scored after Gardners flyball into the right-centre field ended up a

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are having great success against the Western Conference. Brett Connolly and Valtteri Filppula scored in the third period, lifting the Lightning to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. Alex Killorn had a goal and two assists and Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who have won all five games this season against West teams. Tampa Bay, which has made the playoffs once over the previous six seasons, is off to a 10-4-0 start. "I think progress is probably the correct word because weve played some of these upper echelon teams," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "I thought we earned the victory against an extremely good opponent. Thats the progress because were playing an elite team and I think we more than hung with them." Two of Tampa Bays out-of-conference victories have come against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. "Are we the perfect hockey team? Not even close," Cooper said. "But are we a team that doesnt quit and responds to challenges? They do." Connolly, playing in his second game since being recalled from Syracuse of the AHL, put Tampa Bay ahead 3-2 when he redirected Radko Gudas shot at 8:37 of the third. Filppula made it 4-2 with 3:59 remaining. Tampa Bays Ben Bishop turned aside a shot by Chris Stewart during a late first-period breakaway. He finished with 28 saves in his first game against the team that drafted him. "I thought it was a little bit of a measuring stick," Bishop said of beating the Blues, who are 8-2-2. "We want to be in the same category as those guys." St. Louis got goals from Alex Pietrangelo and Jaden Schwartz. "We need to reset the dial and get more participants," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "This is a real good evaluation, because weve had opponents where weve played kind of average and won, and now we had to play really good and we were still just above average." Stamkos scored his 11th goal of the season to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead 1:43 into the second during a 2-on-1. The centre, who has a goal in four consecutive games, briefly dragged the puck before putting an in-close shot past Jaroslav Halak. "We cannot find any excuses," Halak said. "They just outplayed us." Halak stopped 21 shots, including nice saves on Stamkos and Martin St. Louis while the Blues were short-handed in the second. Schwartz got St. Louis even at 2-2 from the slot 2:02 after Stamkos goal. Pietrangelo extended his goal-scoring streak to four games and put the Blues up 1-0 at 7:50 of the first. Killorn tied it at 1-all with 9:16 left in the first. It was the first even-strength goal allowed by St. Louis in 225 minutes, 55 seconds. NOTES: St. Louis Alexander Steen, who picked up an assist, had his six-game goal streak end. He scored eight of his 12 goals this season during the stretch. ... Stamkos has six goals and 10 points during a six-game points streak. ... Lightning D Mark Barberio assisted on Stamkos goal for his first NHL point. ... Blues D Vladimir Sobotka was minus-3 in the game. Rod Brind Amour Jersey .com) - The Minnesota Twins made it official on Wednesday, announcing the signing of outfielder Torii Hunter to a one-year contract. Justin Faulk Jersey .J. -- The NHL reduced its penalty against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for signing Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010. http://www.hockeyhurricanes.com/. LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Custom Carolina Hurricanes Jerseys .com) - Jeff Teague finished with a game-high 26 points and eight assists as the Atlanta Hawks held off the Utah Jazz, 98-92, on Friday.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Brett Gardner got things started for the New York Yankees with a leadoff home run, then had three more hits after that. Despite all that and Mark Teixeiras two-run homer in his return to the starting lineup, the Yankees sweated it out until the very end before Gardner caught a flyball near the warning track in left field with the bases loaded for a 12-11 victory at Texas and overcome a seven-RBI game by J.P. Arencibia on Tuesday night. "It was a strange game, but it was great to get out of here with a win," manager Joe Girardi said. "It would have been a bad one to lose." The Yankees never trailed after Gardner reached base twice in a seven-run sixth inning. They led 10-4 before Arencibia, already with two doubles and a solo homer, hit a grand slam in the seventh. Texas scored twice off closer David Robertson, the fifth Yankees pitcher, and still had the bases loaded in the ninth after Elvis Andrus had a two-run single. Adrian Beltre hit a towering flyball that finally ended the game after 3 hours, 51 minutes. "It was about as bad as you can suck and still get one of the better hitters in the game out and not lose the ballgame," said Robertson, who got his 27th save in 29 chances. "If you look into that sixth inning, I dont think there were many people that thought we had a chance," manager Ron Washington said. "But we never quit, and we was one swing away with the right guy at the plate." Arencibia struck out to start the ninth, but still was the first Texas player with four extra-base hits since Josh Hamiltons four-homer game at Baltimore on May 8, 2012. The last player in the majors with at least seven RBIs in a loss was Jonathan Lucroy in 2012, when Milwaukee fell to the Cubs, STATS said. "Not enough," Arencibia said when asked to describe his game. Brandon McCarthy (3-0) went six innings for the Yankees, who have won all four of his starts since getting the big right-hander in a trade from Arizona on July 6. Teixeira, in his first start in nine games after a back strain, homered in the eighth to make it 12-8. Hee also walked three times and scored two other runs.dddddddddddd Gardner, who went deep twice Monday off Yu Darvish, led off against rookie Nick Martinez (1-7) with his 13th homer. He added his second double to start the sixth and scored the first run in that rally. "He was hitting the ball hard before but getting outs," Girardi said. "Now hes hitting it out and hitting it down the lines." TRAINERS ROOM Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (shoulder), out since early May, threw 45 pitches in a bullpen session and is set to start an injury rehab assignment Sunday. Infielder Kelly Johnson (strained left groin) is expected to be ready to play when eligible to come off the DL on Aug. 7. Rangers: Nick Tepesch pulled himself out of his last start Saturday night because of left knee soreness, and now Texas will skip his next turn in the rotation Friday as a precaution. Jerome Williams starts Friday at Cleveland. ON DECK Yankees RHP Hiroki Kuroda, 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in five career starts against Texas, pitches against Colby Lewis in the rubber game of the three-game set. The Rangers will try to end a string of seven consecutive series losses since taking two of three against Minnesota on June 27-29, also the last time they won consecutive games. GREAT GLOVE Gardner had a running, sliding catch on a ball that Shin-Soo Choo sliced into the left field corner leading off the third. I GOT IT -- NOT The final run in the Yankees sixth scored after Gardners flyball into the right-centre field ended up a three-base error. Right fielder Alex Rios was calling for the ball when he reached for it, but closed his glove too soon. The ball ricocheted off the back of his glove and then off the head of centre fielder Leonys Martin, who was also in pursuit. Martin said he never heard Rios calling for it. JETER JUSTICE Derek Jeter was initially called out in the sixth after his chopper that was deflected by Martinez and led to a barehanded grab and throw by shortstop Andrus. Girardi challenged, and replay showed that Jeter was safe for his second hit of the game and 3,422 of his career. ' ' '