TORONTO -- Kevin Croswell made an impressive return to the National Lacrosse League on Saturday night. The Washington Stealth announced on Thursday that theyd signed the 26-year-old free agent from Peterborough, Ont., to sub for injured goaltender Tyler Richards, he participated in his first practice with his new teammates Saturday morning, and then he went out and played a starring role in a 14-9 victory over the Toronto Rock. "I got thrown right in there and I guess theres no better way to do it than get right in there and get it done," said Croswell, who claimed not to feel rusty in his first regular-season NLL start since last spring. "You just go in there and do your thing." Washington held quarter leads of 3-1, 7-4 and 10-7 and outshot Toronto 57-49. Jeff Zywicki, Dean Hill, Eric Martin and Lewis Ratcliff scored two each and Athan Iannucci, Brett Bucktooth, Cliff Smith, Mike Grimes, Justin Salt and Curtis Hodgson got one each for Washington, 2-6. Stephan Leblanc scored four goals and Garrett Billings, Josh Sanderson, Stephen Hoar, Ryan Sharp and Bill Greer one each for the Rock, who slipped to 4-4 in front of an Air Canada Centre crowd of 10,530. Toronto retained a share of first place in the East Division because Philadelphia also is at 4-4 after losing 11-8 at home to Rochester. Sharp and Croswell are former teammates so the Rock defenceman was well aware of Croswells attributes. "He practices hard and plays hard," said Sharp. "He studies the game. "Hes been around. He was in Minnesota with me for four years. He studied Nick Patterson and when he got in there he played well, and he played well tonight." Both teams were missing all-star forwards -- Washingtons Rhys Duch and Torontos Colin Doyle -- but the return of Zywicki to the Stealth lineup after being out since Jan. 19 gave his team a big lift. "It was awesome to be back and I felt great," said Zywicki. "It feels even better now that we got the win. "I thought I played pretty well but the big thing was that the team played a lot better than weve played all year." The two goals he scored from the edge of the crease to the right of the Toronto net were trademark Zywicki effort from extremely difficult angles. "Ive been doing those for a long time," he said. "When youre not the biggest guy out there, youve got to find different ways to score. Those tough angle ones, I work on them in practice." Zywicki wasnt the only Washington returning to action. The return of Kyle Sorensen and Chris McElroy strengthened the back end. "The defence played solid," said Croswell. "They allowed me some good looks on outside shots." This looked more like the team that barely lost the Champions Cup final, 8-7, in Toronto last May than the injury-riddled one that fell to 1-6 after a lopsided loss to Minnesota last weekend. "We finally feel as if were on the right track," said defenceman Jeff Moleski. "Our goal tonight was to outwork them and outsmart them and I think we did that. "Weve made a few changes lately and decided to get back to basic lacrosse. Thats what we did tonight. We outran them and outhustled them." It was the second game with head coach Chris Hall behind the bench following his treatments for throat cancer. "We got some stops, finally, in goal," said Hall. "Croswell was outstanding -- great early to get us rolling. "Sorensen was back to lead the defence and to bring us some motivation and grit and, of course, it was special to see Zywicki back. Those three made a big difference for us." Duch is probable for next weekends game in Denver against West leader Colorado, said Hall. That reality and the win over the Rock has Stealth confidence at a seasons high. "Maybe we can climb out of the hole were in and get back in it," he said. "Weve got some goaltending, weve got some leadership back, Zywicki was big up front and weve injected some youthful energy in Justin Salt, so theres absolutely something for us to build on." Toronto coach Troy Cordingley says Doyles bruised shoulder should be better by next weekend, which should allow him to suit up for a home game against Philadelphia. That positive development helps offset some of the negativity of yet another home loss. "We had a team come into our rink that was 1-6 and I dont think we took them lightly," said Cordingley. "They played more like the team that went to the final the final the last two years. "We started slowly. We couldnt keep up. They dominated. We have to find that drive, that passion, that is going to get us over this inconsistency -- play one good game and take two off type of thing." Matt Roik started in goal for the Rock but was replaced by Pat Campbell when Washington went ahead 9-4 in the third quarter. "We got outworked by a hungry team," said Rock defenceman Bruce Codd. "I dont know why we didnt come out and match their intensity. We knew they were going to be hungry but we came out flat and got behind and never had the lead at any point in the game. It was just a disappointing effort." The next game is key to Torontos hope of finishing first in the East. Toronto and Philadelphia split two previous meetings so the third and final one will give the winner the tiebreaker should the two clubs end the 16-game schedule tied. "We have confidence in our guys," said Cordingley. "We just need to find that fire that is going to motivate us to play consistent lacrosse like we have for the last two years. Guys should be ready off the young guys in our lineup. I thought they Jesse Gamble, Scotty Johnston and Damon Edwards were our best players tonight. Those kids played hard." NOTES: Washington outshot Toronto 57-50 . . . Bob Snider won 19 of the 27 faceoffs he took for the Stealth . . . Toronto was 1-for-4 and Washington 0-for-3 on power plays . . . Besides Doyle, Toronto also deleted D Phil Sanderson and D Glen Bryan . . . Besides Duch, Washington scratched F Brett Hickey and D Kyle Ross . . . D Drew Petkoff has gone on injured reserve with what the Rock describe as an upper body injury. Johnston took his place and fought Smith in the second quarter of his first NLL game. jerseys from china . The Saskatchewan Roughriders running back is not only leading the league in rushing with 1,149 yards, hes also on pace to become the most dominant single-season runner in league history. wholesale jerseys . Still, he was starting to get a little anxious. Heisey finally got on the board Saturday, giving Cincinnati the lead with his first homer of the season and four relievers made it stand up in a 10-3 win over the Colorado Rockies. http://www.cheapjerseyssafe.com/ . Well, here they are. Williams will make his debut as a major league manager with the Washington Nationals, a hiring announced by Rizzo on Thursday, one day after the World Series ended. "Matt played with intensity as a player, but he also was a terrific teammate. cheap nfl jerseys .J. -- New York Jets tight end Dustin Keller and wide receiver Chaz Schilens did not travel with the team and will not play in the season finale Sunday at Buffalo because of injuries. nfl jerseys china . "I apologize to my supporters, my fans," he said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "It was a mistake I made as a child and with Gods help everything will turn out OK." His real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo and hes 29, a year older than listed in the Marlins media guide.The Buffalo Sabres started their rebuilding project in earnest, dealing their best player to the New York Islanders for a first-line winger and two draft picks. Numbers Game breaks down the deal sending Thomas Vanek to the Islanders for Matt Moulson and picks. The Islanders Get: LW Thomas Vanek. Vanek, 29, is one of the most prolific goal-scorers in the league, having tallied 229 goals since 2006-2007, ranking fifth in the league behind Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla and Dany Heatley over that span. Given the age and circumstances around the others in that group, Ovechkin would be the only one of those four that holds more current value as a goal-scorer. This season, Vanek has four goals, nine points and a minus-5 rating in 13 games, and the minus rating is relatively fitting to the lopsided puck possession stats when Vanek (or most of the Sabres) have been on the ice this season. Throughout his career, Vaneks puck possession numbers have been okay, but not outstanding, largely because the strength of his game is not carrying the puck and creating chances, its more about his finishing ability and what he can do when he gets the puck deep in the offensive zone. Even this season, with his most common linemates including Cody Hodgson, Steve Ott and Drew Stafford, Vanek is generating a career-high 3.85 shots per game, playing a career-high 18:37 per game, but hes scored on a career-low 8.0% of his shots, well below his career average of 15.1%, so if Vanek continues to get significant ice time with the Islanders and he can continue to generate shots at this rate, he could put up some big numbers by seasons end. Pro-rating his shots per game, combined with his career-shooting percentage in the 71 games the Islanders have remaining, would give Vanek 41 goals, in addition to the four he has already. Of course, Vanek may not score at his career rate or generate shots at the same rate that he has through 13 games with the Sabres this season, but if 45 goals is the upside based on those numbers, its certainly reasonable to expect 30-35 goals. In the last year of a contract that pays him nearly $7.143-million, Vanek will be an unrestricted free agent at seasons end. There has already been speculation that Vanek, who played collegiately at the University of Minnesota, wants to sign with the Minnesota Wild when that time comes. But thats well in the future. Vanek might find out he likes it on the Island, playing with John Tavares and fellow University of Minnesota alum Kyle Okposo. For whatever its worth, the Islanders also have another Austrian, Michael Grabner, on the roster. The opportunity to produce for a more competitive team and play with a fellow countryman wont have as much sway as the contract that Vanek gets offered as a free agent and that is where the Islanders are in a tricky spot. If they decide that Vanek is as good as advertised and they want to commit to him long-term, theyre going to be paying for whatever production he gives them after the age of 30, which means decline is going to be a major factor when it comes to a deal that is likely going to be in the neighbourhood of seven or eight years. Worse, if Vanek is productive this year, there will probably be other teams lined up to offer that long-term contract, because teams are easily seduced by goal-scorers and Vanek can score goals. While itss definitely worth being aware of those scenarios, they are situations to be dealt with in the future.dddddddddddd By adding Vanek, the Islanders give themselves a better shot at this years playoffs, perhaps feeling more aggressive in a weakened Metropolitan Division, and the chance to make a second straight playoff appearance would be progress for a franchise that hasnt made back-to-back playoff appearances since 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. If it all goes wrong and the Islanders fall out of playoff contention, they could still flip Vanek before the trade deadline to mitigate their loss of assets. The Sabres Get: LW Matt Moulson, a first-round pick in 2014 and second-round pick in 2015. Moulson, who turns 30 November 1, is a three-time 30-goal scorer, and ranks 10th with 118 goals since the start of the 2009-2010 season. The issue that pops up when evaluating Moulson is whether or not he can continue produce at a high level without John Tavares as his centre. Not surprisingly, Moulson fares better with Tavares than without, but its not a massive difference, so its fair to expect Moulson to be able to score if he plays alongside Cody Hodgson on the Sabres top line and gets regular work on the first power play unit. Its also worth noting that PA Parenteau had that same question lobbed in his direction when he left the Islanders as a free agent, but hes done just fine, scoring 50 points in 58 games with Colorado. If the Sabres give Moulson the ice time that was going to Vanek, that ought to provide an opportunity to challenge for his fourth career 30-goal season. Moulson already has six goals, nine points and a plus-3 rating through 11 games this season, but hes scoring on a career-high 21.4% of his shots thus far, a number that is notably higher than his career shooting percentage (14.0%), so some regression ought to be expected. For the Sabres purposes, though, if they can cajole some goal scoring out of Moulson, that could leave open the possibility of dealing Moulson, who will be an unrestricted free agent, before the trade deadline (and possibly much sooner) and netting another first-round pick, perhaps with a prospect or another pick. Adding that potential return for Moulson, to the picks that the Sabres received for Vanek, brings a return that would have been difficult to acquire from a single team, so there is reason to be optimistic about the total haul of assets being acquired. At the same time, this is a rebuilding job that is going to take some time because the Sabres, who are already the worst team in the league right now, are dealing away their best player. By the time those picks become productive NHLers, if they even become NHLers, Vanek and Moulson may be in the twilight of their careers. If a first-round pick from the Islanders falls in the 15-20 range, there is a better than even chance that the pick will be an NHL player, though highly unlikely that the pick would yield a star player. Add in a second-round pick that yields about a 30% chance of producing an NHL player and the Sabres ought to eventually have something to show for dealing Vanek, but thats small consolation to a team sitting at the bottom of the standings that just moved out their best scorer. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '