Gästeboard » Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night. "

Less than two weeks ago, general manager Craig MacTavish stood by the Edmonton Oilers long-term plan. Coach Dallas Eakins is no longer part of it. With MacTavish expected to be behind the bench, the lowly Oilers will try to snap their latest losing streak and extend the Arizona Coyotes franchise-record home skid to 10 games tonight. Edmonton (7-19-5) is tied with Carolina at an NHL-low 19 points, losing 15 of 16 games while averaging only 1.7 goals. That stretch cost Eakins his job Monday, but not after MacTavish orchestrated a bizarre Dec. 5 press conference. MacTavish not only gave his former coach a vote of confidence, but also said: As painful as this process is, we feel that its a necessary step to get us to the next level. Getting outscored 13-5 during a four-game slide following Sundays 2-0 home loss to the New York Rangers was probably not what MacTavish considered as the next level. Now, the four-time Stanley Cup winner as a center for the Oilers and Rangers will return to the bench. He was Edmontons coach from 2000-09, reaching the playoffs three out of eight times while losing in the Stanley Cup final to the Hurricanes in 06. Hell remain in the position until Todd Nelson of Oklahoma City of the AHL is prepared to take over as interim coach. Im not here to absolve myself of accountability, MacTavish said. I had no real good reason to do this outside of performance. Thats the bottom line that were all judged by, the performance level of the hockey club and certainly the record. The Oilers struggles also come with a roster that features three top overall draft picks in forwards Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012). Unlike earlier this month, MacTavish is now claiming he isnt ruling out trading one of his promising stars. I dont want to answer that question until I get a hands-on understanding of exactly whats happening in there (the locker room), he said. I want to have ample opportunity to have eyeball-to-eyeball conversations with the core group. Nugent-Hopkins leads the team with 19 points, while Hall has 18 and Yakupov eight. The teams defensive play has also been abysmal, with Edmonton giving up an average of 3.32 goals to rank only better than Dallas league-worst 3.52. The Oilers have been far worse in their last nine meetings with the Coyotes (10-16-4), surrendering 4.2 goals per game while going 1-7-1. Theyve dropped all three matchups this season while being scored upon 14 times, including a 5-2 home defeat Dec. 1. Jordan Eberle had a goal in that meeting after collecting six assists in the previous four. Hall assisted on Eberles tally, giving him 18 points in 15 career meetings. He has 12 of those in eight visits to Arizona, scoring two goals and assisting on another in a 7-4 loss there Oct. 15. The Coyotes are enduring major problems of their own since winning at Edmonton, getting outscored 22-8 during a season-high five-game skid (0-4-1). They dropped to 0-6-3 in their last nine at home with Saturdays 4-3 shootout defeat to Minnesota. Eventually things will turn our way, center Antoine Vermette said. The group effort was much better (Saturday). Vermette has been a rare bright spot lately, collecting four points in three games with a goal in each of the past two. He has an assist in three straight meetings with Edmonton. Arizona is 9-1-2 in its last 12 home games against the Oilers. Game Notes: ARZ is 3-0-0 vs EDM this season, 1-0-0 at home ARZ has gone 5-0-2 past 7 at home vs EDM ARZ (10-16-4): 0-4-1 past 5 games, outscored 22-8, 9/16 on PK rank 28th in league on PK (75.5%) Vermette (2G, 2A) 3 game PT streak Boedker (5G, 2A) vs EDM this season EDM (7-19-5): lost 4 straight, 5GF, 1/10 on PP 29th ranked road PP (5.7%) Hall (3G, 2A) vs ARZ this season Lavonte David Womens Jersey . Now, he might be their hottest pitcher. Lobstein earned up his first major league victory Sunday night, allowing one run in 5 2-3 innings in the Tigers 6-1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Lavonte David Jersey . Louis Blues were workmanlike, methodical and -- most of all -- effective on Monday night. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Matt-gay-buccaneers-jersey/ .S. - Nova Scotias Mary Fay guaranteed at least one more match and a shot at the Canadian junior curling championships final on home ice. John Lynch Youth Jersey .com) - Eric Fehrs goal 42 seconds into overtime lifted the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Columbus, halting the Blue Jackets seven-game win streak. Jameis Winston Jersey . According the CSNBayArea.com, the 31-year-old suffered an ACL injury in his right knee on Friday when he collided with Anaheims Emerson Etem during a pre-season game.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 contrract will expire Tuesday and the Nets plan to sign him to a second deal on Wednesday.dddddddddddd A 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). ' ' '