I made a bad one in the first there

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week they discuss Kyle Lowrys All-Star blessing, Coach Q, unheralded undraftees and leaving the NFL playoffs alone. Cathal Kelly, Toronto Star: My thumb is up to the 14 NBA coaches who decided this week that raptor Kyle Lowry doesnt deserve to be on the All-Star team. Theyre wrong, of course. Badly wrong. According to reports, the player who pipped Lowry for the last bench spot was Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Johnson. Lowry is out-averaging Johnson in every statistical category - including rebounds - and Johnson is seven inches taller. In making this mistake, however, those coaches have done Raptors fans a huge service. From here until the end of the season, Toronto not only has the best point guard in the East, they now have the most motivated point guard in the East. Steve Simmons, Sun Media: My thumb is up to Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks, who this week moved up to No. 3 on the all-time list of coaching victories in the National Hockey League. Its impressive enough to make the top three. Its even more impressive when the only coaches ahead of you in wins are named Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour. Quenneville, for some reason, doesnt get a whole lot of attention, doesnt make a lot of headlines, rarely gets mentioned for coach of the year, which he won once more than a decade ago. But here he is behind a nine-time Stanley Cup champion and a four-time Cup winner. And nobody else. Yeah, hes an all-time great. And when have we ever said that about Joel Quenneville? Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: My thumb is up to Edmonton goalie Ben Scrivens, for impenetrability. Scrivens stopped a record 59 shots in a shutout of the Sharks, a dash of good news in a city unaccustomed to seeing a goalie make 59 saves in a week. Scrivens stellar game underscored the notion that goalies dont need pedigree. Undrafted out of Cornell, Scrivens once played in the East Coast Hockey League. Ex-Calgary Hitman netminder Martin Jones of the Los Angeles Kings, also was undrafted and played in the Coast as did the Rangers Cam Talbot, out of the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Another thing they have in common: among NHL goalies with at least 12 starts, they are one-two-three in save percentage. Dave Hodge, TSN: My thumb is down to the likelihood that the NFL playoffs will be expanded to include 14 teams, up by two from the current 12. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones delivers the argument for more playoff teams this way: "How exciting is it for fans of a .500 team to see that team in the playoffs with a chance to win the Super Bowl?" Well, heres whats more exciting - two teams like Denver and Seattle, with 13-3 records, showing off their season-long excellence at the Super Bowl. Jerry Jones needs to improve his team, not the League. But the guy in charge of the league, Roger Goodell, supports the idea of more playoff teams, thus more playoff games - get ready for wild-card "week". Orioles Jerseys China .com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes. Baltimore Orioles Store .S. -- Carl-Antoine Delisle snapped a tie in the third period with his second goal of the game to lead the Tigres past Cape Breton 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday as Victoriaville won its eighth in a row. https://www.cheaporioles.com/ .com) - Whew! North Dakota States reign as the three-time FCS national champion was pushed to the limit by South Dakota State on Saturday, but freshman R. Baltimore Orioles Gear . -- What Anthony Jennings lacked in experience, LSU more than compensated for with a talented supporting cast in the Outback Bowl. Custom Baltimore Orioles Jerseys . - PGA Tour rookie Tony Finau shot a 9-under 63 at Del Monte and had a two-stroke lead over Billy Andrade and Lee Janzen of the Champions Tour after Thursdays opening round of the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational.CALGARY - Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk hasnt changed a thing since being acquired in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes.What has changed is hes playing in meaningful hockey games.Zach Parise scored the only goal and Dubnyk stopped all 30 shots he faced Thursday night as the Wild picked up an important two points with a 1-0 victory over the Calgary Flames.The win moves Minnesota (22-20-6) within five points of the Flames and the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.Its fun to play important games, said Dubnyk. I was happy with the way my game was in Arizona so I wanted to really concentrate on sticking with the same things I was doing there that was helping me be successful there.Dubynks best stops came in the third period as the Flames — who lead the NHL with eight wins when trailing after two periods, generated several dangerous chances in trying to pull out yet another comeback win.Six minutes in, Johnny Gaudreau got around Jared Spurgeon and fired a dangerous wrist shot at the top corner that Dubnyk caught with his glove. With six minutes left in the period, Dubnyk thwarted Paul Byron on a clear breakaway.Then, as the final couple seconds ticked off the clock, he jabbed out his pad to rob Mikael Backlund at the side of the net.After the game, Dubnyk was asked which chances stood out.I think the breakaway is the obvious one, he said. They kept trying to stretch guys and finally got one. I got a toe on the puck with about two seconds left at the side of the net. I guess that probably turned out to be the most important one.The 2004 first round draft pick by the Edmonton Oilers was acquired from the Coyotes on Jan. 14 in exchange for a third round draft pick. Minnesota is his fourth team in the past two years.Dubnyk provided the stability in net that the Wild were not getting from Darcy Kuemper or Niklas Backstrom. With five out of six points so far, Minnesota wraps up its four-game road trrip Sunday in Vancouver.ddddddddddddI think we owe a lot to Dubnyk tonight. He bailed us out on a lot of different breakdowns we had. He was really good, said Parise. Weve got a long ways to go but playing against these guys tonight, like we said this morning, five looks a lot better than nine had we lost this game. Its a good start to the trip.Calgary (26-20-3) falls to 1-1 on a six-game homestand, which continues Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.Close, man, said Calgary defenceman Mark Giordano. (Jonas Hiller) played awesome. Their guy played awesome. One bad mistake — I made a bad one in the first there — and they get a goal. At the end of the night, thats the mistake that cost us.The goal, Parises 20th goal of the season and sixth in his last six game, came at 8:59 of the first period.Attempting to send a cross-ice pass from his own corner, Giordanos pass was knocked down by Thomas Vanek and immediately picked up by Parise all alone in front, who quickly tucked a shot through Hillers pads.It was the first time Calgary has been shutout this season after going 71 games since last being blanked.Hiller, spectacular at times himself, finished with 31 stops to fall to 14-14-2.It was one of those nights — I thought Dubnyk played well and we didnt get the bounces. It happens, said Hiller. We have to stay positive. I thought we played well. If we play like that every night, we have a chance every night and thats what we need.Notes: Just called up from Iowa (AHL), Minnesota D Matt Dumba played in his hometown for the first time in his NHL career. His parents and brother were in attendance... Dumba took the spot of Christian Folin, who along with Erik Haula were healthy scratches... Byron has gone 28 games without a goal while LW Brandon Bollig has no goals on the season in 41 games... The Flames have scored 59 third period goals, tied with Tampa Bay for most in the NHL. Theyve only given up 32. ' ' '