ST. Wholesale Royals Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. -- Coming in cold is never easy in sports, especially for an NHL goalie. Justin Peters had a rough start for Carolina. Niklas Backstrom finished strong for Minnesota. Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise scored with the first two shots of the season against Peters, and the Wild beat the Hurricanes 3-1 on Thursday night after both starting goalies got hurt. "You cant really pick and choose what happens there. You have to be ready no matter what happens," said Backstrom, who stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period after Josh Harding was pulled at the second intermission because of a lower-body injury. "Dont hide behind any excuses. Just go out there and try to help the guys." The Wild had no update on Hardings condition, but the Hurricanes announced before the second period was over that Cam Ward would miss three to four weeks with his lower-body injury. Ward was hurt just 4:07 into the game, and the Wild didnt take it easy on Peters, who stopped 19 shots after settling in. "I knew before long I was hopefully going to get an opportunity. It just came a little earlier than I thought," said Peters, who was called up from the AHL 10 days earlier and played in 47 games for the Hurricanes over the past four years. "Once I got into the game, I definitely felt a little more comfortable," he said. "Im just trying to prove to myself that Im an NHL goalie and instil that trust in the team." Ward started eight of Carolinas 10 games, and Anton Khudobin took the other two. Khudobin, a former Wild prospect, is out with a lower-body injury for at least another week. Mike Murphy will be summoned from the AHL for Fridays game at Colorado. Peters went 4-11-1 last season with a 3.46 goals-against average. "This is his opportunity, and hes got to find a way to get the job done," coach Kirk Muller said. Alexander Semins power-play goal in the second period pulled the Hurricanes within one, but they couldnt muster any more in the final frame. Less than 8 minutes into the first action of the season for Peters, after Semin was whistled for interference, the Wild scored on a power play when Mikael Granlund plucked the puck off the end boards and fed Niederreiter in the slot for a wrist shot he set up with a slick backhanded move. "You want to get the pucks to the net as quick as you can," Niederrieter said. About 3 1/2 minutes later, Jared Spurgeon sent a slap shot pinging off the pipe. Parise beat defenceman Ryan Murphy to the deflection, and the rebound goal made it 2-0. Dany Heatley got his first goal of the season in the closing seconds, an empty-netter on a power play, to clinch the Wilds second straight win. They are 4-0-2 at home. The Wild played a sloppy second period, letting the Hurricanes climb back in the game. Backstrom came out for the third, his first appearance since an unspecified lower-body injury led to his early exit from the Wilds third game of the season. Harding took all but one start since, and he has been shining. The NHLs Masterton Award winner for perseverance and dedication for overcoming multiple sclerosis last season and playing an entire playoff series for the Wild, Harding entered the night with the second-best goals-against average in the NHL at 0.96. He stopped 20 of 21 shots before leaving. Backstrom said he is not quite at full strength yet, but that will have to do. "I thought he played great in this game, coming in in a tough situation," coach Mike Yeo said. Peters wasnt quite as strong, but he couldnt be blamed. "I dont know if the score is always the ... exact way how it went, but we didnt do enough to win," Hurricanes defenceman Justin Faulk said. NOTES: Ward stopped all five shots he faced. ... Yeo said he anticipated D Jonas Brodin being cleared to skate Friday, with a full mask to protect his broken right cheekbone. Brodin took a puck to the face in the previous game. ... The Wild gave up 28 shots, their third-highest total of the season, and were outshot at home for the first time in six games. ... The Wild are the only team in the league allowing an average of less than 1 goal per game in 5-on-5 play. They have given up five in 11 games this season. Kansas City Royals Pro Shop . Messier, who had been a special assistant to Rangers general manager Glen Sather, announced Thursday in a statement that he is resigning in order to "expand the game of hockey in the New York area by developing the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. Stitched Royals Jerseys . Darren Collison and Blake Griffin scored 23 points apiece and the Clippers beat the Suns 112-108 Wednesday night, their fourth win in a row and 17th in the last 19 games. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . -- Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias says he has stress fractures in both legs and isnt sure when hell be able to play again, leaving the Tigers two weeks to fill his spot for opening day and perhaps a lot longer.PHOENIX -- Working the black worked out nicely for Bronson Arroyo. Enticing Houstons aggressive hitters by throwing to the corners and out of the strike zone, Arroyo pitched seven strong innings to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-1 win over the Astros on Tuesday. "These guys are really aggressive and young, so I dont think theyd change their approach that much," Arroyo said. "It allowed me to stay on the outer half and get a lot of groundballs." Arroyo (6-4) matched Houston starter Brad Peacock through seven innings before the Diamondbacks scored two runs off Josh Fields (1-4) in the seventh. Hill hit a sacrifice fly in the inning and Cody Ross knocked him in with a double to right-centre after an error by Astros shortstop Jonathan Villar. Hill added a run-scoring double in the eighth inning to put Arizona up 4-1. Paul Goldschmidt also homered and Addison Reed worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save. Arizona has won six of eight after its latest rally-from-a-slow-start game. "Weve been pushing on, guys staying with their approach," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "A lot of talking on the bench and weve made some adjustments in-game when weve had to." The Astros have been superb on the road over the past month, winning eight of their previous nine, including the series opener against Arizona Monday night. Houston had no answer for Arroyo, though, managing seven hits -- three of those by Jon Singleton -- while going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. "He was throwing the ball good," Peacock said. "Weve been doing a great job jumping on people, but hes one of the best starters in the game and we just couldnt get to him today." Arroyo has hit his stride since a spring-training back injury limited his effectiveness early in thee season. Royals Jerseys 2019. The right-hander won his last outing, against Colorado last Wednesday, and has pitched well against the Astros, entering Tuesdays start 9-1 with a 2.05 ERA his last 12 starts against them. He laboured through the first two innings, working around six baserunners while throwing 42 pitches. The right-hander breezed through the next three innings before Matt Dominguez followed Singletons leadoff double by lining a run-scoring single through Arizonas drawn-in infield to tie the game at 1-all. Arroyo got some defensive help along the way, including a pair of strike-out, throw-out double plays and a nifty grab up the middle by Hill on a short-hop in the seventh inning. Arroyo allowed a run on six hits and struck out five. "Hes hitting his stride here, got on a pretty good roll," Gibson said. "He knows how to get guys out." Peacock won his previous three starts and was sharp in his first game against Arizona. Goldschmidt splashed a solo homer into the pool in right-centre off him in the first inning, but the right-hander allowed two more hits after that -- a pair of infield singles in the second. Peacock walked four and struck out three in six innings. "Peacock did a great job," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "Six innings, strong, he finally started to use the top of the strike zone, did a good job of keeping us right there." Notes: The Diamondbacks have hit a double in 23 straight games, longest since club-record 32-game streak in 2006. ... Peacock has pitched at least five innings and has yet to allow more than four runs in nine starts after opening the season in the bullpen. ... Houston LHP Dallas Keuchel will go for his team-leading eighth win of the season when Astros head home to face the Diamondbacks and RHP Brandon McCarthy on Wednesday. ' ' '