Herzlich Willkommen » Cup as the greatest

NEW YORK, N.Y. - When other parts of their game are sputtering, the New York Rangers have two solid-gold assets to fall back on. Penalty killing and goaltending. Its a combo that has helped the Blueshirts to within one victory of their first Stanley Cup final in 20 years. And it has frustrated the Montreal Canadiens, who must win Game 5 Tuesday at the Bell Centre to stave off playoff extinction. With a 17.1 per cent strike rate — good for 19th during the regular season — the Montreal power play was hardly a well-oiled machine. But against the Rangers, the Canadiens are 1-for-17 with the man-advantage. Montreals lone power-play breakthrough came Sunday night in a 3-2 overtime loss at Madison Square Garden. And that P.K. Subban blast from the point was tempered by a short-handed goal by Carl Hagelin that opened the scoring. The Canadiens power play went 1-for-8 on a night where the Rangers spent 14.33 minutes or almost 22 per cent of the game a man short. "Give credit to our (penalty) killers and our goaltender," said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. "They did a real good job." That is nothing new. Prior to Subbans goal, the Rangers had killed off 27 straight penalties. New York is 37-for-39 (94.9 per cent) on the penalty kill in its last 12 games The penalty count was three to one against the Rangers by the 10-minute mark Sunday, the perfect scenario for a Montreal team looking for a decisive start to silence the Rangers crowd. "We had the opportunity on the power play but we didnt take advantage of it tonight," lamented Montreal coach Michel Therrien. "Yes, we scored a goal. It was a tying goal, but we gave up one, and that was the story of the game. I thought our power play had to be better." The Rangers go-to forward pairing on the power play is Hagelin and Brian Boyle. Hagelin is a speed merchant while the Boyle resume reads "big body, blocks shots, good on faceoffs," according to Vigneault. Boyle can also pass a bit, finding Hagelin all alone on a stretch pass deep from the New York end. Hagelin broke in alone, faked a shot and tucked a backhand between the legs of Dustin Tokarski at 7:18 for his sixth of the playoffs. It was the Rangers first short-handed goal in 70 playoff games, dating back to April 9, 2008. The New York penalty kill is smart and sleek. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist has worked hard on his puck-handling and his defenders are well-positioned. If a Ranger gets to the puck first behind the net, for example, there is usually a teammate standing just feet away ready to dump it down the rink. "I think our guys do a good job whether it be on the forecheck coming back in the right positions and trying to create those battles where youve a chance to make a couple plays and get it out," said Vigneault. "When we dont, (our) goaltender stops the puck." In four games, Montreal has seven goals on 107 shots. While Tokarski has won kudos for his play in stepping in for the injured Carey Price, Lundqvists playoffs numbers are sparkling — a .931 save percentage and 1.98 goals-against average. The Rangers have allowed two goals or less in 13 of their 18 playoff games., including six of the last seven games. New York ranks first in the NHL in goals against per game in the playoffs at 2.11. Sundays win was the 41st post-season win of Lundqvists career, tying him with Mike Richter for the most playoff victories in Rangers history. The 32-year-old Lundqvist ranks first in Rangers history in regulation wins with 309, eight more than Richters 301. In contrast, the 24-year-old Tokarski has 13 NHL games —10 in the regular season and three in the playoffs. Lundqvist picked up an assist on Derick Brassards second-period goal, his first in 85 post-season games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first Rangers goaltender to record a playoff assist since Mike Richter on May 11, 1997. With Game 5 coming up fast, the main Ranger talking point will be whether Derek Stepan can return from a broken jaw suffered in Game 3. On the weekend, he managed to drop by the arena to see his teammates before returning home to recuperate from surgery. Brassard, meanwhile, returned to the lineup Sunday after being knocked out of Game 1 early with an upper body injury and made his presence felt. In addition to his goal, he led all skaters with 18 faceoffs wins, winning 75 per cent of his 24 draws. New York is winning the faceoff battle. On Sunday, the Rangers took 48 of 79 draws for a 61 per cent success rate. Martin St. Louis hot hand is also of note. His OT winner Sunday Louis extended his point streak to six games (4-3—7), tying a playoff career high in the post-season. He leads the Ranges with 13 points in these playoffs. NOTES— Hagelin was Sundays recipient of the Broadway Hat, a battered black fedora given to the player judged by his peers to be most instrumental in a Rangers win ... The Rangers are 12-1 all-time when they lead a playoff series three games to one. Discount Jerseys League . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Discount Jerseys Cheap . There were no real chances until Augsburg broke the deadlock through Raul Bobadilla in the 33rd minute. Frankfurt failed to clear a cross and Bobadilla slotted home from close range at the far post. https://www.discountjerseysonline.com/. The first baseman hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Mets to a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Discount Jerseys Online . The right-hander pitched into the seventh inning and boosted Cincinnatis struggling offence by hitting a double and scoring as the Reds ended a seven-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Braves 1-0 Saturday night. Discount Jerseys Team . Summers has seen scant playing time with the Coyotes since being selected 29th overall by the club in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, having played in 47 career NHL games.MINSK, Belarus - When Troy Brouwer returned from a vacation during the NHLs Olympic break, he tuned in to the final few games of Team Canadas run to gold in Sochi. Understandably, he liked what he saw. "I think the Olympic team did an absolutely amazing job at showing how Canadians play hockey," said Brouwer. Brouwer wasnt the only one. Phoenix Coyotes coach Dave Tippett saw not just a winning style of hockey but something to emulate. As coach of Canadas team at the world championship, he wants to follow the path blazed by Mike Babcock and the stars who went undefeated at the Olympics. "I look at the blueprint from a few months ago in Sochi, the way Canada played: A hard, Canadian style of hockey," Tippett said in a recent phone interview. "If we can go and try to continue that mindset for our team, I think that would be something that would be crazy not to look at." It would be crazy to think any team can duplicate that effort in perfect fashion. Canadas team for the IIHF world hockey championship wont have any players from Sochi and this is a different tournament altogether. Most of the other countries are in the same boat, absent the top-end NHL talent from the Olympics, save for Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Bobrovsky returning for Russia after its disappointing run and others like Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic and Gustav Nyquist of Sweden also going to Minsk. But that doesnt change Canaadas plan for this tournament, which begins with Fridays opener against France. Kyle Turris isnt Sidney Crosby, Morgan Rielly isnt Shea Weber and neither James Reimer nor Ben Scrivens is Carey Price, but the hope is that talented NHL players in their own right can get the same job done. "I think your team has to have its own identity, but you look at what that team did and the success it had on the big ice and with NHL players, theres certainly some things that you can use on our team," Tippett said. "The team that played in Sochi, you could say was one of the best teams in the history of the game, the way they played. You realize we dont have that same team, but the way they played and their commitment to playing as a team was as strong as anything weve seen in a long time. That part of the game can certainly translate into our team." The first steps are there. General manager Rob Blake along with assistant GMs Ron Hextall, Brad Treliving and Brad Pascall, like Steve Yzerman and his management team several months ago, looked for forward pairs to put together. Tippett, like Babcock, believes in having a left- and a right-handed shot on each defensive pairing. In terms of selecting the roster, Blake reiterated the obvious: that unlike the Olympics, an event every healthy player called wants badly to play in, the world championship is more selective. It has been a long NHL season and its too much of a grind to expect Sochi Olympianss to jump at the chance to play three extra weeks in Minsk.dddddddddddd "You go down to the tier of the younger guys and you get your commitments," Blake said in a phone interview. "You kind of work around. But Ron Hextall, Brad Treliving and Brad Pascall, the one thing they were pretty passionate about from the beginning is the guys that want to be there, those are the ones that you want." That group includes three Maple Leafs: Reimer, Rielly and centre Nazem Kadri, who played on the wing in Canadas exhibition game Tuesday in Zurich. It also includes in defenceman Braydon Coburn and forwards Brayden Schenn and Matt Read, three Flyers who just wrapped up a seven-game series loss to the Rangers. The crown jewel of the roster might be one of the final additions: Colorado Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, the likely Calder Trophy winner who impressed in his first season and first Stanley Cup playoff series. MacKinnon is on the team at age 18 like Crosby was in 2006, when the Penguins star had eight goals and eight assists in nine games. Even before MacKinnon it was a young team thanks to defencemen Erik Gudbranson, Ryan Ellis, Tyler Myers and Rielly and forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Sean Monahan and Mark Scheifele. Jason Chimera of the Washington Capitals, who won gold at the 2007 worlds in Moscow, is Canadas oldest player at the age of 35. Chimeras Capitals teammates Brouwer and Joel Ward are also on the roster. Chimera, a candidate to be captain, is important to Tippetts plan for the tournament because he knows what its all about. "The importance of the players who have been over there before and their experiences, especially relating that to our younger players that havent had that experience, is going to be a very important part of our preparation," Tippett said. The one thing about Canadas relative international inexperience is that its not a rarity here. Aside from Norway, Switzerland and Latvia, which feature national teams with major Sochi flavour, most teams have significant turnover from the Olympics. Tippett didnt see that as something Canada can take advantage of. From his experience as an assistant in this tournament, he knows what it means for European players and countries. "For the players that play in those leagues over there, this is their Stanley Cup playoffs," Tippett said. "If they win, their country puts a lot of onus on this tournament, and even though the players on our team would look at the Stanley Cup as the greatest thing to play for, you almost have to have that mind-set that the world championships, for a lot of these players over there, thats their Stanley Cup. "Well make sure that our players know the importance it is to those other teams to win and our competitiveness should be at the same level if were going to have a chance to win." --- Follow @SWhyno on Twitter ' ' '