alifornia where he carried the Wildcats to a 13-0 record a

Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Nicklas Backstrom notched his first career hat trick to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots, Eric Fehr scored an empty-net goal and Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson each supplied two assists for the Capitals, who have won four of their last five games. Tyler Johnson and Matt Carle each scored late in the third period and Ben Bishop made 24 saves for Tampa Bay, which has dropped three of its last four. After a scoreless first, Tampa Bay was unable to take advantage of a 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes after Mike Green went off for hooking and Ovechkin sat for roughing at 6:49 of the second. The Capitals gained momentum after the big penalty kill and got on the board a few minutes later when Backstrom cruised into the slot and lifted a backhander over Bishop at 10:33. Ovechkin slipped a pass back to Backstrom, who had initial shot turned aside, but tapped in the rebound for a 2-0 lead with 1:20 remaining in the middle stanza. Backstrom raced up the slot, took a dish from Ovechkin and tallied the hat trick after his wrister found twine 2:17 into the third. The Lightning pulled within a goal late in regulation. Johnson scored on a wrister from the right circle with under five minutes remaining and Carle weaved around a defender before beating Holtby less than two minutes later. Tampa Bay pulled Bishop with over a minute to play, but Fehr fired a puck into the empty net to seal the win. Midway through the first, Valtteri Filppula skated around the back of the net and slipped a pass to Steven Stamkos, who deposited the puck into a wide-open net. The referees, however, conferred and waved off the goal, ruling that Ryan Callahan interfered with Holtby. Washington held a 12-2 shot advantage after the opening 20 minutes of play. Game Notes The Capitals have won 17 of their last 21 home games against Tampa Bay since the start of the 2007-08 season ... Ovechkin scored twice in Washingtons 5-3 win over the Lightning on Tuesday ... Tampa Bay defenseman Radko Gudas was a late scratch due to a stomach virus ... The Capitals are now 13-1-2 when scoring first ... Washington forward Jason Chimera was a healthy scratch. Jaylon Ferguson Jersey . Osasunas Alvaro Cejudo drove the ball onto the crossbar in the fifth minute and his team squandered several long-range strikes before he was denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Jaime Jimenez in the 50th. Trace McSorley Jersey . Napoli beat high-flying Hellas Verona 3-0 to keep up the pressure on the top two while AC Milan had another disappointing night as four goals from teenage forward Domenico Berardi saw relegation-threatened Sassuolo come back from two goals down to win 4-3. http://www.cheapravensjerseysauthentic.c...powers-jersey.C. -- Kevin Harvick won his first career pole at Darlington Raceway on Friday as he looks to chase his first Southern 500. Ray Lewis Jersey . Both had to wait out a rain interruption lasting nearly five hours before taking comprehensive third-round victories to join Carling Bassett-Seguso (1983, 1986), Patricia Hy-Boulais (1996-97) and Daniel Nestor (1999) as Canadians who made it into the second week of a major. Joe Flacco Jersey . - Whether its because of her improved play or the reason for it, Michelle Wie appears as comfortable on and off the golf course as at any time in her career.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Julian Edelmans college coach saw him make some amazing plays while he was at school.So he wasnt shocked when the wide receiver unleashed a 51-yard touchdown pass for the Patriots.When youre only going to throw one pass in an entire game and you make it a perfect strike, Doug Martin said, thats big.Edelmans junior college offensive co-ordinator also was watching on television last Saturday when Edelman hit Danny Amendola with the tying throw late in the third quarter of New Englands 35-31 divisional playoff win over the Baltimore Ravens.I texted him after the game, Bret Pollack said. I said, it reminded me of the old days and he said it kind of felt the same way.Those days go back to Edelmans time at Woodside High School in California where he carried the Wildcats to a 13-0 record as a senior.On Sunday night, hell play in the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts (13-5) after leading the Patriots (13-4) with 92 receptions in the regular season and adding eight against Baltimore.Thats quite a journey for an undersized athlete who had to go to the College of San Mateo for one year to attract scholarship offers, received just two from four-year colleges after that and wasnt drafted until the final round in 2009.Pollack, since promoted to head coach at San Mateo, remembers Edelman as driven, hard-working and extremely elusive.Hes very tenacious. Hes unrelenting, Pollack said. If somebody tells him he cant do something, all his energy goes into doing it just to say, I told you so. During Edelmans season at San Mateo, Martin, the coach at Kent State at the time, told him hed have a chance to compete for the quarterback job at the Ohio school.Edelman jumped at it.He has a really healthy chip on his shoulder, said Martin, now head coach at New Mexico State. Its not like it consumes him, but it drives him. And I dont think in 30 years of coaching Ive ever had a player thats been more appreciative than Julian of the opportunity we gave him.He texted me after Saturdays game and said, Coach, I just want to thank you for everything to give me the opportunity to be where I am today.Edelman got his NFL opportunity when the Patriots drafted him in the seventh round, the 232nd out of 256 players picked.Playing behind Wes Welker, he caught just 69 passes as he battled injuries in his first four seasons. While waiting his turn at wide receiver, Edelman returned three punts for touchdowns — one each in 2010, 2011 and 2012 — showing elusiveness developed in spread offences at San Matteo and Kent State.dddddddddddde made plays for us where you just shook your head and said, Wow, Pollack said.After the 2012 season, Welker left for Denver and Edelman became a free agent before signing a one-year contract with New England.His 105-catch season in 2013 earned him a four-year deal.Everyone starts at a certain place, but you earn what you get in the NFL. The competition is tough, quarterback Tom Brady said. So a guy like Julian, for example, who has fought every single day of his life to get to this point — talk about something that strengthened him over time — obviously his experience as a younger athlete did.He fought every day since he got here and he doesnt stop now.Edelman says hes self-motivated, but also got a push from his father while preparing for the NFL combine.Id be done training and hed be like, Did you outwork those guys? Edelman said, and I was like, Dad, I was running by myself. He goes, Im not talking about those guys. Im talking about the three kids that are still in high school that are going to be trying to take your job in three, four years, five years.I always try to think about (that) kind of stuff.In three years at Kent State, Edelman threw for 30 touchdowns and ran for 22.His coach, Martin, took over in 2004 for Dean Pees. Hes the Ravens co-ordinator whose defence gave up Edelmans touchdown pass.And this Sunday night, the Patriots will face the Kent State quarterback who preceded Edelman, Colts kickoff and punt returner Josh Cribbs.Ive never been around a more competitive person than Julian, Martin said. Its not even close.Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater sees that all the time. Theyve been roommates for four years and have adjacent lockers at Gillette Stadium.Its somewhat of an odd couple — the religious Slater and the fun-loving Edelman — but both work extremely hard at football.He was raised by some great folks that really instilled him (with a) work ethic and understood that nothing was going to be given to you in this life, Slater said. And hes embraced that.Coach Bill Belichick demands maximum effort and, he says, no one works harder than Edelman.So even though the Patriots had never used Edelmans pass play this season, they kept practicing it until they found just the right moment. And Martin, at home in New Mexico, watched with pride.I told him I was glad to see he could still throw a little bit, he said with a laugh. 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