MONTREAL -- It looks like coach Michel Therrien has earned a new contract with the Montreal Canadiens. General manager Marc Bergevin would not confirm the move, but when asked Saturday if he had made a decision on his coach he said "yes." That came a few minutes after heaping lavish praise on the 50-year-old Therrien, who Bergevin hired when he was named GM ahead of last season. It was not a popular move at the time. Therrien had guided a middling Canadiens team in the early 2000s as a rookie head coach. But he is coming off a 100-point season and has the team in the NHL Eastern Conference final for the first time since 2010. "When youre in my position, you make decisions sometimes that are not going to be popular," said Bergevin, who met with the media ahead of Game 1 of the conference final. "I cant make decisions to make people happy. "Michel Therriens a good coach today and he was six months ago and he was a good coach when we lost five in a row. Michel and I have a good (relationship). We talk a lot. We share ideas." "Am I shocked with where we are today with way he handles the team? No. But hes a really good coach and hes proving it now." Bergevin was surprised when told that his former teammate and boyhood friend Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, had said after GM Ray Shero was fired Friday that he hoped to use the Canadiens as a model for rebuilding his team. "Not only is he my friend, hes one of the greatest players ever to play the game," said Bergevin, a Montreal native who grew up a little more than a kilometre from the Bell Centre. "I didnt know about that. "Being a GM is tough. Youre hired to be fired. One day it will be my turn. Ray did a really good job. It didnt work out and they made a decision. "I dont have a magic recipe. Im not a genius. We have things we believe in. At times well make mistakes. No-one bats .1000, but as a group we jell well and were getting results. But say thanks (to) Mario anyway." Bergevin would not be drawn into the debate over Boston forward Milan Lucics threats toward two Canadiens during the handshake after Montreals Game 7 win on Wednesday night. "Hockey is an emotional game,"he said. "Honestly, I have a lot of respect for the Boston Bruins. (President) Cam Neely and (GM) Peter Chiarelli are good hockey men. Its a good organization." . Luke Wileman and I stood in the corridor outside of the Vancouver Whitecaps dressing room at BC Place in Vancouver. . - A week after a late-game debacle on defence, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed they can finish.
http://www.cheaptigersjerseysauthentic. ... ann-jersey. -- Two nights after losing to the Eastern Conferences worst team, the Phoenix Coyotes handled the best. . Price also posted the longest shutout sequence since 1960 at 164:19 minutes. He stopped a combined 55 shots in Canadas final two games and 70 of 71 shots in Canadas three elimination games, allowing only a breakaway goal to Lauris Darzins of Latvia. For his efforts, Price was named best goalkeeper by the tournament directorate. Prices outstanding play is marred only by the extremely strong defensive play of Canadas top six defencemen; Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. . -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers.BOSTON -- Jon Lester didnt feel very good warming up before the game. He couldnt have done much better once it started. The lefty struck out a career-high 15, allowing one hit over eight scoreless innings and pitching the Boston Red Sox over the Oakland Athletics 6-3 on Saturday. "Its probably the worst cutter Ive thrown in a bullpen in a long time, but I dont take much stock in my bullpens anymore," Lester said. "Youre down there to get loose. I think the biggest thing for me is just getting on the mound and getting that adrenaline going." He faced 26 batters and just nine hit the ball in fair territory. The only As to reach base against him were Craig Gentry on a leadoff single in the third and Derek Norris on walks to start the fifth and eighth. "Just the combination of power and command was impressive," Boston manager John Farrell said. "He was locked in seemingly from the first pitch." Lester (3-4) got plenty of support on a grand slam by Jonny Gomes and solo homers by David Ortiz and David Ross in Bostons second straight win after losing a day-night doubleheader to Tampa Bay on Thursday. But Oakland scored three runs off Chris Capuano in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate before Koji Uehara struck out Alberto Callaspo and retired Brandon Moss on a fly to right, securing his seventh save in seven opportunities. "I knew we had it the whole way," Lester said. "Weve got the best closer in baseball out there." The only hit off Lester was Gentrys bloop single in the third over the head of second baseman Dustin Pedroia. "Thats the best performance Ive seen him have," Oaklands Nick Punto said. Lester rebounded from taking the loss in his previous two games by striking out nine of his first 13 batters. His previous strikeout best was 13 on July 24, 2010, in a 5-1 loss at Seattle. "He looked pretty cozy out there," Gomes said. Lester, who threw a no-hitter on May 19, 2008 against Kansas City, struck out every hitter in the Oakland lineup, fanning Josh Reddick three times and Punto, Callaspo, Coco Crisp aand Josh Donaldson twice each.dddddddddddd Gomes hit the fifth slam of his career one day after Pedroia hit one. Tommy Milone (0-3) allowed Gomes homer after Pedroia walked, Xander Bogaerts singled and Ortiz walked. "It always seems that every time you walk somebody they have a tendency of scoring," Milone said, "so it just took that one big hit from Gomes to set the tone." Milone struck out the next four batters but ran into trouble again in the third when Ortiz led off with his sixth homer of the year. Ross started the fourth with his third homer. Lester threw 119 pitches before being replaced by Capuano to start the ninth. In his previous two starts, Lester threw 118 pitches in a 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees on April 22 and 122 in a 4-1 loss at Toronto last Sunday. Punto started the ninth with a double and took third on a single by Crisp. Both scored when Jed Lowrie doubled and left fielder Gomes threw wildly to the plate for an error. After Donaldson was hit by a pitch, Uehara walked Yoenis Cespedes. Norris hit into a forceout at home, but catcher Ross throw to first went wild, allowing a run to score before Uehara ended the threat. "Its easy to just cash it in after youve struck out 15 times in eight innings and hadnt had too many good swings and youre frustrated," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said, "and then to get those kind of at-bats in the ninth inning, its good." NOTES: Capuano hadnt allowed a run in his other 12 outings this season. ... Pedroia has reached base 35 times in his last 17 games. ... The Athletics have scored no runs while Milone was in the game in his three losses. ... Sonny Gray (4-1) pitches for Oakland in the finale of the three-game series against John Lackey (4-2) on Sunday. ... The crowd cheered each time a Red Sox worker walked along the left-field warning track to change the number next to the Bruins name on the scoreboard after each of their last three goals in Game 2 of their playoff series against Montreal. Boston was trailing 3-2 in the third period then scored three goals in the last six minutes to win 5-3 and even the series at 1. ' ' '
