NEW YORK -- If Martin St. Louis wasnt a fan favourite during his first two months with the New York Rangers, he certainly became one during a very emotional weekend. St. Louis came to New York in March in a deal in which popular team captain Ryan Callahan was shipped to Tampa Bay. When he didnt light up the scoreboard right away, the Madison Square Garden crowd was slow to warm to him. That all changed Sunday night. Three days after the sudden death of his mother, St. Louis scored 3:34 in, and the Rangers avoided elimination for the second straight game by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series is Tuesday in Pittsburgh. New York advanced in the first round with a Game 7 win over Philadelphia. St. Louis rejoined his teammates for Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Friday, after a quick trip to Montreal to be with his family. That dedication inspired his teammates during a 5-1 win and carried over to Sunday. "Its probably one of the cooler things Ive been a part of in my professional career," said Derek Stepan, who earned the first assist on St. Louis goal. "The emotion on that goal is something that I will never forget." Fans were already chanting "Mar-ty, Mar-ty" on his first shift. The cheers got louder after he scored. St. Louis, the first star of the game, patted his heart when he came out to an ovation from the crowd. "Mothers Day, my dad is here, my sister is here," St. Louis said. "Its been a tough time for my whole family. To be able to get the lead in the first period, it was a good one." But not the prettiest of goals. St. Louis got in good position in front of the net. Stepan swiped at the puck in traffic and knocked it off St. Louis right leg and into the net. "I got a pretty good bounce," St. Louis said. "I know (my mother) helped me through this. Its a great win by the guys." Carl Hagelin pushed the Rangers lead to 2-0 just 2:51 later, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 36 shots to keep Pittsburgh at bay. Derick Brassard made it 3-1 in the second period. Brandon Sutter scored the lone goal for the Penguins, who got 26 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins, who led the series 3-1, failed in their first attempt to advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a 5-1 home loss on Friday. Now the pressure has shifted to them, and frustration is showing. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby took a penalty at the end of the second period that gave the Rangers a power play to start the third. Several scrums also broke out -- including one after the final buzzer. "With a minute left in the game, emotions run high," Crosby said. "I dont think thats why we lost. We put ourselves in a bad position early. We fought hard and tried to get back, but you cant continue to do that in the playoffs. You cant start like that." The team that has scored first has won every game. Under coach Dan Bylsma, the Penguins are 1-7 at home when having a chance to clinch a series. Overall, the Penguins are 2-6 in Game 7s in Pittsburgh. On the flip side, the Rangers are 9-2 in their past 11 games when facing elimination, dating to Game 6 of the first round in 2012 at Ottawa. New York has never won a series it trailed 3-1 and has never beaten the Penguins in the playoffs. Buoyed by another early lead, the Rangers pressed for more, and got it on Hagelins unassisted goal at 6:25. Hagelins initial shot attempt from the left-wing boards was blocked by defenceman Rob Scuderi. Hagelin got to the loose puck in the centre of the left circle and sent a hard backhand sailing past Fleury for his fourth of the post-season. Bylsma burned his lone timeout to try to calm his team that was being outshot 7-2. Pittsburgh reversed that trend and cut its deficit in half before the end of the first. The Penguins started to gain momentum after they killed a roughing penalty against Jussi Jokinen and then received their first power play after Chris Kreider knocked down Jokinen at the edge of the crease with 8:40 left in the period. New York had built its shots edge to 12-3, but then helped the Penguins make the score 2-1. Sutter flung the puck toward the net, and it appeared to hit Rangers defenceman John Moore and then bounce in off the foot of defenceman Kevin Klein near the left post with 3:04 left. Lundqvist was clearly agitated by the late goal by Pittsburgh, which led 15-14 in shots in the first period. The teams both had chances in the middle period, and neither could connect on a pair of power plays. Pittsburgh twice challenged Lundqvist with short-handed breakaways, and the Rangers had a goal waved off at 5:55 when Kreider was called for goalie interference after he was shoved from behind into Fleury by Kris Letang. The Rangers made it 3-1 with 4:30 remaining in the period -- 25 seconds after Mats Zuccarello finished serving a tripping penalty. Brassard lunged, knocked the puck out of the air, and scored his third goal in two games and fourth in the series. Benoit Pouliot earned an assist, giving the line of Pouliot, Brassard, and Zuccarello 12 goals and 15 assists in 10 games -- regular season and playoffs -- against Pittsburgh. NOTES: The Penguins dropped to 9-3 at the Garden in the playoffs and 15-15 overall in Game 6s. ... Lundqvist made his 79th consecutive playoff start, tying Fleury for third place on the NHL list among goalies with one team. ... The Rangers were 0 for 6 on the power play. Pittsburgh was 0 for 4. . The Montreal Alouettes announced Tuesday that they have acquired the return specialist from Calgary, as well as the Stampeders fifth-round draft pick in the 2014 CFL Canadian Draft. . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand.
http://www.officialbullsfanstore.com/ki ... ls-jersey/. -- Two out of three aint bad. . Murakami gracefully executed a double triple toe jump and a triple flip jump that put her at the top of a tightly contested race with 64.73 points, just ahead of Li Zijun of China on 62. .C. -- Kevin Harvick won his first career pole at Darlington Raceway on Friday as he looks to chase his first Southern 500.BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The NFL draft is leaving New York after 49 years. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday that the league has narrowed down the location of the 2015 draft to Los Angeles or Chicago. The event has been held in New York every year since 1965 and has been at Radio City Music Hall since 2006. Goodell said after a panel at the summer TV critics meeting that 12 cities were interested in hosting the draft, accordingg to the Los Angeles Times.dddddddddddd But the league narrowed the finalists to Los Angeles and Chicago after Radio City officials told the NFL that the venue wouldnt be available in April or May. Goodell said a final decision on the location could be made by late summer. He said the league is discussing different concepts for next years draft because there is high interest and the NFL wants to be responsive to its fans. ' ' '
