Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little scored for the Jets

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Venus Williams made good on the wild card she received into the Dubai Championships by posting a 6-3, 6-2 first-round win over Elena Vesnina of Russia on Monday. The 48th-ranked Williams made her first appearance in Dubai since she won her second straight title here in 2010. Shed missed the last three years either because of injury or Sjogrens Syndrome. "I definitely dont take for granted any win anymore," Williams said. "Not that I used to because I earned it. "But now its even more special." She fired 10 aces and broke the 33rd-ranked Vesnina four times. Vesnina had won their previous two matchups. "My serve keeps improving pretty much every tournament," Williams said. "That always helps me." In the first set, Williams broke Vesnina at love in the sixth game. Williams raced to 3-0 in the second set, but surrendered her serve in the fourth game when she sailed a forehand long on the one break point she faced all night. Williams sister, Serena, the top seed and also a wild card recipient, will play Ekaterina Makarova of Russia on Tuesday. It will be the first match for Serena since losing to Ana Ivanovic in the Australian Open fourth round last month. Serenas been nursing a back injury until this week. Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic ousted Sloane Stephens 6-3, 7-5, handing the 18th-ranked American back-to-back first-round losses at Doha and Dubai. Safarova broke Stephens three times in the first set, but double-faulted twice from 30-30 in the ninth game of the second to give Stephens a 5-4 lead. Stephens, however, was unable to hold on to it. "I didnt really get a great rhythm and she was playing good tennis in the end," Stephens said. The main draw is so strong in Dubai that Australian Open semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada was relegated to the qualifying draw. Bouchard lost her third qualifying match to Annika Beck of Germany 6-1, 6-4 on Monday. Nike Air Max Sale . Ryan Getzlaf certainly got them started in the second. Getzlaf scored the first two goals in the second, and Teemu Selanne scored the go-ahead goal late in the period as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 Thursday night. Cheap Air Max 270 . Head coach Corey Chamblin announced on Monday that Avon Cobourne had been hired as the defending Grey Cup champions new running backs coach. https://www.wholesalenikeairmaxshoes.com/ . "Opinion: Womens World Cup is the best Soccer of the year," Hanks tweeted to his 8.73 million followers on Friday. "Hey FIFA, they deserve real grass. Put in sod. Wholesale Nike Air Max From China . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. Getting Creative The Pittsburgh Penguins will try their best to acquire Ryan Kesler from the Vancouver Canucks before the Trade Deadline. Fake Nike Air Max Replica . Cleary also had two assists and Patrick Eaves added two goals for the Red Wings, who also ousted Phoenix in seven games during the first round of the 2010 postseason. Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which got a goal apiece from Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall and suffered no shortage of offense despite the absences of Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.(SportsNetwork.com) - The struggling Winnipeg Jets continue their road trip against the St. Louis Blues tonight. Viewers in the Jets region can watch all the action on TSN Jets at 6:30pm ct/7:30pm et. The game is also available on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg. The Jets have lost four of their last five games and fell to 1-1-1 on the four-game road trip after losing a 3-2 regulation decision Sunday at Colorado. Winnipeg led the contest by a 2-1 score after 40 minutes, but Jan Hejda and Paul Stastny scored third-period goals to lift the Avalanche to the home win. Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little scored for the Jets. Al Montoya made 33 saves but allowed all three goals in the setback. "He was great. He kept the score tight. We really didnt help him too much in the third period," Little said of Montoya. The Blues had won three straight in the series against the Jets before losing a 4-3 shootout decision on Oct. 18 in Winnipeg. The Jets erased a two-goal deficit in the third period and Olli Jokinen scored the decisive shootout goal to cap the come-from-behind win. Tuesdays contest will mark the first trip to St. Louis for the Jets since the franchise relocated from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season. The Blues were 4-1-1 in six all-time home tilts against the Atlanta Thrashers. The Blues will try to build off a strong performance in their last outing when they endeed a two-game slide and won for just the second time in five games by pounding the Nashville Predators 6-1 on Saturday.dddddddddddd It was the second- best offensive output of the season for St. Louis, which beat the Florida Panthers by a 7-0 score on Oct. 5. Alexander Steen scored a pair of goals to fuel the rout in Nashville. Steen already has 10 goals in nine games this season, giving him two more markers than he had in 40 games during last years lockout-shortened campaign. He enters Tuesday tied with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the most goals in the NHL this season. "He feels like hes fresh on the ice and when youre fresh, youre confident," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said of Steen. "Thats how hes feeling right now." Jaden Schwartz, Alex Pietrangelo and T.J. Oshie each added a goal and an assist, while Derek Roy registered the other goal for the Blues, who have earned at least a point in four straight games, going 2-0-2 during that stretch. Jaroslav Halak stopped 22-of-23 shots to backstop the victory. Halak is expected to get the start again on Tuesday and is 4-2-0 with a 3.31 goals against average in six career games against the Jets. After hosting tonights contest against Winnipeg, the Blues will play their next three games on the road. St. Louis is 4-1-1 as the host this season and 2-0-1 on the road. ' ' '