2 at home since Chicagos rout here on Christmas Day. "We s

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks realize theyre in for plenty of tight defensive games in the next seven weeks while the rest of the NHL attempts to catch them atop the standings. In their first game back from the Olympic break, Jonas Hiller and the Ducks handled the pressure splendidly. Hiller made 18 saves in his fifth shutout of the season, Andrew Cogliano scored in the opening minutes, and the NHL-leading Anaheim Ducks returned with a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. With help from a few Blues shots off his posts, Hiller came back strong from the break after posting two shutouts for Switzerland in Sochi. Coglianos early goal off a neutral-zone turnover stood up in a hard-hitting, choppy game between two of the NHLs best teams. "We learned we can keep up with one of the toughest teams in the league," said Hiller, who matched his career high for shutouts in a season. "On a close game, everybody tries to play as tight as possible. You know you cant let up at all." The Ducks were the NHLs final team to resume play, giving extra rest to gold medallists Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and bronze medallist Teemu Selanne. Anaheim likely needed the break after losing three of its last four before the Olympics, getting shut out twice during just its second significant skid of the entire season. Coach Bruce Boudreau earned his 300th career victory as Anaheim swept the season series with the Blues. With 89 points from 61 games, the Ducks are five points ahead of St. Louis, Chicago and Pittsburgh in the overall NHL standings. "It was a good first game for us in terms of the competition," Cogliano said. "It was really high-paced. Its good to jump into a game like that. ... To hold them to 18 shots is something were proud of." Cogliano put the Ducks ahead just 3:39 in with a breakaway goal set up by Saku Koivus pass. The speedy Coglianos goal was his 18th, matching his career high with 21 games left in the regular season. Brian Elliott stopped 18 shots for the Blues just a few hours after St. Louis acquired star goalie Ryan Miller in a five-player trade with the Buffalo Sabres that included goalie Jaroslav Halak. St. Louis still hasnt scored after the break, taking its first two shutout losses of the season. Vancouver also beat the Blues 1-0 on Wednesday night. "Weve just got to put a couple in the net and well get going," Blues defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "Were creating the chances. Were doing a great job of that. But theyre one of the toughest teams. Thats a team were probably going to have to compete against down the road." The Blues made a major move for their post-season stretch about three hours before the puck dropped in Anaheim, acquiring Miller and agitator Steve Ott from Buffalo in a deal for Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, two draft picks and Halak, the Slovak Olympian who has been with St. Louis since 2010. "Its tough when friends leave, when you get to know families and get in personal relationships with those guys," said St. Louis captain David Backes, Millers teammate with the U.S. Olympic team. "But from a hockey standpoint, the management and ownership is really committed to winning, and winning now, and thats partly shown in the move weve made. Ryan Miller is an all-world goalie that has shown it time and time again." Miller and Ott wont join St. Louis until this weekend in Phoenix, so the Blues backup goalie was Jeff Tyni, the Ducks locker room attendant. Both teams attempted to make up for their post-break rust with aggressive physical play. Backes and Perry fought in the first period, extending their personal feud. Adding to the Canada-U.S. rivalry vibe, Getzlaf and T.J. Oshie also nearly dropped gloves during the same prolonged scuffle. NOTES: Ducks C Mathieu Perreault left the game early in the third period with an upper-body injury after taking a big hit. ... Stewart was traded on a Blues-Ducks gameday for the second time. St. Louis acquired Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk from Colorado on Feb. 19, 2011, and Stewart made his Blues debut against Anaheim later in the day. ... The Ducks scratched F Jakob Silfverberg, who won a silver medal for Sweden last weekend. D Sami Vatanen, who won bronze with Finland and led the Olympic tournament with five assists, is back with Anaheims AHL affiliate in Norfolk. Jacoby Ellsbury Jersey . Terms of the contract were not disclosed by the club. Clemons spent his first five NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2009 draft out of Clemson. Phil Rizzuto Jersey .1 million contract. The club said that Boll will earn $950,000 in 2012-13 and $1.15 million in 2013-14. The 26-year-old Boll had two goals and one assist with 126 penalty minutes in 54 games with the Blue Jackets in 2011-12. http://www.yankeesrookiestore.com/Yankees-Gary-Sanchez-Kids-Jersey/ . Smith, who raised eyebrows at the CFL combine in March with his ability on both sides of the ball, confirmed in a statement he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol prior to auditioning for league officials. Didi Gregorius Jersey . Berkman almost left the game last off-season before signing with the Texas Rangers. He then had another injury-plagued season and was limited to 73 games. Brian Roberts Jersey . The Canucks figured to be active prior to Wednesdays trade deadline, getting a jump on things the previous day when they dealt goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers for netminder Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias.NEW YORK -- Jason Collins started walking from the bench to the scorers table, fans rising out of their seats all around Barclays Center. He committed a foul five seconds after entering. His only shot barely hit the rim. Collins performance may not have been pretty, but everything else was great. Collins played the final minutes of a winning home debut with the Brooklyn Nets, who cooled off the Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night. "It was cool. It was a lot of fun to go into the game," Collins said. "The most important thing was that we got the win. Chicagos been playing really well as of late and for us to come out and really be -- I think we played more physical than they did tonight." Finally playing at home more than a week after returning to the NBA as the leagues first openly gay player, Collins checked in to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 17,732 that included former NBA Commissioner David Stern with 2:41 remaining. He grabbed a rebound and had one of the Nets NBA season high-tying 19 steals in their third straight victory. Deron Williams scored 20 points and Joe Johnson had 19 for the Nets (29-29), who got back to .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 after beating Utah on Nov. 5. D.J. Augustin scored 16 points off the bench for the sloppy Bulls, who turned it over 28 times, leading to 30 Nets points, and had their four-game winning streak snapped. The Bulls had a franchise-low three turnovers in their 109-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday and had won nine of 10. But the Nets were too good in this one, building a series of comfortable leads and making the only intrigue down the stretch whether Collins would get in during his first home appearance for the Nets since Jan. 29, 2008, against Milwaukee in East Rutherford, N.J. A chant of "Jason Collins! Jason Collins!" broke out while Williams was shooting a free throw with the Nets leading 90-73 with 3:27 remaining. Fans finally got their wish less than a minute later -- though not because coach Jason Kidd was listening to them. "No, the game was out of hand, so I wanted to get those guys some rest," he said. "D-Will was shooting free throws. Couldnt put Twin in at that time, so I told him after the free throws that he would come in." Collins original 10-day contracct will expire Tuesday and the Nets plan to sign him to a second deal on Wednesday.ddddddddddddA Nets player from 2001-08, he has appeared in all five games since he signed on Feb. 23. Paul Pierce and Shaun Livingston each scored 14 points for the Nets, who were without starting centre Kevin Garnett for a second straight game because of back spasms. "Mentally, the Bulls have really had our numbers," Pierce said. "To be honest, if I was them Id feel like when they come play the Nets, they feel like they could beat us every time. I think the guys really had pride tonight to say, You know were tired of getting pushed around by the Bulls." Joakim Noah managed just 10 points, six rebounds and one assist for the Bulls, a day after finishing with 13 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in his fifth career triple-double. The All-Star centre rolled his right ankle early in the second half of that game and said it hurt after the game, but he was determined to play Monday in his hometown. The Bulls had dominated the first two meetings and beaten the Nets four straight times, but Brooklyn controlled this one most of the way in improving to 12-2 at home since Chicagos rout here on Christmas Day. "We smashed them in the mouth twice, its never going to be easy to come in to tough-minded team and do it again," Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. The Nets scored the first eight points, the last one on Williams free throw after Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau screamed his way to a technical foul after calling time. Their lead grew to 15, but the Bulls trimmed it to 27-18 by the end of the first quarter. Brooklyn led 50-42 at halftime, and Chicago started the second half just as bad as the first. The Nets scored the first seven to take a 57-42 lead when Williams set up Mason Plumlee for a dunk. "I think we had all intentions to play hard, but like I say, it didnt show," Augustin said. "Being down early, you cant come start the game down, you cant start the second half down, so that was our big mistakes, and then the turnovers killed us." NOTES: The Nets 19 steals were their most since finishing with 20 against Indiana on March 21, 1989. ... Brooklyn hadnt scored more than 23 points in a period against Chicago this season and surpassed that in both the first (27) and third (26). ' ' '