TORONTO -- If Phil Kessel keeps this up, he wont be able to stay out of the spotlight. The Toronto Maple Leafs winger was named the first star for the opening week of the NHL season after scoring five goals and eight points in three games. Notoriously shy, he answered only a handful of questions after receiving the honour Monday morning and largely deflected the praise to his teammates. Kessel would much rather let his play do the talking. "Im just going out there and playing the game and doing whatever it takes to get wins," he said. Kessel was the main reason Toronto took a 3-0 record into its game against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. He had a hat trick during a 6-5 win over Ottawa on Oct. 8 and added two more goals in a 3-2 victory against Calgary over the weekend. He was selected over New York Islanders forward John Tavares and Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, who were awarded the leagues second and third star, respectively. Tavares had eight points (4-4) in four games while Lehtonen posted a 4-0-0 record with 1.48 goals-against average and .955 save percentage. "There were some great performances obviously throughout the league, but Phils done it in every game so I think its deserved," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. Most importantly, Kessel has also contributed defensively and sported a plus-7 rating after three games. "He looks a lot more committed," said linemate Joffrey Lupul. "Hes got all the skills and it looks like he really has the determination this year too. Thats great." Much of the off-season focus in Toronto surrounded the importance of getting a No. 1 centre to play between Kessel and Lupul. Tim Connolly appeared to be that guy after signing a two-year deal as a free agent, but hes yet to play after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury during training camp. Instead, Tyler Bozak is back in a role he filled a year ago with some mixed results. The unit has been clicking early in 2011-12. "Hes got a good opportunity and made the most of it," Lupul said of Bozak. Wilson has seen a lot more maturity throughout his lineup and Kessel is at the forefront. The 25-year-old tends to be a streaky scorer, which prompted the Leafs coach to start challenging him last year to add other elements to his game. Now that hes showing more defensive commitment, Kessel has been rewarded with ice time in the last minute of close games. The next step could even see him start killing penalties. "It probably came out of the constant discussions that if youre not scoring what can you do to help the team?" said Wilson. "Ive told him Im not going to put you out on the PK unless youre getting a 200-foot game going. "Its not going to be the cart before the horse. ... And that would be getting the job done defensively 5-on-5 and then well think about PK." Of course, Kessels primary responsibility will continue to be scoring goals. He surpassed the 30-goal mark each of the last three seasons and has bigger targets in mind. If he manages to break the 40-goal barrier this year, it will come with even more recognition -- something everyone inside the Leafs dressing room knows hed rather avoid. "What do you get for player of the week? Maybe he just wants to just pass it over our way if its all (our doing)," Lupul said with a laugh. "He doesnt like the spotlight that much. But he definitely deserves it -- hes scored some big goals with some real highlight-reel individual efforts." nflchinawholesalecheapjerseys... . Brock Dykxhoorn of Goderich, Ont., provided 7 1-3 solid innings on the mound as Canada took first place in Group B with a 4-1 record and sets up a game with the United States late Wednesday in the first of three second-round games. [url=http://www.nflchinawholesalecheapjerseys.com/]China Jerseys . Billups tore the tendon on February 6 and was expected to need eight months to recover. 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"Lance knows everything that happened," Frankie Andreu told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Hes the one who knows who did what because he was the ringleader. Its up to him how much he wants to expose." Armstrong has been in conversations with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials, touching off speculation that he may be willing to co-operate with authorities there and name names. Interviewer Oprah Winfrey didnt say if the subject was broached during the taping Monday at a downtown Austin hotel. In an appearance on "CBS This Morning," she declined to give details of what Armstrong told her, but said she was "mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers." Asked whether the disgraced cyclist appeared genuinely contrite after a decade of fierce denials, Winfrey replied, "I felt that he was thoughtful, I thought that he was serious, I thought that he certainly had prepared for this moment. I would say that he met the moment." She was promoting what has become a two-part special, Thursday and Friday, on her OWN network. Around the same time, World Anti-Doping Agency officials issued a statement saying nothing short of "a full confession under oath" would cause them to reconsider Armstrongs lifetime ban from sanctioned events. The International Cycling Union also urged Armstrong to tell his story to an independent commission it has set up to examine claims that the sports governing body hid suspicious samples from the cyclist, accepted financial donations from him and helped him avoid detection in doping tests. The ban was only one of several penalties handed to Armstrong after a scathing, 1,000-page report by USADA last year. The cyclist was also stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with the Livestrong cancer charity he founded in 1997. The report portrayed Armstrong as the mastermind of a long-running scheme that employed steroids, blood boosters such as EPO, and a range of other performance-enhancers to dominate the tour. It included revealing testimony from 11 former teammates, including Andreu and his wife, Betsy. "A lot of it was news and shocking to me," Andreu said.dddddddddddd. "I am sure its shocking to the world. Theres been signs leading up to this moment for a long time. For my wife and I, weve been attacked and ripped apart by Lance and all of his people, and all his supporters repeatedly for a long time. I just wish they wouldnt have been so blind and opened up their eyes earlier to all the signs that indicated there was deception there, so that we wouldnt have had to suffer as much. "And its not only us," he added, "hes ruined a lot of people lives." Armstrong was believed to have left for Hawaii. The street outside his Spanish-style villa on Austins west side was quiet the day after international TV crews gathered there hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Nearby, members of his legal team mapped out a strategy on how to handle at least two pending lawsuits against Armstrong, and possibly a third. The AP reported earlier Tuesday that Justice Department officials were likely to join a whistleblower lawsuit against Armstrong by former teammate Floyd Landis, citing a source who works outside the government and requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the matter. The lawsuit by Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive, alleges that Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. The deadline to join the False Claims Act lawsuit, which could require Armstrong to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty penalty, is Thursday. Landis is hardly the only one seeking money back from Armstrong. During his long reign as cycling champion, Armstrong scolded some critics in public, didnt hesitate to punish outspoken riders during the race, and waged legal battles against still others in court. The London-based Sunday Times has already filed a lawsuit to recover about $500,000 it paid Armstrong to settle a libel case, and Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to deny him a promised bonus for a Tour de France win, has threatened to bring another lawsuit seeking to recover more than $7.5 million awarded by an arbitration panel. In Australia, the government of the state of South Australia said it will seek the repayment of several million dollars in appearance fees paid to Armstrong for competing in the Tour Down Under in 2009, 2010 and 2011. "Wed be more than happy for Mr. Armstrong to make any repayment of monies to us," South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill said. ' ' '