Wild G Josh Harding couldn't keep Nashville from racking up the goals on Thursday, so he found himself on the bench in the third period of a 5-0 loss. Harding fell behind early as Nashville built a 3-0 lead in the first period. He settled down to allow only one goal on 14 shots in the second period, but coach Todd Richards still turned to Wade Dubielewicz in the third period. Harding made 22 saves before Dubielewicz stopped 10 of 11 shots. Read More

Pekka Rinne made 17 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and Colin Wilson, Jason Arnott, and Patric Hornqvist each had a goal and an assist in the Nashville Predators' 5-0 victory over Minnesota on Thursday. Rinne was tested early, seeing nine Minnesota shots in the first period, but saw just four in the second and four in the third to record his 12th career shutout. Read More

Nuggets F Renaldo Balkman did not play in Thursday's contest against the Hornets because of a back strain. Read More

Mets SP Hisanori Takahashi, who is still in contention for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, continued his impressive spring with 2 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday at the Marlins. He allowed two hits and one walk with one strikeout. He has yet to allow an earned run in 8 1/3 innings. Read More

MLB.com reports Rays SP Matt Garza did not pitch against the Yankees on Thursday because manager Joe Maddon did not want New York to get a look Tampa Bay's No. 2 starter. Instead, Garza allowed two runs on four hits in a farm-team game against the Orioles. "Why hide it?" said a smiling Maddon when asked about the ploy. "Who knows? They get another chance to see him. [We] play each other so many times. And this spring training we play the [American League] East 16 more times." Read More

Mets OF Jason Bay hit his second home run of the spring Thursday at the Marlins, going 2 for 3 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. He's batting .308 overall, but .500 (6 for 12) with two home runs over his last four games. Read More

Mets OF Jeff Francoeur, who was having a cold spring, hit his first home run Thursday at the Marlins, finishing 1 for 3 with two RBI. He's now batting .208 (5 for 24). Read More

Miami G Dwyane Wade had 36 points and 10 rebounds in a loss to the Magic on Thursday. Wade shot 12 of 26 from the floor while almost completing the triple-double, dishing out seven assists. It was Wade's 442nd game in double figures, tying Alonzo Mourning's franchise record. Read More

Heat G Carlos Arroyo scored 11 points in a loss to the Magic on Thursday. Arroyo shot 5 of 6 from the field while handing out five assists. It was the second time in his last five games that Arroyo scored in double figures. Read More

Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds to go with his 26 points in Denver's 93-80 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday night. "I was going for 20. That was my goal, to get 20 rebounds tonight. I knew we were going to need it," Anthony said. "I knew Nene was going to have his hands full with Okafor, and our other bigs ... would have their hands full with David West. So, it was a great opportunity for me to go down there and grab some boards." Anthony said he had no idea that his previous career high was 16 boards, set against New York in 2007. "No, I was just focusing on trying to get 20," he said. Read More

Yankees LHP Damaso Marte, hit in the right lower back by a liner off the bat of Philadelphia's Ryan Howard on Wednesday, expects to pitch again in the next day or two. Read More

According to MLB.com, the Blue Jays optioned 1B Brian Dopirak to Triple-A Las Vegas on Thursday. "(Randy) Ruiz was a little bit ahead of [Dopirak] from what he did last year when he came up," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "He continued to hit the ball this spring." Gaston added that Dopirak had been swinging a little bit better, but that he wanted to get him some playing time down in the minors. Read More