Malen und Basteln » he Clippers. Crawford closed a 15-

EDMONTON -- Its been eight seasons since the Edmonton Oilers last made the NHL playoffs, so coach Dallas Eakins wasnt talking much about expectations when the players reported for medicals on Thursday. Instead he was focusing on the "process." While he and most of the players were quietly expressing optimism that the team is much improved over last season, Eakins said he wanted the team to "be modest. "We want to have no regrets for the past and no anxieties for the future," he said. "Its what are we doing today and thats it. "Its all about the process. How are we going to get better today? What did I do today to get better and did I gain any respect today? Thats how we want to go after it and everything else looks after itself." At the same time he admitted the club is excited about the off-season changes and the adjustments to his coaching staff. Gone are assistants Steve Smith and Kelly Buchberger, replaced by Craig Ramsay and Keith Acton. The team added some much needed size with the addition of veteran forwards Kevin Westgarth, Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot. All three stand six-foot-three or taller. "Were not going to come in and save the day but I think were going to add some good depth," Purcell said. Equally important, they upgraded a defence that gave up 270 goals last season, the most in the NHL. The team added Mark Fayne from New Jersey, Nikita Nikitin from Columbus and Keith Aulie from Tampa Bay to support returning veterans Jeff Petry, Andrew Ference and Justin Schultz. Expected to battle for spots on the backend will be David Musil, Martin Marincin, who played 44 games in Edmonton last year, Oscar Kiefbom, who had 17 games with the Oilers, and perhaps Darnell Nurse, the teams first-round draft pick two years ago. "Obviously were going to have some battles on defence," Eakins said. "Were upgraded our D with what I call full-time NHL defencemen so there will be some battles going on there." Theres also going to battles down the middle. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should be their No. 1 centre but the rest of the spots are up for grabs. "We have two NHL centremen right now (Nugent-Hopkins and Boyd Gordon)and I have no idea who the other ones will be," Eakins said. "And there will be a spot or two open on the wing." Goaltending was also an issue last season after Devan Dubnyk couldnt handle the starting job. The Oilers have eight goaltenders in camp, but between them theres only 55 games of NHL experience, 40 of that by Ben Scrivens. Obtained late last season, Scrivens and Viktor Fasth, who had five starts in Anaheim and seven in Edmonton, should shoulder the load in net. "I expect those two to push each other very hard for who will get the minutes," Eakins said. "The great thing about them is they are both very good people, theyre very supportive of each other already. We have two men who are high in character, highly competitive and highly supportive of each other and thats a real encouraging sign for me." Scrivens said he and Fasth have to "make sure our games are in order to give our team the chance to win. Vik and I are going to have people nipping at our heels, no question, and thats going to force us to play better, which is going to help the team." The Oilers hope to benefit from a more seasoned Eakins as well. One of the biggest lessons Eakins said he learned in his first season as an NHL head coach was dealing with the media in a tough NHL city. "I dont want to ever turn into a coach whos just going to give you that, yeah lets work hard today and give 100 per cent," he said. "But I did find out about how people can shorten your message and turn it into something else. "I learned many lessons, but my one lesson about bringing up everything that I learned last year is Im worried how it would be twisted so I learned not to speak so much." Last season Edmonton finished 28th in the 30-team league with a 29-44-9 record. 18:03ET 18-09-14 Authentic Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys . -- Hee Young Park topped the leaderboard at 8 under Friday in the suspended second round of the Kingsmill Championship. Custom Eagles Jerseys . Johnson shared an update after his surgery Tuesday on Twitter. He also wrote, "now lets get on the grind." The running back told The Tennessean he was having surgery in Pensacola, Fla. http://www.cheapeagles.com/. A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys China . Halladays resume as a Blue Jay is among the elite in the franchises 36-year history. Over 12 seasons in Toronto, he was named an All-Star six times. He had arguably the finest campaign of his career in 2003 when he posted a 22-7 record, a 3. Philadelphia Eagles JJ Arcega-Whiteside Jersey . JOHNS, N.Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Jamal Crawford scored 25 points, Chris Paul supplied 23 points with 10 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers held on for a 100-94 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. Blake Griffin finished with 18 points and DeAndre Jordan totaled 17 points with 18 rebounds for Los Angeles, which snapped its five-game road losing streak. LaMarcus Aldridge paced the Blazers with 37 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Kaman had 15 points with 11 rebounds and Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. They trapped me, blitzed every pick-and-roll. When I didnt have the ball they were all over me, said Lillard. Portland had its four-game winning streak halted, including its three-game home winning streak to the Clippers. Crawford closed a 15-4 run with a deep 3-pointer and a jumper to put the Clippers up 94-89 with over two minutes left. Our bench had 25 points tonight, Clippers coach Doc Rivers joked of Crawford. Aldridge answered with a corner jumper, then Jordan came up with a timely block of Matthews with over a minute to play. Paul hauled in the loose ball, was fouled by Matthews and converted the ensuing free throws to keep the Clippers iin front by two baskets.dddddddddddd Lillard and Matthews each missed jumpers inside a minute and Los Angeles secured the win from the free throw line. Portland grabbed its first lead since the opening minute early in the fourth thanks to its reserves. Kaman tied the game at 74-74, then C.J. McCollums runner gave the Blazers their first advantage since it was 2-0. Kaman kept the momentum going with a dunk off a feed from Meyers Leonard to force a Clippers timeout. Lillard forced another stoppage from Los Angeles when he followed a Kaman dunk with a step-back jumper from the baseline to extend Portlands lead to 82-77 with 7:22 to play. Los Angeles was held scoreless over the final 2:32 of the third, but the Blazers could only manage to tie the game at 72-72 after four free throws over that span. The Clippers led 27-21 after the first quarter and brought a 50-49 edge into the locker room at half. Game Notes LA made 37-of-88 shots from the floor, while Portland converted 35-of-87 shot attempts ... Leonard checked in with 10 points and 11 rebounds in a losing effort ... The Clippers had a 14-2 edge on the fastbreak ... LA scored 19 points off 13 turnovers. 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