INFO » to Stewart at the side of the net and he put it into a

TORONTO -- In the immediate moments after the Raptors 101-87 victory over Detroit on Wednesday, Toronto coach Dwane Casey sat down to watch the dying minutes of the Miami-Brooklyn game. Amir Johnson checked the result on his phone. With 20 games left on a thrilling season that sees Toronto poised for a playoff position for the first time in six years, the Raptors are excited, and thinking about little else. "Hell, yeah. Without a doubt, man," DeMar DeRozan said. "Thats why I work so hard, and it always bugged me going home early, and just sitting there doing nothing. It used to make me so hungry just watching." DeRozan poured in 25 points, while Johnson scored 20 and grabbed nine rebounds in a game that was no thriller but served its purpose -- one step closer to the teams second Atlantic Division title and its first playoff berth since 2008. The Nets, who edged Miami 96-95 on Wednesday, are three games behind Toronto for the division title. "Ive got a lot of friends that play in the playoffs and I had to hear all summer them talking about their experience in the playoffs. It always pushed me even further," DeRozan said. "You just want to get there. Not even for myself, just for this organization as well. It definitely feels good that were moving in the right direction now." Kyle Lowry had 19 points and six assists, while Jonas Valanciunas had 13 rebounds to go with eight points for the Raptors (36-27), whove won 10 of their last 13 games. The affair wasnt pretty. The Raptors coughed up double-digit leads a couple of times -- including an 18-point third-quarter advantage that the Pistons whittled down to just five -- in a game they could have put out of reach far earlier. The Raptors went into the fourth quarter with a narrow 74-69 lead in front of the 18,247 fans at the Air Canada Centre that braved the rare March snowstorm. They scored the first nine points of the fourth to go up by 14. A wide-open three by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 8:23 to go cut the Raptors lead to nine points, but that was as close as the struggling Pistons would come. Brandon Jennings topped Detroit (25-40) with 24 points, while Andre Drummond had 16 points and nine rebounds and Greg Monroe had 13 points to go with 10 boards. Ugly or not, the Raptors were happy to tick off another win. "Absolutely. Im ready," Johnson said, when asked if hes thinking post-season. "Were going to win as many games as we possibly can going down the home stretch, collect these wins." Casey said hes happy his players are enjoying their success, but warns that theyve got to focus on themselves down the stretch. "It is fun. But weve got to take care of our business. We can watch (what other teams are doing), but if we dont take care of our business, its not worth crap," the coach said. "Im more concerned with what we do, and how were playing, . . .and losing leads, moreso than anything else. "I hope (the Raptors) are enjoying it but still understand how hard it is, getting there first, and then after you get there, its even harder." DeRozan, whos in his fifth season in Toronto thus has never stepped on the court for a playoff game, said he has always forced himself to watch the post-season, regardless of how frustrating it was. "I had to, just to understand and see how it was," he said. "Youre playing the same team possibly seven times in a row. Seeing the different schemes. Just trying to get a knowledge of how its played every single day." He said hes particularly thrilled to be sharing this seasons success with Johnson, who last made the playoffs with Detroit in 2009. "Thats my dog, man. Its definitely cool," DeRozan said. "I knew Amir, and Amir knew me when I was running around with the same pair of dirty shoes on, playing basketball. Amir is a helluva dude, how hard he works, and how good of a person he is." Johnson was key Wednesday night in containing Detroits frontcourt -- what Casey had predicted would be a "huge test" for Toronto. The Pistons lead the league in points in the paint and offensive rebounds, thanks largely to Drummond. The Raptors were effective inside, outrebounding Detroit 54-39 and outscoring their visitors in the paint 44-38. Casey wasnt thrilled with the second unit, saying it was "playing in mud a little bit." "We needed to keep the pace going, I thought the pace slowed down," he said. "For whatever reason we got stagnant and lost a couple of leads and thats something we have to work on." The Raptors raced out to a nine-point lead four minutes into the game, stretching it to 14 on a pullup jumper by John Salmons before ending the first quarter up 29-21. The Raptors went almost five minutes without a point to open the second, and Bynum drained a three with 8:37 left in the half to tie the game 29-29. The Raptors managed to cobble together another 10-point lead and took a 52-45 advantage into the dressing room at halftime. A three-pointer by Lowry stretched Torontos lead to 18 points just four-and-a-half minutes into the third but the Raptors couldnt maintain it. The Pistons ended the quarter on a 14-2 run to send the game into the fourth with Toronto leading 74-69. NOTES: Patrick Patterson missed his third straight game with an elbow injury. . . The game was the first of three straight at home. The Raptors host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday before playing a pair on the road at Atlanta and New Orleans. . . The Raptors have won four of their last five against the Pistons. Air Max Tn Australia . The team made the announcement after Saturdays 6-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. RHP Kenny Giles will be called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill Adams spot on the roster. Cheap Nike Vapormax Australia . There is no argument that the line of Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Thomas Vanek was one of the hottest in the NHL leading into the post-season, and they did combine for three goals and seven points, but it was the depth of all four lines that helped propel Montreal. http://www.vapormaxaustraliashoes.com/buy-air-max-plus-australia/97.html . Viewers in the Jets region can watch the game on TSN Jets at 6:30pm ct/7:30pm et. The game is also avialable on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg at 7pm ct. Nike Air Vapormax Run Utility Australia . -- Chad Labelle scored the winner 17:36 into the third period to give Medicine Hat a 2-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday and lift the Tigers into the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. Nike Air Vapormax Plus Australia . With the Nets winning streak in jeopardy, Williams scored 23 points, 11 in the final six minutes, to lead Brooklyn to a 104-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. EDMONTON -- If Dallas Eakins is to be believed, the Edmonton Oilers love misery. Chris Stewart scored a hat trick and added an assist as the Blues took advantage of a reeling Oilers team with a 6-0 victory on Saturday night. The loss was so ugly that Eakins held a lengthy team meeting after the game. The Oilers head coach called out a team that is once again playing terrible hockey despite years of rebuilding efforts. "Im pinning this loss on the bone-headed mistakes we make when we have everything going in our favour," said Eakins. "It is like we love misery. Its like Oh hold on a second, things are going too well here. Lets have some misery. Ive had enough misery already and weve got some players who have been here for a number of years that have to be done with it." The Oilers (11-24-3) have lost a season-high six games in a row and fell to 5-11-1 on home ice. It was the sixth time this season the Oilers have been shut out and the third time in the last five games. Edmonton started well, but had a complete collapse in the final 40 minutes. Oilers forward David Perron said his coach was calmer in his questioning than he would have been. "(Eakins) wants us to look in the mirror and see if we are part of the solution," said Perron. "I think he is completely right. If I was him I think I would have been tearing all four walls down. It is unacceptable the way we played in the second and third after a good first period like that." Brenden Morrow, Patrik Berglund and Jaden Schwartz also scored for the Blues (24-7-4) who are 5-1-1 in their last seven outings. Brian Elliott made 23 saves to record his second shutout of the season and 23rd of his career. "They came out strong and we weathered the storm and scored one," Elliott said. "Then we settled into what we wanted to do in the second. We wanted to finish out with a good 20 minutes in the third. "We were getting guys making plays and obviously Stewart scoring three definitely helps on a night like tonight." Stewart said it was just one of those nights when everything he shot was going in. "A huge credit to my linemates tonight, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and they teed it up for me," he said. "I have to keep shooting I guess. I kind of had a rough start to the year, and I told myself I wasnt going to pass up any more opportunities in the slot, Im going to shoot to score and its been working out as of late. "Its the same shots earlier in the year, but theres ssome eyes on them now.dddddddddddd I just want to keep putting them on net and hope they keep going in." Edmonton controlled the bulk of the play through the first half of the opening period as they outshot St. Louis 10-1, but it was the Blues who got on the scoreboard first. Oilers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov rushed out of his net to prevent Berglund from getting a breakaway after he stepped out of the penalty box, but couldnt clear the zone. The puck came to Stewart at the side of the net before Bryzgalov could get back into position and he scored his 11th of the season. Edmonton ended up with 14 shots on Elliott to five on Bryzgalov through the first 20 minutes. The Blues went ahead by two goals six minutes into the second period on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play. Derek Roy and Stewart got it to Morrow in front and he lifted a backhand up high and into the Oilers net. St. Louis made it 3-0 just shy of two minutes into the third period as Berglund made a feed from behind the net to Stewart, who scored his second on a one-timer. Only 56 seconds later the Blues went up by four goals. Schwartz crossed the blue-line and unleashed a shot that seemed to fool Bryzgalov before clipping the post and going in. The Blues took a 5-0 lead seven minutes into the third with a power-play goal as Roy made a perfect feed through the crease to Stewart at the side of the net and he put it into a wide-open cage to record his third-career hat trick. St. Louis continued to pound on the down-and-out Oilers with seven minutes left as Bryzgalov allowed a soft goal on a long shot by Berglund that tipped off his glove and into the net. Bryzgalov finished with 21 saves. Both teams return to the ice on Monday night as the Oilers play host to the Winnipeg Jets and the Blues travel to Calgary to face the Flames. Notes: It was the first meeting since an off-season trade that saw David Perron go from the Blues to the Oilers in return for Magnus Paajarvi and a second-round pick. Perron entered the game with 27 points in 33 games, while Paajarvi had just two points in 15 games. ... Edmonton defenceman Corey Potter returned from a two-game suspension. ... Oilers forward Ryan Jones missed the game after being knocked unconscious in a collision with captain Andrew Ference in the morning skate. ... St. Louis captain David Backes returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with a concussion. Also out for the Blues were forwards Vladimir Sobotka (upper body) Ryan Reaves (hand) and defenceman Jordan Leopold (hand). ' ' '