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(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to pick up where they left off before the Olympic break when they visit the John Tavares-less New York Islanders in Thursdays clash at Nassau Coliseum.Toronto was one of several NHL teams that had hot streaks interrupted by the NHLs Olympic break. The Maple Leafs had won five of six right before the hiatus and the club is 11-2-1 over its last 14 games.With 70 points, the Maple Leafs are currently holding on to the seventh of eight playoff spots in the East. Toronto also is just one point in back of both Tampa Bay and Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division. The top three teams in each division get an automatic bid to the postseason.Toronto is aiming to qualify for the postseason for the second straight spring. Last season the Leafs halted the longest playoff drought in franchise history by making the postseason for the first time since 2004.The Maple Leafs emerge from the break with a road-heavy schedule ahead of them over the next few weeks. Toronto, which is just 11-12-5 as the away club this season, will play two straight and eight of its next 10 on the road.The Islanders, meanwhile, get to continue a five-game homestand on Thursday, but theyll do so without the services of captain and star centerman Tavares.Tavares helped Team Canada win the Olympic tournament, although he missed the semifinals and gold medal game after suffering a partial tear in the MCL of his left knee. Although the injury was originally feared to be worse, it will still keep Tavares sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. However, he will not need surgery as was originally believed.The culmination of the regular season could mark the end of the 2013-14 campaign for the Islanders, who are already 14 points out of the Easts final playoff berth.Tavares, who expects to miss 8-to-12 weeks while recovering, is New Yorks leading scorer with 66 points and is tied for the team lead with 24 goals. He is also third in the NHL in points.The Islanders lost seven of eight games before the break in a stretch that did serious damage to the clubs postseason chances. Without Tavares, the club expects to have a difficult time getting back into the thick of the playoff race.New York and the Leafs have split two meetings so far in 2013-14, but the Isles are 4-1-1 over the last six encounters between the clubs. Toronto, however, has won three straight and four of the past five games at the Coliseum.The Isles are 8-14-8 as the host team this season. The club is playing the third test of its five-game homestand tonight and will complete the stay on Long Island after welcoming New Jersey and Florida on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Cheap Air Max 90 China . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Pink Air Max 90 2018 .J. - Percy Harvin is ready to go, and theres no question in his mind hell be playing Sunday. http://www.cheapairmax90freeshipping.com/. James Erskine said Tuesday that Thorpe was "quite sick" in a Sydney hospital but dismissed media reports the swimmer might lose the use of his left arm. "Hes not in the intensive care," Erskine said. Air Max 90 2018 Outlet .NYCFC confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that this week Lampard signed a contract to start in July — midway through the new teams first season in MLS. Wholesale Air Max 90 . Or, for that matter, the aged.LONDON -- What if they held an Olympics and nobody came? The situation isnt that bleak, of course, for the Sochi Games. Yet, with less than three weeks to go until the opening ceremony, hundreds of thousands of tickets remain unsold, raising the prospect of empty seats and a lack of atmosphere at Russias first Winter Olympics. There are signs that many foreign fans are staying away, turned off by terrorist threats, expensive flights and hotels, long travel distances, a shortage of tourist attractions in the area, and the hassle of obtaining visas and spectator passes. "Some people are scared it costs too much and other people are scared because of security," senior International Olympic Committee member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway told The Associated Press. "From my country, I know that several people and companies are not going for these two reasons. Of course, there will be Norwegians there but not as many as we are used to." Sochi organizers announced last week that 70 per cent of tickets have been sold for the games, which run from Feb. 7-23 and represent a symbol of pride and prestige for Russia and President Vladimir Putin. So what about the remaining 30 per cent? "We are keeping a special quota for those who come for the games, so that they can indeed buy tickets for the competitions," organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said. Chernyshenko said about 213,000 spectators are expected at the games, with about 75 per cent likely to be Russians. "Tickets are being snapped up fast with the most popular events being hockey, biathlon, figure skating, freestyle and snowboard," the organizing committee said in a statement to the AP. "With 70 per cent of tickets already sold and another ticketing office opening shortly, we are expecting strong last-minute ticket sales and do not envisage having empty seats." Sochi officials have refused to divulge how many tickets in total were put up for sale, saying the figure would only be released after the games. However, according to IOC marketing documents seen by the AP, Sochi had a total of 1.1 million tickets on offer. That would mean about 300,000 tickets remained available. By comparison, 1.54 million tickets were available for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and 97 per cent (1.49 million) were sold. For the 2012 Summer Games in London, organizers sold 97 per cent (8.2 million) of their 8.5 million tickets. Heiberg, who chairs the IOC marketing commission, said the Russians have cut down by 50 per cent on the number of spectators originally planned for the mountain events for security reasons. "That means there will be less people and probably less enthusiasm than we had, for instance, in Lillehammer," he said. "I hope the Russians will fill not only their indoor stadiums but there will be enough people in the stadiums for the Nordic events." Heiberg organized the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, which stood out for the colorful atmosphere generated by passionate Norwegian fanns.dddddddddddd Sochis ticket sales began in February 2013, a year before the games. Tickets have been sold on Sochis official website on a first-come, first-served basis. Box offices are now open in Moscow and Sochi. The cheapest tickets go for 500 rubles ($15), the most expensive for 40,000 rubles ($1,200). More than half of all tickets cost less than 5,000 rubles ($150). The average monthly salary in Russia is 30,000 rubles ($890). The one and only authorized ticket office in Sochi was busy on a recent afternoon, with three dozen people lining up at what once was a waiting room at the citys railway station. Many, however, complained that all the cheap tickets were already gone. "Prices leave much to be desired, but what can you can do?" said Sochi resident Yana Ivolovskaya, who bought two tickets for bobsled for 2,000 rubles ($60). "Were not going to get another Olympics in Sochi so I thought I should go." Fans outside Russia buy tickets from authorized dealers appointed by their national Olympic committees. Attracting foreign visitors has been a challenge amid all the headlines about Russias law banning gay "propaganda," human rights issues and -- particularly -- the risk of terrorism. Back-to-back suicide bombings killed 34 people last month in Volgograd, about 400 miles (640 kilometres) from Sochi. On Sunday, an Islamic militant group in Russias North Caucasus claimed responsibility for the bombings and posted a video threatening to strike the Sochi Games. CoSport, the official ticket reseller in the United States and six other countries, said the Sochi Games generated "good demand" for tickets and packages. "We experienced demand at expected levels," spokesman Michael Kontos said, without giving figures. Flights to Sochi are expensive, and most international travellers have to go through Moscow, with direct flights to Sochi only available from Germany and Turkey. Western travellers must navigate the time-consuming visa process and requirement to obtain a "spectator pass" along with their tickets. This requires providing passport details that allow authorities to screen all visitors. "What we are hearing is that the bureaucratic complexity, with spectator passes and visa and so on, is what scares off fans, more than worries about security," Austrian Olympic Committee spokesman Wolfgang Eichler said. Jan Serenander, managing director of Jet Set Sports in Norway, cited a lack of tourist attractions in the Black Sea resort. "When Sochi was announced no one had even heard of the place," he said. "They had to get out their atlases." Die-hard winter sports fans, however, will not be discouraged. Orange-clad speedskating fans from the Netherlands are always among the most visible spectators at any Winter Games. "I expect it to be orange," Jeroen de Roever, manager of official Duch ticket seller ATPI, said of Sochis speedskating venue. "We have been sold out for quite a while." ' ' '