Stars und Sternchen! » three home games

The red-hot Toronto Raptors have the best record in the Eastern Conference and are on pace to be the best team in franchise history, but theyve enjoyed much of their early success at home. Theyre about to see just how well they can handle a lengthy and challenging road trip. Prior to heading out west, the Raptors look for a bit of revenge against one of the few teams to beat them north of the border as they kick off their trip tonight against the Chicago Bulls. The Raptors (22-6) have won 20 games before Christmas for the first time in team history, are primed to blow past last seasons franchise-best 48-win mark and on Monday can win their seventh in a row - which would stand as Torontos longest win streak since a nine-game run late in the 2001-02 season. Any impending success, however, will have to take place on the road. The Raptors stop in Chicago marks the start of a season-high six-game trip after theyve played an NBA-high 17 home games so far. Im ready for it, coach Dwane Casey told the teams official website. Ive been preaching it, and we should be ready for it. Everyone is all excited. The Bulls (17-9) are the first of four opponents on this trip with a winning percentage of at least .654. Each of the Raptors victories during this streak has come against teams with sub-.500 records, including a 118-108 win over New York on Sunday. Its important that we play good teams because its really going to test our character, said Greivis Vasquez, who scored 21 points and joined Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams (22 each) with 20-plus. We havent really faced adversity and everything right now is great, but I think were ready for a couple of premium tests. Even without DeMar DeRozan since Nov. 30, the Raptors have managed to lead the NBA in points per 100 possessions (113.1) in December. Chicago managed to disrupt Torontos offense at the Air Canada Centre on Nov. 13, holding the Raptors to a season-worst 39.3 percent mark from the field in a 100-93 win. Pau Gasol led the way with 27 points and 11 rebounds while Jimmy Butler added 21 points, nine boards and six assists. The Bulls are 13-2 when they hold opponents to fewer than 100 points - a feat theyve accomplished in each of their last four games, most recently in a 103-97 win at Memphis on Friday. After scoring a career-high 35 in a victory over New York on Thursday, Butler followed it with 31 and 10 rebounds against the Grizzlies. Jimmy, every time that game was hanging in the balance he came through with a big play for us, coach Tom Thibodeau told the Bulls official website. Clutch play after clutch play. Great defense. No possessions off. Plays were great. Intensity was great. Great concentration. You cant say enough about what he does. Huge, huge. Butler helped the Bulls get by Friday without Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, both of whom are expected to return Monday. Rose, who had 13 second-half points in the first meeting with Toronto, has missed the last two games with an illness, while Gibson sat out both with a right ankle injury. The Bulls have lost their last three home games against the Raptors - all without Rose - while being held to an average of 84.7 points. Stitched Michigan State Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. Gary Harris College Jersey . A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Steelers will part ways with the former Pro Bowler, a move that hardly serves as a surprise after fifth-year linebacker Jason Worilds agreed to accept a "transition player" tag last week. http://www.cheapmichiganstatejerseys.com/ . According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the Maple Leafs have trade offers on the table for the 26-year-old, but none have been deemed acceptable by the team. Miles Bridges College Jersey . The 27-year-old forward has informed the Leafs that he will be unable to play in Monday nights home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Max Bullough College Jersey . -- Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew practiced in a limited capacity Friday, a positive sign he might be able to play against the Tennessee Titans.(SportsNetwork.com) - James Neal cant worry a whole lot about his return trip to Pittsburgh, not with Nashville struggling ahead of a matchup with a tough opponent. Neal and the Predators hope to snap their near five-year losing streak to the Penguins on Sunday afternoon. The 27-year-old Neal will play in Pittsburgh for the first time since the Penguins traded him to Nashville in a draft day deal on June 27 in exchange for forwards Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. Neal had spent three-plus seasons with the Pens after they acquired him from the Dallas Stars ahead of the 2010-11 trade deadline. Neal scored 40 goals in 80 games with Pittsburgh in 2011-12 and has potted 16 this season for Nashville. That is second on the club behind only Filip Forsbergs 17. While Neal makes a return trip to Pittsburgh, it will make the second time he has faced the Pens since the trade. He went pointless in a 3-0 loss to visiting Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. Im not too worried about it or thinking about it too much, Neal told Nashvilles website on returning to Pittsburgh. I think playing (the Penguins in October) in Nashville kind of washed that away and I really havent looked back. Weve been having great success here, and its really all Im focused on. That loss to the Penguins was the fifth in a row in this series for the Predators, who have not beaten Pittsburgh since Feb. 14, 2010. While Nashville has had success this season, it has also lost four of its past five games to tighten things up in the Central Division. The Preds lead the St. Louis Blues by two points for first place in the standings. The Predators were blanked 3-0 by Semyon Varlamov and the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. Nashville had lost a 5-4 shootout the previous night versus the Blues after having topped the Avs in overtime on Tuesday. Marek Mazanec made his first start of the season and posted 25 saves. We had our opportunities tonight, said Mazanec. It was good to get the start, but it would have been betterr to get the win.dddddddddddd With Pekka Rinne out with injury, Carter Hutton figures to get the call today and it would be his first start versus the Penguins. He has faced them once before in relief, stopping all eight shots fired his way. The Penguins are trying to work out of their own slump, winning for just the second time in seven games with a 2-1 overtime decision versus New Jersey on Friday. Pittsburgh seemed in danger of getting shut out for a second game in a row, but Chris Kunitz scored a power-play goal with 3:11 remaining in regulation and defenseman Simon Despres won it with 2:39 on the clock in overtime. Marc-Andre Fleury needed to make only 13 saves in the win. Our energy on the bench was high and our attitude was dont get down, keep going, said Kunitz. It may be one of our best efforts all year of playing that 60-minute game. Penguins defenseman Christian Ehrhoff did not play due to a head injury suffered on a hit versus Washington in Wednesdays 4-0 loss. Center Evgeni Malkin, meanwhile, missed his fourth game in a row with a lower-body injury. Malkin was able to practice on Saturday for the first time since the All-Star break, but will sit out again today. I thought he looked really good out there today, Pens head coach Mike Johnston said on his teams website. So hes getting really close, hes ahead of schedule so were excited about that for sure. The first thing was to get him into a regular practice. You saw at the end of practice today, he took some physical play so he got bumped around a little bit, took that. Get a skate in tomorrow. He wont play tomorrow. The Penguins are second in the Metropolitan Division with 64 points, one behind the front-running New York Islanders and four up on both the New York Rangers and Capitals. Fleury is 6-2-1 with a 1.72 goals against average and .932 save percentage in nine career meetings with the Preds, all but one of those starts. He made 25 saves to blank Nashville in October. 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