Canadas Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford skated into second place following the pairs short program of the inaugural figure skating team event Thursday in Sochi, Russia. The Canadians finished with a score of 73.10, using precision timing and solid jumping. Reigning world champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia nearly broke their own world record after a superb short program. The Russians took a sizeable lead over Duhamel and Radford with 83.79 points. Chinas Cheng Peng and Hao Zhang are third with 71.01 points. Every first-place finisher of the four disciplines - men, women, ice dance and pairs - receives 10 points, second place gets nine, third earns eight, and so forth. After the mens and pairs short programs, Russia leads with 19 points, followed by Canada (17) and China (15). Duhamel and Radford, the 2013 world bronze medallists, fed off the crowd and their teammates. Skating to music composed by Radford as a tribute to late coach Paul Wirtz, the Canadians opened with a strong throw triple twist before Duhamel nailed a throw triple jump later in the program. Duhamel, of of Lively, Ont., and Radford, of Balmertown, Ont., ended with a death spiral to the delight of their compatriots, which included Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. But the day belonged to Volosozhar and Trankov, who sent their Russian fans into a frenzy with a brilliant performance. The highlight came in the opening moments as they delivered a perfect throw triple twist that generated mesmerizing height. The pair also converted all of their jumps. In the mens short program, Torontos Patrick Chan struggled to a third-place finish. The three-time world champion looked shaky during his program and finished with a score of 89.71. Japanese sensation Yuzuru Hanyu had a near-flawless routine, earning a score of 97.98 to take first place. Russian Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist, sits in second with 91.39 points. Each country gets a chance to switch up two competitors between the short and long programs, which may mean Chan would give way to Kevin Reynolds after the short, while Dylan Moscovitch and Kirsten Moore-Towers may replace Duhamel and Radford. Next up in the team event are the ice dance short, ladies short and pairs free programs on Saturday. The event wraps up Sunday with the mens and ladies free programs, followed by the ice dance free, which will determine the medallists. Authentic Wholesale Nike Shoes China . While the pair of Spain internationals return, midfielder Xavi Hernandez will not be included in the squad after failing to recover from a muscle strain to his left leg. Authentic Wholesale Nike Shoes . When New Zealand finally held on for an 8-7 win, France No. 8 Imanol Harinordoquy collapsed to the ground, having given every drop of energy he could muster, and lay prone as All Blacks danced around him in celebration. Few critics had given France any chance, but coach Marc Lievremonts team rallied from 8-0 down and came within one kick of taking the lead with 15 minutes remaining, only for flyhalf Francois Trinh-Ducs 49-meter effort to drift wide. http://www.wholesaleshoesnike.com/ . Those who impressed in each of the three events were asked to attend the main CFL Combine which begins Friday in Toronto. Cheap Nike Shoes China Free Shipping . When the next inning rolled around Wednesday, though, Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Strasburg to the mound to face the top of the Dodgers order in what would become a 3-2 victory for Washington, the first time this season the No. Wholesale Nike Shoes China . Samir Nasris 88th-minute equalizer at Etihad Stadium will be of little consolation to City, which is now six points behind league leader Liverpool and four points behind second-place Chelsea. Third-place City has a game in hand but the surprise result against Sunderland, coupled with Sundays 3-2 loss at Liverpool, may be a setback too far in its bid for a second championship in three seasons.SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau scored goals 49 seconds apart in the first period to lead the San Jose Sharks to their fifth win in six games, 5-1 over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Bracken Kearns and Logan Couture added goals 1:27 apart in the second period to give each scores in three straight games as the Sharks beat the Oilers for the sixth straight time. Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Antti Niemi made 23 saves for San Jose. Nail Yakupov scored the lone goal for the last-place Oilers, who looked flat to open the new year in the front end of a difficult back-to-back. The Oilers play Friday night at the first-place Anaheim Ducks, who have not lost at home in regulation all season. The Sharks have been nearly as tough at home so far, losing just once in regulation. San Jose needed to go to a shootout in five of its previous eight home games before dispatching the Oilers easily by scoring twice in each of the first two periods against Devan Dubnyk. The Sharks got off to a fast start once again, breaking out to a 2-0 lead in the first period for the 15th time in 41 games this season. San Jose squandered a pair of early power-play chances and needed Niemi to make two pad stops on Sam Gagner on one of them to keep the game scoreless. The Sharks then used great puck movement on their first goal and a takeaway for their second to take the 2-0 lead. Justin Braun got a shot on net from the point and Pavellski sent the rebound to Burns, who knocked it in the short side of the net for his 13th goal.dddddddddddd Less than a minute later, Marleau took the puck from Yakupov near the boards and skated to the high slot, where he beat Dubnyk with a wrister for his team-leading 18th goal of the season. San Jose broke it open with the two goals in the second. Kearns, who scored his first career goal at age 32 on Sunday, struck for the third time in as many games when he took a pass from Andrew Desjardins in the slot and one-timed it past an unsuspecting Dubnyk. Couture then took a break out pass from John McCarthy and beat Dubnyk on a breakaway to make it 4-0 and give him 200 career points. Yakupov scored his second goal of the season against the Sharks later in the second and gave an emphatic fist pump that drew boos from the sellout crowd. Those turned to cheers and chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in the third when Pavelski one-timed a shot past Dubnyk just one day after being picked for his second U.S. Olympic team. NOTES: Marleau tied former Shark Owen Nolan for 73rd place all-time with his 422nd career goal. ... McCarthy recorded his first point in 22 games this season. ... F Tyler Kennedy was scratched for San Jose after posting a minus-3 rating Tuesday in Anaheim. ... F Tommy Wingels missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Yakupov returned for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch Tuesday in Phoenix. ' ' '