LAS VEGAS -- Team North America helped its bid to become the first back-to-back winner in the history of the Continental Cup by winning two games and tying another in Saturday nights closing round of traditional team games. With the results, North America claimed 2.5 of the three available points, opening up a 17.5-12.5 lead in the overall standings. A total of 60 points are available, meaning the first team to 30.5 points will win the Continental Cup. As reigning champions, North America needs only 30 points to win. North Americas Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg recorded the most crowd-pleasing win of the evening, using a double-takeout to score four en route to a 6-2 win over Team Worlds Niklas Edin of Sweden. "Its a good thing we listened to the crowd," said a laughing Stoughton. "We were just looking at how we could jam the rock. We were going to play the double the whole time. We wanted to see which way we wanted to hit it to miss the back two or at least jam off it so it was fun. It was nice to let the crowd influence you a little bit." In other action, Team North Americas Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg made a double takeout with her last rock of the game for a 6-5 win over Team Worlds Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan. "I wouldnt want anyone else throwing that rock," said Joness vice-skip Kaitlyn Lawes. "She had a fantastic game. She had draw weight in her pocket, she was making the big shots when we needed to come through -- when I would miss." In the other Saturday night game, Team North Americas John Shuster of Duluth, Minn., stole one in the eighth end when Team Worlds Thomas Ulsrud of Norway was just a hair tight with his last rock, producing a 6-6 tie and half a point for both sides. Skins games begin Sunday afternoon with Team Worlds Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden playing Team North Americas Jones, and Team Worlds Eve Muirhead of Scotland taking on Team North Americas Erika Brown of Oakville, Ont./Madison, Wisc. In mens skins, Team Worlds Edin plays Team North Americas Shuster, and Team North Americas Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., takes on Team Worlds Ulsrud. The mixed skins features a Team North America squad skipped by Rachel Homan, playing Team Worlds Brewster. The evening skins matchup features Team North Americas Stoughton against Team Worlds David Murdoch. Each skins game is worth five points in the overall standings. Rickey Henderson Jersey . The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia. The fight to include womens ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes appeal in 2009. Roberto Alomar Blue Jays Jersey . It was the start of one nice night for the goalie and the Minnesota Wild. Backstrom made 33 saves in his first win of the season and the Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Saturday in a rematch of their first-round playoff series. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/2406h-dave...-blue-jays.html. Playing in his fourth major league game, Polanco broke a tie in the 13th inning with his first homer, helping Pittsburgh to an 8-6 victory over the Miami Marlins after the Pirates had a ninth-inning meltdown. Wilmer Font Jersey . Left back Armero opened the scoring in the fifth minute when his deflected shot rolled past Greece goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis. Striker Teofilo Gutierrez poked in Colombias second goal from a deflected corner in the 58th and James Rodriguez capped it off with a low shot in stoppage time after a slick backheel flick from Juan Cuadrado. Jim Clancy Jersey . James Harden wasnt worried and told his coach as much. "He was fired up but I told him: Its OK. Were going to be all right," Harden said. And they were. Houston scored 17 straight points after that timeout, led by 10 from Harden, to take the lead and roll to an easy 129-106 win.It took 286 games and four years. There were 76 two-goal games between them and two cities that called the team home. But when Bryan Little scored for the third time in a 6-2 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 5, the organization’s hat trick drought finally ended - and significantly - a Winnipeg Jets’ player proudly claimed full ownership of the new record. It has not been easy for the Jets franchise to put its own stamp on Atlanta Thrashers history at times, even though the uniform scheme has changed, passionate sellout crowds are the norm in downtown Winnipeg and the roster has been turned over since the Georgia days. But some old franchise records remain and always seem to be the most difficult to rewrite. Of course, fans of the Jets knew at some point that the hat trick slump would eventually end. Followers of the team had even isolated certain players who were more likely to supersede former Thrashers forward Eric Boulton as the last franchise player to record a hat trick. Boulton’s three-goal game came back on Dec. 18, 2010. Names like Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Evander Kane were probably top of mind. But when Little scored three times last week, nobody was that surprised. After all, over the last three-plus seasons the Jets have been in Winnipeg, Little is just slightly behind Wheeler and Ladd, respectively, for the team’s overall scoring lead. “You knew it was a matter of time,” said Little. “I didn’t think it would take this long, but we’ve got a (number) of guys that can do it. It’s something we’ve talked about, but it’s not something we take too seriously as long as we’re winning.” Last week, the Jets did both, as Little’s hat trick came in an important win for his club over a Central Division rival at home. It was a moment fans at MTS Centre had waited for patiently. And after Little wristed a shot past Avalanche goaltender Seymon Varlamov for his third goal of the game at 1:17 of the third period, the roof on the building bubbled for the rest of the night. The goal also chased Varlamov from the net, and he watched the celebration continue for the balance from the Colorado bench as Reto Berra came on in relief only to be footnote to the historic night in Jets’ history. “Honestly, two of the three goals I didn’t celebrate because I didn’t know they were in,” said Little, who recorded his only other NHL hat trick in 2008 against Carolina as a meember of the Thrashers.dddddddddddd “It was unbelievable. It was the loudest I’ve heard this place in a while.” The first had to be reviewed because Varlamov actually caught the puck in his glove, but was ruled via video review that the puck was behind the goal line in goaltender’s mitt. The third goal also caused a celebratory delay because Little thought it initially went off the cross bar, but in fact, it had fully entered the net and quickly kicked back out. “It was a good night for the whole team,” said Ladd, who along with Little and Wheeler combined to record nine points that night as a line. “It was nice to see (Bryan) get it. He’s a guy that quietly goes about his business and doesn’t get the recognition he probably deserves. It was great to hear the crowd chanting his name and just a good night for the whole team.” Little finished the game with an assist as well for a four-point night overall. He is also the only Jets player this season to record a power-play (2), shorthanded (1) and game-winning goal (1). He also leads the team with a plus-8 this season. Interestingly, the former 2006 first-round pick (12th overall) of the Thrashers had a chance for a fourth goal in the game. It happened during a six-on-three situation with the Jets two men short and the Colorado net empty in favor of the extra attacker. Little broke up a play, skated to centre and slid the puck toward the empty net, but he admitted he was at the end of a tough shift and didn’t have the energy to get the puck fully to the opposition goal. “I was exhausted,” he said. “I had nothing left and couldn’t even shoot the puck hard.” Either way, Little now owns the Jets’ distinction as the most recent player to record three goals in a game. Whether it takes 286 games again between them remains to be determined. NOTES: Defenceman Adam Pardy has played 77 games with the Jets, but is still waiting to record his first goal with the organization. He has four goals career in 277 NHL games…. Of the 15 wins the Jets have this season, 12 have come when they’ve scored the first goal….Winnipeg has not posted a comeback victory in regulation this season when trailing after two periods (0-6-3)….The Washington Capitals will be the last of the 29 other NHL teams to play a game against the Jets this season. The two don’t meet until Feb. 19 in game 60 for Winnipeg. They meet for the final time in Winnipeg on Mar. 21 in game 72. ' ' '