Spaniard. The Ever-lution is on. Just dont expect to hear about it

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets took advantage of the Minnesota Wild, who were coming off an emotional game a day earlier. Nike MLB Jerseys . The Blue Jackets got goals from Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner and R.J. Umberger and Curtis McElhinney posted his first shutout since 2011 in a 4-0 victory on Friday night. "We talked about them playing last night and there was definitely an emphasis to jump all over them," Umberger said, referring to the Wilds 4-3 home win over Chicago. "We were moving pretty good." The Blue Jackets had not played since Tuesday, filling the time with two hard, full practices in which they were able to work on several problem areas. Minnesotas Zach Parise knew his team didnt have its heart in the game. "We were just flat and not crisp," he said. "We were pretty brutal through the neutral zone and couldnt get anything generated." Wild coach Mike Yeo didnt want to use his clubs first home win over the Blackhawks since 2008 as an excuse, but still thought that was the root of his clubs problems. "We played right into that (being tired), too, turning pucks over," he said. "We were on our heels, slow reacting, slow getting to places. We were not pressing the way we needed to be." It was the Blue Jackets second win in a row, the first time theyve won back-to-back games since Oct. 25. They did it in their first game without last years Vezina Trophy winner as the NHLs top goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, who will miss the next month or so with a strained groin. McElhinney made 20 saves in his first shutout since Feb. 5, 2011, while with the Anaheim Ducks. "Its a good feeling for me to step in here again and have another shutout game, another win," he said, referring to the Blue Jackets consecutive shutouts. "Hopefully, its the start of something good and we can keep it going." Foligno and Umberger each also had assists and Ryan Johansen added two assists to stretch his points streak to four games. The Blue Jackets have been struggling with injuries. In addition to Bobrovsky, top offensive threat Marian Gaborik (sprained knee) is out for another two weeks and top off-season free-agent signing Nathan Horton (shoulder surgery) has yet to play in a Columbus sweater and likely wont be ready for at least another month. McElhinneys third NHL shutout came in his 78th game. After a scoreless first period, the Blue Jackets took over. At the 1:17 mark of the second, Atkinson took a pass from Dubinsky and wristed a shot from the top of the right circle that Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom didnt appear to see. He barely moved as the puck beat him high and near his right shoulder. "Some games its tougher to swallow the puck when you dont see it," he said. The Blue Jackets went on their first power play when Matt Cooke went off for hooking. Columbus soon took advantage on the man advantage. Johansen passed to Umberger for a shot from a hard angle that handcuffed Backstrom, with Johansen then following the puck to get a whack at it on the rebound. Before the puck could be cleared, Foligno found the net on his second attempt from the right doorstep at the 5:40 mark. "We were able to maintain our energy and continue to push," Foligno said. "You saw great efforts from everybody tonight -- and Curtis McElhinney shut the door." The Wild had a prime chance to get back in the game when they had 1:13 of a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. But McElhinney smothered a hard slap shot from the left point by Jason Pominville and then later appeared to stop a high shot by Zach Parise off his mask. "The big thing was that 5 on 3," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "That was a critical point of the game. Curtis made probably three great saves for us and our (penalty) killers did a great job." Columbus was still controlling the play early in the third when, on a 3-on-3 rush, Jenner wristed a shot from the top of the left circle that eluded Backstrom high on his glove side. The goal, at the 4:38 mark, was the rookies third of the season. Umberger closed the scoring at the 9:05 mark when, while trailing the play, he benefited from a nifty feed from Foligno. Foligno had only one defender to beat but instead whipped a blind pass to Umberger who had virtually an empty net. Notes: The Blue Jackets improved to 35-0 under Richards when leading after two periods. ... It was the Wilds third loss in a row on the road. ... Minnesota has been shut out in two of its past three games. Nike Baseball Jerseys .com) - The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed recently-acquired outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration. Authentic MLB Jerseys .com) - Sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez was a first-round winner on Monday at the Delray Beach Open tennis event. https://www.cheapmlbjerseysjustwholesale.com/jordan-roland-jersey.html . Signs of a turnaround have emerged in this series at Minnesota. Brian Roberts had three doubles and a triple for the first four-extra-base-hit game of his 14-year career, and the Yankees used their bullpen to preserve a 6-5 win over the Twins on Friday.And then there was one. After five rounds of matches in the Premier League, 19 clubs have lost at least once. Only Everton remain unbeaten. Yet, typically for a team that plays all of their games in the shadows of their mighty neighbours across Stanley Park, it is quite fitting that they are far from the leagues major storyline coming off another action-packed weekend. Want to read or talk about another Jose Mourinho press conference? You cant miss it. Reflections on the thumping Manchester United took in the derby? On the lips of everyone on Monday morning in England. Paolo Di Canios sacking? On all the back pages of Mondays newspapers. Everton? As usual, only on the minds of the blue side of Merseyside. Saturdays 3-2 win at West Ham is certainly a performance that will stick in the memories of many Evertonians for some time. It was, of course, highlighted by two fantastic pieces of individual skill from Leighton Baines, scorer of two direct free kicks from the same spot, passed a bamboozled Jussi Jaaskelainen, but the performance away from the result showed many encouraging signs of development. One of the early themes from this seasons Premier League has been new managers bringing new ideas to their new teams and this is certainly the case with Roberto Martinez at Everton. Although David Moyes did a great job during his time on Merseyside there was some frustration growing, certainly among regular visitors to Goodison Park, about his style of play last season. The hiring of Martinez certainly didnt come on the back of needing to please those fans, but it certainly wont hurt. The Spaniard wants Everton to pass more and improve their overall technical quality, while not compromising some of their old traits and at Upton Park on Saturday all of that shone through. Character Five games in and it is already very clear that Evertons ability to outwork teams has remained. During last weekends victory against Chelsea they had to spend long stretches of the match without the ball and that is what Martinez recognized, saying: "Technically we can improve but we showed attributes of a winning team, desire, work ethic, keeping to our responsibilities." Moyes worked very hard to instill that into Everton and with many of his core players still there it is clear none of these strengths have disappeared. They relied on them against Chelsea and during some difficult spells against West Ham on Saturday. Distribution from the back West Ham are not a side who are comfortable in pressing too high up the field. They like to maintain their shape, let opponents play it out and then use their midfield to press to close down and block outlets. This style suits Everton and it allowed Tim Howard time to play the ball out to his centre backs in their own third, much more than the corresponding game last season: (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) In Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin, Everton have two centre-backs that are strong in the air, have decent pace and, importantly, can feel comfortable receiving the ball while positioning far apart to cover wide areas when their full backs go forward (as the graph below shows). (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) In last seasons match at Upton Park, between the two sides, Jagielka played right back with John Heitinga playing centre back. On Saturday, Evertons two centre backs attempted more than 50 passes (59 to 113) than a year ago and completed enough passes to make a difference to their overall style (97 to 51). (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Masters of Midfield "He is very clever with his positioning, he is quite unique with his role in the British market, you always get the role played really well by foreign players, but he is unique in the way he plays. He will be a perfect influence for the likes of Ross Barkley, James McCarthy. It was an impressive master class of the position." Martinez certainly didnt hold back in his praise of Gareth Barry following his debut for Everton last week against Chelsea. Barry clearly has his limitations but what he gives Martinez is tactical discipline. No other player available to him can do what Barry does (Darron Gibson needs to improve his passing and discipline). The Englishmman is better deeper where he can read the game, without needing any pace, and cause vital turnovers. Adidas NHL Jerseys 2020. He is also comfortable coming deep in between the centre backs to begin attacks, giving his fellow central midfielders, Leon Osman and Ross Barkley in this case, opportunities to join the attack and create triangles in wide areas with the full backs and wingers. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Barry has often shown good vision against teams that play down to his tempo, such as West Ham. On Saturday, Barkley benefited from Barrys calmness on the ball, as the two linked up more than any other players on the pitch. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) At half-time, with his team down 1-0 and struggling to keep the ball to his liking, Martinez made two changes inserting Romelu Lukaku in a straight swap for Nikica Jelavic up top and James McCarthy in midfield for Steven Naismith, who had played out wide. This gave us our first glimpse of the midfield trident of Barry-Osman-McCarthy but it lasted just five minutes before Osman limped off injured. For those five minutes all three worked well, treasuring the ball and feeding the lively, energetic duo of Mirallas and Barkley who played as wide forwards just deeper than Lukaku in a 4-3-2-1 shape. Osman was replaced by Bryan Oviedo, a left sided winger, and the impressive Barkley was moved centrally again, playing just ahead of McCarthy and Barry. It proved to be a pivotal move. The Premier League was already into its second season the day Ross Barkley was born. On Sunday Dec. 5 1993, Everton sat in 11th place following a 1-0 win over Southampton the day before their newest fan came into the world less than five miles from Goodison Park. Less than 20 years on, Barkley turned a Premier League game on its head on Saturday. Baines got the headlines for two brilliant free kicks but both were won by Barkleys penetration, intelligence and skill, getting in between the lines and forcing James Collins, and then Mark Noble, to retreat behind him and chop him down while dribbling towards goal. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Many young English players have been touted to be stars of the future but many come up full of energy, pace and skill but with little understanding of the game. Barkley is different. He is a rare young English player who desires space and can keep the ball in small confines while waiting to find an outlet. It was little wonder English manager Roy Hodgson was in the stands at this game. Barkley is still very young and raw but he is the closest thing to Steven Gerrard that English football has produced in a decade. Barkley, who spent time with Gerrard while on England duty earlier this month, received some great advice from the Liverpool skipper: "He [Gerrard] told me Im from Liverpool, a local lad playing for the team I support, and there is nothing better. Hes done that throughout his career. He said playing is the main thing, going to another team and not playing would be no good for my development." If Barkley stays fit and in Evertons team he will be with England in Brazil next summer. On the opening day of the season at Norwich he scored Evertons first goal of the season, playing as most attacking member of a midfield three. Marouane Fellaini played deeper that day almost like Martinez was preparing for his exit. Barkley stepped into the big Belgians position from last season with ease and instantly became the face of Martinezs evolution. He no longer needed a big target man to win long balls and play off a central striker, instead choosing a better technical player who will benefit playing alongside a pair of midfielders he used with the money received from the Fellaini sale to Manchester United. Martinez found his own big Belgian on deadline day when Lukaku joined on loan. The style the manager is preaching is easy on the eyes for football fans but in order for it to be successful he needs a goal-scorer. Patience with Jelavic seems to be running out and now he has a replacement who offers much more of a threat to opponents it is clear the jigsaw pieces are coming together for the Spaniard. The Ever-lution is on. Just dont expect to hear about it from too many people. ' ' '