Dein erstes Forum » for its first playoff series win against Pittsburgh

Martin St. Louis will be in the lineup tonight when the New York Rangers face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference second round series. St. Louis mother France passed away suddenly on Thursday. Head coach Alain Vigneault said St. Louis traveled to his familys home in Montreal the night before but has since returned and will play. Pittsburgh has pushed the Rangers to the brink of elimination as the Penguins hold a 3-1 advantage after dropping the first game of the series in overtime. Since losing Game 1 in the Steel City, the Pens have rattled off three straight wins, outscoring New York by a combined 9-2 margin along the way. After getting shut out by Marc-Andre Fleury in Games 2 and 3, New York was able to score twice in Wednesdays meeting in Manhattan but it wasnt enough to even the series. Instead, the Penguins earned a 4-2 decision to grab a commanding lead in the best-of-seven set and give them a chance to end the series tonight on home ice. New York has won seven of its last nine games when facing elimination, including two of four on the road. Pittsburgh, however, is 9-2 all-time in series when holding a 3-1 lead. The last time the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead was in the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Tampa Bay when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were injured and missed the series. New York halted a scoring drought at 145 minutes, 30 seconds on Carl Hagelins goal early in the second period of Game 4, but the club continued to struggle on the power play. The Rangers went 0-for-2 with the man advantage on Wednesday and have now failed on 36 straight power-play chances. The last power-play goal for the Rangers came in Game 2 of their first-round victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. "We havent earned it enough, we havent executed enough," Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh said of his teams overall effort in this series. "We have looks, cant finish, and havent made it hard on the goalie and are not capitalizing on the chances we are given. We have to play better on all areas of the ice (Friday)." The clubs power-play situation plumbed new depths in Game 4, with New York not only failing to score on the man advantage once again but the Rangers also allowed a shorthanded goal to Brandon Sutter late in the second period. Sutters tally made it 2-1 with 1:33 remaining in the period and Pittsburgh would hold a lead the rest of the way. Malkin contributed a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, while Chris Kunitz and Jussi Jokinen also lit the lamp to help the Pens grab a commanding series lead. Crosby added two assists in the game and Pittsburghs captain has nine points in the playoffs. Malkin leads the team with 12 points (5g, 7a). Fleury, who in Games 3 and 4 became the first Penguins goalie to record back- to-back playoff shutouts, only needed to make 13 saves for Wednesdays victory. The 15 shots allowed by Pittsburgh in Game 4 were the fewest surrendered in a playoff game in franchise history. "Its a nice cushion you know, but nothings done," said Fleury. "Its fun for now, its a nice win. But get back at it Friday." Pittsburgh did lose Brooks Orpik once again after the defenseman returned from a five-game absence due to an undisclosed injury. Orpik was hurt Wednesday after colliding with Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello late in the first period and did not return. If Orpik is unable to go in Game 5, Robert Bortuzzo expects to take his place in the lineup. Bortuzzo had an assist and was a plus-2 while filling in for Orpik in five games during this postseason. Zuccarello scored in the third period for New York and Henrik Lundqvist gave up all four goals on 27 shots. New York head coach Alain Vigneault blamed the Game 4 loss largely on his teams carelessness with the puck. "We didnt pick a good night to manage the puck the way we did tonight," said Vigneault. "I dont want to take any credit against Pittsburgh, they forced the play and they played a real solid game without the puck that obviously forced us into a lot of those turnovers." The Rangers had speedy forward Chris Kreider in the lineup for the first time since late March in Game 4, and the 23-year-old experienced some ups and downs. Kreider, who returned after recovering from surgery to his left hand, had one shot on net and was a minus-one after logging 15:24 of ice time. "I felt good one shift, rusty the next, good for a shift, rusty the next," Kreider said. "Im excited to play the next one because we have another opportunity. Whenever a team goes deep into this thing they always face some adversity, and thats what weve got right here. This is an opportunity to see what we are made of. Its gut-check time." If New York is able to win Fridays game in the Steel City, it will host Game 6 on Sunday. New York is aiming for its first playoff series win against Pittsburgh, which has won all four previous postseason meetings. The Pens boast a 19-5 all-time record against the Rangers in the playoffs and are 10-3 as the home team. Jordan China . -- Chris Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left to put Memphis ahead to stay, and the 21st-ranked Tigers beat seventh-ranked Louisville 72-66 Saturday, sweeping the season series from the Cardinals. Air Jordan Outlet . -- Down to 10 men and behind on the scoreboard, Toronto FC displayed its perseverance. https://www.jordanchina.us/ . The 19-year-old Swiss centre back will initially have to impress in Uniteds reserve side to earn a spot in the first team. Veseli says "Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same. Cheap Jordan From China . With the Nets winning streak in jeopardy, Williams scored 23 points, 11 in the final six minutes, to lead Brooklyn to a 104-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. Fake Jordan . -- Wide receiver Sidney Rice should be fully recovered from a torn knee ligament by the time the Seattle Seahawks start defence of their Super Bowl title, general manager John Schneider said Wednesday.Despite a stunning late-season collapse that cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a playoff spot, general manager Dave Nonis believes Randy Carlyle is still the right man to lead the club. The Maple Leafs handed their embattled head coach a two-year contract extension on Thursday, while at the same time announcing that assistants Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon will not be back. "It was important for us to make it clear that Randy has the support needed to move forward," Nonis said on a conference call. "He has done a lot of good things for us and we expect him to continue that with some new assistants." There had been rampant speculation that Carlyle would pay with his job after a disastrous end to the most recent campaign saw Toronto tumble out of post-season contention thanks to an embarrassing 2-12-0 finish. Instead, Nonis and new Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan gassed Carlyles staff in hopes that some new voices can help the 58-year-old get the most out of Torontos underachieving roster. "If youve seen it being done before with most of the same players, or a lot of the same players, and with that coach leading that group, I know it can happen," said Nonis. "I know it has happened with this group before. I know that (Carlyle) has reached them before, reached them at times this year. "For me its not that were guessing whether or not he can have success or he can get through to them. Weve seen it. I know that its there and we feel he is the guy that can get through to this group." Carlyle -- who led the Maple Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2004 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season -- had Toronto sitting second in the Atlantic Division this year before the wheels fell off in mid-March. "We feel that this group can continue to grow into a higher level of a hockey club," said Carlyle. "We just have to find and continue to push for a little bit more from the individuals and we are going to do everything we possibly can to change some of the things that are happening with our group." Despite calls from fans and media alike in Toronto for Carlyles dismissal, Nonis said he wasnt swayed by how the decision might play in the hockey-mad city. "If youre worried about optics in this market, its going to be a disaster," said Nonis. "I think you have to make a decision based on what you think is the best decision for the organization, and this in our minds was clearly the best option. "He was a guy we believe can get the job done for us. Whether optics are that its the wrong thing to do or not doesnt really matter to us. If youre looking at trying to please people, youre probably going to make some poor decisions." The Maple Leafs started the 2013-14 season on a 10-4-0 run, but Carlyle worried at the time that his team was getting away with sloppy play in the defensive zone. Going into and coming out of the Olympic break, the Leafs were rolling despitte being badly outshot on most nights.dddddddddddd When they beat the Kings in Los Angeles on March 13, they were in second place in the division. But starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier aggravated a groin injury that night, and though it was not considered serious at the time it proved to be devastating. James Reimer lost five straight and was pulled March 23 against the New Jersey Devils before Bernier returned and lost three more. The final night of that losing streak, March 29 against the Detroit Red Wings, was effectively the death knell for Torontos playoff hopes. "This hockey club has proven at times to be able to compete to a higher level," said Carlyle. "The consistency of our compete in our defensive zone coverage was the area of concern right from the opening month of the season. We harped on it, harped on it, harped on it, yet we were winning with it." Nonis made it clear that it was managements decision to clean out the assistant coaches. Carlyle had worked with Farrish since their days with the Anaheim Ducks, winning a Stanley Cup together in 2007. "Its a tough day and those are tough ones," said Carlyle, who also played junior hockey with Farrish. "The game of hockey is a great game, but the business side of hockey is an awful one. This is an awful day in our life, for our relationship between Dave Farrish and myself." Nonis said that Carlyle would be consulted on the new assistant coaches, but added the decisions will be a collaborative effort. Carlyle led Toronto to the playoffs last spring, but that run ended in disaster when the Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead in Game 7. "I think that we showed for periods as a group last year and the year before that what the team is capable of it -- that we have the ability to compete with top teams," said Nonis. "Why we got away from that at times, I think thats something were going to focus on over the course of the summer to put some answers there." Carlyle replaced the fired Ron Wilson in March of 2012, months after the Leafs previous coach signed a new contract extension. He went 6-9-3 to finish out that season and then 26-17-5 in 2013 season. In parts of three seasons with Toronto, the Sudbury, Ont., native has a combined record of 70-62-16. Nonis said its easy to blame a coaching staff and management when things go south, but added that the players also have to take a lot of the responsibility for a season that went off the rails so dramatically. "Our players have to be committed to do the things we did the year before that made us successful. The blame has to be spread around all of us," he said. "I think that were going to come back in the fall and the players are going to know that this coaching staff is committed to doing the things that we need done to be successful and they are going to have to perform." ' ' '