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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks kick-started their league-leading offence by holding on to the puck -- and shutting down New Jersey defensively. Patrick Sharp scored twice and Patrick Kane, Bryan Bickell and Nick Leddy also connected to lead Chicago to a 5-2 win over the Devils on Monday night. Stephen Gionta and Michael Ryder had goals for the Devils, whose season-high four-game point streak (3-0-1) ended. New Jersey was lucky to get those two scores -- off a failed clearing attempt and a close-in turnover -- as Chicago outshot the Devils 37-12, and controlled the puck and the play. "I thought it was one of our better games all year as far as puck possession, directing plays," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we did everything we were looking to do in the game. I liked their energy, I liked their thought process, our purpose." The Blackhawks spent little time in their zone. With only a couple of exceptions, they moved the puck to their forwards efficiently and left the Devils. Sharp, who recorded his third two-goal game this season, was one of the beneficiaries. "It starts with the defence making great plays in the D-zone," he said. "Weve had great forwards here for a while that want the puck and want to score goals." The 25-year-old Kane has been better offensively this season, his seventh in the NHL. He has points in 12 straight games, matching his career high -- set earlier this season and just before his run. Kane has seven goals and 14 assists in his streak, and at least one point in all but one of his past 25 games, helping him climb into second in the NHL scoring race behind Pittsburghs Sidney Crosby. "If we can play defence like that every night, I think youre going to see more scores like that," he said. Bickells goal was his first since Nov. 10, but he missed 14 of Chicagos 19 games during that span with a knee injury. Chicago rookie Antti Raanta blocked 10 shots in his seventh straight start -- all since Blackhawks top goalie Corey Crawford suffered a lower-body injury on Dec. 8. He faced the fewest shots against Chicago in a game this season. New Jerseys Cory Schneider made 32 saves. "Theyre a relentless team," Schneider said. "They dont give up on the puck and theyre always trying to force turnovers. They didnt take their foot off the gas. "We just didnt play at the level we need to play to compete." The Blackhawks outshot the Devils 12-2 in the first period and led 1-0 after 20 minutes. Sharp opened the scoring at 12:59 when he snapped off a 40-foot shot from the left boards. New Jersey defenceman Mark Fayne reached toward the puck with his right glove, but deflected it past Schneider. One of the Devils two shots in the period was a dump-in from their own blue line while killing a penalty. Gionta tied it at 1 at 5:37 of the second on a deflection at the doorstep and the Devils fourth shot on goal. Following a failed Chicago clearing attempt on the left boards, Jon Merrill fired from the top of the slot. The puck struck the skate of Blackhawks defenceman Michael Kostka, then ticked in off Giontas stick. Kane put Chicago back ahead 2-1 just over 2 minutes later when he drove to the net and slammed in a rebound of Leddys shot. Schneider made a glove save on Leddys drive from the slot, but it dropped to the ice and Kane plowed over Devils defenceman Marek Zidlicky to score. Bickell made it 3-1 with 7:33 left in the period, connecting on a rising, screened shot from the right circle after taking a feed from Brandon Saad. Ryder swept in a backhand 59 seconds into the third to cut it 3-2 after he picked off a clearing pass by Chicago defenceman Brent Seabrook. The Devils managed to come back from a two-goal deficit against Washington on Saturday to win in overtime. The Blackhawks didnt let that happen. "Tonight we gave away way too much space and way too much opportunity to move the puck as well," Ryder said. "Were pretty stingy on defence usually, and tonight we got away from that and tonight it shows on the scoreboard." Set up by Marian Hossas stretch pass, Sharp scored his second goal on a breakaway at 5:54 to extend Chicagos lead to 4-2. He took the feed at centre ice, streaked in alone and fired a low shot under Schneiders glove. Leddys power-play goal, on a drive from the top of the circle with 7:01 left, completed the scoring. Sharp narrowly missed a hat trick, firing the puck off the post with 39 seconds left. NOTES: Crawford has resumed skating and is expected to start practicing after Christmas, according to Quenneville. ... Giontas goal was his second in four games after not scoring in his first 20 games this season. ... Devils RW and leading scorer Jaromir Jagr was held without a point for the first time in seven games. ... New Jersey RW Damien Brunner missed his second game with a lower-body injury and C Andrei Loktionov sat out his second with an illness. ... Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, who used to work in the Blackhawks front office, attended the game. Jean Beausejour Jersey . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often. Jordi Alba Jersey . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. http://www.soccerauthentic.com/fc-barce ... -jersey/.C. -- Colin Kaepernick raced into the end zone, then pretended to rip open his shirt with both hands imitating Cam Newtons Superman touchdown celebration. Sandro Ramirez Jersey . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen Barcelona Jersey . Stiverne stopped Chris Arreola in the sixth round Saturday night, claiming the WBC heavyweight title belt vacated by Vitali Klitschko.TORONTO - The once-red .... Toronto Raptors have suddenly gone cold.And while Kyle Lowry said a four-game losing streak is nothing to fret over, his chilly demeanour in the post-game dressing room Thursday night said otherwise.The Raptors dropped a 103-95 decision to the Charlotte Hornets, spoiling the teams homecoming after a disappointing road trip. And Lowry, who led the way with 24 points, was positively terse with reporters after the lacklustre loss.Tonight we sucked as a team, and weve got to figure it out soon, Lowry said. Weve got a game on Saturday, and tonight we sucked as a team, but we had a bad game, and Im sure well be fine.Lou Williams finished with 15 points on just 4-for-15 shooting for Toronto (24-11), while Greivis Vasquez had 11 points and Jonas Valanciunas finished with 10. Charlottes starters also outscored Torontos by a whopping 89-46 margin.Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who was longer than normal in the post-game dressing room, was angry at the teams lack of intensity, especially in the first and third quarters — in each of which the Raptors were badly outhustled and outscored.I dont know what it is. But weve got to find seven or eight guys that are interested in competing at a high level, Casey said. I thought the second unit came in and competed.For whatever reason, were not getting that energy at the start of the game, the start of the third quarter. Those were backbreakers. Whether its a lineup change or whatever it is, weve got to find an answer for it.Asked if he could expand on Caseys comments, Lowry replied: No, I cannot.When asked why Casey would say that, Lowry said I dont know.The game was the Raptors first back at the Air Canada Centre after a disappointing road trip that saw them win just two of six, and fall out of the Eastern Conference lead. It was also the first of a welcome six straight games at home, where the Raptors had been riding a five-game winning streak — until Thursday.But as Casey said prior to tipoff, Home wont take care of you, youve got to take care of home, and it was the Hornets that led for most of the night in front of another ACC sellout crowd of 19,800.Just frustration, disappointment, anger, said Patrick Patterson. Everyones just frustrated with the way were playing right now. Its not like were not trying. Its not like were giving up. As you see, no matter what the score is were going to continue to battle and play hard but it just seems like things just arent working for us.It seems like were in a ..................... and were trying to climb out right now. Hopefully we climb out sooner rather than later.Gerald Henderson scored 31 points to top the Hornets (14-24) in their fourth straight victory. Kemba Walker added 29 for Charlotte, which led by as much as 15 points before taking a 75-66 advantage into the fourth quarter.The Raptors, whove now lost five in a row to the Hornets, opened the fourth with a 7-0 run to pull within two points. But that was as close as they would come, as Charlotte answered virtually every Toronto basket the rest of the way.A three-pointer by Walker 1:555 left to play put the Hornets up by 10 and sent many fans for the exits.ddddddddddddThe Raptors fought back one last time, and a Patterson basket with 42 seconds to play pulled the Raptors to within four points, breathing some life into Torontos hopes for a victory.But Walker snuffed that out with a long jumper that put Charlotte back up by six with 19 seconds to play, and sealed Torontos fate.We knew this team was going to come in hungry, Casey said, Theyre athletic and aggressive. We had to meet that. Youre going to have nights when the shots arent going to fall. But the focus and the defensive energy need to be there. It wasnt there.This is the first real slump for the Raptors since the Rudy Gay trade just over a year ago that turned their fortunes around.It happens, its a long season. I dont know how many games weve played, Lowry said. Its a long season, so we can possibly run out 10 in a row, and this four-game losing streak will be forgotten about.The Hornets shot 48 per cent on the night to Torontos 40 per cent, and outrebounded the Raptors 46-42.Henderson was asked why the Hornets have had so much success against the Raptors.I dont know, I think we get up to play them, he said. They are a really good team, second in the East. They have been playing great this year, so we just know that we have to bring our best game to compete against them.Toronto played its 19th game without DeMar DeRozan, who had hoped to play Thursday, but instead is now targeting next week for his return. They could sorely use their leading scorer back in the lineup — theyve also dropped from ninth in the NBA defensively, to 28th since DeRozans injury — but they are playing it safe with their all-star, who is out with a torn groin tendon.When the medical people say he can come back, hell come back, Casey said prior to tipoff. His career is more important. . . Ive seen two or three players in my time in the NBA lose their careers on a similar injury, by rushing back too quick. Its going to be up to the medical people and up to DeMar when he does come back.Despite a warning by Casey to come out with a sense of urgency, the Raptors got off to an abysmal first quarter that saw the Hornets go up by 10 points. The Hornets doubled Toronto on the boards 16-8 and beat them 7-0 on second-chance points. Charlotte took a 31-23 lead into the second.Tyler Hansbrough drained the first three-pointer of his NBA career to pull the Raptors to within a point early in the second. They finally took the lead on a driving layup by Lowry with just under a minute left in the quarter, and went into the dressing room leading 52-50 at halftime.Toronto didnt get its first field goal of the third until five-and-a-half minutes in, while the Hornets went on a 21-3 run to take a 71-56 lead. Charlotte outscored the Raptors 25-14 in the third and took a nine-point lead into the fourth.Toronto is home to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, then hosts Detroit, Philadelphia, and Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta, before capping its homestand Jan. 18 versus New Orleans. Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '