Worcestershire would have been more than satisfied with their p

NEW YORK -- The New York Islanders have spent the last week proving they can play with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. On Thursday night, the Islanders will get a chance to see how they stack up against the red-hot St. Louis Blues, who are the second-best team in the Western Conference.The Islanders will host the Blues for the only time this season when the two teams square off at Barclays Center. Both clubs won Tuesday, when New York extended its point streak to five games with a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers while St. Louis kept rolling with a 3-2 overtime win over the East-leading Montreal Canadiens.The Islanders (10-10-5) have gone 4-0-1 in their last five games -- a stretch in which theyve beaten the Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, all of whom currently occupy a playoff spot -- to climb out of the NHL basement and move to the fringe of the East playoff race.It gives our guys a little bit of confidence that we can play with some of the top teams, record-wise, in the East, Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said.Despite the recent surge, the Islanders still have a long road ahead if they want to reach the playoffs for the third straight season. New York is eight points behind the Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, who are tied for the two wild card berths.Means weve got a lot of work still to do, Islanders center and captain John Tavares said. Weve had some ups and downs and some frustration to start the year, some results we didnt get and some things maybe not go our way. Certainly playing a lot better hockey and we know we can still be a lot better.Results-wise, its hard to fare much better than the Blues (15-7-4) have lately. St. Louis is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games dating back to Nov. 15 to move within three points of the Chicago Blackhawks, who lead both the Central Division and the Western Conference.Much like the Islanders, the Blues are looking to see if their recent play is sustainable. The game Thursday begins a four-game road trip for St. Louis, which is just 3-6-1 away from Scottrade Center. Six of its final nine games before the Christmas break will be on the road.Its going to be a real test for us, Blues goalie Jake Allen said. Obviously, things havent gone great for us on the road this year. Its a great opportunity to keep this thing going we had on our homestand.The Blues would like to keep it going without the drama that accompanied the 4-0-1 homestand that concluded Tuesday. Four of the five games went to overtime.My biggest fear is weve had to put a lot of energy into these games. a lot of overtimes, a lot of 3-on-3 stuff, a lot of anxiety, a lot of close games, Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. Well see where our energy is. Weve got to be really careful with ourselves right now. Cheap Giants Jerseys .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Custom Giants T-shirts .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. http://www.customgiantsjersey.com/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Custom Giants Jerseys .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Wholesale Custom Giants Shirts . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Lancashire 200 for 3 (Brown 62*, Buttler 57) beat Worcestershire 198 (Cox 44, Whiteley 38) by seven wicketsScorecard The quintessential English cricket ground, where misty-eyed romantics still wake from their afternoon nods expecting to be classically entertained by Tom Graveney or Basil DOliveira, witnessed the game in its breathless 21st century glory as Jos Buttler dashed off another modern masterpiece, setting two records as he did - despite suffering a worrying injury to his left thumb.The latterday superhero, who has practised his version of batting to the extent that the ramp shot is almost as natural to him as the cover drive was to those exalted icons of gentler days, set up an overdue Lancashire victory by going in first and scoring 57 off 22 balls, an innings that included the countys fastest T20 half-century, from just 20 deliveries.By the time he was out, at 98-1 in the sixth over, Lancashire had also surpassed the record for runs scored in the powerplay overs in T20 cricket in England, overtaking the 96 by the Sri Lankans in a match against Sussex in 2014. The world record stands at 100, held by Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, also in 2014.Whats more, he did it in defiance of the pain of an injury to his left thumb suffered while keeping wicket. He batted after taking painkillers but was in some discomfort and Lancashire are keeping their fingers crossed it will not be revealed as broken when he undergoes an x-ray.Well get it x-rayed and see where he is - its not ideal, Lancashire head coach Ashley Giles said. He did make comment that he doesnt use his top hand anyway!I dont want to speculate (on how bad it is) but its a nasty knock. Once we get it x-rayed, well know.The boundary at New Road was ridiculously short - just 52 metres on the cathedral side - yet it was an extraordinary performance nonetheless. Of his four sixes, two went out of the ground - or at least the first circle of trees -one over backward point off the front foot and the other was an authentic ramp.At the height of its ferocity, Buttlers assault yielded 40 runs from eight balls bowled at him by the tremulous Matt Henry and Kyle Abbott - both Test match bowlers, dont forget - before Abbott surprised the crowd, and himself probably, by having the last word with a yorker. By then, Darryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire captain, was regretting the hard chance he missed at short cover when Buttler was on 16.dddddddddddd.By that stage, Worcestershires 198 looked a total well within reach as Lancashire, the NatWest T20 Blast champions but with work to do to quality for this years finals, sought to re-energise their campaign.What followed felt unavoidably pedestrian compared with the thrills of Buttlers pyrotechnics yet there was another quality innings still to come as Karl Browns unbeaten 62 from 40 balls helped Lancashire home with 11 balls to spare, captain Steven Croft hitting the winning boundary.It was difficult not to focus on Buttler, however. To strike some of those balls that he did there, theres not many, if any, in world cricket who can do that, Giles enthused.He now opens the batting as well. What doesnt he do? I asked him on the way down if he wanted to do it. Hes done it for England in the week, so who are we to stop him?He can basically pick where he wants to bat. Hes just high, high quality.Having been put in, Worcestershire would have been more than satisfied with their position after six overs, in which they had already taken advantage of the short boundary by putting 60 runs on the boards for the loss of two wickets, although Tom Kohler-Cadmore was guilty of being a little too eager, wasting his flying start somewhat when he followed his second six with a rather wild attempt at another and paying the price.The innings lost some momentum in the middle overs but accelerating rapidly between overs 15 and 19 when 78 were added, including 26 off one Stephen Parry over by Ben Cox and 20 off George Edwards by Ross Whiteley.Edwards, one of Lancashires unlikely heroes after being given his debut on T20 finals day last year, came back well with three wickets in four balls in the last over, putting a vital brake on Worcestershires scoring.We just need to keep winning now, Giles said. Its been fits and starts throughout the competition. Weve beaten this side twice, and they are a really good T20 side, but weve lost games we feel we should have won.I said to the guys before the game Its a knockout now and weve got to play as if its last 16. ' ' '