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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Not much has changed with the Minnesota Wild roster.The biggest difference is the man now in charge on the bench, Bruce Boudreau, whos been tasked with squeezing more success out of a team thats been stuck in the early rounds of the playoffs for the last four years.Bruce has that ability to convince the players, to get the players, to encourage the players, to prod the players to execute on a consistent basis, general manager Chuck Fletcher said the day Boudreau was introduced in May. If we do that, were a good hockey team and can even become very good.Boudreau has mostly experienced early exits from the postseason, too, with Washington and Anaheim. Without them, though, the 61-year-old likely wouldnt have been available to Fletcher and the Wild in the search for the franchises fifth head coach and fourth in six years. Theyre banking on Boudreau, with his remarkable regular season success of eight division titles in nine years, as the catalyst that this a group of players has been missing at critical times.You come to realize why hes had success. Everything he says makes a lot of sense, right wing Jason Pominville said. He kind of goes out of his way to make sure that we understand it and explains to us why were doing it and what can happen if we do it and do it right, so its nice to have that voice.With his roly-poly build and mischievous gap-toothed grin, Boudreau doesnt look the part of a taskmaster. Make no mistake, though, that his practices have been demanding during the get-to-know-each-other phase during training camp.They are intense, a lot of skating, and you can tell theres a purpose to all the drills were doing, left wing Zach Parise said, noting the emphasis on teaching concepts and creating game-like situations. It kind of forces us to play at a faster pace in practices, and hopefully that translates into games.The Wild start the season at division rival St. Louis on Oct. 13. Their home opener is two days later against Winnipeg.Here are some of the top storylines for 2016-17 in Boudreaus first year with Minnesota:PARISE RETURNS: Parise missed the playoff series last spring, a six-game loss to division champion Dallas, with a back injury that bothered him down the stretch and robbed the Wild of their best forward. Healthy enough to play for the U.S. team in the World Cup of Hockey, Parise will be counted on to be the emotional engine of a first line featuring center Marc Staal, one of the few notable offseason additions, and Charlie Coyle on the right wing.Theyre part of our top six, and we expect them to score, Boudreau said. And I expect them to be able to defend. Its not a one-way street.CONVERTED CENTER: Coyle has gone back and forth between center and the wing, but the plan for now is to keep him and his 6-foot-3, 218-pound frame on the wing. Coyle had a career-high 21 goals and 42 points in 2015-16, but he was still prone to long stretches without scoring.So far we havent seen the peak of him, Boudreau said. I think hell be better and when hes better it makes all of us better.CONVERTED CENTER, PART TWO: Since making his debut as a 20-year-old in 2012-13, Mikael Granlund hasnt matched the hype surrounding his talent with the same production. Granlund began to thrive on the wing during the postseason, and hell likely stay there on a line centered by captain Mikko Koivu and rounded out by Chris Stewart, the other significant free-agent acquisition.If Im a winger, Im a winger, Granlund said. Im excited both ways. So it doesnt matter to me.DEFENSEMEN DEMANDS: Boudreau hired Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens for his staff, bringing a hard-nosed guide for the blue-line group led by Parises pal, Ryan Suter. Stevens, who spent three years on New Jerseys staff, was itching to get back on the bench after working for NHL Network last season. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. http://www.chinajerseyscheapstore.com/ . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. China Jerseys Cheap . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Wholesale Jerseys From China . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. SAN DIEGO -- Batting cleanup in his second game back from his second stint on the disabled list, Curtis Granderson gave the New York Yankees some badly needed power. Granderson hit a two-run home run, his first since coming off the DL, and Ivan Nova dominated the Padres through seven impressive innings to lead the Yankees to a 3-0 victory against San Diego on Saturday night. Tyson Ross was pitching well for the Padres when it quickly fell apart. Alfonso Soriano singled to centre leading off the seventh and Granderson followed with a homer into the Jack Daniels Old No. 7 party deck atop the right field wall. "Its good. Any way to help the team out," Granderson said. "It was scuffle against Ross out there. He had thrown really well against us. Finally the third time around we were able to get a little thing going with Soriano to get the bloop there and then finally to get a pitch that caught some of the plate. He didnt give us much of that throughout the earlier parts of the game." It was Grandersons first hit since being activated before Friday nights game. Hes been on the DL twice since spring training after being hit by pitches. It was his second homer of the season. "I fell behind first pitch changeup away, and then I tried to go fastball and got too much of the plate and he made me pay for it," Ross said. Granderson scored again in the ninth when he hit a leadoff single, stole second and came in on Jayson Nixs two-out single. "He was part of all three runs tonight," manager Joe Girardi said. "Ive talked about how Curtis can change the complexion of the game really quickly and thats what he did tonight. Thats why I put him in the four slot tonight, because of how he can change a game and its really nice to have him back." The sellout crowd at Petco Park was on its feet as Mariano Rivera came on to start the ninth. He pitched a perfect inning to earn his 35th save in 37 chances in his farewell season, and the 643rd of his career. Nova (5-4) held San Diego to just four hits in seven innings while striking out eight and walking one. He retired 15 straight batters from the second through sixth innings, keeping the Padres off-balance with a mixture of curveballs and fastballs. Novas streak began after he allowed Alexi Amaristas leadoff double in the second. Amarista took third on Logan Forsythes groundout but was stranded as Nova got Nick Hundley to ground out and then struck out Ross. "He was tough," San Diegos Chase Headley said. "I felt he did a really good job of locating his fastball and obviously he had that really good breaking ball going tonight. I looked up at the scoreboard in the sixth or seventh inning and saw that he had thrown 15 or 18 balls total. And when someone has thrown as many breaking balls as he did, thats pretty impressive. He didd a great job of locating his pitches and had really good stuff.dddddddddddd" The Padres didnt have another baserunner until Will Venable doubled leading off the seventh. Nova retired the next two batters, walked Logan Forsythe and then punched out Hundley on a curveball to end the inning. Nova was taken by San Diego in the December 2008 draft but was returned to the Yankees at the end of spring training in 2009. Ross (2-5) retired the first 13 Yankees batters, including striking out five in a row at one point, before Lyle Overbay lined a single to left. Ross then got Eduardo Nunez to fly out to centre and struck out Brett Lillibridge. "Early on he was getting a lot of quick outs," Granderson said. "He was pitching no-hit baseball for a while until Overbay was able to get one in and then that finally, I guess, settled everybody in a little bit to say, OK, we can hit him. Lets do what we need to do up there and stay within our approach and get something we can hit. " Ross allowed two runs and three hits in six-plus innings, struck out a career-high nine and walked three. His previous career high was eight strikeouts, accomplished three times previously, including twice this season. Ross was coming off a 1-0 victory against All-Star Patrick Corbin and the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he allowed only three hits in eight innings. NOTES: Yankees manager Joe Girardi is giving SS Derek Jeter two games off to rest his sore right leg. Girardi says Jeter has been battling a calf injury. The manager doesnt know if the injury came about because of a strained right quadriceps that landed Jeter on the disabled list from July 12 until being activated last Sunday. "Its a concern of ours and weve got to try to get him healthy," Girardi said. ... Eduardo Nunez started at SS on Saturday night after starting at 3B on Friday night. Lillibridge started at 3B on Saturday night. ... David "Boomer" Wells, who grew up in San Diego and pitched for both the Yankees and Padres, watched from right behind home plate. ... The Padres signed SS Ronny Cedeno to a minor league contract because All-Star Everth Cabrera is facing a 50-game suspension by Major League Baseball as part of its investigation of the Biogenesis drug clinic. Cedeno was scheduled to be in the lineup for Double-A Lake Elsinore on Saturday night. Cabrera is among 14 players facing discipline in MLBs Biogenesis probe, and suspensions are expected Monday. The Padres are off Monday and begin a two-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. ... This three-game series concludes Sunday when Ian Kennedy (3-8, 5.23 ERA) makes his Padres debut against the team that drafted him in the first round in 2006. Kennedy was obtained in a trade with Arizona on Wednesday. The Yankees counter with Phil Hughes (4-9, 4.58). ' ' '