News » Leonard scored nine straight

CALGARY – Steven Stamkos is the most prolific goal scorer in the NHL today. Manny Ramirez Jersey . He has 185 goals over the last four seasons (294 games). Nobody has scored more during that stretch. In fact, its not even close as Alexander Ovechkin is second with 152 goals. But there is one situation in which the Tampa Bay Lightning forward has failed to put the puck in the net on a regular basis: the shootout. Stamkos has converted on just five of 27 career chances (18.5%). "Its something that, a lot of the time, is a mental thing," Stamkos explained. "When things dont go your way, you have negative thoughts heading into your next shot so its definitely something Im aware of and would love to obviously get better at." Stamkos missed on both his attempts last season and has found the back of the net just once in his last 13 attempts overall. "You skate toward the net in a game and theres a guy chasing you and you dont think about it and you score and you say, Why cant I do that in a shootout? Well, in a shootout everyones eyes are on you. The games on the line. You have more time to think. Almost too much time to think so for me its more of a mental thing and hopefully being a little more successful early on in the season will allow me to get some confidence." In the regular season, a missed shootout attempt may lead to a missed bonus point in this era of three-point games. But at the Olympics, a missed shootout attempt may lead to elimination. Dominik Hasek, for example, stopped all five Canadian shooters during the 1998 Olympic semi-finals in Nagano, allowing the Czech Republic to advance on the strength of Robert Reichels goal. That happened before the NHL implemented extra shots as a tie-breaking method. Now the Canadian staff will have a fairly good idea of who is up to the job should a shootout be required. And head coach Mike Babcock will have a number of solid options. Among the 47 players invited to this weeks orientation camp, here are the top shootout performers: Jonathan Toews - 49% (27/55) Sidney Crosby - 43% (23/54)James Neal - 41% (14/34)Chris Kunitz - 41% (13/32)Claude Giroux - 41% (12/29)Rick Nash - 39% (29/74)Jordan Eberle - 39% (9/23)Ryan Getzlaf - 38% (21/55)Andrew Ladd - 38% (6/16)Logan Couture - 37% (7/19) Stamkos ranks 20th on the list and based on that, Babcock may choose to leave him out of any shootout. NHL on TSN analysts Dave Reid and Mike Johnson debated who should get the call for Canada in an Olympic shootout during a recent episode of Thats Hockey. Reid included Stamkos on his list despite his poor track record arguing that you simply cant leave the NHLs top goal scorer on the bench in that situation. Wayne Gretzky, of course, was left off the shootout roster in Nagano, which led to plenty of questions back home. So if Babcock did call on him, would Stamkos be eager for the chance? "Yeah, everyone wants to be a hero," he said. "Theres obviously a lot of pressure, but you have to kind of run with it and hopefully you dont have to be put in that situation, because youve won the game before that, but its definitely something everyone would want to do." The 23-year-old doesnt see an easy fix when it comes to this mental block. "Its just something you have to overcome so it obviously doesnt happen overnight." Kenny Lofton Jersey . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. Ricky Vaughn Jersey . The 49ers announced the deal Thursday. San Francisco selected Kilgore in the fifth round of the 2011 draft out of Appalachian State. He has played in 33 regular-season games, plus all six playoff games the last two seasons. http://www.indiansteamproshop.com/Customized/ . Ryu (8-3) allowed a run and three hits in six innings and struck out six in his 13th start. In his first 13 starts last season -- his first in the major leagues -- the left-hander was 8-5 with a 2.85 ERA. This was the ninth time this year that Ryu has allowed fewer than three earned runs, and he is 7-0 in those games.SAN ANTONIO -- Having no answer for Kevin Love for three-and-a-half quarters, the San Antonio Spurs made Minnesota solve their Big 3. The Timberwolves failed. Tony Parker had 29 points to offset Loves season-high 42 points and San Antonio rallied for a 117-110 victory over Minnesota on Friday night. Manu Ginobili had 20 points and nine assists, fueling a 37-21 fourth quarter that helped the Spurs avoid their second home loss this season. Tim Duncan added 12 points and 14 rebounds. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili have won three NBA titles together and are the active leaders for wins as a trio. That experience paid off against the Timberwolves, who have not made the playoffs since 2005. "Its got to show up somewhere," Duncan said of the trios experience. "If you want to call it that, it is what it is. We know whats going on out there, especially when it gets down to crunch time and things really count. Weve made plays long enough that we know where each other is going to be." Ginobili and Parker combined to score San Antonios final points in a 26-12 closing run, and teamed with Duncan to dish out all but one of the teams final five assists and seven of its last 11 rebounds. "We know what theyre capable of and when you get them into a two- or three-minute game, theyre incredible," Love said. "Theyve played together for a very long time, but they just made plays and we missed shots that we usually make." Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and Boris Diaw and Marco Belinelli had 12 points apiece for San Antonio. Nikola Pekovic had 18 points, Ricky Rubio added 15 points and Kevin Martin had 14 for Minnesota, which had won two straight. Ginobili scored 16 points in the final quarter, helping San Antonio overcome a lethargic start. His reverse layup with 2 minutes remaining extended San Antonios lead to 111-108. "Manu is playing great," Parker said. "Hes got his legs. He looks like hes fresh and hes making his shots. In the fourth quarter, he was very aggressive. That was big for us." Parker was just as big, making his only 3-point attempt of the quarter while scoring 12 points on 5--for-7 shooting. Matt Belisle Jersey. "Thats why he is one of the best in the league, and thats why he almost won (the NBA title) by himself last year with the Spurs," Rubio said. "Right now, hes one of the top two or top three point guards in the league." San Antonio needed the trios contributions to offset Love. He was 8 for 9 on 3-pointers and had 14 rebounds. He had 26 points after halftime, nearly besting his previous season-high of 34 in the second half alone. "He shot the ball incredibly," Duncan said. "He made some tough ones and just kept on going. Boris did a great job in the last six minutes of really getting onto him and making him do something else. It changed the game a little bit for us." Loves final points came on a pair of free throw with 6 minutes remaining and his last basket was on a dunk 41 seconds earlier. Leonard scored nine straight points midway through the third quarter, keeping San Antonio in the game while Minnesota got hot behind the 3-point line. The Timberwolves were 6 for 12 on 3s in the third, making three consecutive attempts to take a 79-75 lead with 4 minutes left. Love had the opening and closing 3s in the run, finishing with 19 points in the third quarter. He was 5 for 6 on 3s in the period, and 7 for 9 overall as Diaw, Jeff Ayres and all the help defence the Spurs provided failed to slow him. "He is a great player," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "When you can play inside and outside the way he does, he is a tough cover. I think we could have done a better job. I thought we made some really fundamental errors in guarding him, but, be that as it may, he is a monster." NOTES: Spurs centres Tiago Splitter (tightness left calf) and Aron Baynes (calf strain) both sat out. ... Minnesota F Chase Budinger (knee surgery) missed the game, as did C Ronny Turiaf (fractured right elbow). ... Entering Fridays game, San Antonio leads the league in assists, averaging 25.0 per game. ... Entering Fridays game, a quarter of Corey Brewers 114 baskets for Minnesota this season had come on dunks. He is shooting 45 per cent from the field. ' ' '