o help Carolina down the Sharks. Lindholm, the fi

PHILADELPHIA - The Toronto Maple Leafs loaded up on youth and gambled on the future at the NHL draft Saturday. But they also looked after the present, acquiring Roman Polak from the St. Louis Blues for fellow defenceman Carl Gunnarsson and the 94th pick in Saturdays draft. At six foot and 236 pounds, Polak is a wide body. "He makes people pay a price," said Toronto president Brendan Shanahan. "Hes honest but hes tough. Hes a hard-worker, hes a low-maintenance guy." "Hes going to provide a little bit of edge. A tough guy to play against," added GM Dave Nonis. The 28-year-old Czech native has 79 points in 424 NHL games, including four goals and nine assists last season. Nonis said Polak would probably "play in the (No.) 4-5 hole" on defence. "We envision him having a pretty significant impact on our back end," he said. Despite his size, Polak can also skate. "People who dont think he has skating ability really arent watching," said Shanahan. Gunnarsson, a 2007 seventh-rounder, had spent five seasons with the Leafs and played with captain Dion Phaneuf on the teams top defensive pairing. Gunnarssons departure opens the door to Jake Gardner and sophomore Morgan Rielly to step up the depth chart. "Those guys are going to have to take steps forward," said Nonis. "It might be a lot to ask for Morgan in his second year but he made some pretty big strides last year. And we would expect that hell take some more next (year). I think Jake is a good possibility as well. "Again that will be up to Randy (coach Randy Carlyle) to see what he wants to do with that. But we feel there are other people that can play that role effectively with Dion." The Leafs piled pressure on their goalies last season, giving up shots in high numbers. Change was needed. "We liked our defence individually. We didnt necessarily like how they fit together last year. So we wanted to move some pieces and change the look, rebuild it a little bit. I wouldnt say its a major overhaul by doing something like this but it does give us a different element and its a player we didnt really have." A right-handed shot, Polak also fills a void on the Toronto blue-line. Nonis sees Petter Granberg, listed at six foot three and 200 pounds, as a similar-style player to Polak. But the Swede is just 21 and has played only one game for the Leafs. "To ask him to play that way and fit in as a top-six (defenceman) right away, I think might be difficult," he said. "If he does that, great, then we have even more options there." Nonis said the Leafs will "be active" during the free agency period. "If theres a fit there, I wouldnt rule out adding a defenceman and/or a forward," he said. "But I wouldnt promise it either." Toronto took Russian winger Rinat Valiev of the Kootenay Ice in the third round (68th overall), USHL winger John Piccinich in the fourth round (103rd overall), USHL centre Dakota Joseph in the fifth (128th overall), USHL winger Nolan Vesey in the sixth (158th overall) and Swedish winger Pierre Engvall in the seventh (188th). The Leafs used their first-round pick Friday night to take Swedish winger William Nylander eighth overall. Discount Air Max 270 . - Jordan Addesis shootout goal helped the Plymouth Whalers to a 3-2 win over the Sault Ste. Air Max 270 Sale . Jeff Green and Jordan Crawford each scored 19 points, Bass added 15 points and had a game-saving block in the closing seconds Saturday, and the Celtics held on for a 103-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. http://www.wholesaleairmax270.com/. Siddikur, who led on all four days and took a four-stroke lead going into the final day, bogeyed four out of six holes starting at the sixth and continued a forgettable last round in which he returned a three-over 75 to finish with a 14-under 274. Wholesale Air Max 270 .28 mph. Logano will start on the front row next to Penske Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, who came in second Friday at 193.099. The Penske drivers swept the top two spots for the second straight race, reversing their qualifying finish in Phoenix a week ago. Cheap Air Max 270 ." Bach is in Rome for the European Olympic Committees general assembly and meetings with Pope Francis. He also visited with Italian Premier Enrico Letta. "The prime minister appeared to be interested in a bid from Italy for 24, because he has realized that the games can serve as a catalyst for development for a city and a country," Bach told The Associated Press on Saturday.The Vancouver Canucks try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Mondays interconference battle at Rogers Arena. Vancouver earned its fourth consecutive win in Sundays home triumph against Colorado. Its the second four-game winning streak of the season for the Canucks, who also went 4-0 from Oct. 22-28. The Canucks last won five in a row during a six-game tear from March 19-28 of last season. Mike Santorelli led the way in Sundays 3-1 victory against the visiting Avalanche, recording two goals and an assist to help Vancouver improve to 2-0 on its current five-game homestand. The Canucks are 7-5-3 on home ice this season. Vancouver led 1-0 after the first period and expanded its cushion to 3-0 after scoring twice in the early stages of the third. Ryan Kesler posted his team-leading 15th goal of the season just 1:32 into the final period and Santorelli made it 3-0 at the 7:17 mark. Santorelli has eight goals in 32 games this season after posting a total of 11 markers over 94 contests during the previous two campaigns. "If you want to be successful in this league, youve got to be able to hold onto leads, and tonight we did it the right way," Santorelli said. "We wanted to come out strong and not look at the time, and thats what we did." Roberto Luongo stopped 28-of-29 shots to improve to 14-8-5 this season. Backup Eddie Lack could give Luongo a rest tonight with the Canucks playing on back- to-back days. While Vancouver takes aim at a fifth straight victory tonight, the Hurricanes will try to extend their season-best winning streak to four games. Carolina has nottched three straight positive decisions against Washington, Nashville and Carolina, giving the Canes five victories over their past seven games.dddddddddddd After earning a 5-2 road win Thursday against the Predators, the Hurricanes returned home to beat the San Jose Sharks by a 5-3 count on Friday. Rookie Elias Lindholm capped a three-point night by scoring the go-ahead goal with six minutes remaining in the third period to help Carolina down the Sharks. Lindholm, the fifth overall pick of last summers draft, had gone five straight games without a point before posting a goal and two assists on Friday. The outburst doubled his career point total, giving the 19-year-old Swede six points on three goals and three assists in 18 games. Jordan Staal, Riley Nash and Jay Harrison each had a goal and an assist, while Eric Staal scored the other goal for the Hurricanes. Cam Ward made 22 stops for Carolina in the win. "The nice thing the guys are learning if they just stay the course and play the game the right way, youre going to get certain results consistently," Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. Carolina will try to stay hot on the road, as the club is beginning a four- game swing on Monday. The Canes, who also are set to visit Edmonton, Calgary and Phoenix during this trip, are 6-6-1 on the road this season. The Hurricanes have not fared well in Vancouver in recent years, losing five straight at Rogers Arena. Carolina hasnt won in British Columbia since it recorded a 4-1 decision over the Canucks on Oct. 15, 1999. Vancouver has won two of three and three of the last five overall encounters in this series. ' ' '