ST. Kelvin Hayden Jersey . PAUL, Minn. -- Coming in cold is never easy in sports, especially for an NHL goalie. Justin Peters had a rough start for Carolina. Niklas Backstrom finished strong for Minnesota. Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise scored with the first two shots of the season against Peters, and the Wild beat the Hurricanes 3-1 on Thursday night after both starting goalies got hurt. "You cant really pick and choose what happens there. You have to be ready no matter what happens," said Backstrom, who stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period after Josh Harding was pulled at the second intermission because of a lower-body injury. "Dont hide behind any excuses. Just go out there and try to help the guys." The Wild had no update on Hardings condition, but the Hurricanes announced before the second period was over that Cam Ward would miss three to four weeks with his lower-body injury. Ward was hurt just 4:07 into the game, and the Wild didnt take it easy on Peters, who stopped 19 shots after settling in. "I knew before long I was hopefully going to get an opportunity. It just came a little earlier than I thought," said Peters, who was called up from the AHL 10 days earlier and played in 47 games for the Hurricanes over the past four years. "Once I got into the game, I definitely felt a little more comfortable," he said. "Im just trying to prove to myself that Im an NHL goalie and instil that trust in the team." Ward started eight of Carolinas 10 games, and Anton Khudobin took the other two. Khudobin, a former Wild prospect, is out with a lower-body injury for at least another week. Mike Murphy will be summoned from the AHL for Fridays game at Colorado. Peters went 4-11-1 last season with a 3.46 goals-against average. "This is his opportunity, and hes got to find a way to get the job done," coach Kirk Muller said. Alexander Semins power-play goal in the second period pulled the Hurricanes within one, but they couldnt muster any more in the final frame. Less than 8 minutes into the first action of the season for Peters, after Semin was whistled for interference, the Wild scored on a power play when Mikael Granlund plucked the puck off the end boards and fed Niederreiter in the slot for a wrist shot he set up with a slick backhanded move. "You want to get the pucks to the net as quick as you can," Niederrieter said. About 3 1/2 minutes later, Jared Spurgeon sent a slap shot pinging off the pipe. Parise beat defenceman Ryan Murphy to the deflection, and the rebound goal made it 2-0. Dany Heatley got his first goal of the season in the closing seconds, an empty-netter on a power play, to clinch the Wilds second straight win. They are 4-0-2 at home. The Wild played a sloppy second period, letting the Hurricanes climb back in the game. Backstrom came out for the third, his first appearance since an unspecified lower-body injury led to his early exit from the Wilds third game of the season. Harding took all but one start since, and he has been shining. The NHLs Masterton Award winner for perseverance and dedication for overcoming multiple sclerosis last season and playing an entire playoff series for the Wild, Harding entered the night with the second-best goals-against average in the NHL at 0.96. He stopped 20 of 21 shots before leaving. Backstrom said he is not quite at full strength yet, but that will have to do. "I thought he played great in this game, coming in in a tough situation," coach Mike Yeo said. Peters wasnt quite as strong, but he couldnt be blamed. "I dont know if the score is always the ... exact way how it went, but we didnt do enough to win," Hurricanes defenceman Justin Faulk said. NOTES: Ward stopped all five shots he faced. ... Yeo said he anticipated D Jonas Brodin being cleared to skate Friday, with a full mask to protect his broken right cheekbone. Brodin took a puck to the face in the previous game. ... The Wild gave up 28 shots, their third-highest total of the season, and were outshot at home for the first time in six games. ... The Wild are the only team in the league allowing an average of less than 1 goal per game in 5-on-5 play. They have given up five in 11 games this season. D.J. Williams Womens Jersey . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators. Domenik Hixon Jersey .C. -- Gary Players upcoming ceremonial drive is the latest Masters honour in a career filled with them.LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki had his doping ban reduced from 18 months to a year on Tuesday, although he still cannot play in next weeks Davis Cup final. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. 12 in June 2011. It fell from No. 53 to 77 since he was suspended by an International Tennis Federation tribunal in July. Troickis appeal to CAS was partially upheld, and it ordered him to serve a 12-month ban for skipping a blood test after losing at the Monte Carlo Masters in April. He blamed a tournament anti-doping officer who he claimed advised him to write to the ITF explaining that he was ill and could not give a blood sample. He had already given a urine sample which later tested negative. "The player committed a doping offence, but his fault was not significant," the court said in a statement. Troicki will be cleared to play again on July 15, having missed four Grand Slam events while suspended. "I have no idea about what to do now or where to go. I hope somehow I will be able to fight back," he said. Serbia plays the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup final in Belgrade next week. Troicki appeared in the first two rounds this year. CAS fast-tracked Troickis case to give him the chance of reselection if his appeal had been successful. Troickis Davis Cup teammate and good friend Novak Djokovic lashed out at the World Anti-Doping Agency, saying the decision in Troickis case proved that the fight against doping is badly organized and he does not trust the system anymore. "When you are randomly selected to go and provide the test, blood test or urine test, the representatives of WADA ... who are there in the tournament, are supposed to give you the clear indications and explain you the rules and regulations, and what the severe consequences or penalties that you might undertake or you might have if you fail to provide the test," he said. "The representative, she didnt do that in his case." In 2010, Troicki won the decisive singles rubber in the final against France to give Serbia its first title. Djokovic also criticized the ATP for not standing behind Troicki. Ryan Mundy Youth Jersey. "So Viktor is there by himself. Tomorrow can be anybody else," Djokovic said. "For me this is just another big reason, another example that there are some certain things that have to be changed definitely." Troickis home federation described the verdict as "humiliating and disappointing." "Serbias Tennis Association is deeply disappointed with such a decision," it said in a statement. "Viktor Troicki has been inflicted a major injustice." ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said rules had to be applied strictly "to keep our sport clean." "What is harder to accept is criticism of doping control officers who perform a difficult role," Ricci Bitti said in a statement. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal also expressed support for Troicki, who he called "a good guy." "I hope to see him back on tour next year," Nadal said at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. "The doctor who accepted to make the control the next day, if thats that way, thats a big mistake from the doctor, too." The CAS panel acknowledged that the tournament anti-doping officer "should have informed the player in clearer terms of the risks caused by his refusal to undergo a blood test." The court added "there was no suggestion that Mr. Troicki intended to evade the detection of a banned substance in his system." The three-member CAS panel said that Troicki and the doping official, a Ukrainian doctor, gave their evidence in good faith in Lausanne one month ago. However, the panels ruling published by the ITF noted that "the recollection of the athlete in particular was colored by his subsequent reconstruction of events." A one-year ban was considered a "just and appropriate sanction" by the panel, and the minimum required in such a case according to ITF anti-doping rules. The ITF tribunal in July declined to impose the standard two-year ban for a first anti-doping violation because it accepted Troicki was stressed by illness on the day and his long-standing needle phobia. The ITF said Troicki remains disqualified from the Monte Carlo Masters, but retains his prize money and ranking points from subsequent events, including his run to a fourth-round loss against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the French Open. cheap jerseys ' ' '
