e to be," Molitor said. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tweet

Finland had more than enough offensive talent to overcome its slow start against Austria, even with Teemu Selanne back in the dressing room. Brand Name Shoes Wholesale China . Jarkko Immonen and Mikael Granlund scored two goals apiece as Finland opened preliminary-round Olympic play with an 8-4 victory over Austria on Thursday. Jussi Jokinen and Petri Kontiola each had a goal and an assist for the Finns, who put 52 shots on beleaguered Austria goalie Bernhard Starkbaum despite playing the final two periods without Selanne, their captain and the leading scorer in Olympic history. The 43-year-old "Finnish Flash" had an assist in the first period of his record-equaling sixth Olympics before sitting out with an upper-body injury. Selanne should be fine for the Finns next game, team spokesman Janne Lahti said. "Hes an old man, so he needs some rest, more than the other guys," Kontiola said. Sami Lepisto and Olli Maatta also scored for Finland, which has never lost to Austria at the Olympics. Granlund had a three-point game and defenceman Sami Vatanen had three assists in their Olympic debuts. Selanne got just eight shifts before apparently having problems with his neck or shoulders. Finlands trainers massaged Selanne on the bench late in the first period, and he didnt return from the first break. "Maybe he got the bad pillow!" said Sami Vatanen, Selannes teammate with the Anaheim Ducks. Even with Selanne ailing, Finland took control with two goals in 8 seconds during the final minute of the first before taking a four-goal lead in the second. "Its tough to see him get injured, but hell be OK," Olli Jokinen said of Selanne. "Hes a big part of this team, and hes our leader. Its never easy when you lose a guy like him." Finns recover The Finns also survived a shaky Olympic debut from Tuukka Rask, the vaunted Boston Bruins goalie who yielded four goals on just 20 shots. "The first goal, everybody was caught sleeping there," Rask said. "After that second goal, everybody kind of woke up and got back to playing again." Michael Grabner had three goals in his Olympic debut for Austria. The New York Islanders forward scored 36 seconds into the first period, and Austria had two early leads before Finland took control. "In case we didnt know what we were up against, we got a reality check," Austrian forward Thomas Vanek said. "Youve got to play a certain way, and I think we didnt do it. Our goalie needs to be our best player, and we need to help him more." Finland is the most consistently successful Olympic nation of the NHL era while winning medals in four of the last five Olympics overall. The Finns have a solid shot at medals again despite placement in Canadas preliminary-round group, and an eight-goal performance in their opener will help their cause. Austria, which qualified for its first Olympics since 2002, surprised the Finns in the opening minute when Grabner converted a cross-ice pass from Michael Raffl. Granlund got Finlands first goal on a play set up by Selanne, who took Vatanens outlet pass and fed Granlund while screening Starkbaum. Austria went back ahead when Thomas Hundertpfunds shot from behind the net went off Maattas skate in front and beat Rask, but Lepisto equalized 2:04 later. Maatta put the Finns ahead with a vicious slap shot from the blue line with 35 seconds left in the first period — and Immonen scored 8 seconds later. Six Austrians are back from their Salt Lake City team along with the Olympic debuts of Grabner and Vanek, his Islanders teammate. Grabner added two goals in the third period for his hat trick. "I like the big ice, and I just tried to get into open space for my teammates," Grabner said. "Against a good team like Finland, its tough to come back." Cheap Nike Air Max 97 China .Those stars, most notably the top line of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel, struggled against the Montreal Canadiens and must be better as the Leafs look ahead to facing the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers this weekend. Air Max 270 Discount . On Tuesday, the star questioned whether that was still the case. Speaking to reporters at a charity event, Johnson said: "I just kind of wonder sometimes: Is this still the place for me?" Johnsons comments came after he was asked why he recently skipped a voluntary minicamp. http://www.brandshoescheaponline.com/wholesale-air-max-china/max-97-clearance-sale.html . You can see all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Chicago won two of three games during its stay at the United Center. The club began the homestand with a 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on March 1 and fell to Colorado on Tuesday before posting another blowout win in Thursdays tilt against Columbus.MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins have added Paul Molitor to their coaching staff, assigning him supervision of the teams base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning as well as assistance with in-game strategy. This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. "Theres no doubt about that. It fits pretty good here." The hire was announced Tuesday by the Twins, who finished 66-96 for the second straight season after going 63-99 the year before that. "Theres really no part of the game that we cant do better at," Molitor said, adding: "Im going to be able to work on guys who need to have a small-ball game, with the things they can do, with ways to score runs. I think thats kind of a lost art. Guys worry so much about getting on base, but they forget how to score and how to pick up 90 feet. While it wasnt horrible, I think it certainly could be better." Since 2005, Molitor has served as a minor league base running and infield co-ordinator for the organization. The last three of his 21 major league seasons as a player came with the Twins until his retirement in 1998. The 57-year-old grew up in nearby St. Paul, attending the same high school where Joe Mauer later starred and then playing for the University of Minnesota before his professional career was launched with Milwaukee and extended with Toronto. The seven-time All-Star is one of six players in history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Molitor was a candidate to be Minnesotas manager in 2002 after Tom Kelly retired, but he withdrew during the unsettling process during which Major League Baseball tried to eliminate the franchise before being blocked in court. The job went to Ron Gardenhire, who has held it since then and received a new two-year contract last month. All of Gardenhires assistants were brought back, too, so the positiion for Molitor on staff is new. Nike Air Max 720 Wholesale. "I appreciate that hes respected my input in spring training when hes had me come down there as an extra coach those first few weeks the past several years," Molitor said. "Weve talked again often. Its going to be a chance for us to take that kind of to another level in how were going to work together, as me being as part of his staff." Gardenhire neednt look over his shoulder, Ryan said. The idea to hire Molitor was Gardenhires, actually. "Gardy has no reason to worry about his job," Ryan said, adding: "I didnt want to be perceived as hiring Molitor as a manager-in-waiting. Thats not true. Were adding him to our staff to make us better." Molitor didnt dismiss eventual interest in becoming a manager. But he didnt sound ready to think about it. "Im sure therell be some questions regarding that. Theres been a lot of speculation even over the last season about Gardys potential future, and I just dont think that I can really say anything other than this is going to be invaluable for me in terms of getting back into a major league situation and continuing to gain experience and maybe learning more about what I want my future to be," Molitor said. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tweeted after the news was announced: "Wow, so stoked to see Molitor join our staff! Hes one of the most knowledgeable baseball men Ive ever met." Ryan was glad to hear that. "Thats kind of music to my ears because Im hoping we can get Trevor going. Hes got the capability to be a pretty good player. This year wasnt what we were hoping," Ryan said. NOTES: The Twins announced that closer Glen Perkins had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 1 on the medial meniscus cartilage in his right knee. Hell be ready for spring training. ... Molitor has served three seasons on a major league coaching staff: with the Twins as a bench coach under Kelly in 2000 and 2001 and as hitting coach for Seattle in 2004, the year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. ' ' '