ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Nashville Predators finished strong, even if was for naught. The Minnesota Wild are hoping this is only the start. Craig Smith had two goals and two assists, and the Predators used a second-period barrage against goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to beat the playoff-bound Wild 7-3 on Sunday. "Like the last exhibition game before the start of a season, always happy to have that one over with," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. The Wild wrapped up the first wild card spot in the Western Conference earlier in the week and had their first-round matchup with the Colorado Avalanche set before the game, so there were few motivators other than the maintenance of health and momentum and maybe a statistical milestone or two. Well, all but the momentum was accomplished. No new injuries were reported, and Jason Pominville got his 30th goal. "Obviously it wasnt pretty. It wasnt the way we want to end it and I dont want to make an excuse for it, but I think those things will happen when youre in and the other team is out, playing loose," Pominville said. For the second straight night, Nashville scored seven times. The Predators won 7-5 at Chicago on Saturday. Good way for coach Barry Trotz, the only bench boss the franchise has ever had, to go out if hes not retained. Trotz said he realized this could be his last game with the team. "If I said differently Id be lying," he said. Bryzgalov, though, didnt do himself or the Wild any good with this shaky performance, as meaningless as the game was. Bryzgalov posted back-to-back shutouts in victories over Pittsburgh and Winnipeg on April 5 and 7, but in a win over Boston he gave up three goals on 24 shots in regulation, though he was unscored upon in the shootout. Bryzgalov, acquired from Edmonton for a fourth-round draft pick, has allowed eight goals over the last 45 shots hes faced. John Curry, the fifth goalie used by the Wild this season, replaced him for the third period. Ryan Ellis, Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Smith scored consecutively in the second period to steer Bryzgalov toward the bench at the second intermission. Rich Clune had a goal in the first period, and Calle Jarnkrok and Smith scored in the final frame. Erik Haula, Jason Pominville and Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who gave up a season-high seven goals. One of the reasons the Wild were safely in, rather than scrambling to win their last game to qualify as they did last season, was the sturdiness shown by the 33-year-old Bryzgalov down the stretch with their top three goalies unavailable due to injury or illness. This was his first regulation loss in 11 starts — he went 7-1-3 — since arriving the day before the trade deadline. But this was ugly. Yeo didnt flinch, though. "Im not worried about him," the coach said, adding: "You look at tonight, and we were brutal in front of him." The Predators missed the playoffs for a second straight year, putting Trotzs future in question. "Thats not our decision to make. Theres nothing that we could do as players in this locker room. We played our hearts out for him. Hes a great coach and well see what happens," Weber said. Nashville went 9-1-2 in its final 12 games, including eight regulation wins, but finished in 10th place — three points below the cut. The Predators killed every penalty over their previous five games, a streak that ended when Parise scored his 29th goal — he missed 15 games earlier this season — early in the second period to give Bryzgalov and the Wild a 3-1 edge. Nashville also became the only team in the league this season to not allow a short-handed goal, stretching its streak to 99 games without one. "We stuck with it. You always want to go out on a good note," said Smith, who passed Weber for the team lead with 24 goals. Weber had 23 and Patric Hornqvist finished with 22. Weber tallied a career-high 56 points. "If he doesnt win the Norris this year its going to be an absolute crime," Trotz said. NOTES: With 98 points, the Wild matched their second-best record in franchise history. After going 5-14-5 on the road in last seasons lockout-abbreviated schedule, the Predators finished 19-15-7 away from home. ... Pominville became only the third different player in Wild history to hit the 30-goal mark. Marian Gaborik (five times) and Brian Rolston (three times) were the others. ... Clune was called for roughing and cross checking and slapped with a 10-minute misconduct. He finished with 166 penalty minutes this season, fourth-most in the NHL. Wholesale Jerseys Outlet . -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. Wholesale China Jerseys . Adam LaRoche will take that. "I like our position in the standings and I like how our team is playing," LaRoche said after Washington swept a day-night doubleheader from the Cubs on Saturday. http://www.jerseysnflcheap.us/ . Beanballs were the theme Friday night as the Red Sox and Rays had another AL East rumble, with Boston earning a 3-2 victory on A. Cheap NFL Jerseys .com) - New England Patriots starting center Bryan Stork will not play in Sundays AFC Championship against Indianapolis due to a knee injury the rookie sustained last week. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Canadas Milos Raonic defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France on Saturday to advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.As we head into the final 10 days of the Blue Jays stay in Florida, there a couple of areas of concern. For one, the Jays havent scored more than five runs in 13-straight games. Of course, in the spring, the full everyday line-up is rarely together for more than a couple of games a week and even then, only a few innings at a time. Ryan Goins, for all he is capable of doing with the glove at second base, is only hitting .168 at last glance. Brandon Morrow, counted on so heavily this season, has had trouble commanding his four-seam fastball and has seemingly been dropped to the number-five slot in the rotatioon. On the flip side of that, Drew Hutchison has looked so good that he has been elavated to the number-two position in the rotation between R.A Dickey and lefty Mark Buehrle. Closer Casey Janssen started camp with should soreness, but he apppears to be doing well, throwing on the side and assures everyone he will be ready for opening day, despite not having seen any game action yet. J.A. Happs sore back seems to be coming around and hes been slotted in again as the number-four starter. The Jays Grapefruit Circuit record is only 7-10, but those records are rarely an indication of how a team is going to do in the regular season. A year ago, the Jays were 16-17 in Florida, yet only won 74 games for the 2013 campaign. St. Louis won the National League pennant after going just 16-15 in the spring. The Boston Red Sox played .500 ball in the sunny south at 17-17 in its first year under skipper John Farrell and then went on to beat the Cardinals in the World Series. In 2012, their final year with Farrell as manager, the Blue Jays went a scorching 24-7 in Dunedin, tops in the Majors, with a run differential of plus-79, yet they went on to stumble to just 73 wins during the season. The Detroit Tigers, though, werent too far behind the Jays at 20-8 and they made it to the World Series against San Francisco. The Giants had been 18-15 that spring and went on to win their second Fall Classic in three years. In 2011, the Kansas City Royals went 25-7, while the Seattle Mariners were 22-11. The Royals still havent made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985 and the Mariners havent made the playoffs in a dozen years. The most exciting aspect of spring training is watching the breakout performances of young players, as is with the case of the Jays Drew Hutchison this spring. The rest of it is just about hoping your team can open the season healthy and can come close to living up to expectations. - Injuries could play a part in the American League West race and, in turn, the Wild Card. Two of the Oakland As starters are down with arm troubles. Jarrod Parker has forearm stiffness, which can be a precursor to ellow trouble, and the 25-year-old righty already had one Tommy John surgery in 2009. A.J. Griffin has elbow issues as well, and will find out shorttly if he needs Tommy John.ddddddddddddMeanwhile, Seattles number-two starter Hisashi Iwakuma is recovering from a sprained ligament in the middle finger of his pitching hand and is iffy, at best, for the start of season. The Ms top pitching prospect, Taijuan Walker, has bursitis in his shoulder and will likely start the season in the minors on rehab. - Some of the National Leagues better clubs havent escaped the injury bug, either. Atlanta Braves starter Kris Medlen likely needs his seond Tommy John and Brandon Beachy could also be on track for his second. The Braves are also keeping a close watch on Mike Minors shoulder. Arizona Diamondbacks ace lefty Patrick Corbin is currently seeking a second opinion on whether or not he needs Tommy John. If that isnt bad enough for the D-Backs, the recently signed Bronson Arroyo, an iron man with the Cincinnati Reds, is out indefinately with a disc problem in his back. The Philadelphia Phllies, of course, lost Roy Halladay to retirement. Now their number-one starter, Cole Hamels, is dealing with left shoulder fatigue. Though hes starting to feel better throwing on the side, there is no guarantee Hamels will be ready for Opening Day. - I guess you could call it a Panama "Root Canal" for the New York Yankees over the weekend. While on their special goodwill tour of Panama, the home of their now retired future Hall of Fame closer, Mariano Rivera, the Yanks were no-hit by the Miami Marlins. It happened on Saturday at a jam-packed Rod Carew Stadium. The Marlins Brad Hand started off by throwing five perfect innings and striking out six. Steve Cishek came in for a scorless sixth-inning before A.J. Ramos blanked the Yankees in the next two innings and then Arquimedes Caminero finished off the no-no in the ninth. - We talked about a lot of the pitching injuries, but this one appears to be both serious and mysterious. Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, a key pick-up from Boston in a three-way deal last season, has a severe case of shin splints in both legs caused by a problem with his feet. He could miss a large chunk of this season, maybe even the entire season, leaving Detroit without a legit number-one shortstop. - Its not exactly a Babe Ruth-ian differential, but the Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis had indeed a special season in the home run department last year. Daviss MLB-best 53 homers was nine better than American League runner-up Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and 17 up on the National League co-leaders Pedro Alvarez of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the D-Backs Paul Goldschmidt at 36. The last time that happened was 2010, when the Blue Jays Jose Bautista slugged 54 homers, 15 more than AL runner-up Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox at 39 and 12 more than NL leader Albert Pujols, then of the Cardinals, at 42. ' ' '