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Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Its no secret the Western Conference has been dominating the NHL landscape in recent years. A month into the 2014-15 campaign, its plain to see not much has changed. While the West is littered with teams that appear to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, the Eastern Conference, and in particular the Metropolitan Division, is marked by mediocrity. Not only is the West boasting a 37-22-8 record when facing clubs from the East, the superior conference also owns a cumulative goal differential of plus-30 in all games this season. Teams from the East, meanwhile, have been outscored by 28 goals. A closer look at the Easts two divisions reveals the Metro to be the anchor weighing down the conference at the moment. Five of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division own positive goal differentials and the groups collective minus-10 differential is in large part due to one team – the Buffalo Sabres, who are an NHL-worst minus-27. The Metro, on the other hand, is minus-18 as a whole with only Pittsburgh (plus-19) and Washington (plus-2) in the black. Only the Penguins have played consistently well and its no surprise Pittsburgh is leading the division with 15 points on a 7-2-1 record. The rest of the division has been wildly inconsistent as every team not named the Penguins has suffered through a losing streak of three games or more. In fact, other than Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers – last years conference champions – each Metro club has lost at least four in a row at some point in the early going. To be fair, some of the Metros struggles this season could be explained by injury woes. Columbus has been absolutely decimated by injuries in the first month, while the Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers also have dealt with key losses to their rosters. The Devils and Islanders are currently sitting second and third behind the Pens for the divisions remaining two automatic bids, but they have both cooled off considerably since beginning the season on hot streaks. At this stage, only Pittsburgh, New Jersey and the Isles would be playoff teams if the season ended today, while the Atlantic would eat up the Easts remaining five postseason spots. Its a long season of course and things could get better for the residents of the NHLs oddest-named division once some of the Metros clubs get a little healthier. At the moment, however, the division is giving the lesser Eastern Conference an even worse reputation. TARASENKO TEARING IT UP One player who could sum up the Wests superiority at the moment is young St. Louis winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who just like his conference seems to be getting better every season. The 22-year-old Russian broke out with 21 goals and 43 points for St. Louis last season and is on pace to obliterate those career-bests in 2014-15. Tarasenko, the NHLs reigning First Star of the Week, has seven goals and six assists in 11 games this season, with six of those markers coming over his past four outings. That puts him on pace to tally 52 goals and 97 points in just his third NHL campaign. The burgeoning star delivered on a big stage Monday against the New York Rangers, notching the early front-runner for goal of the season at Madison Square Garden. On the power play, Tarasenko received the puck in the neutral zone before skating his way through the heart of the Rangers defense. After weaving his way through the New York zone, Tarasenko finished with an amazing move as he skated left and reached back to his right with one hand on the stick to push the puck past Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot. Tarasenko also scored the shootout winner later against the Rangers, leading St. Louis to its fifth straight victory. Hes as dynamic of a goal-scorer as anyone Ive ever played with, said Blues captain David Backes. His shot and his burst of speed and his ability to find the net obviously is out of this world. Tarasenkos early success is a good sign for the Blues, a team that has been strong in the regular season during the Ken Hitchcock era only to disappoint come playoff time. One thing to remember is St. Louis is still a young team and if players like Tarasenko and fellow forward Jaden Schwartz continue to develop the way they have been, the Blues could challenge the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks of the world for NHL supremacy. St. Louis needs someone to be a difference maker if it plans on getting over the postseason hump. The way Tarasenko has steadily improved since his rookie season of 2012-13, its easy to believe the 2010 first-round pick may be the right man to help the Blues turn the corner. When he first came over, he was just happy to play here, Hitchcock said of Tarasenko. Now he wants to be a guy that contributes every night. He wants to be a significant player in the League. Its a big difference. Air Max 97 Cheap China . According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the deal will pay Schenn $2.25 million in the first year and $2.75 million in the second year. In 82 games with the Flyers in 2013-14, Schenn scored 20 goals and added 21 assists. Buy Air Max 97 . Louis Cardinals have agreed to a one-year contract. http://www.discountairmax97.com/. – Team Canadas Brooke Henderson carded a 4-under 67 at Craigowan Golf and Country Club to jump into the lead at the Canadian Womens Amateur Championship on Wednesday. Air Max 97 Sale Cheap . The move is retroactive to Aug. 1. Hosmer was originally hit on the hand in the first inning of a July 20 loss to Boston. He has played most of the time since, but missed a few contests due to the injury, then departed Thursdays win over the Twins and had tests that revealed the fracture. Air Max 97 Clearance . The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. TORONTO – Toronto Marlies coach Steve Spott felt his team had more than enough opportunity to pick up two points Saturday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. Torontos power play was held scoreless on three opportunities, including once in overtime, and the Marlies out-shot the Iowa Wild 39-27, but fell 2-1 in a shootout to the visitors. Carson MacMillan and Zack Phillips scored in the shootout to help Iowa snap a five-game skid. It was the Wilds fourth win in 11 games. "I think we had more than enough opportunity to put the game away," said Spott. "Very good players with empty nets and were hitting posts, were not getting pucks up and over (Wild starter, Johan) Gustafsson. "We had some glorious chances, that we didnt put in the back of the net. When you let a team like that – thats desperate – hang around, thats what the result is going to be." Toronto dropped to 1-1-0 on their current three-game, three-night stretch and had their three-game win streak snapped. MacMillan faked a slapshot and then beat Marlies starter Garret Sparks in the first round of the shootout. Then Phillips faked a shot, got Sparks moving before beating him glove-side in the third round. Jamie MacQueen scored in regulation for Iowa (26-30-10), while Gustafsson made 38 saves for his 12th win of the season. Peter Holland had the lone goal for Toronto (40-20-6). Sparks made 25 saves in his first loss since Jan. 25. The Marlies couldve had a fourth power-play opportunity, in the third period. Wild forward Brett Bulmer was assessed a roughing minor, but Brandon Kozun retaliated with a careless cross-check and negated the man advantage chance. When asked of Kozuns penalty, Spott responded, "I think he wont play tomorrow." With the win, the Wild earn a split in the season series. The Marlies won the only other meeting between the two teams 4-3 on Jan. 15 in Des Moines, Iowa. Holland tied it 1-1, with his ninth of the season, at 1:12 of the third period by picking up the rebound off of a Kenny Ryan shot and beating Gustafsson stick-side. "Kenny made a nice play, juust coming down the right side and threw it off the pad," said Holland of the play.dddddddddddd "I was lucky enough to kind of pick up the rebound, pull it across the net and tuck it in the far side." Toronto dropped to 5-12-4 when trailing after 40 minutes this season. MacQueen opened the scoring at 7:37 beating Sparks with a shot from the bottom of the face-off circle for his second of the season. Prior to MacQueens goal, Kris Foucault had a great scoring chance when his shot beat Sparks, but hit the post at 6:00 of the second. Holland had an excellent chance to open the scoring at 16:00 of the first period, but put his shot off the side of the net with Gustafsson out of position. "We missed a couple point-blank opportunities with open nets, putting it out the far side," said Holland agreeing with Spotts assessment. "Either that or hitting the post, a couple bounces go our way, its a different story." Toronto concludes their three-game, three night stretch, when they host the Abbotsford Heat on Sunday. The Marlies need three points to clinch a playoff spot as well as their third consecutive North Division title. Its something the Maple Leafs minor leaguers are focused on. "As we go forward here our job is to win the division and try to catch Grand Rapids for second in the conference and thats still our goal," said Spott. Added Holland: "Thats obviously our main objective here is to clinch as fast as we can. We dont want to take any of the teams we play lightly, but just work on things going into the playoffs. Give guys who dont get a lot of minutes a chance to play more. Its definitely something were focusing on." Notes: Rookie defenceman Eric Knodel made his professional debut replacing Korbinian Holzer for the Marlies. The Maple Leafs recalled forward Jerry DAmigo from the Marlies on Saturday. Marlies goaltender Drew MacIntyre was a healthy scratch as Christopher Gibson backed up Sparks. Spott said Holzer, MacIntyre and captain Trevor Smith were all given the day off to rest bumps and bruises. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '