Inland Waterways » for the second night in a

BELFAST -- Marcel Kittel sprinted to victory in a wet second stage of the Giro dItalia on Saturday as Michael Matthews took the overall leaders pink jersey from Orica-GreenEdge teammate Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C. Kittel timed his move to perfection, with 200 metres remaining, to edge out Nacer Bouhanni and Giacomo Nizzolo in a bunch sprint at the end of the 218-kilometre (135-mile) leg, which started and ended in Belfast. The German cyclist clocked more than five hours to claim his first Giro stage win on the day before his 26th birthday. "Honestly, it was not so easy today to stay in front with the team, I lost them a few times," Kittel said. "It was a very hard day with all the rain, and the boys did an amazing job. "The weather was very Irish I guess, and youre cold if you ride five hours in the rain. "I was really overwhelmed by all the people on the roads, it was really a big party despite the weather. Im super happy and proud about this win, its really something to have a win in each of the three Grand Tours." Matthews finished three seconds ahead of his Orica teammates and was hoping to still be wearing the maglia rosa when the Giro moves into Italy. "I didnt expect it, its truly an honour to be wearing this jersey," Matthews said. "We had a great team time trial yesterday and we decided to give it to Svein for his birthday. To take it today is truly something amazing. "Ill try to keep it as long as I can, hopefully until at least stage six or seven. Theres a few guys who are close to me. Its truly a massive thing for the team and for me as well." Despite the heavy rain, thousands of people lined the route which took in picturesque rock formation, the Giants Causeway, as it wound down the coast. Two Garmin-Sharp cyclists withdrew from the race following a crash in Fridays opening team time trial. Dan Martin will have surgery later Saturday on a broken collarbone. Teammate Koldo Fernandez finished the stage, but tests afterward revealed he had also broken his clavicle. There was an early breakaway of four riders. Jeffry Romero, Maarten Tjallingii, Sander Armee and Andrea Fedi swiftly built a lead of more than six minutes on the peloton, which was led by time trial winner Orica. Tjallingii had a superb stage. Not only did the Dutch cyclist lead for most of the day, but he also powered up both category four climbs to claim the blue King of the Mountains jersey. With the peloton quickly catching the four escapees, Tjallingii made a solo break with eight kilometres to go and briefly looked like holding on until he was caught with little more than three kilometres remaining. Sundays third stage is a 187-kilometre cross-border leg from Armagh to Dublin. Monday is a rest day before the race resumes in southern Italy with a stage ending in Bari. The Giro ends in Trieste on June 1. Cheap Nike Air Max Shoes Free Shipping . 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Wholesale Nike Air Max Shoes .J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. TORONTO -- Four games, four wins, two shutouts and just three goals given up. Martin Jones entry into the NHL just keeps getting better and better. The 23-year-old from North Vancouver stopped 38 shots and Jeff Carter and Kyle Clifford scored third-period goals as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 for their fifth straight win Wednesday. Jones, who grew up a Canucks fan, has now beaten two Original Six teams in Montreal and Toronto in addition to wins over the Islanders and Anaheim. "I try not to think about that too much," he said when asked about his impressive run. "I just make sure Im ready when I am called upon, just try to give these guys a chance to win. Weve got a great team here. Its not like Im getting called upon to steal games here, its give these guys a chance to win, a couple of big saves here and there." It was athlete-speak worthy of a veteran. But Jones, who stopped 18 shots in the third, flashed a big grin when asked if he was having fun. "Yeah, Im trying to enjoy it as well," said the former Calgary Hitman who has spent the last three seasons with the Kings AHL affiliate in Manchester, N.H. Jones, whose hot hand has eclipsed ex-Leaf Ben Scrivens in the absence of injured No. 1 Jonathan Quick, now boasts a .974 save percentage, 0.74 goals-against average and has stopped 111 of 114 shots. Carter beat former teammate Jonathan Bernier with a wrist shot between the legs on a two-on-one at 9:40 for his eighth of the year. Defenceman Paul Ranger failed to keep the puck in the Los Angeles end, creating the odd-man rush. "Bad decision," said Carlyle. "In a 1-1 hockey game with 10 minutes left, its an ill-advised pinch," he added. Clifford added an insurance goal with 1:59 remaining. Drew Doughty also scored for Los Angeles (21-7-4) before 19,375 at the Air Canada Centre. Cody Franson scored for Toronto (16-13-3), which deserved better on the night. "By far it was our best effort in the last couple of months," said Toronto coach Randy Carlyle. "But no reward for it. And we have to use it as a starting point." The Leafs were without captain and top defenceman Dion Phaneuf, serving the first half of a two-game suspension for a weekend hit on Bostons Kevan Miller. But winger Joffrey Lupul returned after a seven-game absence due to a groin tear. The Leafs showed more jump than a Los Angeles team playing for the second night in a row but were unable to convert their advantage into goals. Carlyle said his players showed their frustration. "Theyre down," Carlyle said. "Because we had so many opportunities, so many offensive chances." Things dont get any easier for the Leafs with away games at St. Louis and Pittsburgh sandwiched around a visit Saturday by Stanley Cup champion Chicago. The Kings arrived riding a season-high four-game winning streak, hot on the heels of a 6-0 win in Montreal, and were 11-1-4 in their last 16 games. The Leafs, meanwhile, had just two regulation wins in their last 17 starts (a stretch during which they went 6-8-3). "Its like pushing that snowball," sighed Carlyle. "It seems every time you lose, it gets bigger." Los Angeles had outshot their opponents in 21 of their pprevious 31 games.dddddddddddd In contrast, the Leafs had been outshot in 27 of their 31 previous games. But on this night, Toronto outshot L.A. 11-8 after the first period, 21-16 after the second and 39-23 at the end. "We didnt play too well at all," said Doughty. "Probably one of our worst games in a while." Jones had to be sharp early, stopping James van Riemsdyk from in close after a fine rush by Lupul. JVR had another chance minutes later, shooting wide on a nice feed from Nazem Kadri. But Los Angeles scored first on the power play at 10:30 of the first period, on a high wrist shot by Doughty from the top of the circle. It was his sixth goal of the season and the 200th point of his 396-game career. Peter Holland was in the box for holding as the Leafs penalty kill, which came into the game ranked 26th in the league, continued to wobble. Jones stopped Nikolai Kulemin from point-blank range twice later in the period. The Leafs outplayed the Kings in the first period but trailed 1-0 as the visitors extended their record of not allowing a first-period goal in 17 straight games. That made for some Twitter banter. "Thoughts on the first period?" asked the Leafs official Twitter account. "It was pretty pretty pretty good," replied the Kings, via their official account. The Kings record when scoring first improved to 15-2-2. Jones stopped Phil Kessel all alone after the Leafs sniper stole a pass and broke through the defence early in the second. It took the Kings 5.5 minutes to get a shot on net in the period. Kings forward Colin Fraser was helped to the dressing room midway through the second period after running into Frazer McLaren near the bench. There was no penalty on the play. McLaren did go to the box after a spirited scrap with Jordan Nolan, son of interim Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan. The Leafs had their chances but either misfired or were denied by the steady Jones. That changed when Toronto took advantage of a 64-second 5-on-3 chance after Doughty joined Willie Mitchell in the box with 5:57 remaining in the period. Franson scored 27 seconds later, snapping a shot from a poor angle at 14:30 on a slick cross-ice pass from Kessel, with Jones unable to slide from one side of the net to another in time. It was Fransons first of the season. But Jones prevented further damage by stopping Lupul from in close with the second penalty about to expire. Doughty scored seconds later when he jumped out of the box but the play had been whistled dead for an altercation between Lupul and Slava Voynov at the other end of the ice. Bernier heard the whistle and did not attempt to make the save. "I let Slava know he screwed me out of a goal," Doughty said wryly. The Leaf goalie saved Lupuls blushes early in the third when he stopped a Justin Williams backhand after a Lupul giveaway in front of net. Jones made several big saves as the clock wound down to preserve the lead. NOTES -- Rookie defenceman Morgan Rielly returned to the Leafs lineup after being a healthy scratch the last three games. John-Michael Liles sat out the game ... For the second night in a row, Toronto FCs Brazilian target Gilberto was at the ACC. He saw the Raptors lose Tuesday to San Antonio. 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