SOCHI, Russia – If not quite the underdog, Drew Doughty believes, at the very least, that the Canadians are being overlooked, doubted and probably even overly dissected heading into Fridays semifinal matchup with the Americans. Cheap Penguins Jerseys . "I think a lot of people are counting us out," said Doughty. "If everyone wants to count us out, were going to use that as motivation." Doughty wouldnt go quite so far as to label Team Canada as the underdog, but its clear that the overwhelming degree of scrutiny has some members of the squad feeling as though theyve been doubted just a little too much. "We dont see ourselves as the underdog," Doughty said, the defender leading the Canadians with four goals. "I think both teams are really evenly matched. I dont know who Id give the upper hand to at this point. Im obviously more confident in my team than I am in theirs..." Like the Americans, Canada has yet to lose in these Olympics, but unlike their rivals to the south, they failed to exactly dominate in victory, scratching out close wins over the Norwegians (3-1), Finns (2-1 overtime) and Latvians (2-1), the last of which saw the two teams tied for most of the first 53 minutes of regulation. Head coach Mike Babcock has stressed that his team simply improves each and every day of the two-week tournament, pointing to Wednesdays struggle with the Latvians as a needed bit of adversity. Its evident, however, that the best of this Canadian team has yet to emerge. Whether it will in time for the 2010 gold medal game rematch remains in question. "Yeah were close," said Jonathan Toews after the quarterfinal win over Latvia, "not quite there yet though. Next game." Scoring concerns up front remain the most pressing issue. The Canadian forward contingent has combined for just six goals - or one more than Phil Kessel has all by himself here in Sochi - despite an overwhelming level of offensive talent. Wednesdays quarterfinal could be construed as a step in the right direction. Though they snuck just two by Kristers Gudlevskis, they managed nearly 60 shots and had numerous opportunities. Sidney Crosby, who had a breakaway in the opening minute, remains the most notable Canadian forward yet to score, but hes joined by Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry, Rick Nash, Patrick Marleau, Chris Kunitz, Martin St. Louis, Matt Duchene, and Patrice Bergeron – essentially everyone but Jeff Carter, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf and Patrick Sharp. Symmetry appears to finally be forming though. Unlike the previous four games, which saw the lines differ just about every night, Babcock will keep his forward combinations intact for the tilt against the Americans – save for the injured John Tavares (leg) – hopeful that theyll translate into actual production with elimination on the line. "You can talk scoring chances till youre blue in the face, who cares? The score is on the board, and so weve just got to find a way to keep doing what were doing," said Babcock. "I think we like the fact that were getting a lot of chances in and around the net," said Crosby, who remains alongside Kunitz and Bergeron. "We trust theyre going to go in a little bit more if we keep getting those. I think we just try to stay the course and make sure that we focus on burying those." Theyll have to do so against the seemingly unflappable Jonathan Quick. A rock for the L.A. Kings in the postseason – he has a .940 save percentage combined in the past two springs – Quick has stopped 72 of 77 shots in three starts for Team USA, fronted by an offence thats managed 20 goals in four games. "When he gets hot, when he makes some big saves early, he seems to become unbeatable, said Doughty, who captured the Cup with Quick in 2012. "And thats why weve got to get one early on him. The only way were going to score on him is weve got to get pucks up high and weve got to get screens in front and tips." Countering Quick will be Carey Price – who has stopped 48 of 51 shots – and a stiff defensive Canadian unit thats yielded just two even-strength goals all tournament and average of fewer than 19 shots against. If theres been an obvious strength to Canadas game on the bigger Olympic ice, its been the ability to defend and defend by controlling the possession of the puck. Continuing that against an American attack fronted by Kessel, who leads the tournament with eight points, will be a new and far more difficult challenge. Crosby was among the group of Canadian players who took in the Americans classic tilt with Russia in the preliminary round and was struck, above all else, with just how fast they were as a group. He and his teammates believe theyre ready for such a fight though even if others arent quite so sure. "At this point whether we beat three favourites or zero, nobodys going to really think about that or talk about that if we get the result we want [Friday] and win the game," he said. "Our groups real confident," Babcock added. "We like what weve done. We like how our team is. We think were set up good right now. And that, to me, is the most important thing." Pittsburgh Penguins Pro Shop . Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages. Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . Van Slyke drove in a career-high four runs with two homers off struggling left-hander Tony Cingrani, and the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled away to a 6-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night, a rare comfortable win in their pitching-dominated series. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ . Orlov, who scored two goals in the game, was assessed a major penalty for boarding on the play. The Flyers scored once on the power play and again with the extra attacker with 65 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.DETROIT – Alex Anthopoulos likes to say the perception of a player is directly tied to his production. If a team is winning and a player is excelling, the guy becomes known as a "leader" or a "positive clubhouse influence." When a team is losing and a player is struggling, his character is questioned. Its easy to be enamoured with Mark Buehrle because of the year hes having. By now you know the statistics: 10-1, a 2.10 ERA and in his only no-decision of the season, Buehrle left with the lead. Even last season, when Buehrle struggled through the first half of the Blue Jays haltingly poor year, he drew no negative attention. He went about his between-starts routine despite his weight-related self-deprecation. He was always approachable despite his claims that he detests speaking into a microphone. What became clear, quickly, was Buehrles devotion to his family. Married with two kids, he looks in advance at the schedule and plots out homestands that will facilitate relatively lengthy visits. His father, John and mother, Pat, seem to be constants around the ballclub, even though John estimates they attend about 30 games per season. When this reporter renewed acquaintances with Buehrle on the first day of spring training and casually asked how his offseason had gone, it took the pitcher less than five seconds to begin to explain the difficulty he had saying goodbye to his children, who are now old enough to understand their dad has to leave home to go to work but wish that he wouldnt. John is in Detroit for the brief road trip, having scheduled a personal matter in the Motor City to coincide with the Jays lone visit to the Tigers. Hed have it no other way. "Our whole family was brought up as a family," said John Buehrle. "Everything we failed in or excelled in we shared as a family, our trials and tribulations if you will. When Mark did well in school, high school, college, everybody shared. When my other sons did well, everybody shared. They were brought up as a family, just as I was. They were brought up with respect." Mark Buehrle is making $18 million this season and is due $19 million in 2015, the final year of the four-year pact he inked with the Miami Marlins in the 2011-2012 offseason. When it comes to respect, money isnt an object in the Buehrle household. Johns three sons, Mike, 40, Jason, 37, and Mark, 35, and his one daughter Amy, 32, are expected to adhere to a set of rules when they visit. "Even today, they come to my house, they sit downn at my table, their hat comes off," said John Buehrle. Pittsburgh Penguins Gear. "Ill sit there and Ill stare them down. They wont even look at me, they can feel it. They can feel me looking at them because its manners. Theyll say Yes sir, no sir and Yes maam, no maam and open the door for the wives and their wives because thats the way they were raised." Mark is four wins shy of 200 for his career. Not many pitchers make it to the big leagues, let alone last long enough to win that many games. Johns son has never been placed on the disabled list. Hes pitching in his 15th big league season. John is pleased for Marks success but shows his youngest son no favoritism. "Any parent is proud anytime their child excels or succeeds at anything, regardless of what it is," said Buehrle. "Im just as proud of Mark for being where he is today as I am of my one son whos driving a concrete truck whos never had an accident. And thats a lot to say for concrete truck drivers, believe me, because I used to be one." Asked about Toronto, John returns to what matters most. "Toronto is as much of a family-oriented town as what we had found Chicago to be," said Buehrle. "We were there 12-and-a-half years in Chicago. Everybody in Chicago was like family. Every place we went, they were so nice." He admitted to uncertainty about Toronto after the trade with the Marlins and no, the fact Johns sons pitbull dog wasnt allowed to move to Ontario wasnt his top concern. "We didnt know, coming to Toronto, big city, we didnt know what it was going to be like," said Buehrle. "From day one, the people, everyone, not just the team, the staff, the people we ran into in the restaurants, it was genuine, you can tell when someones putting it on, but you could really tell there was a genuine Were glad youre here." The Blue Jays are glad to have Buehrle. Since last years All-Star Break, Mark is 17-5 with a 2.66 ERA. With an impending second knee replacement surgery scheduled soon, John hopes to be able to travel to Minneapolis for this years All-Star Game. He expects Mark will be a participant. "Hes having a real good year and I couldnt want or wish any better for him or the team," said Buehrle. "Im really happy for the fans, too, because the fans, I guess in a certain way through Mark see a little hope and glimmer and think, Oh, we may just pull it off this year. Its not just Mark. You look at Joey Bats, Edwin, Melky. Everyones having an awesome year." ' ' '