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BARCELONA, Spain -- Ivan Rakitic scored in the first half to help Barcelona win 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday for a second straight victory at the start of the Spanish league season.The Croatia midfielder headed in a well-placed cross by Arda Turan to cap a quick attack that broke down Bilbaos high defensive line in the 21st minute.Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were both off-target with a handful of opportunities to seal the victory at San Mames Stadium, but Barcelonas dominant possession game never let Bilbao mount a serious challenge.The matches here are always like this, intense and attractive. We played a good match, Rakitic said. This shows that we are already in form even at this stage of the season.The defending Liga champions joined Real Madrid and the surprising Las Palmas, which routed Granada 5-1 also on Sunday, as the only teams to have taken all six points.Elsewhere, Sevilla drew 0-0 at Villarreal, while Sporting Gijon drew 0-0 at Alaves.Barcelonas win was its 100th in 126 league matches under coach Luis Enrique, who is starting his third season after winning the last two leagues, along with several other titles including a Champions League crown.Its tough to play here and we go home happy, Luis Enrique said. These three points have a lot of merit. The pace was frenetic, and Athletic makes it complicated. We were facing a great rival and we could have put the result beyond doubt early on.As usual, the match at San Mames was an entertaining, up-tempo contest of two contrasting styles.The visitors fared just fine without the injured Andres Iniesta and Neymar, who wont start his season with Barcelona until after Brazils upcoming World Cup qualifiers.Once Rakitic, Messi and the rest of Luis Enriques side got their collective passing game going, they had little trouble transforming Bilbaos pressure into a fruitless pursuit of the ball.They knew we were going to pressure them. At the start, we had a couple of good chances, but as the game went on we wore down, said Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde. We had trouble playing from behind.Barcelonas biggest scare came from a poor pass by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who took over as first-choice in the league after Claudio Bravo moved to Manchester City.Ter Stegen made up for his pass directly to Benat Etxebarria by blocking his resulting shot with his face. Other than that mistake, the German was poised and precise with his passes from the back. The league said Ter Stegens 46 completed passes were the most by a goalkeeper since the 2005-06 season.Besides Rakitics excellent overall performance, coach Luis Enrique can also be pleased with new centerback Samuel Umtiti, as well as the continued form of Turan and Sergi Roberto.Turan had another convincing match in place of Neymar, delivering the pin-point pass for what proved to be Rakitics winner.Roberto, besides being solid in defense at right back, led a rapid counterattack that was spoiled when Suarez volleyed Rakitics cross wide in the 57th.Suarez had a golden chance to grab a goal in the dying seconds of the match when Messi laid the ball off for him with goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz off his line, but the strikers shot was cleared by Eneko Boveda.In the Canary Islands, Nabil El Zhar scored two goals and set up another to lead Las Palmas destruction of Granada.Kevin-Prince Boateng also scored his second goal since joining for Las Palmas before leaving the match because of injury.Las Palmas has started the season in fine fashion with a league-leading nine goals in two victories. Flames Jerseys China . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Flames Jerseys 2020 . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. https://www.cheapflames.com/ .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. Custom Calgary Flames Jerseys . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Wholesale Flames Jerseys . "Theyve both been real good," said Babcock. "Havent changed our minds." A decision has seemingly been made - Sundays Group B-deciding tilt against Finland ahead - but it could not have been an easy one. Price opened the tournament with a sturdy 19-save performance against the Norwegians, yielding just one goal. LOUDON, N.H. -- Jimmie Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports a needed bright spot, turning a lap of 133.971 mph Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to win his first pole of the season.Johnson, a two-time race winner this season, could use a boost following a five-race slump where he failed to finish better than 13th. He has crashed out of his last two races, finishing 35th at Daytona International Speedway and 32nd last weekend at Kentucky Speedway.He was the lone Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top five.Hendrick suffered a blow this week when Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped out of Sundays race because he suffered from symptoms of a concussion. Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet next week at Indianapolis if Earnhardt is not cleared to return.Alex Bowman, making his first Sprint Cup start of the season, qualified 20th subbing for Earnhardt.Johnson, Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott have all contributed to Hendrick Motorsports losing drought over the last 13 races. Johnsons March 20th win in Fontana, California, was the last for a Hendrick driver.Kyle Busch was second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.The car wasnt driving as well as I would have liked it to drive for qualifying, Busch said. But good speed, thats what matters right now and being able to put up a good lap like that.Heres what else was going on during Fridays qualifying:ITS ON THE POLEJohnson has 35 poles in 526 career NASCAR starts and first in 29 career Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire. Hes a three-time winner at New Hampshire and one of only two drivers to win two straight times on the track. Johnson has nine top-10 starts this season.TESTING, TEESTINGEarnhardt, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.dddddddddddd and Aric Almirola were the only drivers to participate in a two-day Goodyear tire test last month at New Hampshire.The fact that Dale tested here, it makes (his absence) a larger issue, Johnson said. Those face-to-face conversations are so much more important than reading notes. Were going to miss that part, for sure.DRIVE FOR FIVEBrad Keselowski starts ninth as he tries for his fifth victory of the season.It is nice to have four wins. I wish they meant more. When it comes Chase time, I have four stickers on my car and that is about it, he said.BOWMANS STARTThe 23-year-old Bowman has not raced in the Cup series this season and had no top-10 finishes in 71 starts over the 2014-2015 seasons with BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing. He drives part-time in the second-tier Xfinity Series for Earnhardts JR Motorsports team.I felt like we probably could have qualified a little better, he said. I probably didnt do the best job I possibly could have and we got a little too tight off. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has worked really hard on this thing. Obviously, I hope Dale is feeling betterIts been a crazy 24 hours. Im ready to go take a nap, eat some food and relax a little bit until tomorrow.FINDING GORDONIs everyone sure Gordon knows he might be driving next weekend? Gordon is in France this weekend, which ruled him out for a potential return at New Hampshire.Somebody better call him, I think hes in the south of France drinking rose, Johnson said. We need to sober him up and get him back. ' ' '