est match today, but emotionally it was a tough one. Im really happy.

CORTINA DAMPEZZO, Italy -- Defending overall World Cup champion Tina Maze finally got her first victory of the season, winning the prestigious Cortina downhill Saturday to signal a return to form just in time for the Sochi Olympics. The Slovenian clocked 1 minute, 37.79 seconds down the Olympia delle Tofane course, which was bathed in sunshine, then performed her trademark handstand celebration during the podium proceedings. "There were a lot of emotions," Maze said. "It was a really long time. ... When I find the right feeling like I found it today I can ski fast." Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland finished second, 0.27 seconds behind, and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was third, 0.38 back. Maze had a record-breaking season a year ago with 11 wins. This season, she had only three podium results -- until this race. "When you win a lot you dont learn much," Maze said. "With my ups and downs its a lot of learning." Two weeks ago, Maze made a staff change in her personal team, which is run by her boyfriend and coach Andrea Massi. They replaced Walter Ronconi with former Switzerland coach Mauro Pini. The switch seems to have paid off and the timing couldnt have been better -- in the final downhill before the Sochi Games, where the womens downhill is scheduled for Feb. 12. Pini urged Maze to put more emotion into her skiing. "That was really good because Andrea was always saying to ski without feelings," Maze said. "But sometimes thats not possible. "(Pini) brought a lot of peace to our team because compared to Andrea and I hes one step in front of us," Maze added. "And thats what we were expecting from someone in that position. He came really motivated and that makes us easygoing and we have more energy for ourselves." Pini was formerly Lara Guts personal coach and he led the Swiss mens squad at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Didier Defago won gold in downhill. He then coached the Swiss womens team and more recently was a TV commentator. "I could sense a good feeling from the first words we shared with each other," Pini said. "Tina never forgot how to ski. She was always capable, she just needed to focus her energy better and get rid of those negative vibes." "At this level a couple different words here or there can create all the difference," Pini added. "Its not like we had to start over from scratch." With the skies perfectly clear to show off the jagged peaks that provide some of the most spectacular scenery in the Dolomite Range, Maria Hoefl-Riesch finished fourth to follow up her victory in Fridays downhill. The German said she felt some pain in her left knee after landing a jump awkwardly a day earlier. Still, Hoefl-Riesch maintained her lead in the overall and downhill standings. In another strong showing from the U.S. Ski Team without injured Lindsey Vonn, Stacey Cook matched her fifth-place finish from Friday and teammate Julia Mancuso placed seventh to match her best result of the season from a super-G two days earlier. "It always stings when you are so close to the podium, but I know this is a positive move heading toward Sochi," Cook said. This was the third of four races in four days. Elisabeth Goergl won a super-G on Thursday and another super-G is scheduled for Sunday. Weirather finished fourth and second in the opening two races this week. "Its hard to have four good races in a row but I will try," she said. Two of the races were originally scheduled for last weekend in Cortina but were wiped out by heavy snowfall. The other two were moved from Garmisch-Partenkirchen due to a lack of snow in the German resort. The womens circuit then moves to Kranjska Gora for a giant slalom and slalom next weekend -- the final races before Sochi and Mazes home event. "Im really excited to ski that slope," Maze said Jerry Tillery Chargers Jersey . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Los Angeles Chargers Jerseys . Radulov scored the lone goal in the shootout, and the Predators edged the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night to reach 100 points for the second time in three seasons and fourth in seven. http://www.prochargersteamstore.com/Youth-Melvin-Ingram-Elite-Jersey/ . Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games. Joey Bosa Jersey .Tatjana Haenni, FIFAs head of womens competitions, told a FIFA Live Your Goals Tour news conference Friday that the artificial turf is being tested to make sure it meets standards. Joey Bosa Youth Jersey .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday.TAMPA, Fla. - A scoreless night from star Steven Stamkos was no problem for the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.Cedric Paquette scored his first two NHL goals as the Lightning completed a four-game home sweep by beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Thursday night.Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning had scored 15 goals during three wins earlier in the homestand against Arizona, Philadelphia and Washington.Its big if Stammers line is not going, somebody else is picking that up, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.Stamkos was held without a point, finished minus-1, and got both of his shots during a third period in which the centre played just five shifts.Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who had won three in a row. Mark Giordano had two assists.I felt that the effort was there, Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. I dont think that we looked like a bunch of fat cats out there. Its not a matter that they outworked us. They outsmarted us because we made some bad mistakes, but its a game of mistakes. No one does it on purpose, especially not in this organization.After Paquettes second goal at 61 seconds of the second period, Boyle put Tampa Bay up 3-1 at 4:02 on the rebound after Jonas Hiller stopped the forwards initial shot during a short-handed breakaway.Weve got it going pretty good up and down the lineup, Boyle said. We want to continue that..ddddddddddddMonahans power-play goal 20 seconds after Boyle scored cut the Calgary deficit to 3-2.Johnsons first goal in 12 games made it 4-2 at 40 seconds of the third. The centre had 13 assists over the previous nine games.Filppula added an empty-net goal with 2:10 to play.We were forcing things, especially after they got up, Giordano said. I think we were forcing more than we normally do.Paquette opened the scoring with his first NHL goal from in-close at 9:55 of the first.Its a great moment for me, Paquette said. I think I will remember it for the rest of my life.Hudler tied it at 1-1 when he beat Ben Bishop with 4:38 left in the period.Bishop stopped 29 shots, while Hiller made 28 saves.NOTES: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game and said the league is keeping our eye on Tampa for future events including the All-Star Game. We know this is a great place to host events, Bettman said. ... Bettman remains upbeat about the establishment of a hockey World Cup and said talks are continuing with the players association. ... Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman had the cast for a broken finger removed but could miss three to four more weeks. ... Calgary D Ladislav Smid was scratched because of an upper body injury but should play this weekend. ... Lightning C Alex Killorn sat out due to an upper body injury. ... Tampa Bay D Andrej Sustr returned after missing one game with a hand injury. ' ' '