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Scott Cullen checks in with notes on the Habs sweep, the Bruins defensive dominance, Rangers vets leading the way and the Sharks putting the Kings in a hole. cheapjerseysstore . HABS ADVANCE Max Pacioretty tucked in the winning goal, on a last minute power play, giving the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, ending the series in a four-game sweep. While he didnt register a point, Game Four was yet another big game for Canadiens LW Rene Bourque, who led the Canadiens with seven shots on goal and a plus-14 Corsi (68.4%), during a game in which the possession battle was virtually even (60-59 in shot attempts, favouring Montreal, at 5-on-5). Even so, it was also a dominant game for Lighting D Victor Hedman, who was on for 72.5% (29 for, 11 against) of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, while the Lightning were just under 38% (30 for, 49 against) when Hedman was off the ice. Lightning rookie LW Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist in the Game Four loss, giving him three points (in three games) in the series, tying Hedman for second on the Lightning. Steven Stamkos was their top scorer in Round One, with four points in four games. RW Ryan Callahan, who played more than 20 minutes per game, was held off the scoresheet in the series, registering five shots on goal. After Hedman, who was plus-15 in shot attempts for the series, RW J.T. Brown (+13), D Andrej Sustr (+10) and C Cedric Paquette (+8) were the next-best possession players for the Lightning. On the other hand, D Matt Carle (-23), C Tyler Johnson (-23) and D Radko Gudas (-16) -- who missed Game Four with an injury -- were on the low end of the possession scale for Tampa Bay. Surprisingly, the Canadiens won the possession game -- a facet of the game at which the Lightning were better throughout the season. Canadiens D Josh Gorges was a net plus-22 Corsi through four games, best on the team, ahead of Thomas Vanek (+19), Brendan Gallagher (+19) and P.K. Subban (+17). Montreals leading scorers in the series were C Lars Eller (2 G, 3 A), RW Brendan Gallagher (3 G, 2 A) and P.K. Subban (5 A). To get a series sweep, and production outside their potent No. 1 line, has to be encouraging for the Canadiens. Coming into the series, it looked like a tough spot for the Lightning, turning to backup G Anders Lindback with Ben Bishop hurt late in the regular season, and while Lindback was hardly the only reason the Lightning lost, he wasnt nearly as strong as Carey Price, who finished with a pedestrian .904 save percentage; though that was better than Lindbacks .881 mark, which isnt good enough to win. The result might have happened a little easier than expected, but this series matched the forecast. BRUINS GAIN ADVANTAGE Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots and Patrice Bergeron had an empty-net goal and an assist to give the Boston Bruins a 3-0 win in Game Three at Detroit, giving the Bruins a 2-1 series lead over the Red Wings. The Bruins controlled play early, outshooting the Red Wings 11-4 in the first period, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Dougie Hamilton and Jordan Caron. Even with the Red Wings trying to mount a rally in the final two periods, the Bruins still ended up with a slight edge in puck possession. Even with that being the case, the best individual Corsi for the game belonged to Red Wings RW Gustav Nyquist, who was one for 18 shots for, seven against (+11, 72.0%). Without Nyquist on the ice, the Red Wings had 36.1% (17 for, 30 against) of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. With one goal total in the past two games, the Red Wings are finding it difficult to get on track against the Bruins and Nyquist, who leads the team with 10 shots on goal, still has yet to record a point. Detroit might be holding its own in the possession game for this series, but theyre not going to get very far if they dont find a way to finish against Rask and the Bruins. RANGERS OVER FLYERS Martin St. Louis, Rick Nash and Dan Girardi each recorded two points as the New York Rangers downed the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 in Game Three, taking a 2-1 series lead. The Flyers may well have deserved a better fate in this game, outshooting the Rangers 32-23 and getting 80 total shot attempts to the Rangers 49; that indicates a rather decisive territorial edge. Every Flyer had a positive Corsi, led by RW Wayne Simmonds, who was on for 76.2% (16 for, 5 against) of the shot attempts at 5-on-5. The mirror image, for the Rangers, was RW Mats Zuccarello, who was on the ice for 20.8% (5 for, 19 against) of 5-on-5 shot attempts. Put into the lineup against his former team, Rangers LW Dan Carcillo scored the Blueshirts fourth goal to ice the game; a nice contribution from a player that had one goal in his final 20 regular season games. Overall, though, the Flyers are having a hard time generating shots on goal. D Luke Schenn led the way with five shots on goal in Game Three and hes now tied with call-up RW Jason Akeson for the team lead, with eight. At the very least, Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Scott Hartnell should all be getting more pucks on net. But, in Game Three, the bigger issue was in goal, where Ray Emery surrendered four goals on 20 shots and while he wasnt terrible, Emery was yanked in favour of Steve Mason with under eight minutes remaining. That could be an indication that Mason will be ready to start Game Four. Flyers captain Claude Giroux is confident that Philadelphia will take Game Four, and go back to New York with the series even, but Giroux is going to be front and centre in that effort. If Philly wants to even up the series, they need their top guns firing. KINGS ON THE BRINK A series that was supposed to be a first-round classic is in danger of going to a sweep after the San Jose Sharks 4-3 overtime win in Game Three against the Los Angeles Kings. Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist and Brent Burns scored the games first goal and contributed seven shots on goal in the winning effort. The nature of Burns first goal of the game and Marleaus last goals of the game shows just how important it is to get shots at the net. Burns flubbed a one-timer and the puck floated, virtually in slow-motion, past Quick. Marleaus goal was a weak backhand that deflected off Kings D Slava Voynov and past Quick. Add in a rebound goal for Tomas Hertl, for the game-tying third goal, and a deflection by Sharks RW Matt Nieto past a fallen Quick, who had been knocked over by D Robyn Regehr, and the quality of San Joses goals wasnt nearly as high as it had been in Game Two, when clean shots were beating Quick at every turn. After complaining about his Game Two ice time, Kings D Drew Doughty had a couple of assists and played a game-high 28:31, even though he missed some time while dealing with a shoulder injury. As if a 3-0 series lead isnt daunting enough to overcome for the Kings, but trying to do it with their No. 1 defenceman playing through injury is a virtually impossible task. The possession game for each team was won by Kings C Mike Richards (22 shot attempts for, 11 against) and Sharks LW Tomas Hertl (20 for, 13 against). At the wrong end of the scale, Sharks D Brad Start was on for 26.5% (nine for, 25 against) of the 5-on-5 shots against, though that meant the Sharks captured 53.7% of the shot attempts when Stuart was off the ice. For fans of high level hockey, its disappointing to see the Kings down 3-0, because a goal by Los Angeles in overtime (where they outshot San Jose 5-1) would have improved the odds of a long series. As it is now, theres little reason to imagine that the Kings can overcome this deficit against a Sharks team that is playing as well as any in the postseason. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.www.cheapjerseysstore.net . Fifth-seeded Cilic gained his fourth title in Zagreb and became the third Croat overall to win at least 10 career titles. Cilic also lifted his career record in Zagreb to 22-4, winning 20 of his last 21 matches at the event. http://www.cheapjerseysstore.net/ . -- UFC president Dana White has dismissed Georges St-Pierres concerns about drug testing, calling them ridiculous and "a little kooky.LAKELAND, Florida – That Ricky Romeros name was even being mentioned as a possibility for the last remaining spot in the Blue Jays rotation is an indication of the uncertainty surrounding the clubs starting corps less than two weeks before opening day. The above paragraph could be rewritten, verbatim, with Marcus Stromans name in place of Romeros. After both men had disastrous outings in Tuesdays 18-4 mauling at the hands of the Tigers, its clear that neither is the best option to begin the season in Toronto. Whats also clear is that it isnt clear who the best option is to join R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and, presumably, Drew Hutchison in a rotation that last season posted baseballs second-worst starting staff ERA (4.81.) Romero and Stroman were outsiders at best to break camp with the big league club and for different reasons. There had been cautious optimism surrounding Romero, the reclamation project, who had been showing some signs of emerging from his two-year funk. Stroman, meanwhile, is a projected future star and rotation cornerstone who, along with Drew Hutchison and Aaron Sanchez, has the coaching staff salivating. Given the mediocre-to-subpar performances of J.A. Happ, Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond this spring, theres been some consideration, however small, given to handing Stroman a rotation spot. After all, how much lesser of an option is he than any of the others? Romero, scheduled to go four or five innings on Tuesday depending on pitch count, instead went two-and-two-thirds, allowing three runs on three hits, a home run, five walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches. It could have been worse. Romero picked off two of his walks and another was caught stealing. Only 23 of Romeros 57 pitches were strikes. He acknowledged falling behind in counts and not following through in his delivery but also took a shot at Mother Nature. "It was a weird weather day, too," said Romero. "The balls were a little slick and it just kept coming out of my hand and whatnot, but I tried to battle." The game time temperature was 20-celcius. It was a sunny day. There was a breeze, but nothing out of the ordinary. Romero also admitted to being too amped up. "I was a little excited," he said. "I think just getting a start and whatnot, that was the first start Ive had since the Triple-A season ended last year. It was a little different, just trying to get used to it again." "Not enough strikes," said manager John Gibbons. "Today, all the way around, it was just a bad day in every phase of the game. Let that one go. Ive got nothing to say. Its tough for me to analyze that. You were watching what I was watching. You analyze it." While theres no doubt the Blue Jays would enjoy getting some kind of return on the $15.6-million still owed Romero through the end of next season, his name started coming up as a rotation option only after general manager Alex Anthopoulos failed to sign Ervin Santana, a non-move which seems to become more glaring by the day. Gibbons wouldnt commit to whether Romero would get another start. "This ones over," said Gibbons. "It was a bad day all the way around." Stroman was supposed to follow Romero and pitch four or five innings. He recorded only one out before being pulled in the fifth, giving up seven runs on five hits with a walk and a strikeout. "Not enough strikes," said Gibbons. Its pretty simple." Toronto pitchers combined to walk 11 on the afternoon. The Blue Jays need someone to step up, pitch well and take the final rotation spot. Time is running out before the job is awarded to someone by default. Its J.A. Happs turn next. He starts on Wednesday, in Dunedin, against the Phillies. MORROW vs. BUEHRLE IN INTRASQUAD GAME Brandon Morrow, whos being strongly considered to pitch the home opener on April 4 against the Yankees, making him the "fifth" starter, squared off against Mark Buehrle in an intrasquad game in Dunedin on Tuesday. Morrow, who missed the final fouur months of last season with an entrapped radial nerve in his right forearm, has struggled with fastball command this spring. cheapjerseysstore.net. In three-and-two-thirds innings, he allowed two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out two. Morrow threw 63 pitches; his fastball ranged in the low-to-mid 90s. "I was getting ahead, throwing it where I wanted to," said Morrow. "I think I had a couple looking strikeouts on it. All in all, it was a good day. I felt really good with my curveball. Slider and split couldve been better, but I made some good pitches with those too." Buehrle threw four-and-third innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits (including home runs by Erik Kratz and Kenny Wilson) and two walks. He struck out three and threw 81 pitches. JANSSEN THROWS LIVE BATTING PRACTICE Casey Janssen faced live hitters for the first time since late February. He threw live batting practice on Tuesday morning in Dunedin. "Another step in the right direction," said Janssen. "Got the heart pumping a little bit, which was nice. Im sure Fridays going to be more of the same, hopefully a little bit more in the velocity department, just because therell be defenders behind me." Barring the unforeseen, Janssen is scheduled to appear in his first Grapefruit League game on Friday when the Blue Jays visit the Rays in Port Charlotte. On Tuesday, Janssen threw his fastball, curveball, slider and changeup. He didnt throw his cut fastball. Janssen has been kept out of spring games due to soreness in the back of his right shoulder. The pain is unrelated to his offseason shoulder surgery of a year ago and the discomfort it caused last year. DETERMINING LINDS ROLE Adam Lind got the start against Tigers left-hander Drew Smyly on Tuesday as the club works toward determining whether hell be a strict platoon player this season. "I always can hit lefties; I just cant hit the Cy Young lefties," said Lind. "I cant tell you how many people probably hit David Price well or Jon Lester well or CC (Sabathia) well but unfortunately all those guys are in the same division. Its the beauty of playing in this division. You know where youre at as a baseball player." Linds career splits dont lie. Hes hit right-handers at a .286 BA/.850 OPS clip and hits a home run about once in every 20 at-bats. Against left-handers, the number dwindles to .219BA/.603 OPS with a home run in 2.6-percent of his at-bats. Right-handed hitting Moises Sierra, whos out of options, is the top candidate at the moment to take those at-bats against lefties. The Jays are still trying to figure out the plan. "Hes been swinging it pretty good against some pretty good lefties this spring," said manager John Gibbons. "Well just see where it goes from there. It all stacks up right now, and Sierras that guy, he would face some of the lefties. But, I think, Lindy and (hitting coach Kevin) Seitzer have been working on an approach to face those lefties and lets see where that takes us." Lind succeeded in his goal of staying off the disabled list last season. Hed missed time with a bad back in each of the previous two years. Last offseason, Lind turned to yoga. He enjoyed it and felt that it helped so he took it up a notch this past winter. "I went personal yoga instructor this year," said Lind. "It was nice. She got to know my body and we got a little more specific instead of just having a class with 20 people in it. She would correct me if I was in the wrong positions and things like that. It was nice to have someone to be there just for me." The Blue Jays will employ a yoga instructor to conduct a session on a weekly basis in an effort to curb the number of muscle-related injuries. Lind likes the benefits. "I loved it," he said. "Ill continue to do it even when Im done playing. The way it makes you feel when you walk out of that classroom, you really get away. Theres so much more into it, Im just doing the physical part of it. Im not lost in the yoga world just yet." cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
