nd inning. Then they really started hitting

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Mike Smith stopped 30 shots and the Phoenix Coyotes became the first team to shut out the Chicago Blackhawks this season with a 2-0 victory Friday night. Coming off a disappointing loss to Dallas, the Coyotes charged at the Blackhawks following a pregame ceremony honouring the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Keith Yandle scored 69 seconds in and had an assist on Radim Vrbatas goal late in the second period. Smith made it stand up with some tough saves late in the third period, closing out his second shutout of the season after rocker Alice Cooper played a three-song set during intermission. Antoine Vermette extended his career-high point streak to nine games on Yandles goal in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd. Chicago had impressive victories in sweeping the two Southern California teams this week, but struggled offensively without leading scorer Patrick Kane, who left to attend his grandfathers funeral. The Blackhawks allowed two power-play goals after killing off 32 of 33 penalties the previous 10 games. They couldnt solve Smith and now head into the Olympic break off their first shutout since Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals against Boston last June. The Coyotes have been agonizingly inconsistent, playing well against good teams and struggling against teams further down the standings. Phoenix beat rival Los Angeles 3-0 in one of its best games of the season and followed that with a loss to Buffalo, which has the leagues worst record. The Coyotes bounced back to beat Pittsburgh, then lost on Tuesday to Dallas, a team they are jostling with for a playoff spot. They got off to a fast start against the Blackhawks, which came to the desert with 84 points, second-most in the NHL. Yandle triggered it. He was fired up by the 1980 U.S. Olympic teams appearance, fist-bumping every player as they went by the bench. Yandle, left off the current U.S. Olympic team, used that energy to score a power-play goal 69 seconds into the game on a hard slap shot from near the blue line. After one shot in the opening 14 minutes, the Blackhawks turned up the pressure late in the first period and early in the second. Smith stood his ground during Chicagos flurries and had stellar sequence late in the second period, when he slid over to stop a redirected shot by Jonathan Toews, then stopped a point-blank shot by Patrick Sharp, who stood in disbelief for a few seconds before looking back at the Coyotes goalie. A few minutes later, Smith ended up on his backside in the net with his mask lying in front of him after being run over by Brandon Saad. Defenceman Michal Rozsival was called for an unsportsmanlike after the play to give Phoenix a 5-on-3 and Vrbata capitalized quickly, beating Corey Crawford with a wrister from the slot. Cooper kept the vibe going during the second intermission with "Im 18," "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Schools Out," and Smith made the shutout stand with some tough stops, including a nifty glove save on Saad after Chicago pulled Crawford for an extra attacker. NOTES: Ten members of the Miracle on Ice team were present for the pregame ceremony and current Olympians on the Coyotes and Blackhawks also were recognized. ... Coyotes C Martin Hanzal missed the game due to an illness. ... Chicago D Johnny Oduya missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Vermette has eight goals and four assists during his point streak. Blake Martinez Jersey . - Mike Zimmer has brought a demanding style to the Minnesota Vikings. Davante Adams Jersey . Ferrer will play Mikhail Youzhny on Sunday after he defeated Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-4 in an all-Russian semifinal. "Youzhny is a good player," Ferrer said. http://www.officialpackersteamgears.com/dave-robinson-jersey/ . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. Kenny Clark Jersey . In his first game with Boston University, the 17-year-old Eichel picked up five assists as his Boston University Terriers thumped St. Paul Hornung Jersey . -- Top-ranked Stacy Lewis birdied the last three holes and five of the final six Thursday for an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Mi Jung Hur in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic. MINNEAPOLIS -- The Kansas City Royals scored seven runs in the second inning. Then they really started hitting the ball. Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games. Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate in the big second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals then started hitting the ball out of the park after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth. Gordon sent one drive into a flower bed in right-centre. Perez lined one into the left-field seats, and Willinghams homer travelled an estimated 433 feet into the third deck in left field. "Those tack on runs are huge," Royals manager Ned Yost said. The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle. This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003. Kansas Citys Jeremy Guthrie (9-10) returned to the mound after the delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs by Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas. Oswaldo Arcia also went deep for Minnesota, hitting a two-run drive off Jason Frasor in the eighth for his 11th homer. But Kansas Citys post-rain delay power surge helped it remain in control despite the Twins showing some power of their own. "You gotta fight for 27 outs," Perez said. "We continued to play hard. We needed to keep hitting it until the game was over." In his second start with Minnesota since coming over in a trade from Oakland, Tommy Milone (6-4) allowed seven runs in a career-low 1 1-3 innings. "Awful. The first inning was good, the second one was pretty awful," Milone said. "Couldnt get a good feel, try not to walk guys, left the ball over the plate. It was pretty toughh.dddddddddddd" The first pitch was delayed 34 minutes in anticipation of a rain shower that never happened. The rain did arrive as the second inning started and got worse until umpires called the players off the field with one out in the bottom of the fourth. After managing just one run in Saturday nights 4-1 loss, the Royals scored 10 or more for just the third time since June 17. "With the weather and everything, we were pretty good," Perez said. "We fought through it." GUTHRIE COMES BACK OUT Guthrie helped save a tired Royals bullpen by staying in the game after the rain delay. "Just to be able to manoeuvr through that made it a good day for us," Yost said. NO EXCUSES Twins manager Ron Gardenhire wasnt going to blame the weather for Milones bad second inning. "They played through the same thing," Gardenhire said. "They got it done, we didnt." NO-RAIN RAIN DELAY It wasnt the first time this season the Twins have had a game delayed by rain that never arrived. The first pitch for Minnesotas 5-4 loss to Houston at Target Field on June 6 was pushed back 81 minutes even though not a drop fell from the sky. TRAINERS ROOM ROYALS: Setup man Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland were available on Sunday, a day after manager Ned Yost gave each reliever a day off. UP NEXT ROYALS: Coming off his sixth career shutout vs. Oakland, Jason Vargas (9-5) starts the finale of the four-game series on Monday. Vargas has a 0.86 ERA in three starts against Minnesota this year and hasnt allowed a run in the last two. TWINS: Trevor May (0-1) will try and bounce back after walking seven batters over two innings during his first major league start on Aug. 9. "Hes been like a raging bull out there," Gardenhire said. "We gotta calm him down right now." Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '