ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Different coach, same start.When the Anaheim Ducks began last season under coach Bruce Boudreau, they lost their first four games and gained only one point from an overtime defeat before earning their first win. Under Randy Carlyle, who guided the Ducks to the 2007 Stanley Cup and replaced Boudreau in June, the squad achieved the same results after five games.Carlyle and the Ducks hope to reverse that trend Sunday night in the teams home opener against the Vancouver Canucks at the Honda Center.The Canucks began the season with four consecutive victories for the first time since 1992 before losing Saturday night to the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout, 4-3. Only the Canucks and the Montreal Canadiens have yet to lose in regulation this season.Its a lot of fun to play hockey right now, Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom said. Were really buying into what we say were going to do, and it gets results.Vancouver achieved its success without placing one player among the NHLs top 20 in goals, assists, points or plus-minus rating. Nor did the Canucks rely on goalie Ryan Miller for four of the first five games. Miller, the former Vezina Trophy winner who played in the past two Winter Olympics for the United States, missed the last four games with unspecified tightness in his core muscles.But Miller will make his second start of the season Sunday night. The 36-year-old began his 15th season Oct. 15 with 25 saves in win against the Calgary Flames.Anaheim, meanwhile, seeks to avoid the kind of phenomenon that occurred after last years 1-3-1 start. Following a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild to end that four-game losing streak, the Ducks lost their next five and owned only two points after their first 10 games.Undisciplined play, disorganization on offense and the lack of forechecking defined Anaheims poor start this year. But the Ducks overcame all three problems in Thursday nights 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. Despite taking eight penalties, Anaheim kept the Flyers from scoring on all but one of their seven power plays. Last year, the Ducks led the NHL by defusing 87.2 percent of opponents power plays.You got almost the same group in here thats killing penalties, guys that work hard and are hard on the puck, Anaheim winger Ryan Garbutt told the Orange County Register after scoring the winning goal Thrusday night. I think confidence carries over. I think our penalty kill is going to be a strength of ours for the season.Off the ice, the Ducks and defenseman Hampus Lindholm remain at an impasse in contract negotiations. Lindholm, a restricted free agent, seeks a contract between $5.5 and $5.8 million per season while Anaheim is offering between $5.1 and $5.4 million per year, report various sources.The Ducks have only $323,335 in room under the salary cap after signing forward Rickard Rakell, another restricted free agent, to a six-year contract extension Oct. 14. Vita Vea Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. Sean Bunting Buccaneers Jersey .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Warren-sapp-buccaneers-jersey/ . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. O. J. Howard Jersey .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Lee Roy Selmon Jersey . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. When FBS recruiters visited Las Vegas to evaluate tailback Donnel Pumphrey in 2012, they told then-Canyon Springs High School coach Hunkie Cooper the same things.Hes a really good football player, they would say. But hes too small, and hell never hold up.But Cooper, who is now in his second season as San Diego States receivers coach, believed he knew what a good football player looked like, regardless of his size. At 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, Cooper played 13 seasons in the Arena Football League and was voted one of the leagues greatest players.Cooper also coached former Oklahoma star DeMarco Murray as an assistant coach at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, and he believed Pumphrey, despite his 5-foot-9, 175-pound frame, was even better than Murray.But after several coaches from the Big 12 and Pac-12 declined to offer Pumphrey a scholarship, Cooper called San Diego State offensive coordinator/running backs coach Jeff Horton, who was one of his position coaches at UNLV in 1989-90.Coach Horton is like a father figure to me, Cooper said. I told him Pump was one of the best players Id ever coached and he had an upside. Coach Horton agreed to take him, and the rest is history.On Saturday, Pumphrey will try to make history by becoming the all-time leading rusher in the FBS. He needs 108 yards against Houston in the Las Vegas Bowl presented by Geico (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) to break former Wisconsin star Ron Daynes FBS career record of 6,397 yards.It would mean a lot to break the record because of all the work my team put in, Pumphrey said. It would mean a lot to have my name at the top. Its a great honor.Heisman Trophy winners Archie Griffin, Herschel Walker, Charles White, Tony Dorsett and Ricky Williams were among the legendary players Pumphrey passed this season on the FBS rushing list.I think it hit when I passed Tony Dorsett, Pumphrey said. Thats a legend right there. I never thought Id be in the same position with those guys.Dayne, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner, actually rushed for 7,125 yards on 1,220 carries in 47 games with the Badgers from 1996 to 1999, but the NCAA didnt begin including statistics from postseason games in its official records until 2002. Dayne ran for a whopping 728 yards combined in four bowl games.Entering Saturdays game against the Cougars, Pumphrey has gained 6,290 yards on 1,040 carries in 53 games. Dayne averaged 5.8 yards per carry during his four-year college career; Pumphrey has averaged 6.0.In fact, Pumphrey would actually rank No. 3 in career rushing if postseason statistics were included for all players. He needs 237 yards against Houston to move past Dorsett for the No. 2 spot bbehind Dayne; Dorsett gained 6,526 yards at Pitt from 1973 to 1976, including bowl games.ddddddddddddid I know hed be in the top two to ever play in the FBS? Cooper asked. No. Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson and Tony Dorsett, those are my guys. When I heard those names roll off the list, I knew Pump was special. Hes the real deal.Its not like Pumphrey has anything left to prove. He is the only player in FBS history to have 5,000 yards rushing and 1,000 receiving in his career, and hes first among active players with 7,374 all-purpose yards, 61 rushing touchdowns and 33 100-yard games.What was even more impressive the past four seasons was Pumphreys durability, especially considering his smallish size. He had at least 275 carries in each of the past three seasons and seemed to get better late in the game.I try to make guys miss as much as possible, Pumphrey said. When its time to go down, its time to go down. I dont try to drag guys too far. My offensive line has done a great job, and Ive had some really good fullbacks.This season, Pumphrey averaged 5.4 yards per carry in the first quarter and 7.7 in the fourth. He averaged 5.2 yards on first down and 8.9 on third.Thats the way hes trained, Cooper said. Its his football IQ. He might run a zone play in the first quarter and then run it in the second quarter the other way, because he saw something others would never see. Guys arent going to hit him flush. His film study, his vision and his natural ability arent going to allow guys to hit him square.Colorado State coach Mike Bobo, whose Rams held Pumphrey to a season-low 53 yards on 18 carries in a 63-31 win over the Aztecs on Nov. 26, said hes among the best runners he has seen. Bobo coached Los Angeles Rams tailback Todd Gurley and Nick Chubb as Georgias offensive coordinator.He can run inside and out, Bobo said. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. Hes physical and can break one outside and take it to the house. Hes not very big, but they run power-O with him. Hes an I-formation back and gets 30 carries a game. I think hes a competitor, and he loves ball. He runs like it.Breaking Daynes record in his hometown, with much of his family and many of his friends watching, would be a fitting end to Pumphreys college career.It would mean a lot for him, Cooper said. A lot of people knew this kid had talent in Pop Warner leagues and high school. It would be great for him to do it in front of a lot of people who have been instrumental in his life, especially his mother and his daughter. ' ' '
