. The same is true of Sri Lanka, where batsme

As the Nashville Predators work on turning around their slow start, they were presented with two breaks from the schedule-maker.Not only are they finishing up a three-game homestand Friday when the Winnipeg Jets come to Nashville, they are also in the middle of a stretch of four straight games against their Central Division brethren, meaning wins can count for a little bit more.These games are huge, Nashville forward Filip Forsberg said. These division games are probably going to decide whos going to make the playoffs. Thats been the case for the last couple of years now.Forsberg got the Predators run of division games off to a good start, scoring a goal and picking up an assist Wednesday night in a 5-2 win over Dallas that upped their record in Bridgestone Arena to 7-1-1. Whats more, it upped Nashville (9-7-3) from sixth in the division to fourth.Nashville effectively swapped places with the Jets (9-11-2), a 3-1 loser Wednesday night in Minnesota. That dropped Winnipeg to 0-4-0 on its five-game road trip and 3-8-1 away from Manitoba this season.We were just about an inch shy on everything that happened for us tonight, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. Both teams were competing pretty hard on that puck and it was hard to get pucks to the net. The margin for error there was real small.There has been no margin for error for Winnipeg since it blanked Chicago 4-0 on Nov. 15 to claim second place in the division. It has been outscored 15-5 during its road trip and has been stuck on one goal for three straight games.Given the way Predators goalie Pekka Rinne played this month, the Jets chances of registering a crooked number dont look good in this one, either. Rinne (8-5-3) stopped 33 shots Wednesday night, including all 22 Dallas threw at him in the second period.In 10 November games, Rinne is 7-1-2 with a 1.39 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage. He is not the entire reason Nashville is 6-2-1 in its last nine games, but he is clearly the teams first star this month.Hes a good goalie, Dallas left winger Jamie Benn said. Hes one of the best in the league and if he can see it, hes probably going to stop it.Also boding well for the Predators was getting goals from Forsberg and Ryan Johansen in the same game for the first time this season. Both have just two markers in 19 games, although Forsberg leads the team in points with 15 and Johansen has played a solid two-way game, ranking among the team leaders in plus-minus.Nashville coach Peter Laviolette was particularly pleased with Johansen, and linemates Viktor Arvidsson and James Neal, for their work against the Stars top line of Benn, Tyler Seguin and Cody Eakin.Hes working hard at both ends of the ice, Nashville Laviolette said of Johansen. I think theyre playing against big lines. Defensively, theyre trying to be responsible and play a good game and still contribute offensively.Fridays game starts a home-and-home series between the Predators and Jets. They meet again on Sunday in Winnipeg. Cheap Air Force Ones For Sale . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. Cheap Air Force 1 Shoes Wholesale . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. http://www.airforceforsalecheap.com/ . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Nike Air Force Ones Sale . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007. Nike Air Force 1 Cheap Outlet . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. Either side of the disastrous Australian tour of India in 2013, much comment passed within and outside the team about the lack of experience contained in the first touring squad chosen after the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey.Among the points raised by certain Cricket Australia figures by way of a response was to say, A lot of these guys have experience in India, they play in the IPL. This was a little bit like saying that a belief in Father Christmas equates to a working knowledge of the North Pole: some vague geographical crossover but little else.Similarly, Australias forthcoming Test series in Sri Lanka has been knitted into a wider story about Project Asia, and the need to adapt to subcontinental conditions in order to succeed here. While it is undoubtedly true that Australia must lift in this part of the world, and that Sri Lanka is a part of the region, a closer reading illustrates that it is too simplistic to suggest the right formula here will work in other parts of Asia.Even a cursory glimpse at Australias record when travelling to face their three major subcontinental opponents bears this out in the most stark of terms. Since 1971 they have won only once - in 2004 - away to India, and only twice away to Pakistan - in 1998 and 2002 - since 1960. Yet over 13 Tests across five tours of Sri Lanka, the hosts have been victorious in just a solitary match, against Australias six victories. That win came after the Australians were left two players short via the horrible collision between Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie on day two of the 1999 Kandy Test. Rain then curtailed matches two and three, gifting the series to Sri Lanka.It must be said that Australia have not always won their matches in Sri Lanka by vast margins, and, notably in Colombo in 1992 and Kandy in 2004, recovered narrow victories from most unlikely positions early in the game. There is also the fact that numerous Australians have produced something close to career peaks on these tours, in ways many of the same players did not manage elsewhere.Shane Warne was seldom better with the ball than on his return from a drugs ban in 2004, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann likewise with the bat. In 2011, Hussey scooped a hat-trick of match awards to help deliver a win for Michael Clarke in his first series as Test captain.But there are undoubtedly other factors at play on Australian visits to Sri Lanka that go beyond the vagaries of individual matches or combatants. These range from matters of climate, mentality and history to the demography of the island nation. All have raised their heads repeatedly, and Steven Smiths men may well capitalise on them once more this time around.Sri Lankas climate and pitches offer just enough assistance to seamers Where India and Pakistan have broken the spirits of numerous Australian pacemen, Sri Lankas tropical climes have always provided that little bit of extra encouragement, whether through the air or off the pitch. Warnes path was often smoothed in 2004 by early wickets to Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz. In 2011, a deck in Galle prepared ostensibly for spinners was used grandly by Shane Watson and Ryan Harris, who made use of reverse swing and up-and-down bounce respectively.Perhaps the most telling examples actually come from when the tables are turned: Tom Moody never played another Test after being unable to handle the moving ball as an opener in 1992; on the same tour Mark Waugh made four consecutive ducks, earning the sobriquet Audi. Sri Lankas lone victory was set up not by Muttiah Muralitharan but Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, who dropped the tourists to 5 for 40 on the first morning before any wickets fell to spin.Australia seldom lose thee patience battle with bat or ball It isnt hard to recall subcontinental days when Australias bowlers have been bereft of ideas on how to claim a wicket: think Dravid and Laxman in Kolkata in 2001, Sachin Tendulkar in 1998 or 2010, or Shikhar Dhawans assault three years ago.dddddddddddd But those junctures never seem to come in Sri Lanka, with a wicket seldom more than an hour or two away. That is borne out by the indifferent records of Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara against Australia. In 2011, Sangakkara was out to Nathan Lyons first ball in Tests and also managed to be winkled out by Hussey. Equally, Sri Lankas spinners have been unable to swarm over Australia in the manner of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin or Yasir Shah. Muralitharan took plenty of wickets in 2004, but was outpointed by the combination of Lehmanns daring and Martyns doggedness. There is something mental to all this, doubtless linked to…A history of Australian success plays on the minds of both sides Repeatedly, it has appeared that when matches get tight, Australian self-belief overwhelms Sri Lankan combinations briefly but critically afflicted by doubt. Arguably this began in Colombo in 1992, when a mighty first innings should have paved the way for a home win. But Allan Borders team scrounged a narrow lead, before Sri Lankas effort to rush to the target was undermined when a skittish skied one from de Silva was held by a running Border. From there Greg Matthews and a young Warne engineered a great escape, and Australias first win anywhere in Asia for 22 years.Lehmann has spoken on this trip about the need to get a first-innings lead before the pitches deteriorate, but he can also recall winning 3-0 in 2004 after falling behind on first innings in all three Tests. Even the solitary Sri Lankan win only arrived after their shaky chase of 95 was helped by some exceedingly conservative umpiring to deny Colin Miller a clear caught-and-bowled and then a very adjacent lbw appeal. Sri Lankan Test crowds are small A great many spectators filed into the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy as that victory in 1999 crept closer, but most of the time the atmosphere at Sri Lankan Tests is sorely lacking the sort of noise-inducing claustrophobia that can amount to a major competitive advantage. An Australian player once noted the contrast between sparsely attended South African grounds, where Australia have done well, and heaving English venues, where they have not. The same is true of Sri Lanka, where batsmen can hear each other call, bowlers can hear themselves think, and captains can plan in relative peace. Small wonder Sri Lanka Cricket are committed to raising their Test series attendances above 100,000 by paying attention to venue choices and ground facilities; touring teams eager to silence crowds in India rarely need to worry about doing so here.This time around, Australia should be heavily favoured to win the series anyway as the worlds No. 1-ranked side. Sri Lanka have some sizeable holes in their line-up, given a present dearth of fit pace bowlers and the abiding problem of how to cover for the loss of Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara, who are now ubiquitous on billboards rather than scoreboards in this part of the world.But just as Sri Lanka must look hard into the reasons why they so rarely taste Test success against Australia, so the visitors must weigh up what works here and nowhere else. All victories away from home have meaning, but a win for Smiths men in Sri Lanka may mean less in terms of next years trip to India than some might think. ' ' '