(Sports Network) - The Winnipeg Jets will look to snap a season-high four-game slide (0-2-2) against the Blue Jackets in Columbus tonight. wholesale jerseys . After going 3-2-2 on a seven-game road trip, Winnipegs longest of the season, the Jets returned home on Thursday and lost a 5-2 game to the Florida Panthers thanks in part to Kris Versteegs first career hat trick for the opposition. The game can be heard on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg starting at 6pm ct. Tim Stapleton and Andrew Ladd scored for a Winnipeg club that looked sluggish following its long trip. The Jets had only 10 shots through the first two periods before finding their legs and unleashing 17 in the third while scoring twice. "We were better in the third, but we didnt deserve to win the game," Jets head coach Claude Noel said. "We didnt play very well. You cant win when your players dont play to their potential." Ondrej Pavelec certainly didnt play at his best level, allowing four goals on 15 shots through the first two periods. Peter Mannino relieved him to start the third and came up with four saves. "If you want to win in this game you have to play all 60 minutes as hard as you can," said Pavelec. "Obviously I didnt do that tonight. The guys battled in the third, but its hard to come back from four goals down." Winnipeg, which last lost five in a row from Feb. 13-25, has a host of injured blueliners in Ron Hainsey (upper body), Tobias Enstrom (broken collarbone) and Randy Jones (right ankle), but will have goaltender Chris Mason back. Columbus, meanwhile, doesnt have too many low points left to reach this season, but a rare home loss to the Winnipeg Jets franchise just might be another one. The Blue Jackets take aim at just their third victory of the season and sixth in a row over the Jets this evening at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets will welcome back forward Jeff Carter, who was activated off injured reserve today. Columbus is off to a horrid 2-12-1 start and its five points are six behind the next-worst team, the New York Islanders. The Blue Jackets have lost three in a row and began a three-game homestand on Thursday with a 6-3 defeat to the Blackhawks. Acquired earlier in the week from the Penguins, Mark Letestu scored his first goal with his new club. Grant Clitsome scored twice and Steve Mason made 30 saves in defeat. "Its nice to get one," said Letestu, "but the result makes it pretty bittersweet." Columbus lost despite getting multiple goals on the power play for the first time this season. The Blue Jackets seemed to never recover after the Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead with 2:51 left in the opening period. "We looked like a group thats very fragile," said embattled head coach Scott Arniel. "Were off to a very slow, fragile start." Columbus, which is 2-5-1 at home this season, made another trade on Friday, swapping young defensemen with the St. Louis Blues. The Blue Jackets dealt 24- year-old Kris Russell, a third-round pick by Columbus in 2005, for 25-year-old blueliner Nikita Nikitin. Nikitin did not post a point in seven games with the Blues this season while notching a minus-5 rating. He had one goal and eight assists in 41 games with St. Louis a season ago. Columbus will look to avoid its first loss to the Winnipeg franchise since the former Atlanta-based club secured a 5-2 home win on Dec. 9, 2005. The Blue Jackets are 4-2 all-time at home versus the Jets, having not dropped a home decision in this series since March 22, 2003. Mason was activated from injured reserve on Friday after suffering a right groin strain in a relief appearance on Oct. 27 in Philadelphia at the start of the Jets road trip. He is 1-2-0 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .893 save percentage this year. wholesale nfl jerseys . -- Led by a new quarterback in Alex Smith and a new coach in Andy Reid, the Kansas City Chiefs so far have looked nothing like the team that had the worst record in the NFL last season. jerseys from china . With Napolis leading scorer Edinson Cavani suspended and fellow forward Goran Pandev out injured, Marek Hamsik found the target in the 72nd minute with an angled shot from inside the area to finish off an action began by Lorenzo Insigne, who also hit the post in the first half.http://www.stitchednflcheapjerseys.com/ . O.J. Mayo and Chris Kaman each scored 22 points as the short-handed Mavericks won their third straight game, beating the Toronto Raptors 109-104 Wednesday night.LONDON - Lionel Messi left FIFAs awards ceremony without a personal accolade again. Collecting a copy of FIFAs weekly magazine on the way out might have been worthwhile if he really needs to convince Barcelona of his ongoing value.Flick through to Sepp Blatters musing, and the FIFA president declares: Barcelona would scarcely have become the gold standard in European football without Lionel Messis 400 goals.Such an ego-boost will hardly make up for seeing Cristiano Ronaldo collect the Ballon DOr for the second successive year. With commercial strategies now as scrutinized as the coachs tactics in football, the perception is that Real Madrid was more active lobbying for Ronaldo than Barcelona was for its four-time Ballon DOr winner.Messi hardly gave the perception of being a loyal Barcelona employee when he faced the cameras in Zurich. Rather than just responding to the inevitable question about his future with the usual declaration of loyalty to the club that turned him into one of the best players of all time, the Argentina captain seemed intentionally ambiguous.I am not sure where I will be next year, said the academy graduate under contract at the Camp Nou until 2019.Nobody knows what the future holds. Much less in the case of the football world, where so many things can change overnight.Thats particularly true when Messis relationship with the Barcelona board and coach Luis Enrique is reputed to be far from harmonious. Occasionally even a player as gifted as Messi needs to be indulged, not just in his pay packet.Hes not as straightforward as he used to be, Esteve Calzada, former Barcelona chief marketing and commercial officer, told The Associated Press. He would say, Barcelona is my own team. I will retire here. Something went wrong ... hes older, maybe prepared to listen to other things. I find it difficult to believe he will spend his whole career at Barcelona.The all-time top scorer in the Champions League is undoubtedly coveted, but when you are the most talented player alongside Ronaldo your freedom of movement becomes limited.There are the four years remaining on his contract and a 250 million-euro ($295-million) buyout clause. Then factor in Messis ability to command an annual gross salary of 50 million euros ($59 million). A club could need the ability to cover 500 million euros ($590 million) over five years to fund the signing of the 27-year-olld forward — a potential cost on the balance sheets of 100 million euros ($118 million) a season. nfl jerseys china. In European football, that is far tougher with clubs losses restricted under UEFAs Financial Fair Play regulations. English clubs have the edge potentially over Barcas other European rivals because of the wealth generated from Premier League and Champions League television revenue.For any club thinking of buying Messi, there would be some eye-watering numbers to consider, said sports lawyer Daniel Geey of London-based Fieldfisher. There are only a few clubs that have such deep pockets.Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain with their UEFA imposed FFP spending restrictions would be hard placed to finance such a transfer, yet it may not be beyond the realms of possibility for Chelsea, Manchester United or Bayern Munich to finance such a deal through profits made, selling existing players or finding additional revenue streams to cover such expenditure.Why, though, would Barcelona contemplate selling Messi? Particularly when the end of the season sees early presidential elections at the fan-owned team. Also factor in that any fee received in the summer transfer window could not be reinvested until 2016 due to a ban on any transfers imposed by FIFA for breaching rules on signing minors.For the current board it would not be good for them to go to the election with the fact they would be selling the best player in the club history, Calzada said. And what would they do with the money?In the absence of the usual campaign pledges to sign players, extending the Argentines contract could become an election tool.The official word from Barcelona on Wednesday was that Messi is not for sale.We all think that Messi will be at Barcelona for years to come, that is what all (Barcelona fans) want, Enrique said. We dont contemplate a squad without Messi.One day, of course, that will come. Whether that is at the end of his career or when Barcelona finds an opportune moment to cash in on his brilliance might not become clear for a few more years.Barcelona is a very demanding environment, said Calzada, chief executive of London-based Prime Time Sport, which represents players and advises clubs. His type of play is based on speed. As he will get older, he will not always be the best player in the world.___Rob Harris can be followed at www.twitter.com/RobHarris cheap nhl jerseyscheap jerseys ' ' '
