Stempniak knocked it in for his ninth of the season while getting from miao1234's blog
CHICAGO -- Both the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves were missing their starting centres. Benjamin Watson Saints Jersey . The Timberwolves were able to overcome the adversity. Kevin Love scored 31 points to lead the Timberwolves over the Bulls 95-86 Monday night. Ronny Turiaf added 14 points for the Timberwolves, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Bulls and won for the fourth time in five games overall. Timberwolves centre Nikola Pekovic exited with a sore right Achilles tendon midway through the first quarter. Turiaf, who was averaging 2.3 points, scored a season high in his absence. "He stepped up when Pekovic went out, and he brings a lot," Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio said. "He brought everything he had." The Bulls were also without their starting centre. Joakim Noah was sent home before the game due to an illness. Kirk Hinrich (strained right hamstring) missed his fourth straight game. "They had some people out too, but we knew it was going to be a physical game," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said. "We knew how they were going to play, and I thought we responded pretty well." Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and D.J. Augustin added 19 points for the Bulls. Pekovic, who was averaging 18.4 points and 9.3 rebounds, said he hopes his injury is not serious. The injury has been bothering Pekovic during the teams road trip, Adelman said. Pekovic had one point and one rebound in 6 minutes. In Pekovics absence, Turiaf grabbed seven rebounds and had his highest-scoring game since he scored 19 points on Jan. 11, 2011, for the New York Knicks against the Portland Trailblazers. "My goal this year, regardless of the situation, is just to go out there and have some fun," Turiaf said. "No matter how much or how little I play, I just want to have fun." The Bulls pulled within five with 1:29 left on Augustins 3-pointer but got no closer. Love answered with a layup with 1:10 remaining, and Corey Brewers dunk gave the Timberwolves an 88-79 lead with 57.4 seconds left. The Timberwolves improved to 2-11 on the road when scoring fewer than 109 points. Minnesota shot 46.6 per cent compared to the Bulls 37.6 per cent. "We need that," Love said. "We communicated really well and we definitely contested a lot of shots." Chicago had won four of five and is 10-4 in January. Chase Budinger added 12 points off the bench for Minnesota, and Brewer had 11. Jimmy Butler scored 16 points, and Mike Dunleavy and Taj Gibson each had 10 for the Bulls. Gibson started at centre in place of Noah and had eight points and seven rebounds at halftime before running into foul trouble in the second half. "Hes an All-Star. Youre going to feel it," Gibson said about the Bulls missing Noah. "He was playing real phenomenal. Hes one of the vocal leaders, rebounding, playing defence, controlling the offensive end and making plays for guys. "We got to keep pushing forward." The Timberwolves went cold in the third quarter as the Bulls outscored them 19-18 and pulled within five. Minnesota had one field goal in the final 7:38 of the period -- Budingers dunk with 34.9 seconds left. The Wolves led 72-65 heading into the fourth. The Bulls had won by an average of 13.3 points during their seven-game winning streak against the Timberwolves. Minnesota last won in Chicago on Jan. 3, 2009. "When you lose a guy like Jo your margin for error is smaller," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said about Noah. "We can get it done. Youve got to give Minnesota credit. Theyre playing real well right now. We can never lose sight of how hard we have to play. We cant play hard for 32 minutes. We have to play hard the whole game." NOTES: The Timberwolves ranked second in the NBA in scoring at 106.8 points per game coming in. The Bulls were holding opponents to 92.9 points per game, second in the league. ... It was the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Bulls lead the all-time series 28-18. Kenny Stills Saints Jersey . -- Earl Thomas is the latest member of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks to be locked up for the future. Saints #3 Jersey . Louis Blues surprised by naming Ken Hitchcock as their new head coach, replacing Davis Payne as the Blues sit 14th in the Western Conference with a 6-7-0 record.PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Lee Stempniak have been playing together for less than two weeks. Funny, they looked like longtime friends during Pittsburghs 5-1 demolition of Dallas on Tuesday night. Quick to the puck and even quicker to the net, the Penguins top line overwhelmed the suddenly struggling Stars as Pittsburgh bounced back from a dismal weekend sweep at the hands of Philadelphia by jumping on Dallas early. Crosby scored his 32nd goal less than 5 minutes in, added his 33rd early in the third period and dished out an assist on Stempniaks first goal with the Penguins to push his point total to an NHL-leading 91. More importantly, Pittsburgh hardly looked like the team humbled by the Flyers during a forgettable home-and-home sweep. "We werent happy with those losses, we have to do better," Crosby said. "We wanted to make sure we went out there and played hard. Its a desperate team were playing and hopefully we can build that same emotion, same intensity we had tonight and carry it over to the rest of the season." Kunitz chipped in his 32nd goal after skipping two games with a leg injury and added an assist. Brandon Sutter pushed in a late short-handed goal and Jeff Zatkoff stopped 32 shots to win for the 11th time in his past 14 games. Tyler Seguin scored his 31st goal for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves, but Dallas slumped again on the road. The Stars have been outscored 12-3 over their past two games to slip out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. "I think you cant blame one guy for any of the goals," Seguin said. "This is a team matter were going to deal with. Its just about execution. Weve been showing glimpses of it lately, but too many breakdowns." A no-no when playing Crosby. The Pittsburgh captain seemed energized by the return of Kunitz. Reunited against a scuffling team trying to make a late run at the post-season, Crosby and Kunitz helped the Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins rebound by playing with the chemistry that makes them one of the most potent one-two combinations in the league. The game was less than 5 minutes old when Crosby put Pittsburgh in front. Fourth-line forward Craig Adams -- finishing out his shift -- dug out a loose puck in the corner and fed it to Crosby darting through the slot. Thomas Morstead Saints Jersey. Crosby deked past Dallas defenceman Sergei Gonchar then held the puck long enough for Lehtonen to commit before slipping the puck into an open net to give the Penguins some welcome momentum. Seguin tied it at 12:30 into the first with a pretty deflection off a Trevor Daley shot from the point, but the game was tied less than three minutes before Kunitz pounced on a rebound off a Stempniak shot to put the Penguins in front to stay. The Penguins acquired Stempniak from Calgary on March 5 hoping the veteran forward could patch the hole on the first line that hasnt really been filled since Pascal Dupuis was lost for the season with a knee injury in December. After a series of near misses in his first six games with Pittsburgh, Stempniak finally broke through 13:21 into the second period. He skated into the zone and dropped the puck to Crosby and sprinted to the net. The puck was on Stempniaks stick again a split second later as Kunitz hit him streaking through the slot. Stempniak knocked it in for his ninth of the season while getting tripped by Dallas Brenden Dillon in the process. "Its been a little while, its nice to get a goal," Stempniak said. "Great passing play from Sid to Chris. I went to the net and it was on my tape ... Sids so dynamic, he opens up a lot. Chris has a great shot. I just try to fit in and skate and keep up." That was more than enough for Zatkoff, who made two glove saves in the second period during Dallas best sustained pressure. Crosby banged in a rebound 1:56 into the third to push Pittsburghs lead to three and the pressure that had built after dispiriting performances against the Flyers -- games in which the Penguins said they were more concerned with the way they played than the actual score -- lifted. NOTES: Pittsburgh is 42-5-4 this season when Crosby collects at least one point. ... Dallas has lost three straight for the first time since a six-game skid from Jan. 2-12. ... The Penguins play at Detroit on Thursday. ... Dallas visits Philadelphia on Thursday. ' ' '
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