on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. North Americas games against Russia and Sweden were two of the most exciting end-to-end games in recent international history.Commissioner Gary Bettman is proud of how the NHL and NHLPA revived the World Cup in world-class fashion.Its been sensational. Its exactly what we expected, Bettman said. We wanted this to feel like and be a major event. We predicted that the competition would be better than any international tournament to date, that it would have a big-event feel.The World Cup achieved big-event status in Toronto, with a mostly full arena and buzz around the city. The same cant be said on U.S. TV, as ESPN reported that approximately 770,000 people watched Canada beat Team USA on Tuesday night, the most watched game so far.Executive vice president of programming and scheduling Burke Magnus called the Americans disappointing showing a lost opportunity.Thats the beauty of live sports, Magnus said by phone Thursday. Thats what makes sort of the unscripted nature of what we do so much fun. We obviously were counting on them to get out of pool play, but they werent able to do it. But this is the best players in the world.Canada looks like it still has the best collection of players in the world, even without North Americas Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, who orchestrated a magic show on ice. Even the most grizzled old-school fundamental hockey people had to appreciate the way McDavid, MacKinnon, 2016 top pick Auston Matthews and Co. played.McDavid said North America definitely turned heads. Canada coach Mike Babcock called it a great way to showcase the NHL of the future.The North American kids have been a home run for the NHL, Babcock said. This North American team is a pump in the arm for hockey. Its fantastic.Here are some other things we learned in round-robin play at the World Cup of Hockey:U.S. CANT SCORE: In two games before being eliminated, the U.S. scored a total of one goal. Even with Patrick Kane, Joe Pavelski and Zach Parise on the roster, the Americans failed to generate scoring chances and general manager Dean Lombardi and coach John Tortorella had to answer for why they chose size and physicality at the expense of more skill.From the staff right on through, (we) did not get the job done, Tortorella said. You need to accept that and we need to take the medicine.3 AND OH CANADA: The Sidney Crosby-led Canadians looked so good in their first game that American Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Modano tweeted to cancel the rest of the tournament and give them the trophy. Goalie Carey Price is on, and Canada looks unstoppable as usual.We feel like we can improve, said Crosby, who has won 22 consecutive games with Canada. I think its just probably just consistency in every area, just making sure that were sharp, that we make the plays we need to make.HOW SWEDE IT IS: Lundqvist stopped 81 of 85 shots in two games and is the top reason Sweden can win this. Ten years after leading the Swedes to gold at the 2006 Olympics, the King has one last crack at another international title.Hes been our MVP, forward Carl Hagelin said. I didnt expect anything else from that guy.A MIGHTY CONTINENT: Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Austria and France all likely wouldve been three and out at this tournament, but with players from those eight countries, Team Europe showed it can hang with the big boys. Its the World Cups Cinderella in the Final Four after creating its own September madness, and coach Ralph Krueger beamed about Europes underdog spirit.FROM RUSSIA WITH GOALS: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and the Russians used quick-strike offense to set up a rivalry showdown with Canada. A win on Canadian ice would go a long way toward moving past the home-ice failure in Sochi.Its going to be like Russia when we play Olympic Games, Ovechkin said. Everybody going to be crazy. Atmospheres going to be unbelievable.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . Swell Bottles Clearance . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Swell Water Bottle Wholesale . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. http://www.swellbottlesclearance.com/swell-spectrum-collection-bottle.html .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Swell Drink Bottle Sale .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. SWell Bottle Clearance . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. TAMPA, Fla. -- Welcome to the NFC South, where two games over .500 gives the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a share of first place, and two under has the New Orleans Saints in position to make up ground in a hurry.Talk about playing meaningful games in December.The surging Bucs (7-5), and explosive, but inconsistent Saints (5-7) meet in a key divisional matchup Sunday, then play again in New Orleans in two weeks.In between, the Bucs travel to Dallas for a prime-time date against the NFL-best Cowboys (11-1). The Saints, meanwhile, visit Arizona (5-6-1), which is trying to stay in playoff contention, too.Tampa Bay closes the regular season against Carolina (4-8) and New Orleans finishes at NFC South co-leader Atlanta (7-5), meaning the Bucs and Saints both play three of their remaining four games within the division.The way our division is so tight right now, these games are huge, Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter said. Us and Atlanta sitting there at 7-5, New Orleans at 5-7. Just do the math for New Orleans, and were not too far ahead. So, its going to be huge.Part of the challenge for Koetter down the stretch will be keeping one of the NFLs youngest rosters even-keeled.With second-year quarterback Jameis Winston leading the way, the Bucs have won four straight -- six of eight overall -- to overcome a slow start. Tampa Bay hasnt made the playoffs since 2007, and the winning streak is the teams longest in four years.Koetter, whos in his first year as a NFL head coach, said hes not 100 percent sure of the best approach to helping the players cope with the mounting pressure of a playoff chase.Im feeling my way through, the coach said, adding that he tries to tell it to them straight.They know where they are, they know how important this game is. ... But how you gauge the team and how you feel even-keeled, thats a hard thing to figure exactly, Koetter said. I also count on the leadership of our players to help out with that.The Saints relish the opportunity to get back in the race, though it wont be easy playing three of their final four games on the road. Coach Sean Payton feels its imperative New Orleans focus on Sunday -- nothing beyond.We cant play all four Payton said. Weve just got to play this one.Some things to know about the Saints and Bucs:PUT IT ALL OUT THERE:: Payton and Koetter both call offensive plays and insist they arent tempted to hold anything back on Sunday.ddddddddddddI dont think youd ever go into a game saying lets hold this for the second game. Certainly were not in a position to save or hold anything, Payton said.Koetter agreed: Ive never been like that, I dont believe in that. Shoot. Who knows where were going to be in two weeks? Our most important game is right now.BRINGING PRESSURE: The overlapping returns from injury of linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins have resulted in considerable improvement by the New Orleans defense in quarterback pressure. Theyve combined for seven sacks in the past four games. Ellerbe, who has been featured in blitz packages, has a sack in each of the Saints past four games. Rankins, a rookie drafted 12th overall last spring, has three sacks in that span.FAMOUS JAMEIS: Winstons steady progress has been a big part of Tampa Bays surge. The first overall pick from last years draft has thrown 15 touchdown passes versus four interceptions over his past eight games. Hes on pace to top 4,000 yards passing again, as well as set a franchise record for TD passes in a season.CHEMISTRY QUESTIONS: New Orleans lack of rhythm on offense last weekend against Detroit begged the question whether there was a carry-over from the dissatisfaction receiver Brandin Cooks expressed after not having a pass thrown to him during a Week 12 win over Los Angeles. Drew Brees threw to Cooks nine times against the Lions, and the third-year receiver had seven catches for 73 yards. Nevertheless, New Orleans struggled to convert third downs -- and, ultimately, to score in a 28-13 loss.GREAT BREES: Brees, who leads the NFL in passing yards, completions, attempts, completion percentage and TD passes, is 87 yards shy of throwing for at least 4,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons. The Bucs, by comparison, have had just two 4,000-yard seasons (Winston 2015, Josh Freeman 2012) in team history.---AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL. ' ' '