The New York Rangers bottled up the Montreal Canadiens and squeezed out a 1-0 win in Game Six to take the Eastern Conference Final, four games to two. After controlling play early, the Rangers didnt get on the board until 1:53 remaining in the second period, when Dominic Moore converted a nice feed from Brian Boyle. With their season on the line, the Canadiens managed just 18 shots against the Rangers, including five in the third period. In 99 games this season, regular season plus playoffs, it was the fifth time that Montreal had been held to 18 or fewer shots on goal and their 36 shot attempts was easily their lowest of the postseason (previous low was 47) and came in lower than that only twice during the regular season. The Rangers dominated possession in the deciding game, with 58 shot attempts to the Canadiens 36. Subban was even in terms of 5-on-5 shot attempts (16 for, 16 against), which meant that the Habs were left with 27.3% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts (12 for, 32 against) when Subban was off the ice. There were many occasions throughout the series when the Rangers used their speed to take advantage of the Canadiens and that worked in Game Six too. LW Chris Kreider was on for 84.2% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when he was on the ice, the best rate of the eight Rangers to come in with possession numbers higher than 70% for the game. At the low end for the Rangers in Game Six, LW Carl Hagelin was on for just 21.1% (four for, 15 against) of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Getting the worst of the possession stats for Montreal was D Andrei Markov, on for 17.9% of the shot attempts (five for, 23 against). With Markov off the ice, the Canadiens were getting 47.9% of the even-strength attempts. Heading towards unrestricted free agency, will that be the last game Markov plays for the Canadiens? Hes slowing down, but played a career-high 25:14 per game this season, so hes an integral part of the Canadiens blueline. Game Six hero Rene Bourque didnt register a shot on goal, team captain Brian Gionta didnt manage a single attempted shot and LW Max Pacioretty, who had three shots on goal, was the only Habs forward with more than two. As much as it was a nice playoff run for the Canadiens, it ended in disappointment. (Coughlins Law: Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldnt end.) Bourque was a postseason surprise, with a team-leading eight goals and led Montreal with six points in the series against the Rangers. C Lars Eller led Montreal forwards with 13 points and D P.K. Subban, despite two points in six games against the Rangers, led the Habs with 14 points in 17 games, but the last 10 games of the playoffs were hard on Thomas Vanek, Montreals big trade deadline acquisition, who had two goals and two assists in that span, registering a total of 13 shots on goal. For a player who averaged a career-high 3.18 shots on goal per game during the regular season, that decline suggested that Vanek could have been playing hurt. Its hard to fathom such a collapse without some underlying reason, but if it was merely just a run of poor play from Vanek, it came at a most inopportune time. Rookie G Dustin Tokarski was excellent for Montreal in Game Six, turning aside 31 of 32 shots by the Rangers, leaving him with a .916 save percentage for the series; a nice unexpected contribution for the Habs. Will it be enough to change their plans for next season? Carey Price and Peter Budaj are under contract, which doesnt leave room for Tokarski, so maybe hes looking at another year in the AHL. Tokarski does have an inexpensive one-way deal in 2015-2016. For the Rangers, G Henrik Lundqvist rebounded from getting pulled in Game Five and while he wasnt tested much during his 18-save shutout, he did have a spectacular save off a Vanek scoring chance when the game was still scoreless. Lundqvist has a .928 save percentage in the postseason, the best among goaltenders with at least six games played. The other assist on Moores series-winning goal went to Ryan McDonagh, yet another shot through the Habs heart, as their former prospect had a monster series, with 10 points in six games. He had three points in 14 games through the first two rounds and goes into the Final tied with Martin St. Louis and Derek Stepan for the Rangers playoff scoring lead. The popular notion is that the Rangers are going to be easy pickings for either Chicago or Los Angeles, whichever team claims the Western Conference, but the Rangers shouldnt be dismissed so easily. They finished the regular season sixth in Fenwick Close (53.6%) and have one of the games premier puck stoppers behind them. That alone should give them a chance and for a team that last won the Stanley Cup 20 years ago, thats a pretty exciting proposition. 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. .com) - No Sidney Crosby, no problem. . However, Jim Popp isnt sure how long hell be able to admire wide receiver Duron Carter.
http://www.cheapcoltsjerseyssale.com/?t ... ersey-sale. The team said Saturday that the 36-year-old Robidas is expected to miss four to six months, jeopardizing his return this season. He was injured when he slid hard into the boards in the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss to Chicago on Friday. . - Anthony Beauvillier had the winning goal in the third period as the Shawinigan Cataractes edged the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2-1 on Wednesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play. . Power had a two-lap average of 218.896 mph in qualifying Friday at the high-banked, high-speed 1 1/2-mile track for his 34th career pole.Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jakob Silfverberg scored twice as the Anaheim Ducks closed out an eight-game homestand with a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday. Patrick Maroon and Hampus Lindholm each tallied a goal and an assist, Corey Perry also lit the lamp and Ilya Bryzgalov made 14 saves in his third start of the season for the Ducks, who went 6-2-0 over their residency. It feels good. It had been a while, so hopefully this gets me going, said Silfverberg. It brings confidence to the team. You need to string those types of games together. Martin Havlat scored the lone goal for the Devils, who have dropped three of their last four games. Keith Kinkaid allowed four goals on 25 shots in relief of starter Cory Schneider, who appeared to suffer an upper-body injury after stopping a Matt Beleskey shot during the first period. Schneider turned aside 14 shots over the first 20 minutes. He got hit with a shot in the first period, Devils general manager and current coach Lou Lamoriello said of Schneider. Hes feeling better right now, but he couldnt go back in. Perry, who had a hat trick against Toronto on Wednesday, started the scoring after he took a pass from Cam Fowler behind the net and fired a shot from a severe angle near the goal line that deflected off Schneiders stick and into the net 4:09 into the game. Havlat tied the game with a bad-angle shot of his own, sweepinng the puck from the goal line past Bryzgalov during a power play with 4:48 to play in the first.dddddddddddd After firing five shots on net in an even opening stanza, the Devils mustered just one shot over the next 20 minutes and Anaheim reclaimed the lead with two quick goals. Beleskey drove through the slot and dropped a pass off to Lindholm, who beat Kinkaid blocker side with a wrist shot at 3:16. Andrew Cogliano raced around the back of the net and Silfverberg was there to tip his backhander into the net for a 3-1 game 5:08 into the frame. Ryan Getzlaf sent a pass through the neutral zone to Maroon, who broke in on net and sent a wrister over the glove of Kinkaid and into the top right corner of the net for a 4-1 lead with 3:33 to play. Silfverberg unleashed a rising shot on net for a power-play goal to account for the final score with 1:29 remaining. Game Notes Bryzgalov won his first game since a 4-2 win with Minnesota over Chicago on May 9 during the playoffs ... Ducks forward Ryan Kesler played in his 700th game ... Devils forward Michael Ryder skated in his 800th contest, while Tim Sestito appeared in his 100th ... The Ducks also held the Stars to just one shot during the second period of a 2-1 overtime win on Oct. 31 ... Anaheim improved to 21-0-5 when scoring first ... The two teams will meet again on March 29 at Prudential Center. ' ' '
