As they continue to lose players, the Tampa Bay Lightning keep winning games.The formula makes no sense, but Tampa Bay has overcome a spate of injuries to win its past four as it tries to finish off a sweep of its five-game road trip Monday night against the Nashville Predators.A 3-0 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday was emblematic of the trip. Already without star center Steven Stamkos (right knee) for four months, the Lightning had to scratch left winger Brian Boyle and defenseman Anton Strelman due to upper-body injuries, forcing coach Jon Cooper to utilize a lineup with seven defensemen and only 11 forwards.By the second period, center Brayden Point, along with left wingers Jonathan Druoin and Ryan Callahan, were in the trainers room getting treatment for injuries. Before all three returned for the third period, the team was down to eight forwards.I think there was one point I got back on the bench and I was asking where everyone was, center Tyler Johnson said. I didnt know what was going on. Thats always pretty tough. You dont really play like that, except for when you were about 9 years old, so its been a while.Johnson must have enjoyed the flashback to his childhood. He scored Tampa Bays first goal, the only one it would need as Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 32 Flyers shots to nab his second consecutive shutout.During its successful journey through the New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Philly, the Lightning (12-6-1) have outscored their opponents 15-4, enabling them to move within five points of first-place the Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic Division.We have a lot of depth on this team, said Drouin, who sealed the Saturday win with a goal at 4:26 of the third period. We have had a lot of that for the past couple of years. I think everyone is elevating their play with Stamkos out.While Tampa Bay keeps overcoming adversity, Nashville (7-7-3) continues to create problems for itself by failing to win on the road. A 3-1 defeat to the Blues on Saturday night in St. Louis dropped the Predators to 2-6-2 away from Music City, compared with their 5-1-1 mark in Bridgestone Arena.The Predators played the Blues even for two periods but gave up two goals in just over four minutes midway through the third period and finished their three-game road trip at 1-2-0.Until that second goal, I thought we had a really good chance to get two points in this game, but it didnt happen, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said.Based on this seasons early form chart, Nashville should thrive this week. The Predators are set to start a three-game homestand that sees the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets arrive in town Wednesday and Friday, respectively.Its always nice to go home, Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. Weve been playing well at home.Right winger James Neal is the key to the offense lately for the Predators. His six-game goal-scoring streak was snapped in St. Louis, but Neal remains one of the NHLs hottest players with seven goals in seven games. Wholesale Andy Dalton Jersey . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Cheap Bengals Jerseys China . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. http://www.cheapbengalsjerseysauthentic.com/ . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in. Wholesale Bengals Jerseys Authentic . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Five of ESPN.coms MLB beat writers who cover teams battling for wild-card berths were asked to make a case for why their team will be playing a do-or-die playoff game in October. Below, Adam Rubin argues for the New York Mets against fellow writers Eddie Matz (Baltimore Orioles), Andrew Marchand (New York Yankees), Katie Strang (Detroit Tigers) and Mark Saxon (St. Louis Cardinals).For more on the other contenders, check out Wild-card Wednesday.?Rubin: Forget the fact that the Mets are among the hottest teams in baseball, having won 16 of 21 games entering this week. The Mets will reach the postseason as a wild-card entrant primarily because of their soft schedule the remainder of the season. After completing a series on Wednesday against the Nationals, the Mets do not play another game against a team that currently has a winning record. Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Giants - the Mets two main competitors for the NLs two wild-card spots -- have to play each other four times beginning Thursday. The Cardinals also have two series remaining against the Cubs, while the Giants have two series remaining against the Dodgers.Marchand: The biggest reason not to believe in the Mets is because they are the Mets. Their tortured history is replete with epic failures in the face of victoriies.dddddddddddd Could one more be on the horizon?Matz: As my mother will tell you, Im a good boy who follows directions, and my marching orders here were to shoot a hole in every one of these theories (except mine, of course). To do that, Im calling on my experience with logic puzzles back in Mrs. Harris fifth-grade math class. If the Mets and Cardinals arent wild cards (which, per my instructions, they cant be), then the wild cards must be the second-place NL West team (Giants or Dodgers), and the ... Marlins?Saxon: When you put it that way, its kind of hard to argue. I guess Ill just go with, Its the Mets, Adam, and leave it at that.Strang: Heading into spring training, I picked the Mets to win it all this year, and a big reason was their stable of impressive young pitchers. Fast-forward six months and the staff looks, well, quite a bit different. No Matt Harvey. No Jacob deGrom. No Steven Matz. That certainly hasnt seemed to hurt the Mets lately, but even with a crazy-favorable schedule to finish out the season, one has to wonder whether the sum of all the injuries -- and not just those to the pitching staff -- will eventually take its toll. ' ' '