CHICAGO -- It took more resolve and two goals by Patrick Kane, but the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks ground out a series-tying victory against the St. Louis Blues Wednesday night at United Center.
Kane scored his second goal of the night at 11:17 of overtime to give Chicago a 4-3 victory knockoff nfl jerseys and even the Western Conference First Round series at 2-2. Three of the four games have needed OT to decide a winner.
Game 5 in the best-of-7 series is Friday at Scottrade Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS2, FS-MW, CSN-CH). The home team has won all four games, with the Blackhawks taking two in their own building to even the series.
"We kind of have the momentum now," Kane said. "We know it's going to be a tough game in Game 5 in their building. They're going to be fired up and that's always a tough place to play, pre-season, regular season or playoffs. So, we'll expect them to get better and we'll get better too."
Kane took a pass from Ben Smith in the defensive zone, raced up ice into the Blues' zone during a 3-on-3 rush and roofed a wrist shot from the left circle that beat St. Louis goaltender Ryan Miller over the shoulder to end it. Prior to the shot, Smith charged down the slot toward the net and forward Brandon Saad headed toward the back side of the net on the right wing to distract Miller.
"Their defensemen pinched, so we had kind of like a 2-on-1 [or] 3-on-3 kind of thing going down the ice," Kane said. "[Saad] made a good play driving to the back post and gave me some space to try and get a shot off. I just tried to pull it cheap nike shoes free shipping to the middle and get it by their defenseman. I used him as a screen and it went in."
Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks, who coughed up 3-2 third-period leads and lost in overtime in each of the first two games.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals, his third and fourth of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Maxim Lapierre had his first of the postseason for the Blues.
"Oh, they've got the momentum now," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've got to take it back. We've got two of three at home, but we've got to take the momentum back. These have been two cheap football jerseys really hard-fought games here. This is a momentum-builder for them, and we've got to find a way to regroup and take it back from them. That's a big challenge for us."
Corey Crawford made 30 saves in the win. Miller also finished with 30 saves.
Chicago needed Bickell's goal with 3:52 left in regulation to force overtime. After coughing up a 2-0 lead and falling behind 3-2 in the third period on Tarasenko's second goal, the Blackhawks found a way to flip the tables on the Blues. St. Louis erased 3-2 third-period leads in each of the first two games before winning in overtime.
This time, it was the Blues who failed to capitalize one several opportunities to extend their lead after they went up by a goal.
"Where the game was lost was when we took it over and we're up 3-2 and we miss those four chances," Hitchcock said. "We could've been up [4-2 or 5-2]. We left it out there and got caught in our zone [on Bickell's goal] and then in the overtime goal we had cheap oakley sunglasses chances to shoot the puck three times in the [offensive] zone and didn't put it on the net ... wanted to stickhandle one more time."
Shaking his head, Hitchcock summed up the feeling by comparing it to what his counterpart, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, felt after the first two games.
"To have all those chances after [Tarasenko's goal] was something we needed and it's just unfortunate," Hitchcock said. "I now kind of know how Joel feels, you know? Tit for tat."
The first scoreless opening period of the series wasn't devoid of action, starting with the Blues putting two shots on goal against Crawford in the game's first 23 seconds. St. Louis actually controlled the play for much of the first five minutes and forced the Blackhawks to weather a storm in their own building right off the hop.
Eventually Chicago gained more time in the offensive zone. The Blackhawks finished the period with a 13-8 margin in shots and nearly opened the scoring for the second straight game on an attempt by Bickell a minute after their first power play expired. He fired a hard wrist shot from the left circle that snuck past Miller's glove and rang off the right post with 3:38 left in the period.
The scoreless tie disappeared during a wild second period, when Shaw and Kane gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead and the Blues came back with back-to-back goals by Tarasenko and Lapierre in the final 1:09.
Shaw scored his first goal of the postseason at 8:40 to make it 1-0 and give the Blackhawks just their cheap replica oakley sunglasses second power-play goal in 14 chances to that point. Kane made it 2-0 at 16:09 with his second goal of the series by converting a perfect cross-ice feed from the half wall by defenseman Johnny Oduya.
"I've felt like every game I've probably gotten a little bit better," said Kane, who missed the final month of the regular season with a lower-body injury. "Whether that's timing or getting used to playing back in the playoffs, whatever it may be, I just keep trying to get better every game and use these games to [my] advantage to try to get back in the swing of things."
The Blues' fifth power play of the game sparked the comeback. Vladimir Sobotka won a faceoff in the offensive zone and got the puck to Tarasenko for a shot from the top of the left circle. The puck traveled through traffic, with Oshie screening Crawford, and hit the back of net with 1:09 left in the period.
Lapierre tied it with 3.1 seconds to play on a wrist shot from the right circle after Chicago failed to clear the zone. The puck hit the right post, came back to hit Crawford's left arm and bounced back into the net for a game-tying goal that gave the Blues a lift heading into the second intermission.
Crawford rebounded strong to keep it tied early in the third, but the Blues kept applying pressure until they took their first lead at 12:26 on Tarasenko's second goal. After collecting the puck off a blocked shot in the defensive zone, St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo sent a pass off the boards to Tarasenko in the neutral zone cheap nike shoes. He raced into the right circle and ripped a wrist shot that skipped off Crawford's glove and into the net for a 3-2 lead.
Crawford and his teammates could've easily folded at that point. Instead, they dug deep. Bickell tied it late and Kane -- who ended the 2010 Stanley Cup Final with an overtime goal in Game 6 -- came up with another OT game-winner.
"That's the way we've been all year," Crawford said. "That's the way we've been the last bunch of years. I mean ... stuff happens. There's things that aren't going to go your way throughout a game and you have to shrug it off and keep playing hard. I think when those things bother you, it changes the game. Maybe we lose that game 4-2 if we let that [second Tarasenko goal] get to us. But we didn't, and I think we came back even harder after they scored. It's just the way we are."
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Blackhawks even series on Kane's OT winner
by shoesclothes01 inchicago -- it took more resolve and two goals by patrick kane, but the defending stanley cup champion chicago blackhawks ground out a series-tying victory against the st. louis blues wednesday night at united center.. .
kane scored his second goal of the night at 11:17 of overtime to give chicago a 4-3 victory knockoff nfl jerseys and even the western conference first round series at 2-2. three of the four games have needed ot to decide a winner.. .
game 5 in the best-of-7 series is friday at scottrade center (8 p.m. et; nbcsn, cbc, rds2, fs-mw, csn-ch).
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Melrose Minute: Lecavalier rejuvenated with Flyers
by shoesclothes01 inless than 10 games remain for each team in the nhl, and while some of the races for berths in the stanley cup playoffs have cleared up, there is plenty to be decided as we hit the home stretch.
here are some things i've been noticing and that i'll be watching over the next week.. .
vinny vidi vici.
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Less than 10 games remain for each team in the NHL, and while some of the races for berths in the Stanley Cup Playoffs have cleared up, there is plenty to be decided as we hit the home stretch. Here are some things I've been noticing and that I'll be watching over the next week.
VINNY VIDI VICI
One of the best players from the past decade reached a career milestone Sunday when Philadelphia Flyers 2014 world cup soccer shirts center Vincent Lecavalier scored his 400th (and later 401st) NHL goal. When someone hits that kind of a milestone it's hard not to look back at his career and marvel. What makes Lecavalier's career so interesting, though, is how good it's been for him to make the change he made this offseason.
He didn't come into Philadelphia playing in good form. Lecavalier had struggled his last few seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning and it didn't help that for a lot of those seasons the Lightning weren't very good. Finishing near the bottom of the standings multiple times can be good for a franchise if it can turn draft picks into Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman or Jonathan Drouin. But for an older player it can wear on you Cheap soccer jerseys. Lecavalier had been great for most of his career. He'd won a Stanley Cup and he was the face of a new organization for a lot of years. Going from that kind of success, particularly when you're young, to being on a team that struggles can wear on an older player.
It's now clear that he needed a change, and getting bought out by the Lightning was a necessary wakeup. Signing with the Flyers has rejuvenated him, and when you look at what players like Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias or Martin St. Louis are doing as they get up in age, there's no reason to think Lecavalier can't be productive for four or even five more seasons cheap nike shoes for sale. He's only 33. I don't think he'll be scoring 40 goals anymore, but he could definitely be a consistent 25- to 35-goal scorer. You've got to think that by the time he retires he'll have at least 500 goals. If you can score 500 goals in the NHL, you're a pretty good hockey player.
CATCH THE RISING STARS
When you look at the Western Conference playoff race, two teams currently occupy the wild-card spots: the Minnesota Wild and Phoenix Coyotes. However, the Dallas Stars entered Monday one point behind with a game in hand. I personally don't think Dallas will overtake Phoenix for the final spot. The Stars have been a little inconsistent and the Coyotes are starting to look like the Coyotes we've come to know.
But despite the way I see this shaking out, when you look at Dallas you have cheap nike shoes free shipping to think this team has one of the brightest futures in the NHL. They've got solid goaltending with Kari Lehtonen; a good young defensive corps with Brenden Dillon and Alex Goligoski; a potential star in Valeri Nichushkin; and there may be no team in the League with a 1-2 offensive punch that can match Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. This is a team that is not only promising, but I think it's one of the five most entertaining teams in the NHL. They score a ton of goals, they play a really fast game and they're physical at the same time.
Whatever happens at the end of this season, I think general manager Jim Nill and the Dallas front office will be pretty happy when they evaluate the season. In his first season in Dallas, Nill has made a lot of strong moves, among them bringing in Seguin and hiring coach Lindy Ruff cheap supreme snapbacks. This has been a big step in the right direction, and if the Stars end up missing the playoffs you could say that's the only negative of their season. Everywhere else this is a team that has made great strides.
BE-DEVILED IN THE SHOOTOUT
We've seen the shootout have an impact in the NHL many times. One moment that comes to mind is when the Flyers and New York Rangers had a shootout on the final day of the 2009-10 season to determine who would earn a playoff berth; the Flyers won and ended up reaching the Stanley Cup Final. This season, however, we've seen not only just how much of an impact the shootout can have in an individual instance, but how important it is to compete in them all season long. For evidence, look no further than the New Jersey Devils, who are five points out of a wild-card spot and an astonishing 0-for-10 in the shootout this season.
Think about that. Those are 10 potential points New Jersey has lost, and it probably will end up costing them a playoff spot. Some teams aren't great in the shootout, but to win zero out of 10 is just crazy, and it's not just bad luck. This is something coaches and general managers need to prepare for, because if this is the system we have and it's not changing, you can't just ignore the points in the standings that are available cheap obey snapbacks. I would be very surprised if New Jersey doesn't go out and get players that have a knack for the shootout after what has happened this season.
There are players out there who are better in the shootout than others (think T.J. Oshie or Jussi Jokinen), and the Devils will need to get one. When I coached in Tampa Bay I had Jokinen on my team and his skill wasn't random. He knew what he was doing. When he played for me I always used to use him first in the shootout. Jussi came to me once and said, "Barry, I'd like to go second cheap oakley sunglasses. That would give me one chance to get a look at the goaltender. I think that would help me." That kind of logic made a lot of sense for someone who was as skilled at the shootout as he was, and I would have been stupid not to listen.
There are certain things a coach can do to improve his team's chances when you reach the shootout. Some teams already know and take advantage of this. I have a feeling New Jersey will be looking to join them this offseason. -
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Eighteen years later, no Game 6 guarantees coming
by shoesclothes01 inmark messier is upon the market.
there won't be any pre-game guarantees this season.. kings, coyotes differ sharply on brown's hit.
"we've not really considered it," rangers center kaira richards stated thursday at madison square garden after what might be the rangers' last full team workout of year unless of course they win game 6 at prudential focus on friday.. .
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Mark Messier is upon the market. There won't be any pre-game guarantees this season.
Kings, Coyotes differ sharply on Brown's hit
"We've not really considered it," Rangers center Kaira Richards stated Thursday at Madison Square Garden after what might be the Rangers' last full team workout of year unless of course they win Game 6 at Prudential Focus on Friday.
Ah, but 18 years back Thursday, Messier released the guarantee heard across the hockey world as he strongly predicted the Rangers cheap nhl jerseys would storm in to the Meadowlands and push away elimination by winning Game 6 from the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
"Mess Sez We'll Win" was the large bold headline around the back page from the New You are able to Daily News on May 25, 1994.
"We'll Win Tonight" was the rear-page headline within the New You are able to Publish that morning, despite the fact that Messier made his guarantee yesterday.
How made it happen modify the Nj Demons, they Messier guaranteed would lose?
Martin Brodeur, who had been the Demons goalkeeper 18 years back within the Eastern Conference Finals from the Rangers just like he's today, stated it did not whatsoever.
"We did not know before the overall game was ended he designed a guarantee," Brodeur stated on the media business call Thursday. "I'm not sure as he made it happen. It was each morning skate or something like that. It might have been the evening before but, again, I do not recall it getting an impact on us whatsoever. However I think in the finish of the overall game everyone designed a large deal from that. If he really stated it, it is a pretty gutsy factor to complete.Inch
Messier stated it, after which he went and shipped a hat trick within the third period to close a 4-2 victory cheap nike shoes. Game 7 was back at Madison Square Garden after a goaltending duel between Brodeur and Mike Richter, Stephane Matteau obtained a wrap-around champion 4:24 into double overtime.
The relaxation is history the Rangers would like to repeat within the future and days. But, nobody within their dressing room will strongly go where Messier did 18 years back.
Actually, the nearest factor there is to some guarantee was Marc Staal saying late Wednesday evening, "We'll collect yourself and obtain back and obtain the next. It'll simply take us longer.Inch
He designed to win the series, something the Rangers were wishing to complete in six games however will need to be satisfied with doing in seven, if whatsoever. It had not been everything emphatic of the statement, and definitely not back-page material, even just in New York City.
"No disrespect to history, but we are concerned about ourselves," Rangers center Kaira Richards stated Thursday. "You want to create our very own story and that is what we are here to complete.
Regardless, the commonalities towards the '94 series abound now.
Much like it had been 18 years back, the Rangers brought the Demons 2-1 simply to have Nj return and win Game 4 both at home and then Game 5 in the Garden. The dates are even setup the identical with both Game 3s being performed around the 19th of May, both Game 4s around the 21st, both Game 5s around the 23rd and both Game 6s around the 25th.
Yes, if there's a game title 7, it will likely be on May 27 at Madison Square Garden, much like it had been 18 years back.
Brodeur, though, noted the main one large distinction between the Rangers and Demons of 18 years back and also the Rangers and Demons of now.
"I was not designed to contend with them whatsoever in '94," Brodeur stated. "They provided each one of these trades plus they had each one of these large men in the finish, plus they drawn them back inside a dramatic way cheap mlb jerseys. But this time around around, we're feeling we are able to have fun with them. It can make me feel much more comfortable starting these games approaching."
He's right for the reason that the Rangers went and also got several large-title gamers just before the deadline, including Matteau, Craig MacTavish, Glenn Anderson and John Noonan. This season the Rangers was pat in the deadline, obtaining only John Scott, the highest black ace.
But the truth is the Demons and Rangers were closer within the regular season in 1994 compared to what they were this year. The Rangers won the President's Trophy with 112 points, but Nj had 106 to complete third within the Eastern Conference cheap coach handbags. The Rangers were tops within the East this year with 109, and Nj was seven in sixth place with 102.
"I do not even consider '94," Demons coach Peter DeBoer stated. "In '94 I still had hair. It had been that sometime ago. That plays no part with what we are doing."
"To not disrespect what went down, but which has nothing related to how we are planning," Rangers coach John Tortorella stated.
Except, obviously, for that one remaining outcomes of the 2 series -- Brodeur.
"Nobody understood my title in those days,Inch Brodeur stated.
These were chanting it noisally Wednesday evening in the Garden. Now individuals same blue-clad fans and all sorts of others like options are wishing the 2012 Rangers try to equal the 1994 Rangers.
Whether it does, it will not include a pre-game guarantee.
Messier is upon the market.