Tom Rowe to general manager and re-signing many of their

Two home-crowd favorites took the stage in Boston, an underdog faced its greatest challenge yet and sister squads prepared to eliminate one another on Day 2 of the thrilling Dota 2 Boston Major.Digital Chaos, who placed second at The International 6 in August, has struggled in recent months. You wouldnt be able to tell that in the teams opening match against Team Faceless though, where a Game 1 Luna pick for Roman Resolut1on Fominok helped the team take fast control of the match, participating in 12 of the teams 13 kills and securing a game one lead. Game 2 was closer to start, with Faceless finding key kills on DC offlaner David MoonMeander Tan, but Fominok once again played out of his mind, pushing the team forward to a 2-0 win and a secured spot in the top 8 at Boston.EHOME and Team NP have greater history over the past couple months than most international teams; Team NP had eliminated the Chinese squad from both The Summit 6 and the Northern Arena BEAT Invitational, so it followed that EHOME came out swinging for Game 1 of their first-round matchup.An unstoppable Timbersaw from Wang old chicken Zhiyong put NP on the back foot, one match from elimination. Team NP came back in Game 2 though, settling into more comfortable picks with Jacky EternaLEnVy Maos Mirana and Warlock for Theeban Rose Silva, taking the series to the first Game 3 of the main event. On match point, Kurtis Aui_2000 Ling was put on a signature Naga Siren pick, and while Ling farmed up a storm at 788 gold-per-minute, Mao went full anime on Mirana, tallying up a 13/0/10 match and eliminating EHOME once again, 2-1.Ad Finem was a team identified as a possible dark horse for the tournament, but in the teams first round matchup against Newbee, an upset would be a tall order.The Chinese squad drew blood first, exacting a confident win on the back of Song Sccc Chuns stellar mid play as Outworld Devourer. Though a Bounty Hunter draft in Game 1 didnt gain traction for Ad Finem, the team went back to the stealth assassin for Game 2, where Verros Maybe Next Time Apostolos redeemed himself with multiple courier snipes and plenty of Track kills, spiking Ad Finems net worth and beefing up Omar Madara Dabachachs Morphling, who closed out the victorious Game 2 at 15/0/7. With game three and tournament livelihood on the line, Newbee looked again to Chun for carry power on Timbersaw. Ad Finems Dimitris ThuG Plivouris turned to Alchemist, and with constant illusion pressure from a Shadow Demon support, the Greek squad squelched Newbee with raw net worth once again, securing the upset and a spot in the top 8 at their first-ever Valve major.The last series of the day pit two sister squads against each other, LGD Gaming and LGD Forever Young. The last two Chinese teams in the tournament would soon whittle that number down to one.Though LFY was a bottom seed from the group stage, the team took the first game thanks to Vici Gaming sub Yang End Pu and some incredible Burrowstrikes from Yao Yao Zhengzhengs Sand King. LGD Gaming sought to fight back in Game 2, but veteran captain Zhang xiao8 Nings support Batrider set the pace early, punishing poor positioning and making space for Yang and Yao to make plays on Lifestealer and Slardar, respectively.Despite Wang Ame Chunyus best attempts to split-push and stall out the game, LFY never let up and took Game 2 in 35 minutes, leaving LGD Forever Young the last Chinese team standing in the Boston Major. Timofey Mozgov Magic Jersey . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. Shaquille ONeal Jersey . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. http://www.magicauthentic.com/customized/ . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Aaron Gordon Magic Jersey . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Nikola Vucevic Magic Jersey . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers have to wipe away the disappointment, and they have to do so quickly.The Washington Capitals, who had the best record in the NHL last season and are off to a 2-0-1 start, will visit the Panthers (2-1-0) on Thursday night at the BB&T Center. And this is no time for Florida to be thinking about the past.True, Tuesday nights 4-3 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning was tough for Florida to swallow. The Panthers were so close to a third straight win before allowing Steven Stamkos game-tying goal on a sharp-angled shot with just 5.5 seconds left.Then in the shootout backup goalie James Reimer, who was making his Panthers debut, stopped four of the first five shots he faced before getting beaten by rookie Brayden Point. It was the first shootout attempt of Points NHL career.Youd like to make those saves at the end, Reimer told the media after Tuesdays game, but sometimes its not possible.Panthers starting goalie Roberto Luongo, who has allowed just two goals in his two games this year, is expected to return to the starting lineup on Thursday.He will be opposed by Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who won 48 games and the Vezina Trophy last season.Luongo will have to contend with Capitals star left winger Alex Ovechkin, who scored 50 goals last season. It was the third straight year he reached that milestone, and he has done it seven times overall in his career.The Capitals, who beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Tuesday, got off to a slow start on their power play this season, enduring a 0-for-8 drought. But they got two power-play goals on Tuesday, including one by Ovechkin, so that issue has seemingly been corrected heading into Thursdays game.Ovechkin, who had 19 power-play goals last season, is certainly feeling confident about his teams play with the man advantage.We have so much skill with the five guys who play there, and we use it, Ovechkin told the media after Washingtons 2-of-5 power-play performance. You cant stop it.Washingtons Barry Trotz, who won the Jack Adaams Award last season for the NHLs top coach, also had a quote that bordered on cockiness.ddddddddddddI thought we could have scored every power play we got tonight, Trotz said. We were sharp, and we got rewarded.That Capitals brashness tends to disappear in the playoffs. Washington has never made it past the second round, including last seasons loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.But in the regular season, its hard to find much fault with the Capitals, who brought back almost their entire team from last year. This is a veteran team. Just about the only new addition is third-line center Lars Eller.The Panthers, meanwhile, had a different offseason philosophy. Even though they won the Atlantic Division and set franchise records for victories (47) and points (103), the Panthers were aggressive in the offseason, changing their uniforms, promoting Tom Rowe to general manager and re-signing many of their core players.Florida also brought in nine new players, and so far they have meshed well.The Panthers dont have anybody of Ovechkins caliber -- very few teams do -- but Finland native Aleksander Barkov, who also holds Russian citizenship, might be the player who emerges as Floridas singular star.Barkov, who signed a six-year, $35 million contract extension in January, is still only 21 years old. But the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder has improved in each of his three NHL seasons, from eight goals as a rookie, 16 in his second year and then 28 last season.This season, Barkov has two goals and one assist in three games, and he is a plus-four.Ovechkin, a native of Russia who has one goal and one assist this season, is 31 -- a decade older than Barkov.Besides the fact that the Panthers and Capitals are reigning division champs -- and besides the fact that Luongo vs. Holtby is an excellent goalie matchup -- there is also the subtext of Ovechkin, the proven superstar, against young gunslinger Barkov. ' ' '