Top 50, filling the 50th and final spot. There were, however

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Detroit Red Wings made the most of their offensive opportunities against the New Jersey Devils on Friday. "It was a game that was offensively challenged by both teams," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after his Red Wings beat the Devils 3-1. Johan Franzen and Tomas Tatar scored third-period goals Detroit, which has won five of six. Joakim Andersson also scored and Jonas Gustavsson made 10 saves for the Red Wings. "(The Red Wings have) to keep (winning). Tough without big guys but its important to see we can win without them," Franzen said. "(Its) big for us to see we can win without them." Cory Schneider made 18 saves for New Jersey, which has lost three in a row. "We didnt play our best game of the year," Steve Bernier said. "There (are) a lot of bad things around right now, but we need to focus on the good things." The Red Wings finished with 21 shots while the Devils only had 11. The 11 shots tied a New Jersey franchise record for fewest shots in a home game. "We didnt cash in (on) some of our chances. We have to be opportunistic. We have to find a way to score two or three and we didnt do that," New Jersey coach Pete DeBoer said. "Its easy to look at the shot clock and say that (11 shots on goal is not enough). Weve generated 21 shots and generated the same amount of scoring chances. (If the shot clock says) 21, you feel better about it? It doesnt matter." Andy Greene scored for the Devils. Franzen snapped a 1-1 tie when he scored his ninth of the season with 7:20 left in the third. Standing in the low slot, Franzen poked a Gustav Nyquist pass past Schneider. "Its always hard to defend when you change sides for the defender so I tried and sneak around the back post and found it through the crease," Franzen said of his goal. New Jersey led 1-0 at the first intermission on Greenes fourth goal of the season. Having drawn a high-sticking call on Franzen, Greene weaved his way through all three zones before finishing a give-and-go with Patrik Elias by tipping a centring pass under Gustavsson 13:43 into the game. "It wasnt our best period but we came out the way we did against a good team (and) we have to take that and build off it. We just couldnt seem (to) build off it and get it going," Greene said. "They were kind of sitting back on the drop pass, before I gave it to Patty. Tried to make the play to Patty and he made a great saucer over to me, and (I) just tried to hang with it to get it over his pad." The power-play goal was the only one New Jersey scored on four opportunities with the man advantage. Detroit drew even at 1-1 after Andersson scored with 36 seconds left in the second period. The scoring sequence began when Daniel Alfredsson fired a diagonal cross-ice pass to Drew Miller from the blue line. Miller attempted two backhands which Schneider stopped, but the New Jersey goaltender was unable to stop Anderssons jam shot. The goal was the fourth of the season for Andersson. The game stayed tied until Franzens goal. Tatars power-play score at 18:57 of the third was Detroits only goal on five attempts with the man advantage. The power play was assessed when Schneider was called for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid. New Jersey disputed the call and replays showed the goaltender was inside the trapezoid. "I dont know," DeBoer said when asked if the NHL should institute an instant replay system on disputed judgment calls. "Im not looking to solve it, just get it right." Both Detroit and New Jersey were content to take away the middle of the ice and, as a result, neither team generated much offensively. "I dont think it was any tighter than any other game," the Devils Travis Zajac said. We just didnt execute coming out of our own end sometimes. For us, we have to play in the other end. "We (needed) to elevate our game as it went on and we didnt." NOTES: Detroit improved to 49-56-21-0 against the New Jersey franchise. ... Following the morning skate, DeBoer announced right wing Damien Brunner would be scratched. Brunner, signed to a two-year, $2.5 million during training camp, has not scored a goal since Oct. 26, a stretch of 16 games. ... Devils left wing Ryane Clowe participated in the morning skate, marking the first time he skated with the team since being concussed by a Jacob Trouba elbow in the Devils 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 13. ... Red Wings stars Pavel Datsyuk (concussion) and Henrik Zetterberg (herniated disc) missed their second game in a row with injuries. Easton Stick Jersey . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators. Nasir Adderley Jersey . Once again, the third baseman delivered in a big spot. Ramirez kept up his torrid hitting with a two-run homer to help back Wily Peraltas solid start, and the Brewers extended their winning streak to seven with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. http://www.chargersauthenticofficialonline.com/ . He will play 10th-seeded Feliciano Lopez in Sundays final, after the Spanish left-hander defeated Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7), 6-4. LaDainian Tomlinson Chargers Jersey . - David Tomasek had two goals in regulation time and was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Belleville Bulls upset the Oshawa Generals 6-5 on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Junior Seau Jersey . Colorado came up big against Chicago last spring, and repeated that performance Tuesday night. Varlamov stopped 36 shots and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks.The 2014 NHL draft is many things to many people, but Year of the Defenceman it is not. The oddity, of course, is that its a blueliner who is the mid-season favorite to be taken No. 1 overall at the draft in Philadelphia, June 27-28. Barrie Colt defenceman Aaron Ekblad is No. 1 on TSNs Mid-Season Top 50 Prospects rankings. In a survey of 10 NHL team scouts, Ekblad garnered eight No. 1 votes and was No. 2 on the remaining two ballots. The only other players to get a No. 1 vote, one apiece, were Kootenay Ice centre Sam Reinhart and Kingston Frontenac centre Sam Bennett (who was ranked No. 1 by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau in its mid-term rankings). Ekblad and Reinhart both performed admirably for Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship but the defenceman clearly made a bigger impact, reversing TSNs pre-season polling that had Reinhart at No. 1, by virtue of five first-place votes, compared to Ekblads three. The truth is, from the Ivan Hlinka Memorial under-18 tournament last August through to the Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects game in mid-January, the 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenceman has been on a strong, steady arc. "In the summer, a lot of the projections for (Ekblad) were he might not be anything more than a (No.) 4 (NHL defenceman), that he was neither a real offensive threat or a true shutdown defenceman," one scout told TSN. "But the way he played at the Hlinka, this season in Barrie, the World Juniors and the Prospect game, hes showing a lot more range in his game." While Ekblad will never be a power play quarterback, he can hammer the puck well enough to project as a power play shooter from the point and score goals. Both at the Hlinka and WJC, Ekblad was consistently used in a shutdown role and performed well. Many scouts believe now he has top-pairing NHL potential, a big body who can skate, move the puck, defend, contribute offensively and play both sides of special teams while munching a lot of minutes. After the WJC, Ekblad scored four goals (including a shorthanded marker) and one assist in one game. "Hes not a superstar by any means," another scout said, "but hes going to be a very good NHL defenceman." Some scouts have taken note of Victor Hedmans emergence, the second overall pick in the 2009 draft, as a top-minute defenceman for Tampa this season and see many similarities in Ekblad. Ekblad is far and away the top defenceman in this draft. Only one other blueliner - Red Deers Haydn Fleury, at No. 6 – cracked TSNs Top 10 prospects. In fact, only five defencemen - Ekblad, Fleury, Kingstons Roland McKeown at No. 17, Swift Currents Julius Honka at No. 18 and Sarnias Anthony DeAngelo at No. 26 – are in TSNs Top 30. The latter three are likely first-round picks, but not by any means guaranteed. Relative to recent years, the death of top-echelon defencemen is striking. Last year, eight of the top 18 picks were defenders. In 2012, eight of the top 10 picks were blueliners. Scouts do not believe this years draft class has the same high-end sizzle and overall depth as last years group that was headed by Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jones, Jonathan Drouin and Aleksandr Barkov. And it would be fair to say theres more anticipation for the 2015 draft class, headed by highly-touted Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, amongst others, than this year. But the scouts also cautioned that the top-end prospects this year are still excellent talents, just not necessarily potential stars. TSNs No. 2-ranked Reinhart didnt really do anything to "lose" No. 1 status from the pre-season as much as Ekblad simply elevated his game. Reinhart has played very well in the WHL and logged significant minutes for Canada at the WJC. A centre in junior, some scouts believe hell be best suited to wing in the NHL. Reinharts chief assets are an extremely high hockey I.Q. and skill level as both a goal-scorer and playmaker. Hes not physically overpowering and his skating is not dynamic but a seemingly innate ability to be in the right place at the right time to make plays is his trademark. Kingstons Bennett, the only player other than Ekblad and Reinhart to get a No. 1 vote, is No. 3 on the TSN list. The competitive centre who has some of the same qualities as his Kingston general manager Doug Gilmour can be both a productive offeensive force but also does quality work without puck, earning rave reviews for his complete approach to the game.dddddddddddd Oshawa General winger Michael Dal Colle checks in at No. 4 on TSNs list. The rangy forward has a pro shot and was a top five prospect on eight of 10 scouts ballots, including one vote as the second-best prospect available in this draft. No. 5 on TSNs list is Prince Albert Raider centre Leon Draisaitl, who is destined to be the highest-drafted German player and, for now, the top European prospect on the TSN list. But Draisaitl seems to be trending in the wrong direction. He played poorly at the WJC and didnt perform particularly well in the CHL Top Prospects game. But hes still a big-body, two-way centre. The second half of the season could mean more to Draisaitls ranking than any prospect in the draft. The balance of TSNs Top 10 is top heavy with wingers. Only two-way defenceman Fleury, at No. 6, interrupted a run on wingers: Peterborough Petes power forward Nick Ritchie is No. 7, followed at No. 8 by Niagara Ice Dog Brendan Perlini, whose assets are size, speed and an NHL shot. The No. 9 slot belongs to Finnish winger Kasperi Kapanen, the son of former NHL winger Sami Kapanen, and the Top 10 is rounded out by Calgary Hitmen power winger Jake Virtanen, a strong skater who drives the net and can play the physical game. There appears to be a lot of volatility in this years mid-season rankings. NHL scouts dont seem as fully sold on this years first-round prospects, especially those ranked from No. 11 through to 30. One of the issues is size. Many of the more skilled prospects - Swedish forward William Nylander at No. 11, the son of former NHLer Mikael Nylander, Denmarks Nikolaj Ehlers, a forward with the Halifax Mooseheads at No. 15, No. 22 Russian Nikolay Goldobin, a forward in Sarnia, No. 23 Czech winger Jakub Vrana , No. 24 Swiss forward Kevin Fiala, Sarnia offensive defenceman DeAngelo at No. 26, No. 29 Windsor winger Josh Ho-Sang and No. 30 forward Rob Fabbri of the Guelph Storm - are all listed as sub-6-footers by NHL Central Scouting. And while scouts dont dispute the individual skill level of prospects like Nylander, Goldobin, Vrana, DeAngelo, Ho-Sang and No. 25 ranked Nick Schmaltz of the USHLs Green Bay Gamblers (headed for University of North Dakota), multiple scouts expressed some reservation about those players trying to do too much with the puck or not showing enough consistency and commitment to the team game. "Nylander is the most skilled player in this draft, bar none," one scout told TSN. "But he likes to play the game on his own." Another scout said: "Some nights you watch Schmaltz and hes a dominant player, best on the ice, but then he doesnt even show up a lot of games." A third scout said: "Ho-Sang played a great game at Prospects and showed an ability to play with others but a lot of nights in Windsor, he wants to do it on his own. There seem to be a lot of guys like that this year." No goalie was ranked in TSNs Top 30, but American Thatcher Demko, who plays at Boston College, fell just outside, at No. 31, and should be considered a potential first-rounder. He was the overwhelming consensus top goalie in a year where theres never been so little consensus beyond the top guy. Demko appeared on eight of 10 ballots, but the next highest ranked goalie, Alex Nedeljkovic of the Plymouth Whalers at No. 42, was on only five of 10 ballots. Swedish goalie Jonas Johansson was the only other goalie to crack TSNs Top 50, filling the 50th and final spot. There were, however, three goaltenders getting honorable mention for the Top 50: Finlands Kaapo Kahkonen; Charlottetowns Mason McDonald; and Russian Ivan Nalimov. One note regarding TSNs rankings. The numbers assigned are a projection of when TSN believes a prospect is most likely to be drafted, if the draft were being held now. Its not a subjective analysis - not to be confused with the many scouting services who actually evaluate the prospects - as much as it is a numerical consensus obtained from surveying NHL scouts and where they rank specific players. TSNs next ranking - a revised Top 10 - will be done in April at the same time as the NHL draft lottery. TSNs final rankings come out the week prior to the NHL draft in late June. ' ' '