BARCELONA, Spain - Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal underwent right knee surgery on Wednesday, five weeks before his countrys first match at the World Cup. The operation in Barcelona was led by specialist surgeon Ramon Cugat, and was accompanied by Chile and Juventus team doctors. The club, which won the Serie A on Sunday, said Vidal needed arthroscopic surgery on the lateral meniscus of his right knee. "We dont dare to say a recovery time because theres a World Cup in the making," Cugat after the surgery. "There are many factors at play here: He has to be in good form, in a good mood, and his knee has to respond well. But hes a very courageous player with a strong character, and hes always positive. Hes a winner." Vidal has been instrumental in helping Juventus to three successive Serie A titles since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen in 2011. He was struggling with problems in his right knee for more than a month, but continued to play for Juventus until his injury worsened during the second leg of the Europa League semifinal against Benfica last Thursday. "The treatment that has been carried out is correct," Cugat said, fending off growing criticism in Europe and Chile about how Juventus managed his injury. "I can say that I have many players, at the international level, who have continued to play with a tear to the lateral meniscus." Since joining Juventus, Vidal has transformed impressively from being a stopper to making himself into a versatile player who recovers lost passes, sets up goals, and often scores. He has eight goals in 46 appearances for Chile, and become the national teams best hope in the World Cup. Chile has one of its strongest teams, but it faces huge challenges in Brazil. Chile is in a group with Spain, the Netherlands and Australia. Even if it advances as the groups second qualifier, it would likely have to play against host and five-time champion Brazil. But fans remain confident that Vidal will recover in time, and Chile will continue its solid record: It lost only two out of 15 games last year, including a draw with Spain and win over England in friendlies. Dustin McGowan Jersey . "We cannot stay the same way the whole season long," said Reyes. "This is not acceptable. Something needs to change because were a better team than what were showing right now. Its a long season and we just need to continue to push." Its been a frustrating week for the ballclub. Alex Cobb Jersey . "It was awesome," he said. Coming off an ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, Toronto found itself in a deep hole early after the Reds put an eight spot up on starter Liam Hendriks (six runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched) and Todd Redmond in the second. http://www.officialraysgearshop.com/Rays...se-Kids-Jersey/. The Bruins forward has been fined $5,000 by the National Hockey League for spearing Red Wings defenceman Danny DeKeyser in the groin. Nathan Eovaldi Jersey . Marek Hamsik, who had earlier missed a penalty, headed Napoli in front in the 23rd minute and Pandev added a second goal five minutes from halftime. Alessandro Matri got Juventus back into the game just after the break but Pandev was on hand to score again in the 68th. Steven Souza Jersey . Head coach Corey Chamblin announced on Monday that Avon Cobourne had been hired as the defending Grey Cup champions new running backs coach.SUNRISE, Fla. -- Steven Stamkos has been practicing his shootout moves, and it paid off on Sunday. Stamkos scored the deciding goal in the tiebreaker to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Valtteri Filppula also scored in the shootout. Stamkos was just 5 for 27 in the shootout coming into the game, but he made some nice moves to slip the puck past Jacob Markstrom on his left side for the deciding goal in Tampa Bays fourth slot. "Its something that I struggled with in the past but practice does help with certain moves," Stamkos said. "I probably wasnt going to be in the first three but I was glad to go in there and help the team win in any situation. Its nice to see one go in and even nicer to help your team win in that situation." Stamkos, Radko Gudas, and Martin St. Louis scored in regulation for Tampa Bay, which has won five of six. Anders Lindback stopped 29 shots and turned aside three of four Florida shooters in the tiebreaker. Stamkos also had an assist. Lindback got his first win of the season. "We got another two points. Obviously for me coming in and winning a game, its nice," said Lindback, who started in the second half of back-to-back games in place of Ben Bishop. "He stopped a couple of their guys in the shootout," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Thats where you need your goalie to stand up and win a game. He did that for us tonight." Brad Boyes, Nick Bjugstad and Shawn Matthias scored, and Markstrom made 25 saves for Florida. Boyes also had a shootout goal. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Dmitry Kulikov all missed. The Panthers lost for the fifth time in seven games, including two shootouts. "Unfortunately, we end up on the wrong end of these (shootouts) right now, but theres guys that are pushing hard and thats what we have to keep doing," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. Florida rallied from a 3-1 defficit in the third period.dddddddddddd The Panthers closed to 3-2 on Bjugstads goal at 5:39 when he tipped in Scottie Upshalls shot from the point. Florida tied it when Boyes grabbed an errant puck and backhanded it under Lindbacks pads from in front at 8:51. Boyes leads the Panthers with five goals, but this was his first in seven games. Tampa Bay stretched its lead to 3-1 during a power play in the second period. Gudas took a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Floridas Mike Weaver and got past Markstrom at 9:58. Gudas got a game misconduct at 12:51 of the third when he slashed at the boards in front of the Panthers bench after being squirted with water by Upshall, who received an unsportsmanlike conduct call. Florida closed to 2-1 on Matthias first goal of the season. Matthias grabbed a puck in traffic in front of the crease and slipped it behind Lindback at 13:48 of the first. It was Matthias first goal in 23 games, dating to last season. "Its tough going down 2-0 early like that, but we played really hard and battled back," Matthias said. "Its tough to have the final outcome happen." The Lightning scored two goals on their first three shots, including on just 41 seconds into the game. Stamkos passed from the top of the right circle to St. Louis, who poked in the puck from in front. St. Louis has scored in three straight games. Stamkos made it 2-0 at 4:35. Markstrom blocked a shot by Ryan Malone, but the long rebound went out to Stamkos in the right circle for a slap shot. The Lightning improved to 8-3. "Its probably the quietest 8-3 record in the league and we like it that way," Stamkos said. NOTES: Stamkos leads the Lightning with eight goals and 17 points. ... St. Louis has seven goals and 14 points in his past 10 games. ... Matthias previous goal was March 30 against New Jersey. ... Florida LW Tomas Fleischmann was scratched due to illness. ' ' '