rratic. Strasburg gave up two hits, walk

DENVER -- Gabriel Landeskog scored twice and Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night and a 2-0 series lead. The Wild were unable to contain the quickness of teenager Nathan MacKinnon, who had a goal and three assists. Stastny, the star of Game 1, also had a goal and three assists. His empty-netter sealed the win after Marco Scandella made it a one-goal game with 1:19 remaining. Charlie Coyle also scored early for the Wild. Game 3 is Monday in Minnesota. Landeskogs second goal of the game gave Colorado a 3-1 lead with 8:01 remaining in the second and led the Wild to pull erratic starter Ilya Bryzgalov. Backup Darcy Kuemper stopped all 14 shots he faced, possibly opening up a goaltender controversy. Varlamov bottled up the Wild most of the night to help Colorado hold serve at home. The Avs are 12-0 in playoff series when capturing the first two contests since relocating to the Mile High City in 1995-96. The 18-year-old MacKinnon is having quite an NHL post-season debut. The Wild simply couldnt slow down the speedy MacKinnon, the first pick in the draft last summer. He blew past Wild defenders all evening and now has seven points in the series. In the opening game, Colorado rallied for a 5-4 win when Stastny scored the tying goal with 13.4 seconds remaining and then the OT winner. This time, no late-game theatrics were necessary. No bold decisions by coach Patrick Roy, either. Roys goalie simply played that well and only got stronger as the game went along. So, too, did the chants of "Varly, Varly, Varly," from the capacity crowd. Varlamov showed the form that led to 41 wins in the regular season, which broke Roys team record. He allowed a late goal by Scandella, but Stastny ended any drama with his goal in the waning seconds. Roy kept the line of Landeskog, Stastny and MacKinnon together. No surprise, really, since the trio shined since being paired late in Game 1. They combined for 10 points on Saturday. Landeskog scored his first goal of the game on a nifty no-look pass from MacKinnon. He added another when MacKinnon beat a Wild defender, dished it over to Stastny, who made a spin pass to Landeskog. The captain lined it over Bryzgalovs shoulder. That was the end of Bryzgalovs night as Minnesota coach Mike Yeo sent in Kuemper. Bryzgalov struggled in both games in Colorado, giving up eight goals on 45 shots. Coyle put the Wild up on a crazy play early in the first period. Mikko Koivu sent a pass toward the goal that bounced off Varlamovs stick and hit a hard-charging Coyle just before he and defenceman Jan Hejda crashed into the goal, knocking the net off its pegs. The officials reviewed the play and confirmed Coyles second goal of the series. Two minutes later, MacKinnon took a pass at his own blue line, flew past two Wild players at centre ice, weaved between two defenders and lined a shot over Bryzgalovs arm. The Avalanche have adopted the motto "Why not us?" this season, putting the mantra on shirts, ball caps and even flashing it on the scoreboard. The slogan took root when Roy posed that question when he first came on board. It was taken to heart in October after former Avs defenceman Ray Bourque addressed the team at his restaurant in Boston. "This motto became pretty big and something we started to believe in," Maxime Talbot said. "So, why not us?" NOTES: Wild F Dany Heatley was a scratch. ... Colorado will likely be without its leading scorer Matt Duchene (knee) for this series, Roy said after the morning skate. ... Roy said F John Mitchell (head) is "not close" to a return. ... The Avs are now 6-0-1 against the Wild this season. ... Avalanche F P.A. Parenteau had a cut under his left eye after being hit by a stick late in the third period, but returned to the ice. Cheap Patriots Jersey . Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. Cheap Patriots Jerseys Authentic . He had even more fun Friday. Coming off a sensational rookie season, Spieth opened the new year by never coming close to bogey and making a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 7-under 66. http://www.cheappatriotsjerseysauthentic.com/.com) - Carmelo Anthony tallied 31 points to help the New York Knicks continue their improved play of late with a 100-92 victory over a short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder squad. Cheap Patriots Jerseys China . Bryce Harper? He also came into Wednesday without a long ball and hadnt driven in a run. He was hitting .160, had nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits and was dropped to seventh in the batting order.MIAMI -- Stephen Strasburg overcame a shaky start to earn his first victory in nearly a month. Strasburg gave up four runs and four hits in six innings to help the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 6-4 on Sunday. "I knew if I kept the game close we could bust it open," Strasburg said. Ryan Zimmerman homered, his third shot in two days, and Wilson Ramos also connected for Washington. Strasburg (7-9) struck out seven and also hit a batter, threw a wild pitch and had two run-scoring balks. It was his first win since Aug. 11 against Philadelphia. "Stras should have been able to go further but he was a little out of sorts today," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 39th save in 45 chances. Ramos and Ian Desmond each had three hits and drove in two runs. Denard Span extended his hitting streak to 19 games, the longest active streak in the majors. "I like the way our lineup is swinging the bat," Johnson said. Justin Ruggiano had three of the Marlins six hits. Jacob Turner (3-6) allowed five runs in four innings. "We know we have to pitch and play almost perfect to win and we werent able to do that," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. Ramos hit a solo homer in the second. "I got a fast ball and I was able to get all of it," Ramos said. The Marlins responded in the bottom half with three runs as Strasburg was erratic. Strasburg gave up two hits, walked two and balked twice. Affter his second balk, he retired 10 in a row.dddddddddddd "Obviously, it can go two ways and you can let something like (the balks) affect you the next inning, but the way weve been swinging the bats I didnt want to do that," Strasburg said. Zimmerman hit his 20th homer in the third. He has five homers in his last six games and has hit home runs in back-to-back games for the first time since hitting in three straight from Sept. 7-10, 2012. Desmond tied the game at 3 with an RBI double. The Nationals regained the lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Ramos ending Turners outing. "Obviously the team, in order to get the lead, is battling and then to give it right back is just frustrating," Turner said. Anthony Rendon hit an RBI triple for a 5-3 advantage later in the fifth and Desmonds RBI triple to deep centre field pushed the lead to 6-3 in the sixth. Miami got a run back in the sixth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Greg Dobbs. NOTES: Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton (foot) was held out of the lineup and was not available to pinch hit. "It felt the same as it did yesterday," Stanton said. ... Span is hitting .397 (31 for 78) during his hitting streak. ... The Nationals will start LHP Gio Gonzalez (9-6, 3.49 ERA) on Monday night in New York against Mets RHP Carlos Torres (3-3, 2.89). ... Miami will begin a series with Atlanta on Monday. The Braves will start RHP Kris Medlen (12-12, 3.48) against Marlins RHP Henderson Alvarez (3-3, 3.95). ' ' '