ABBOTSFORD, B. Frank Kaminsky Jersey .C. -- Corban Knight snapped out of his scoring slump in a big way Friday night, with some help from an old friend. Knight scored twice and assisted on another as the Abbotsford Heat blanked the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs 6-0 in American Hockey League action. After recording five points in the final three games of December, Knight had no goals and just two assists in nine games through the month of January. "Id definitely say I was a little snake-bit the last little while here, and things werent coming my way," said Knight. "It was nice to get a couple nice set-ups from the guys, and I was able to put them in. Hopefully Ill kind of put that behind me and move forward here." Knight was matched up with former linemate at the University of North Dakota Evan Trupp. Trupp responded with his first multi-point game since being called up from the ECHLs Alaska Aces. "We played two years together, and were really good friends, too," said Knight. "The fact we were put together, I think we were both pretty excited about it, and we were able to get some chemistry going tonight." Besides recording two second-period goals, Knight picked up the second assist on Markus Granlunds opening goal and was also in the crease for a Heat goal that was waved off in the first period. "Hes going through a learning curve like a lot of our guys," said Heat head coach Troy Ward. "Theyre kind of over that hump of, Im tired now. Some of our college guys that come out, thats really hard for them. Hes got a little bit more energy to his game, and Trupp made a difference." Blair Jones had two goals in his first game since being put on waivers by the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. With the addition of Jones and Shane OBrien, who was also sent down by the Flames, along with Heats signing of Trevor Gillies, the Abbotsford dressing room is beginning to get quite crowded. Derek Smith and Sven Baertschi are also recent Flames demotions. "Our team is at probably one of the most competitive points for ice time," said Ward. "Thats based on health and depth. It might get worse next week when the NHL shuts down and they assign players, creating more of a log jam. Its a healthy situation. It makes coaching decisions a little bit harder but thats part of our job." Josh Jooris also scored, while Max Reinhart had two assists as Abbotsford (27-14-4) got back in the win column after consecutive overtime losses last weekend. Joni Ortio stopped 34 shots for his second shutout of the season, and was a factor despite the lopsided win. "Hes one of the unsung heroes," said Ward. "He made some huge saves at critical times. We gave them a couple good looks and he was there and made it look pretty easy." Dustin Tokarski made 22 saves for Hamilton (20-19-4), which has won just once in its past five outings. After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Ortio woke up his club with a huge save midway through the second period. "Joni made some big saves in the second period when they had a couple cross-ice plays," said Jones. "Its kind of what Ive been seeing from him all season." Hamilton got a three-on-two rush while at the tail end of a penalty kill, but Ortio made a great save, sliding across to deny Martin St. Pierres one-timer at the side of the net. During a post-whistle scuffle the Heat came away with another power play and this time made it count. Max Reinhart fed Granlund and the Swede beat defender Darren Dietz at the blue-line and skated in on Tokarski, scoring blocker side for his team-high 18th of the season at 10:26. Then, just 1:27 second later the Heat built on their momentum. Brett Olson put a perfect backhanded saucer pass on the tape of Knight in the slot and the High River, Alta. native made no mistake, beating Tokarski glove side. Knight picked up his second with less than a minute to go in the period. Trupp came off the side boards and shovelled the puck to Knight in the high slot. This time he went top corner, blocker side for his 11th of the season. Jooris made it 4-0 with his fifth of the season at 7:20 of the third. He took a feed from Baertschi, cut to the front of the net and swept the puck around Tokarski. Jones completed the onslaught, scoring twice in less than two minutes. First he redirected Reinharts perfect feed at 9:52, then wired a one-timer between Tokarskis pads for his 10th of the season. Mikal Bridges Suns Jersey . Its been two seasons in one for both parties and neither will look back on the first 18 games fondly. "I think I took the fall for a lot of things," said Gay, reflecting on his short time in Toronto ahead of Wednesdays game against his former club. Marquese Chriss Jersey . Yoenis Cespedes proved he can play through a hurting right heel, giving Scott Kazmir and the As a spark with a pair of RBIs that helped spoil the Minnesota Twins home opener with an 8-3 victory on Monday. https://www.thesunslockerroom.com/Isaiah-Canaan-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Hoffman, the former star closer, will evaluate and help co-ordinate all pitchers at Double-A, Triple-A and the big league team. Byrnes says Hoffman "will be a key part of finishing the development of our younger pitchers. MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Zimmer is finally a head coach in the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings think now is the time for the veteran defensive co-ordinator. The Vikings announced on Twitter on Wednesday night that they had hired Zimmer for their top coaching job. "Im extremely excited to bring a championship to the state of Minnesota and to the great fan base of the Vikings," Zimmer said in a video posted on the teams Twitter account. "I cant wait to get to work." Long after reports first surfaced about the hire, the Vikings remained quiet. Their silence was strange, considering a report by ESPN that they had already requested and received permission from Cleveland to interview offensive co-ordinator Norv Turner for the same position in Minnesota. The top headline on the team website touted an area winner in the annual NFL Punt, Pass & Kick contest. That doesnt mean the Vikings werent delighted about the ninth head coach in their 54-year history. Tight end Kyle Rudolph, centre John Sullivan and defensive end Brian Robison were among the players who expressed excitement about the former Bengals assistant via their Twitter accounts. "Fired up about Coach Zimmer! As a Cincy kid hes been fun to watch there and cant wait to work with him!" Rudolph tweeted. For the Bengals, the news was bittersweet. Zimmer, who has been an NFL defensive co-ordinator for the last 14 seasons, spent six of those with Cincinnati. "Today is one of the happiest and yet saddest days for me. Happy Coach Zimm finally gets to be a head coach and spread all of his knowledge," cornerback Terence Newman tweeted. The Bengals were third in the league in yards allowed and fifth in points against this season, though they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year. "Gonna miss you coach Zimmer! Wish you nothing but the best in Minnesota. You brought out the best in each of your players! So honoured to have been coached by you!" tweeted linebacker Rey Maualuga. Zimmer replaces Leslie Frazier, another former Bengals defensive co-ordinator who was fired Dec. 30 after the team finished 5-10-1 this season. General manager Rick Spielman interviewed at least seven candidates. He and Vikings owners Zygi Wilff and Mark Wilf settled on the one who was widely considered around the league to be the most overdue for a head coaching job. Jalen Lecque Suns Jersey. Zimmer has interviewed for several vacancies in recent years, including this month with Tennessee. The 57-year-old Zimmer played at Illinois State and spent 14 seasons coaching in the college ranks before being hired in 1994 as an assistant with Dallas. He got a Super Bowl ring the following season as defensive backs coach. Then he became defensive co-ordinator of the Cowboys in 2000 and spent seven seasons at that post, the last four under coach Bill Parcells. Zimmer led defences in Dallas that operated in both the 4-3 and 3-4 alignments, including the 2003 group that surrendered the fewest yards in the league. The Wilfs, natives of New Jersey, grew up as New York Giants fans and are admirers of Parcells from his days coaching that team. After one tumultuous year as the defensive co-ordinator for Atlanta, when Falcons coach Bobby Petrino quit midseason in 2007, Zimmer went to Cincinnati to work for coach Marvin Lewis. In 2009, when his wife, Vikki, unexpectedly died, Zimmer was named the winner of several NFL assistant coach of the year awards. Zimmer has a fiery personality, as evidenced by his profanity-laced appearances on HBOs "Hard Knocks," which featured the Bengals in 2009 and 2013. That overt intensity is a contrast to Frazier, who went 21-33-1 in three-plus seasons with one appearance in the playoffs. Frazier was a popular figure in the locker room and throughout the organization, but as a former defensive coach his area of expertise became the teams biggest downfall. Despite a carousel at quarterback, the aged, injury-depleted defence was mostly responsible for the sorry showing this season. The Vikings allowed an average of 30 points per game, the most in the league, and 397.8 yards per game, the second-most. Five of the seven reported candidates who interviewed for the vacancy had defensive backgrounds: Seattle defensive co-ordinator Dan Quinn, Cleveland defensive co-ordinator Ray Horton, Arizona defensive co-ordinator Todd Bowles, San Francisco defensive line coach Jim Tomsula and Zimmer. The other two were offensive co-ordinators: Seattles Darrell Bevell and San Franciscos Greg Roman. ' ' '