LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin won the pole the first time he ever raced at Pocono Raceway. Eight years later, Hamlin still had the speed in the No. 11 Toyota to take the top spot at the triangle track. Hamlin turned a track record-lap of 181.415 mph Friday to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup pole, a throwback to the times he dominated qualifying at one of his best tracks. Hamlin is a four-time winner at Pocono, matching his Martinsville mark for most career wins at a track. He swept two Pocono races on its former rugged surface from the pole in 2006. He also won races on the 2 1/2-mile track in 2009 and 2010. "I hope this track has aged a little bit," he said, "because when it was old and worn out was when I was really good at the track." With blistering speeds, Hamlin zipped his way to his second track record and pole of the season after topping the field at Bristol. Hamlin has 19 poles in 304 career Cup starts. Hamlin hasnt had much success with Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono since 2010, finishing in the top 10 onlt twice and crashing out twice -- including a 43rd-place run last August. "We havent been that strong here since the repave," he said. "Its just a handful of things that make you off here and there. These tracks are almost like superspeedways now in the sense that youve got to have the fastest car in the right position to win them. Back when I was winning in 06 on the old track, you could make up tons of position. That would never happen today because the cars are running so fast and so equal." Kurt Busch starts second for a needed lift for his Stewart-Haas Racing team. Busch has otherwise struggled outside of the one win that all but locked him into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. "We came here with a new approach to try to get our front ends to settle into the track a little better," Busch said. "I was really surprised that we had the speed for the pole today in our first attempt to try something a little different. Its great to cash in." Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon completed the top five. Coming off wins in the Coca-Cola 600 and at Dover, Jimmie Johnson will start 20th in his bid for a third straight victory. "I just got too greedy down in two and lost the nose in the corner exit," Johnson said. "I feel bad for my guys, but this ones on me." Keselowski continued his run of qualifying success. Last weeks pole winner at Dover, Keselowski has started third or better in the No. 2 Ford a whopping 10 times in 13 races this season. "Im not sure why, but Im not going to complain about it either," he said. "It does seem qualifying day has been the highlight of our week, for sure." Bobby Ryan Senators Jersey . 31-Feb. 2. 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The Predators were preparing for the game against the Wild when Poile was hit by a puck that flew off the ice at him where he was standing in a tunnel behind the bench. Brady Tkachuk Senators Jersey .Before a raucous sellout crowd, the Hawks won for the 29th time in 31 games to extend their Eastern-best record to 36-8.As usual, pretty much everyone chipped in.Four starters were in double figures and backup point guard Dennis Schroder led a spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that helped the Hawks pull away.WINNIPEG - The season is young and the results so far mixed, but one Winnipeg Jet who came out of the gate ready to run this year is Evander Kane. Its been noticed. Kane has stepped up with a more physical all-round game and is now back with Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler on the teams No. 1 line. "You look at the obvious things, like produce offensively, thats my job and thats what Im counted on to do," says Kane, who has three goals and two assists in six games for the Jets. "But I try to be a two-way player in terms of little things like blocking shots, taking hits, looking good in my own zone and creating offensive opportunities for myself and my linemates. Whatever I can do to help the team." Kane is a plus-3 so far this season, with a team-leading 30 shots on goal before Tuesday nights home game against Montreal. That he shoots a lot isnt news, but he has been visibly more physical and defensively minded and says he wants to embrace more of a leadership role. "I think Evander can bring the level of leadership up with his game," says coach Claude Noel. "But all players are like that. Theres other players as well that would like to take a more leadership role but it starts with your game. If you bring consistency to your A-game then you can now have a voice in the room. You can have a voice just by the way you play." Both the Jets and the Canadiens entered Tuesdays game looking for more consistency. But unlike the Jets, who havent seen the post-season since 2007 when they were still the Atlanta Thrashers, the Canadiens have made the playoffs five out of the last six seasons. Theyve also been knocked out in the first round in three of those five seasons. "I havent made the playoffs in my career and thats frustrating," says Kane, who played two seasons in Atlanta before the move to Winnipeg. The fourth pick overall in the 2009 entry draft, Kane has speed and stick-handling ability. But there have been times when his team game and desire to win have been questioned. Hes sttill just 22 but its hard to find fault with his effort this season.dddddddddddd His average time on ice per game is just .02 seconds less than Bryan Little, who leads all Winnipeg forwards at 20:09. Ladd is next at 18:26. Being bounced around as coaches try to find a good fit for him is nothing new for Kanes career. He started the season anchoring a second scoring line with Mark Scheifele and Devin Setoguchi. "Ive been doing line juggling for 264 games," Kane said with a chuckle Tuesday. Many nights the Kane line generated the bulk of the pressure and scoring opportunities for the Jets. Two games ago Noel started juggling again to try and spread some of that energy around. "I think his teammates know what he can bring to the table and when he does that we do get energized because it makes everybody else feel like were moving," says Noel. "(Hes) an exciting player to watch when he plays like that and then you find that your other players are following suit." Other things also may be coming together for the Jets, who had the worst power play in the league last season and were only slightly better at penalty killing. Their power play ranked 20th and their penalty kill 16th as of Tuesday and they managed at least one power-play goal in each of their first five games. "If you look at our special teams the last couple of games, weve worked a lot harder to make sure were getting those lanes or getting shots to the net," says defenceman Zach Bogosian. "We dont really look at stats too much but you can feel it when youre out there that its starting to come together." The Jets didnt score a power-play goal in their last 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils but they did kill five penalties, including a five-on-three. "You know youre doing your job when things are going well. thats satisfying in itself when you get those lanes and block those shots that prevents a goal or a scoring chance," said Bogosian. He says more communication on the ice is working. ' ' '