TORONTO -- Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron have been skating, scoring and setting each other up as if theyre in midseason form with the Boston Bruins.Sidney Crosby, picking right up where he left off a few months ago in winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, looks as dominant as ever before the start of the regular season.The trio played together on the same line during Canadas undefeated run through the World Cup of Hockey, giving them a chance to get and stay in a groove that should serve their teams and perhaps the entire NHL well.The two-week, best-on-best tournament that ended Thursday night with the Canadians beating Team Europe forced the games top players to start training earlier than usual. It also put the leagues standouts and stars in highly competitive games that tested them in a way preseason games simply cant.I think theyre going to come out flying, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said. Theyve been playing at a high level. Everybody else is just getting into that level. Theyve been there for a month already. Theyre playing against the best. The pace and the tempo theyve been playing at, I think those players I think are going to be leading the league early on.In addition to individual players getting a boost, some teams may have an edge early in the season because they had multiple players taking advantage of the opportunity to sharpen their skills before the preseason.More than half of the league had at least six players picked to play, including Tampa Bay (12) and Chicago (10) with double digits in participants.Its a great way to jumpstart your season, said Brent Burns, one of seven San Jose Sharks in the World Cup. I think guys will feel like theyre in rhythm and ready to go.St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said it was difficult to start training camp without seven key players because they were in Toronto.It was a reality check, Hitchcock said. The real challenge is pulling your system together once they all join us and we have our team together. The players that played in the World Cup will be mentally more alert and theyll be ready for the tempo, which will make our team better and the league potentially better. But were not going to have a lot of time to implement everything we want to do this season.The World Cup is also going to hurt some teams who will start the season without a key player because of an injury sustained in September.The Los Angeles Kings are expected to be without Marian Gaborik for several weeks because of a foot injury. Pittsburgh may not have goaltender Matt Murray for a month because of a broken hand. Calgarys Mikael Backlund and Floridas Aaron Ekblad had concussions at the World Cup and the head injuries always have the potential to linger.The high-flying players from the North American 23-and-under team will likely be ready to roll when the puck drops for the regular season with a new level of confidence after seeing for first-hand that their speed could help them have success against established stars in the league.But even for players who survived the grind without an injury, theres a chance they added wear and tear on their bodies that may not show up until later in the long regular season and possibly the playoffs.This is our ninth game before October, said San Joses Logan Couture, counting the pre-tournament games in his total. Thats a lot of hockey early in the year. Well see how that affects us going forward. Im sure with our coaching staff well come up with a plan with rest. Hopefully, we can jump in and feel good at least at the start of the season.Custom Chicago Bulls Jerseys Cheap . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. Custom Houston Rockets Jerseys Cheap . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. http://www.basketballcustomjerseys.com/custom-philadelphia-76ers-jerseys-cheap-158q . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Custom New Orleans Pelicans Jerseys Cheap . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Custom Brooklyn Nets Jerseys Cheap . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium.INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers are more than familiar with facing the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron James rests, so they didnt get distracted by the four-time NBA MVPs absence Wednesday night.The Pacers beat the LeBron-less Cavaliers 103-92 to improve to 3-1 at home in the past two years when James sits.I found out when Coach (Nate McMillan) came in and said, `LeBrons not playing, said Pacers point guard Jeff Teague, who had 20 points and eight assists. I didnt know, but we needed a win. We werent worried about who was playing or who was going to be on the floor, we were just going to go out and compete.Jeff Teague added 20 points and eight assists, and Thaddeus Young had 16 points to help the Pacers improve to 6-1 at home and 6-6 overall.James sat out for the first time this season. Averaging 23.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, he rested after playing Tuesday night in a home victory over Toronto. Guard J.R. Smith also missed the game because of a sprained right ankle.It doesnt matter about LeBron not playing, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. We just lost the game.Kevin Love led Cleveland with 27 points and 16 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving had 24 points and seven assists. The Cavaliers dropped to 9-2 after matching the best start in franchise history with the victory over Toronto on Tuesday night.We had our chances, Love said. We cut the lead to four or five a couple times, and it just felt like we either had a bad possession, had a turnover, and then that lead went to eight or nine points, having to fight kind of uphill to claw back and try to win the game, and it was too little too late.Indiana led 80-68 lead after three quarters. The Cavaliers cut it to four points midway through the fourth, but the Pacers put it away with a 9-2 run. C.J. Milees hit a 3-pointer for the games largest lead -- 97-84 with 5:10 remaining.ddddddddddddOf course its different, Miles said about facing the Cavaliers without James. Were talking about him still and he didnt even play tonight. Hes arguably the best player in our game. (But) we cant disrespect anybody. Theyve got guys who can play basketball.TIP-INS:Cavaliers: Smith has missed the last three games. The last time James skipped a road game at Indiana, the Pacers prevailed 123-109 on April 6, 2016. The Cavaliers extended their NBA-record streak of games with at least 10 3-pointers to start a season to 11 games.Pacers: G Rodney Stuckey (right hamstring strain) was scratched for the 10th consecutive game. Thanks in large part to C Myles Turners 2.3 blocks per game, Indiana is No. 1 in the NBA with a 6.4 average.HICKORY NIGHT RETURNS:Fridays Indiana home game against Phoenix coincides with the 30th anniversary of the classic 1986 basketball movie Hoosiers and will be the first of six Hickory Nights, in which the Pacers will wear Hickory Huskers replica uniforms from the movie. Hoosiers screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, director David Anspaugh and some of the films actors, including Maris Valainis (who played Jimmy Chitwood) will be in attendance.SEE YA DOWN THE ROAD:The Eastern Conference rivals dont play each other again until Feb. 8 at Indiana, then Feb. 15 at Cleveland and April 2 at Cleveland. The Cavaliers have won five in a row at home against the Pacers, who have a 93-88 series edge.UP NEXT:Cavaliers: Host Detroit on Friday night, then have a four-day break.Pacers: Host Phoenix on Friday night to end a four-game homestand. ' ' '