ekansekans's blog: "df"

SEATTLE -- Matt Hasselbeck barely had time to hear his name announced as the Tennessee Titans starting quarterback before he was watching his former team headed the other way for a touchdown. Brooks Reed Jersey . On the first play of the game. "I was just like No, youve got to be kidding me!" Hasselbeck said. Hasselbeck had a rocky return to the stadium where he created so many memories wearing a Seahawks uniform, throwing a pair of interceptions in his limited appearance, while Seattle rookie Russell Wilson dazzled with touchdowns running and throwing in the second half to help the Seahawks open the preseason with a 27-17 victory Saturday night. Hasselbeck, who was Seattles anchor at quarterback for nearly a decade, saw the first play of the game -- a pass intended for Nate Washington -- get deflected into the arms of Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner and returned 23 yards for a touchdown. Seattle (No. 22 APPro32) went ahead 17-3 on the first drive of the second half when Wilson, in a three-way competition for the Seahawks QB job, threw a 39-yard scoring pass to Braylon Edwards. Wilson added a 32-yard bootleg touchdown run with 1:51 left to cap an impressive debut by the third-round pick. "I felt like I did a really good job, especially for the first time being out there," Wilson said. "I was really, really calm (and) just trusted what I saw." Matt Flynn got the start at quarterback for Seattle while incumbent Tarvaris Jackson was left to watch this week. Coach Pete Carroll gave no indication afterward how the rotation will be next week when Seattle travels to Denver. "The quarterbacks did a really nice job," Carroll said. "Nothing but good stuff came out of this game." Hasselbeck was greeted with cheers and signs before the game with plenty of fans still donning No. 8 Seahawks jerseys. Hasselbeck said he got choked up speaking before the game. "It means a lot to me to see someone wearing my jersey especially when Im gone," Hasselbeck said. Hasselbeck threw a quick out for Washington on the first play from scrimmage. But Hasselbecks throw was poor -- low and too far behind Washington. The receiver tried to pull in the pass, but instead knocked it off the arm of safety Earl Thomas and into Browners arms. The 23-yard interception return gave Seattle a 7-0 lead just 9 seconds into the preseason. "It was kind of a freak thing," Hasselbeck said. "It reminded me of my first pass the last time I was in this stadium which was intercepted against the Saints. ... It was disappointing it started that way, not at all how I envisioned it." That came in the NFC wild card game when Hasselbeck was engineering an upset of the defending Super Bowl champions. Seattle opted to go a different direction at quarterback before the start of the 2011 season and Hasselbeck ended up in Tennessee (No. 21 APPro32), where he finds himself this preseason battling Jake Locker for the starting job. In terms of appearance, Locker, who played his college ball across town at Washington, got the better of Saturday night albeit against the Seahawks backups. Titans coach Mike Munchak saw it that way as well, saying the gap between the QBs has closed. "I think overall, as the season progressed last year, Jake was coming on real strong last year. He kind of picked up where he left off in training camp. Thats why theres a competition," Munchak said. "If he didnt close the gap, there wouldnt be a competition and Matt obviously would be starting. I think hes closed the gap." Hasselbeck ended up with 15 snaps, right about what Munchak had hoped. He finished 5 of 9 passes for 45 yards and two interceptions, his second a glorified punt that Richard Sherman hauled in along the sideline at the Seattle 6. Locker got 18 snaps, playing the rest of the first half before giving way to Rusty Smith in the second half. Locker was decisive and confident in the pocket, although against Seattles second-team defence. Locker completed 7 of 13 passes for 80 yards and led the Titans to Rob Bironas 32-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half. Locker completed his first five passes on the Titans final drive for 60 yards. "Thats not for me to decide, for both Matt and I. Its up to us to go out and play as well as we can and put our team in the best situation to win games," Locker said. "At the end of the day, neither of us are going to make that decision, so Im probably the wrong guy to ask." Flynn played the entire first half, but was highly conservative with his throws. He finished 11 of 13 for 71 yards, but never once challenged the Titans secondary downfield. His longest completion was a 16-yard throw to Zach Miller, but five of his completions were for 5 yards or less. While he didnt take chances, Flynn mostly didnt make mistakes either. He was sacked twice -- once holding the ball too long -- and his biggest miscue came on his 10th pass attempt when his slant pass to Ben Obomanu was intercepted by linebacker Colin McCarthy dropping into coverage. "Im always going to want more reps and more of everything," Flynn said. "But just like the other two guys theyre going to want the same thing. As an offence, the No. 1 offence as a whole it was a really good start. " Wilson wasnt without his own blunder throwing an interception in the end zone. Overall, Seattle was more aggressive in its play calling with Wilson, who was 12 for 16 passes for 124 yards. He added 59 yards rushing. Will Batson missed a 36-yard field goal with 4:46 left for Tennessee that would have tied the game at 20. Titans backup running back Darius Reynaud scored on a 21-yard TD run midway through the third quarter, and returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown. Garrett Graham Jersey . The 17-year-old leads the QMJHL scoring list with two goals, five assists and a plus-6 rating. Drouin and linemate (and potential first-overall selection in 2013) Nathan MacKinnon combined for three goals and nine points as the Mooseheads crushed the host P. Arian Foster Black Jersey . The blueliner is also expected to miss a chance to play for Sweden at next months World Championship. The 25-year-old suffered the injury on Tuesday in Buffalo when he was checked by Sabres forward Marcus Foligno. http://www.texansfansroom.com/andre-johnson-jersey . Scott Cullen looks at the Penguins staying alive and the Red Wings dying a slow death Friday. A FLEURY OF ACTIVITYAfter an abysmal start to the series, Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury earned his keep in the third period of Game Five, when the Flyers outshot the Penguins 14-8, yet couldnt score the equalizer, despite many quality chances. Connor Barwin Jersey . Barnes, who was not present in court, entered his plea Tuesday through his attorney. Superior Court Judge Burt Pines sentenced him to two years of probation. Donnie Jones Jersey . This week, they discuss the Toronto Raptors signing Demar DeRozan to a four-year deal, the Atlanta Falcons, Rory McIlroy and the shooting range in Port Coquitlam, BC.GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Los Angeles gave up goal from the centre line, another tying goal on a miscommunication. The way the Kings dominated the rest of the game, not to mention how theyve played on the road in the playoffs, those two slipups certainly werent going to derail their bid to take home-ice advantage from the Phoenix Coyotes. Overwhelming Phoenix from the start, the Kings overcome a couple of rare miscues by goalie Jonathan Quick to open the Western Conference finals with a 4-2 victory over the Coyotes on Sunday night to remain unbeaten on the road in the playoffs. Quick rebounded from his mistakes with some big saves in Phoenixs closing flurry and Dwight King scored his second goal into an empty net in the final minute, giving Los Angeles its sixth straight road playoff victory, one short of the NHL record for a single post-season. They also won their final two road playoff games last year. "We all know on our team that wasnt going to beat us," Kings centre Jarret Stoll said. "Thats just the way we played." With a week off after sweeping St. Louis in the second round, the Kings were far from rusty, dominating the Coyotes early. Los Angeles controlled the puck for long stretches of the first period to set up Anze Kopitars goal 4 minutes in on the way to their sixth straight victory. Phoenix rallied to tie twice, the first one on a shot by Derek Morris that surprised Quick from the red line, but the Kings kept coming. Dustin Brown had a goal and an assist, King had his first career two-goal game and Los Angeles outshot Phoenix 48-27. Game 2 is Tuesday night in the desert. "One of those things where at this time of year you got to just stick with the game plan, execute, things will fall into place if you work hard," Brown said. The Coyotes also had a long layoff -- they finished off Nashville on Monday night -- and werent quite as sharp. On their heels from the start, they were outshot 17-4 in the first period and, despite twice tying the game, were fortunate it was close. Morris had his surprising goal and Mikkel Boedker had another tying goal in the second period, but the Coyotes were outplayed pretty much the rest of the way to trail in a series for the first time this year. "Their whole team was better than our team," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "We werent close in that game. We got beat in every facet of the game. Hopefully, we take some lessons from it and get better for the next game." This was the Western Conference finals few expected. The Coyotes werent picked to even make the playoffs, entering the season with an unproven No. 1 goalie and no owner for the third straight year. Grinding and relying on Mike Smiths breakout season in goal, the Coyotes won their first division title as an NHL franchise and beat Chicago and Nashville, two supposedly better teams, in the first two rounds to make their inaugural appearance in the conference finals. The Kings had expectations, but didnt quite live up to them. Los Angeles was among the NHLs worst-scoring teams all season, costing coach Terry Murray his job in December, and squeaked into the pplayoffs as the last team in the West behind Quicks stellar season. J.J. Watt Camo Jersey. . The Kings, too, were underdogs in the playoffs and didnt seem to mind, racing through Vancouver and St. Louis to reach the conference finals for the first time since 1993 and become the first No. 8 seed to knock off the top two teams in the same playoffs. That set up what figured to be a testy series between Pacific Division rivals. The Coyotes and Kings know each other well, playing six times every season, a familiarity thats led to some brutality, including a fight between captains Shane Doan and Brown in February. Playing for a spot in the Stanley Cup finals, it didnt figure to let up any. Game 1 was plenty testy, with multiple scrums, hard hits and a roughing penalty on a goalie (Smith) in the first period -- a trend that continued throughout the game. "Weve played these guys a lot over the years and this time of year, you do whatever you can do to get an edge," Brown said. The Kings had it against Phoenix early, swarming to Coyotes while getting the games first eight shots. Kopitar scored his fourth goal of the playoffs early on, scooping up a loose puck in front before flipping a backhander past Smiths glove side. With Los Angeles still in control -- a 12-3 advantage in shots -- Morris caught everyone off-guard, particularly Quick, by ripping a slap shot from the red (centre) line past the Vezina Trophy finalist. That tied it at 1 and left Kings coach Darryl Sutter smirking in disbelief on the bench. "Its a rare bad goal against them," Sutter said. "Our team was resilient enough just to play through it." They sure did. Los Angeles kept up the pressure in the second, setting up Kings rebound goal on a 2-on-1 with Mike Richards midway through. As they have all post-season, the Coyotes answered, scoring with just under 2 minutes left in the period. Boedker got the goal, one-timing a pass from Doan after Antoine Vermette won a battle behind the goal and Quick had to scramble back to the crease. Brown put the Kings up 3-2 early in the third period, beating Smith stick side on a mini breakaway for his seventh goal of the playoffs after a long, right-on-the-tape pass from Slava Voynov. The Coyotes had been resilient throughout the playoffs, snatching a few wins after being outplayed. They had no answer this time, unable to get a puck past Quick in their closing flurry before giving up Kings empty-netter with less than a minute left. "They played better than us," Doan said. "They beat us in all kind of different areas. It is frustrating when you get beat, disappointing when you get beat. It is no good especially when you dont play as well as you can." They better figure it out quick or it could be a short series against the hottest team in the playoffs. Notes: Coyotes D Adrian Aucoin didnt play after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Game 5 against Nashville. ... Kopitar has seven points his past four games. ... The Kings have won eight of 14 playoff series after taking Game 1. ... Los Angeles has killed off 24 straight penalties after holding Phoenix scoreless in five tries. ' ' '