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DALLAS - It sure appeared a night of rest did Dirk Nowitzki some good when he scored the first 10 Dallas points without missing a shot.The 36-year-old forward didnt quite maintain that pace in his return to the lineup, but the early cushion was enough to keep the Mavericks ahead throughout in a quick rematch with Denver.Nowitzki scored 25 points two days after sitting in the Mile High City, and the Mavericks split a home-and-home set against the Nuggets with a 97-89 victory Friday night.He looked good, said Chandler Parsons, whose 18 points included a thunderous dunk over J.J. Hickson. He still got a little gassed out there. Obviously, I think not playing and resting and just getting some cardio in was beneficial for him.Tyson Chandler and Rajon Rondo were the other two Dallas starters who sat out the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday, and their return helped as well.Chandler, who has been nursing a sore ankle, had his 17th double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds.Rondo, slowed by a mild Achilles issue, scored just two points but had eight assists and nine rebounds while helping hold Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson to 11 points after he scored 29 in the Denver win on Wednesday.The starting five was back together, and the good start kind of carried us through, said Nowitzki, who was 8 of 18 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, with nine rebounds.Arron Afflalo scored 16 to lead the Nuggets, who had to withstand a rally to beat the travel-weary and short-handed Mavericks at home after four nights off. Denvers five-game winning streak, tied for a season high, ended in the first of four games in five nights.The Nuggets were outscored 10-2 to start the game and 11-2 coming out of halftime but stayed close throughout. Denver never led, though, and couldnt get closer than a six-point deficit to start the fourth quarter.Free throws were partially to blame, with the Nuggets making just 12 of 25.The ball wasnt going in the rim either from the free throw or from the field, Lawson said after the Nuggets shot 37 per cent in the first half and 41 per cent for the game. We got the shots we wanted. Nobody was forcing shots or anything. They just didnt fall.___TIP-INSNuggets: Lawson didnt get his first field goal until banking in a 3-pointer late in the third quarter. He did have 12 assists, though. ... Hickson had 13 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.Mavericks: Nowitzki moved into 22nd place on the career list for 3-pointers, passing Mike Bibbys total of 1,517. ... In their loss to Denver on Wednesday, the Mavericks had eight players in double figures for the third time this season, a first for the franchise.THUNDER DUNKSParsons one-handed slam over Hickson brought his teammates off the bench in the third quarter after Wilson Chandler made a similar move on Tyson Chandler in the first half for Denver. Parsons later ended up near Nuggets coach Brian Shaw and Hickson during a break in the action.Coach Shaw was like, Youre going to let him do that to you? Parsons said. I was like, Ill sign the poster and tapped (Hickson) on the butt. Wilson got Tyson bad, though. So I guess were even.OLD TEAM AGAINJameer Nelson, who started the season with the Mavericks, finished with 14 points before fouling out late in his debut for the Nuggets.Nelson was playing Dallas for the second time in two weeks, and with a second different team. The first was with Boston after he was included in the Rondo trade. The Nuggets got him this week in a deal that sent Nate Robinson to the Celtics.Nelson scored in double figures for the first time since Dec. 9, when he had 18 points against Memphis while still with Dallas.UP NEXTNuggets: Home against Minnesota on Saturday.Mavericks: At Memphis on Monday. Nick Foles Womens Jersey . Sopoaga hit the upright with his first shot at goal from 15 metres. He then kicked nine goals in succession -- two conversions and seven penalties -- before being replaced in the 62nd minute, three points short of the Highlanders record for most points in a match. Jalen Ramsey Womens Jersey . - The Pittsburgh Pirates plan on keeping promising left fielder Starling Marte playing alongside National League MVP Andrew McCutchen for years to come. http://www.officialjacksonvillejaguarspro.com/ . Starters, when they struggle, have to live with it for five days. For Sergio Santos and Steve Delabar, two of the three men who authored one of the ugliest pitched innings in Blue Jays franchise history on Thursday night, the bounce-back chance came right away. Chris Conley Youth Jersey ., climbed from seventh to fifth spot in womens competition Sunday at the ISU world junior figure skating championships. Ryquell Armstead Jaguars Jersey . Kuper, a fifth-round pick in Denvers 2006 draft, started 79 games at guard over eight seasons. He dislocated his left ankle in the last game of the 2011 regular season, and though he started another seven games after that, he never returned to his previous level.Scott Cullen takes a look at the top stories from January 10th through January 16th, including All-Star Game rosters, Pekka Rinne hurt, numbers retired, Boston bouncing back and more. ALL STARS As the NHL prepares to hold its All-Star weekend, January 24-25 in Columbus, the rosters were filled out, with 36 players joining the six voted-in starters -- Chicagos Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Buffalos Zemgus Girgensons. Also named to the All-Star game: Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Sidney Crosby, Patrik Elias, Nick Foligno, Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Ryan Johansen, Tyler Johnson, Phil Kessel, Anze Kopitar, Evgeni Malkin, Rick Nash, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Alex Ovechkin, Bobby Ryan, Tyler Seguin, Steven Stamkos, Vladimir Tarasenko, John Tavares, Jakub Voracek, Radim Vrbata Defence: Brent Burns, Dustin Byfuglien, Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Justin Faulk, Mark Giordano, Erik Johnson, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Suter, Shea Weber Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovsky, Jimmy Howard, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne. Then, with Howard and Rinne injured, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jaroslav Halak were selected to play in the game. The captains, for the draft proceedings of the event, will be Jonathan Toews and Nick Foligno, representing the host Columbus Blue Jackets. As with any All-Star proceeding, there is also the matter of which players were snubbed, or at least those that deserved the honour and, for whatever reason, were not selected. In the case of the NHL, trying to include a representative from every team leads to some dubious choices. So, who else might have warranted a spot? Up front, Joe Pavelski, Nicklas Backstrom, Filip Forsberg and Jamie Benn would all have a reasonable claim. On defence, P.K. Subban, Erik Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo would not be out of place. They probably rectified a goaltending miss by including Marc-Andre Fleury, who is having the best year of his career. Braden Holtby or Craig Anderson might be the closest thing to a snub by the time we get through eight goaltenders already named to the game. RINNE HURT The frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy as the leagues best goaltender, and a viable Hart Trophy candidate as league MVP, Nashvilles Pekka Rinne is out for the next 3-5 weeks with a knee injury. While Rinne (29-6-2, 1.96 GAA, .931 SV%, .945 EV SV%) has been the best puckstopper in the league this season, and there is a notable drop-off in quality from Rinne to Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec, the Predators have improved enough in other areas that they shouldnt be a complete wreck without Rinne. They have improved from a 48% possession team last season to nearly 53% this year, and have more scoring than they have in years past -- theyre 3.00 goals per game this season is their highest rate since 2006-2007 (3.24). Given the quality of their division, the Predators wont have to collapse to still lose their spot at the top of the Central, but they should be able to survive the next month or so without their best player this season. TEEMU TIME The Anaheim Ducks honoured Teemu Selanne, raising his No. 8 to the rafters. In 966 career games with the Ducks, Selanne scored 457 goals and 988 points and his two tours of duty with the Ducks (1995-2001 and 2005-2014) provided many of the finest moments of his career, including a Stanley Cup in 2007 and five seasons with at least 40 goals, leading the league in both 1997-1998 and 1998-1999. Over the course of his career, Selanne scored 684 goals (ranks 11th all-time) and accumulated 1457 points (ranks 15th) in 1451 games. On top of all that, Selanne is universally-praised by players and media alike as a great guy. Rave reviews all around for a future Hall of Famer. DOMINATOR HONOURED The Buffalo Sabres retired Dominik Haseks number 39, an honour that may seem a little overdue, given his importance to the franchise. Buffalo acquired Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks for goaltender Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round pick (which turned out to be Eric Daze) in 1992. He had two unremarkable seasons with the Sabres before emerging as the clubs starting goaltender in 1993-1994. From that season through 1998-1999, there was no goaltender on the planet that was in Haseks league and he nearly dragged the Sabres to a Stanley Cup in 1999. Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur were the closest to Hasek in save percentage over those years and they werent particularly close. Using Hockey References Goals Saved Above Average measure, Hasek saved more than 295 goals above average in that six-year span. Roy (140) and Brodeur (102), while great, were a long way from having that kind of impact. Following his time in Buffalo, Hasek had some good years with the Detroit Red wings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2002 and earning another Cup ring -- making four playoff starts as a 43-year-old -- in 2008. He last played professionally with Moscow Spartak in the KHL in 2010-2011, playing in 46 of 54 games as a 46-year-old. He was acrobatic, quirky, and the best goaltender in the world in the 1990s. BRUINS ARE BACK It wasnt the easiest first half of the season for the Boston Bruins, who had won 19 of 40 games as of Januaryy 4, struggling while they missed defenceman Zdeno Chara and centre David Krejci for stretches due to injuries.dddddddddddd Now, however, the Bruins have won five straight, and have two regulation losses in their past 16 games, climbing into playoff position in the Eastern Conference -- something that was assumed before the season started, but had been cast into doubt as the Bruins failed to generate consistent results. Goaltender Tuukka Rask is playing better and the Bruins are relatively healthy, but theyve also received a boost in the form of 18-year-old rookie winger David Pastrnak, who had back-to-back two-goal games last week. Pastrnak somehow lasted until the 25th pick in last summers draft and he has already shown that he has high-end skill not befitting a late first-round pick. He had 27 points (10 G, 17 A) and 74 shots on goal in 24 AHL games, and managed one assist in an earlier five-game trial with the Bruins before he was loaned to the Czech team at the World Junior Hockey Championships. After scoring seven points (1 G, 6 A) in the World Juniors, Pastrnak returned to Boston, where hes taken up the right wing spot on a line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci. Its a lot to ask for an 18-year-old to play a signficant role on a contending team, but in his very small NHL sample, Pastrnak has passed the eye test and the analytics test, carrying better than 60% of shot attempts during 5-on-5 play. Even if hes not going to keep piling up two-goal games, he should be able to play a regular role with the Bruins for the rest of the season. VALUE PLAY Winnipeg signing free agent C Mathieu Perreault to a three-year, $9-million contract last summer is turning into one of the best decisions made by this franchise. The smallish centre, who has moved to play wing with Michael Frolik and Mark Scheifele, scored four goals in an 8-2 win over Florida Tuesday. Whats so remarkable is how dramatically Perreaults numbers jumped after a slow start to the year, as he opened the year with no goals and three assists in 19 games, then followed with 26 points (15 G, 11 A) in the next 25 games. All this production caught the attention of smart guys (and wise guys). THE WILD LIFE Coming into the season, expectations were relatively high for the Minnesota Wild, who lost in the second round of last years playoffs to the Chicago Blackhawks. They opened the year as a dominant possession team (a league-leading 57.3% score-adjusted Corsi in October), but their goaltending was a mess and its only become more of a problem now that the possession numbers have been in steady decline (50.3% since November 1). Prior to Thursdays 7-0 win at Buffalo, the Wild had two regulation wins in the previous 16 games and, falling out of the playoff race, speculation has been heating up about the future of head coach Mike Yeo. The biggest problem for the Wild, which affects Yeos job security, has been goaltending, as Darcy Kuemper, Niklas Backstrom and John Curry have combined to give the Wild the leagues worst save percentage (.898) during 5-on-5 play. As a result, the Wild traded a third-round pick to Arizona this week for Devan Dubnyk, who has rebounded after a miserable 2013-14 season. Even if Dubnyk does stabilize the situation in net for Minnesota, they are now seven points out of a playoff spot, so they are starting an uphill climb. FIRE SALE IN THE DESERT After the Coyotes dealt Dubnyk, reports surfaced that would be the first of several changes to come for a team with new ownership and virtually no chance at the playoffs. With no postseason on the horizon, its a given that pending unrestricted free agents like centre Antoine Vermette and defenceman Zbynek Michalek could be moved, but if the Coyotes decide to make defenceman Keith Yandle available, that would drive some interesting, high-stakes trade discussion. In any case, the Coyotes can focus on their future, which will include a high first-round pick in 2015 as well as prospects Max Domi and Christian Dvorak, who are thought of quite highly by some. CRAIGS LIST TSNs resident scout Craig Button offered up his top drafted NHL prospects, with Domi leading the way after his strong showing at the World Juniors. That might raise some eyebrows, given that Domi was the 12th overall pick in 2013, but there will be a lot of time for these players to establish their games, and values, at the NHL level. I know, as well as anyone, how rankings are not met with universal acceptance, but come on, Craig, wheres Pastrnak? (I kid.) CHANGING LEAFS The immediate returns for new Maple Leafs head coach Peter Horacheck have not been ideal. On one hand, the Leafs have gone from a 44% possession team under Randy Carlyle to 47.6% in five games under Horachek, but the Leafs have managed just one win and scored a total of eight goals in those five games. To be reasonable, expectations should not have been high for a struggling (and injured) Leafs team going to California, and they lived down to those expectations, but the fanbase isnt reveling in improved possession if they arent able to score or, at least once in a while, win. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '