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(Sports Network) - With three games remaining until the playoffs, the Boston Bruins have nothing left to do but get ready to defend their Stanley Cup championship. Ron Santo Authentic Jersey . On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Penguins have plenty to play for. The Pens look to keep their grip on the Eastern Conferences fourth seed this evening with a victory over the Northeast Division-champion Bruins. Watch the game live at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt on TSN2 and TSN Mobile TV. Boston secured its second division title in a row and the second seed in the East with its victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night. The win gave the Bruins six more points than the Senators with three games to play and Boston owns the tiebreaker with four more non-shootout wins. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has lost four of its past six games and Sunday afternoons 6-4 setback to visiting Philadelphia trimmed the Pens lead over the Flyers for the fourth seed in the East to just a single point. Both teams have three games remaining in the regular season and the Flyers host the Rangers this evening. With Philadelphia and Pittsburgh likely to meet in the first round of the playoffs, the Penguins might not want the fourth seed and home-ice advantage. The Penguins have lost all five of their games versus the Flyers at the CONSOL Energy Center since it opened in October of 2010, giving up five straight goals to Philadelphia on Sunday after getting first-period tallies from Steve Sullivan and James Neal. Sullivan ended with two goals, Chris Kunitz tallied and Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis and Evgeni Malkin all ended with two assists. Malkin leads the NHL with 104 points, while Dupuis has logged nine goals and 10 assists over a 14-game point streak, the longest such run in the NHL this season. Marc-Andre Fleury yielded five goals on 25 shots and was prevented from matching Tom Barrassos franchise record of 226 career victories. "I think we did some really good things," Crosby said. "The big thing for us is that we made some big mistakes. We had some good chances, but we cant afford to make mistakes and expect to win." Crosby, who has missed most of this season due to concussion-like symptoms and a neck injury, also took exception to a cross check from behind by Philadelphias Brayden Schenn, and a hit by Pittsburghs Joe Vitale on Danny Briere sparked a melee with 63 seconds left to play that saw all 10 players on the ice engage. Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato also got into a heated exchanged with Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette, and both were tossed from the game. "Sidney took exception to a hit," Bylsma said of the scrum. "There were 10 guys joined together near center ice and, from what I can gather, their coach didnt like a hit, took a stick and broke it over the glass, and that stick ended up in our bench." The Pens and Flyers will meet again in Pittsburgh on Saturday to end the regular season. First, the Penguins will take on a Bruins team that is coming off a 2-1 victory over the Rangers, their seventh in the past nine games. Dennis Seidenberg and Patrice Bergeron scored the goals and Tim Thomas made 33 saves to lock up the division. Zdeno Chara, named the NHLs Second Star of the week on Monday, logged an assist to give him eight points over a five-game point streak. "Theoretically, we have plenty of time to get that extra two points, but why wait," Thomas said about securing the division title. "We had a chance to seal it up and take all the hope out of Ottawas sails. Its nice to do." Boston will now use its final three games this season to get ready for the postseason and could be without center Gregory Campbell due to a bruised foot that held him out of Sundays win. The Penguins have won four of five and seven of their last 10 versus the Bruins, including four straight in Boston. That is one shy of the club-best five-game win streak the club had in Beantown from March 27, 1993-March 4, 1995. Malkin was named the NHLs Second Star for the month of March after leading all skaters with 23 points in 15 games. He posted his fourth five-point game of the season with a two-goal, three-assist effort versus the Jets on March 20 and has four points in three games versus the Bruins this season. Mark Grace Authentic Jersey . Turns out, the alternative wasnt any fun for Malone, either. Durant scored 30 points and embraced a role as a facilitator by finishing with nine assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past Sacramento 108-93 on Sunday night. Fergie Jenkins Cubs Jersey . -- As usual, Aksel Lund Svindal was super fast on this hill.INDIANAPOLIS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle provided a spark, and his team played just as he hoped. Monta Ellis had 23 points and nine rebounds, and Dirk Nowitzki added 18 points as the Mavericks handed the Indiana Pacers their third home loss of the season, 81-73 on Wednesday night. "Coach got on us pretty good this morning," Nowitzki said. "I thought we responded. We battled them and tried to make it tough on them." The Mavericks (32-22), who have won six of seven, finished a three-game road trip heading into the NBA All-Star break. Dallas five-game winning streak was snapped at Charlotte on Tuesday. "It wasnt that we didnt respect Charlotte," Carlisle said. "Its that we had such great respect for Indiana. We knew we were going to have to play at a super high level." It wasnt easy for either team. Dallas won despite its second-lowest point total this season. The NBAs highest-scoring team netted only 80 points in a loss to New York on Jan. 5. The Mavericks came out on top by holding the Pacers to a season-worst 32.1 per cent shooting. George Hill had 14 points, and Lance Stephenson and Danny Granger both scored 13 for the Pacers (40-12), who have lost two of three. "They beat us at our game," Hill said. "They played well tonight and we just didnt play good enough. We gave one away. Its unfortunate, but its over now." The Mavericks outscored the Pacers 21-11 in the final quarter and scored the first six points of the fourth. Dallas took a 66-62 lead when Ellis made a free throw with 6:55 remaining. Brandan Wright scored, Ellis made two more free throws, and Wright made a layup to give the Mavericks a 72-66 edge. Ellis made a 3-pointer early in the second half to give the Mavericks a 46-42 lead. West hit a jumper, Samuel Dalemberrt also scored, and Hill sank a 3-pointer to make it 48-47. Custom Cubs Jersey. Paul George scored to give the Pacers their first lead of the second half, 53-52, with 6:12 left in the quarter. Indiana built its edge to 60-55, but Dallas scored five straight to tie it with 2:20 remaining in the third. Pacers coach Frank Vogel reminded his team leading up to Wednesdays game that the All-Star break didnt begin until after Indianas meeting with Dallas. "I wanted to make that clear to all of our guys," Vogel said. "Weve got work to do. We want to go into the break ahead 3 1/2 games." The Mavericks spoiled that for the Pacers. Indiana outshot the Mavericks in the fourth quarter, but Dallas pulled away by making 13 of 16 from the free throw line. Hill scored late to make it 74-68, but Ellis made a pair of free throws. Stephenson scored on a lay-up, and George grabbed a steal and later hit a 3-pointer to make it 76-73 with 37 seconds remaining. Ellis scored four straight points from the line to give the Mavericks an 80-73 advantage. "We were able to make just enough plays," Carlisle said. "It was just a very competitive game from start to finish. There was a lot of attitude in the game, which is great. We were able to get out of here alive." The Mavericks are already looking past the break, and things wont be any easier then. Dallas will hosts the Miami Heat in the first game after All-Star weekend. NOTES: Indiana had 10 offensive rebounds and scored a season-low four second-chance points. . The last time the Mavericks won in Indianapolis was November 2009. . Mavericks guard Gal Mekel was out after having right knee surgery. . Dallas guard Devin Harris didnt play because of knee and ankle injuries. ... The Pacers committed 20 turnovers and fell to 5-4 when they have at least 20. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
