Hilfe!! » between the Lightning and the Leafs. Kyle Clifford and

MELBOURNE, Australia - After the clock ticked past midnight, Andy Murray became aware that it was officially Australia Day and he already knew from the crowd reaction what to expect in the quarterfinals.Murray, a two-time Grand Slam champion and three-time Australian Open finalist, fended off racket-smashing Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5 in a fourth-round match that started Sunday but continued into the early hours of Jan. 26, the national holiday that regularly occurs during the Australian Open.Midway through his match against No. 10-ranked Dimitrov, who beat him in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year, Murray heard a distinctive roar that started somewhere in the distance and echoed through Rod Laver Arena.I heard a lot of noise — I had to ask my box what it was for, he said. It was for 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios, who came back from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 8-6 on Hisense Arena — the No. 3 court at Melbourne Park — to become the first Aussie male to reach the last eight at the Australian Open since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005, and the first male teenager since Roger Federer in 2001 to reach two Grand Slam quarterfinals.Kyrgios has developed quite a reputation for his audacious blend of shots, for his crowd interaction, for his outbursts and for his results: as a wild-entry with a No. 144 ranking at Wimbledon last year, he beat then No. 1-ranked Nadal in the fourth round. That was after hed saved nine match points and come from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet in the second round.As a couple stood to leave Hisense Arena on Sunday during the fifth set — one in which Kyrgios let a 4-1 lead slip and then had to save break points — he called out to them: Hey, where are you going? The show, evidently, was not over.His first words after the win, as the crowd continued to chant and scream like soccer fans: Thanks mate. Feels so good.Its crazy, he said. When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible — it was the best feeling I ever had. Its just massive confidence.Murray, who was broken when serving for the second set and lost the subsequent tiebreaker, rallied from 5-2 down in the fourth set to beat Dimitrov, who shattered his racket on the court after surrendering his last service game.Murray has a 10-0 winning record against Australian players, but hasnt come across anyone quite as precocious as Kyrgios.I would say maybe hes more confident than I would have been at that age ... he obviously backs himself a lot, Murray said. Im going to have to play a great match to win against him.Hes had an unbelievable tournament so far and hes only going to keep getting better. Hopefully my streak doesnt end in a couple of days.The high-energy night matches overshadowed the day session Sunday, when Nadal continued his comeback from a long-term injury layoff with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over towering Kevin Anderson to set up a quarterfinal against No. 7 Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Bernard Tomic.The chance to be in the quarterfinals after a tough period of time for me is a fantastic result, said Nadal, who didnt let a small thing like his superstitiously and carefully positioned water bottles being knocked over bother him too much. I was playing better than the days before. The way that I improved my level is not the most important thing; obviously the victory is.No.2-ranked Maria Sharapova won the last eight games of her 6-3, 6-0 victory over Peng Shuai and will next play seventh-seeded Eugenie Bouchard, who had a see-sawing 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 win over Irina-Camelia Begu. French Open finalist Simona Halep beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal against No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova, who beat Julia Goerges in straight sets.Bouchard made it to the last four at the first three Grand Slam tournaments of 2014, including a semifinal loss on debut at the Australian Open and a semifinal loss to eventual champion Sharapova at the French Open.Shes playing really well, confident tennis. So aggressive, Sharapova said of the 20-year-old Canadian. I have a tough match ahead of me, but I always look forward to that. Dennis Smith Jersey .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Phillip Lindsay Jersey . Karlovic of Croatia used his big serve to beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7). Kohlschreiber had lost all of his three previous matches against Istomin but the German broke serve for a decisive 3-2 lead in the third set and held on to reach his first final of the year. http://www.officialdenverbroncospro.com/John-elway-broncos-jersey/ . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night. Bradley Chubb Jersey . And like the near entirety of last season, Jonathan Bernier and Torontos goaltending tandem is up to the task. Joe Flacco Jersey . The Flames announced Monday that Treliving, a former assistant general manager with the Coyotes, will take over the vacant GM spot in Calgary. "Im ready for this,"Treliving said.No one likes it when luck is referred to when evaluating the performance of hockey players and teams. It goes against our ingrained notion, particularly in sports, that hard work is rewarded and that players create their own luck. But, the truth is, there are so many things that happen on the ice over which a single player has little to no control. Advanced stats pioneer Gabriel Desjardins has taken the position that, in a given season, 38% of the standings results are luck-driven. (Start with shootouts and go from there.) When it comes to individual players, there are a couple of numbers to look at to see if a player has been lucky, getting the bounces, whatever, and that is contributing to better-than-expected results. On-ice shooting percentage refers to the 5-on-5 shooting percentage of all players when a particular player is on the ice. League average goaltending offers about a .922 save percentage in 5-on-5 situations so, naturally, average on-ice shooting percentages come in at 7.8%. Not every player shoots the puck with the same effectiveness, but even the best skaters can only have so much impact on a metric that involves four other skaters at any given time. Very few players can, over the long haul, generate a substantially higher on-ice shooting percentage because it is so dependent on the performance of others. Sure, Sidney Crosby can hover over 11% and random fourth-liners hang around 5% year after year, but somewhere in between is where the vast majority of players fall. (Since 2007, among skaters to play at least 1000 minutes at 5-on-5, 592 of 796 skaters -- 74.4% -- fall between 6.5% and 9.0% on-ice shooting.) The opposite angle of that percentage game is a players on-ice save percentage during 5-on-5 situations and this is another number that, over a larger sample, is beyond a skaters control. A lot of it will depend on the goaltender, though a factor like quality of competition can play into those results too. If youre facing top lines every night, for example, its not easy to hold their shooting percentages to five or six percent. While the standard short-form measure for whether a player has been lucky is PDO (which combines on-ice shooting and save percentages), I thought I would break it into components because, while the tendency is to have a PDO around 1000 over the long haul, there are players that are outside that range. Of 796 skaters to play at least 1000 5-on-5 minutes over the past seven seasons, 39 players have a cumulative PDO higher than 102.00, while 44 players have a PDO lower than 98.00. That leaves 713 of 796 (89.6%) within that 98-102 range. What Ive done is pulled out those players that have the largest differential from their previously-established on-ice shooting and save percentages to see who has benefited or being punished, essentially, by luck. (minimum 1000 5-on-5 minutes 2007-2013; 500 5-on-5 minutes this season) HIGH ON-ICE SHOOTING Francois Beauchemin, D, Anaheim 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 6.86 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 11.30 Difference: +4.44 Vladimir Sobotka, C, St. Louis 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 5.91 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 9.14 Difference: +3.23 Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anaheim 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 9.51 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 12.62 Difference: +3.11 Tyler Bozak, C, Toronto 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 8.43 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 11.40 Difference: +2.97 Its difficult for individual players to affect on-ice shooting percentage, but especially so for defencemen, because they tend not to shoot the puck as often as forwards. So, Francois Beauchemin being far above his previous norms can be tied to spending a lot of his time on the ice with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Oh, and it turns out that Getzlaf is even having more success than usual this year. Blues C Vladimir Sobotka is an interesting case because hes spent much of his career as a third and fourth-liner, and been plenty effective in that role, but with St. Louis, hes had the opportunity to move up the depth chart. His most common linemates have been Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, much better than typical checking line fare, and that should be at least part of the reason for his dramatic increase. Then we get to Tyler Bozak, the Maple Leafs centre who has come under so much criticism in recent seasons, but has quieted critics this season, scoring 45 points in 53 games. Certainly, Bozak reaps the rewards of playing with Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk on Torontos top line, but thats not unfamiliar territory -- Bozak has played a lot with Kessel over the years -- so the conclusion to be drawn from this is that Bozak (like anyone far exceeding their established norms) is likely due for some regression because, no matter how much of a Tyler Bozak supporter you might be, theres no argument to be made that he somehow creates scoring chances at the same calibre of Sidney Crosby over the long haul. LOW ON-ICE SHOOTING Bryan Bickell, LW, Chicago 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 9.05 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 5.88 Difference: -3.17 Kris Letang, C, Pittsburgh 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 9.00 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 5.74 Difference: -3.26 Dan Cleary, RW, Detroit 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 7.90 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 4.58 Difference: -3.32 Steve Ott, C, St. Louis 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 8.03 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 4.43 Difference: -3.60 Matt Hendricks, LW, Edmonton 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 6.68 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 3.05 Difference: -3.63 Alex Ovechkin, RW, Washington 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 9.54 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 5.66 Difference: -3.88 Steve Bernier, RW, New Jersey 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 8.46 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 4.39 Difference: -4.07 Alexander Edler, D, Vancouver 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 8.12 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 3.88 Difference: -4.22 Ville Leino, LW, Buffalo 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 8.52 2013-14 On-ice SH%: 3.53 Difference: -4.99 While this season has obviously been far from ideal for Blackhawks LW Bryan Bickell following his tremendous 2013 playoff performance, he has scored 10 goals, his most since 2010-2011, while playing 11:18 per game. However, Bickell has also managed just two assists in 53 games -- the last one coming December 30 -- so no one is doing much scoring with Bickell on the ice and, in the rare instances that they do, hes rarely part of the scoring play. Veterans Dan Cleary and Steve Bernier run into fourth-line problems. Theres no guarantee that skating on the fourth line is going to leave you with an on-ice shooting percentage that low, but thats not going to happen with a full season on the first line either. To an extreme, look at what has happened with Matt Hendricks, already starting from a relatively low point and still finding a way to cut that percentage more than in half -- he hasnt recorded an assist in 27 games withh Edmonton.dddddddddddd Ville Leino and, since traded Steve Ott suffer from the effects of playing together in Buffalo, apparently. Kris Letang and Alexander Edler counted among the unluckiest defencemen, epecially so in Letangs case since his most common forwards have been Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin -- not exactly lacking in finishing skill. Of course, we cant ignore Alex Ovechkin, who has spent plenty of time with Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson, but Ovechkin has been the only one on the Capitals scoring when hes on the ice 5-on-5. In those situations, Ovechkin has 20 goals on 215 shots (9.3%) and the rest of the Capitals on the ice with him have combined for 10 goals on 309 shots (3.2%). Its such a dramatic departure from Ovechkins previous levels, that it doesnt reasonably figure to be the new norm, unless the Capitals decide to keep skating Ovechkin with Jay Beagle on a regular basis. HIGH ON-ICE SAVE PERCENTAGE Paul Ranger, D, Toronto 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 88.76 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 93.58 Difference: +4.82 Kyle Clifford, LW, Los Angeles 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 91.75 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 95.41 Difference: +3.66 Nikita Nikitin, D, Columbus 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 90.73 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 94.32 Difference: +3.59 John Mitchell, C, Colorado 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.71 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 95.21 Difference: +3.50 Marco Scandella, D, Minnesota 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 90.76 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 94.09 Difference: +3.33 John-Michael Liles, D, Carolina 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 90.99 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 94.32 Difference: +3.32 Anze Kopitar, C, Los Angeles 2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 91.48 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 94.70 Difference: +3.22 Cody McLeod, LW, Colorado 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.91 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 95.08 Difference: +3.17 Maxime Talbot, RW, Colorado 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.56 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 94.73 Difference: +3.17 Alexei Emelin, D, Montreal 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 89.68 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 92.84 Difference: +3.16 When you see the list of players that have experienced higher-than-normal save percentages, it doesnt seem to indicate anything more than they are playing in front of goaltenders having strong seasons and thats fine, but given the variance in goaltending from year to year, thats not something upon which you would like to base your opinion of a skater. Paul Ranger is at the extreme end, but his data also has a large gap for the years that he didnt play between the Lightning and the Leafs. Kyle Clifford and Anze Kopitar have strong goaltending in Los Angeles, but theyve had strong goaltending in the past, so it sure seems that theyre extra fortunate this year. The Colorado trio of John Mitchell, Cody McLeod and Maxime Talbot is certainly reaping the rewards of Semyon Varlamovs play. Its those fortuitous percentages that leave them with positive plus-minus numbers despite subpar puck possession stats. Where the value comes in seeing these numbers is in terms of perception. Nikita Nikitin or Marco Scandella may not be held in terribly high regard, but these numbers show that there is some luck involved in their respective plus ratings this season, the type that would be due to regress in time. LOW ON-ICE SAVE PERCENTAGE Pavel Datsyuk, C, Detroit 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.33 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 89.26 Difference: -3.07 Eric Nystrom, LW, Nashville 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.38 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 89.29 Difference: -3.09 Michal Rozsival, D, Chicago 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.51 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 89.40 Difference: -3.11 Frans Nielsen, C, N.Y. Islanders 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.85 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.64 Difference: -3.21 Michael Grabner, LW, N.Y. Islanders 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.57 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.25 Difference: -3.32 Dustin Byfuglien, RW, Winnipeg 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.03 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.66 Difference: -3.37 Dmitry Kulikov, D, Florida 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.89 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 89.49 Difference: -3.40 Mike Cammalleri, LW, Calgary 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.06 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.59 Difference: -3.47 Ryane Clowe, LW, New Jersey 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.21 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.72 Difference: -3.49 Keith Ballard, D, Minnesota 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 93.41 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 89.88 Difference: -3.53 Taylor Pyatt, LW, Pittsburgh 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 93.83 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 90.07 Difference: -3.76 T.J. Galiardi, LW, Calgary 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.00 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.18 Difference: -3.82 Patrik Elias, LW, New Jersey 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 91.58 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 87.67 Difference: -3.91 Lee Stempniak, RW, Pittsburgh 2007-2013 On-ice SV%: 92.74 2013-14 On-ice SV%: 88.38 Difference: -4.36 On the other end of the save percentage spectrum, is it a collection of players that are clueless around their own end? Not especially. Theres an all-time great two-way forward, Pavel Datsyuk, and a puck-rushing defenceman-turned-forward Dustin Byfuglien that might be considered at opposite ends of the defensive spectrum by some, but it really appears to be a random list that includes both offensive and defensive players. Are they players who have had some shaky goaltending behind them this year? Yes. Stempniak, Galiardi and Cammalleri have been victims of Calgarys subpar puck-stoppers, while Elias and Clowe take some lumps with New Jerseys goaltending. This group consists of the players that have been unlucky relative to previous seasons and, aside from Pyatt and Stempniak, who joined Pittsburgh in-season, the rest are all on teams that rank in the bottom third of save percentage this season. The takeaway, then, is not to worry so much about Stempniak being minus-21 in 52 games with the Flames because, with better goaltending alone, he would be due to improve, and hes quickly plus-5 in his first 15 games with Pittsburgh. Patrik Elias may be a minus player, but he continues to be a strong possession player whose numbers would appear more favourable with the randomness of better goaltending when hes on the ice. Thats the story to be revealed by some of these numbers, that some players are getting good breaks this year, others arent and, in the relatively small sample of a single season of hockey, these things happen. Over time, those numbers tend to even out, so the players that have been fortunate this year, may be hard-pressed to duplicate their success, while those that have been getting a bit of a raw deal could be expected to have better days ahead. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Wholesale MLB Orioles Jerseys Red Sox Jerseys From China Discount Yankees Jerseys Online Rays Jerseys For Sale Blue Jays Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB White Sox Jerseys Indians Jerseys For Sale Tigers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Astros Jerseys Cheap Baseball Angels Jerseys Athletics Jerseys From China Mariners Jerseys For Sale Cheap Baseball Rangers Jerseys Braves Jerseys For Sale Discount Marlins Jerseys Online Discount Mets Jerseys Online Phillies Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Nationals Jerseys Cubs Jerseys From China Discount Reds Jerseys Online Brewers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Pirates Jerseys Wholesale MLB Cardinals Jerseys Diamondbacks Jerseys For Sale Rockies Jerseys For Sale Discount Dodgers Jerseys Online Discount Padres Jerseys Online Giants Jerseys For Sale ' ' '