The Pittsburgh Penguins clinched their place in the Stanley Cup final with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the deciding seventh game of their Eastern Conference play-off series. Sam Bradford Vikings Jersey . The Penguins begin the best-of-seven championship on Monday when they host the San Jose Sharks, who beat the St Louis Blues in six games in the other NHL semi-final.The third period was electric. It was the loudest Ive heard a building in all my years in this league, said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan of the crowd of 18,600 at the Penguins Consol Energy Center. Pittsburgh is back in the Stanley Cup final for the fifth time overall, and the Sharks are in it for the first time in franchise history.It is going to be fast hockey, said Penguins forward Sidney Crosby of the next round.American right winger Bryan Rust scored both goals for the Penguins, who will be playing in their first final in seven years, having won three of the first four they appeared in.We are having a lot of fun. One more to go, Rust said. Bryan Rust (c) of Pittsburgh caused Tampa Bay problems all night Rookie goalie Matt Murray stopped 16 or 17 shots as the Penguins finished off a comeback from a 3-2 series deficit to deny the Lightning a return trip to the finals.Murray is now 11-4 in the playoffs after heading into the postseason as the teams backup netminder.Tampa Bay got an emotional lift from the surprise return of captain Steven Stamkos, who played for the first time since March 31 after developing a blood clot near his neck. But his impact Thursday was minimal.Rust is one of the Penguins young guns who are battling for ice time behind superstars Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- the lone holdovers from Pittsburghs 2009 Stanley Cup winning team. The Pittsburgh Penguins with the Prince of Wales Trophy after the 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning After a scoreless first period in which shots and scoring opportunities were scarce, everything changed in the second period. Rust beat Tampas Russian netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy after being left by himself in the lightning zone at 1:55.Canadian forward Jonathan Drouin managed to tie it midway through the period with his fifth of the playoffs.Rust answered just 30 seconds later with his fifth of the playoffs.Besides missing Stamkos for most of the series, Tampa Bay also had to play without Vezina Trophy finalist goaltender Ben Bishop, who has been out with an undisclosed injury since the first period of game one. Also See: Transfer Centre Latest transfer news Transfer betting Paper Talk Alan Page Youth Jersey . 3. Trevor Ariza left them talkin about 40. Ariza made eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 40 points to help the Washington Wizards win their sixth straight game, 122-103 over Philadelphia on Saturday night. Chris Doleman Jersey . Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. ST. LOUIS -- Home opener hoopla was no distraction at all for Michael Wacha. Neither was the 49-degree chill for the first pitch. The 22-year-old rookie was definitely excited about the occasion and the opportunity. Just like last fall when he was the breakout pitching star of the post-season, he fed off the atmosphere. "Huge crowd out there, a lot of energy," Wacha said after the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on Monday. "Its a lot of fun pitching in front of your home crowd, 40,000-plus fans. "I dont know who wouldnt thrive off those kind of situations." Wacha outdid Tony Cingrani in a rematch of young power arms, and the Cardinals got a three-run double from Yadier Molina in the first inning. "I didnt have my fastball, so what are you going to do? I just tried to battle," Cingrani said. "One bad pitch and it cleared the bases." A standing-room crowd of 47,492, the largest at 9-year-old Busch Stadium, braved daylong rain to greet the National League champions and take a look at the new Ballpark Village. Hundreds milled about the attached complex, which features five sports bars and rooftop seating. The Cardinals bunched three hits and a walk over the first five hitters to take the early lead against Cingrani (0-1), who allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals six days earlier in Cincinnati. The Cards went 1 for 18 before adding RBIs from Matt Holliday and Allen Craig off Trevor Bell in a two-run seventh. St. Louis ended a three-game losing streak on opening day, including a blowout loss to the Reds last year. Wacha (1-0) hadnt allowed a run in 21 career innings against the Reds before back-to-back doubles by Brayan Pena and pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina in the fifth cut the Cardinals lead to 3-1. The NL championship series MVP benefited from two double-play balls in six stingy innings and has permitted one run in 13 2-3 innings his first two starts. Wacha threw 82 pitches before getting lifted for a pinch hitter with the Cardinals up by two runs and two on in the sixth. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny wanted to take a shot at putting the Reds away, but thought the right-hander had plenty left. "That was more of a situation of whats best for the day, whats best for that particular game," Matheny said. Cingrani needed 31 pitches to get through the first and lasted four innnings, striking out five but walking four. Fran Tarkenton Jersey. Matheny said before the game that his hitters had been a "click off" with timing against the 24-year-old lefty last week and should benefit from another chance so soon. Pena said he wasnt trying to make excuses but thought Cingrani was bothered by the elements. "The baseball was slippery. He couldnt grab his breaking ball the way he wanted," Pena said. Peter Bourjos moved up to second in the order and got his first two hits of the season after an 0-for-13 start. Craig got his third hit and third RBI of the season after entering 2 for 22. Seeing Wacha once again didnt do the Reds any good. Theyve totalled 18 runs in seven games. "Right now, almost collectively, weve struggled to do anything with guys in scoring position," Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. "But thatll change. Its tough to sit through it." The start of the game was delayed 12 minutes after the inclement weather combined with pregame ceremonies that featured the traditional grand entrance with players, coaches and Hall of Famers touring Busch Stadium on the back of convertibles and trucks. A team of Clydesdales was kept in the stable due to concerns the field might be damaged. Billy Hamilton doubled to start the game and the Reds put the leadoff man on base in the first four innings but were undone by two double plays. Zack Cozart broke an 0-for-22 slump to start the season with a bloop RBI single, and pinch-hitter Neftali Soto had a sacrifice fly for his first career RBI in the ninth against St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal, who gave up his first runs at home since Aug. 15 against Pittsburgh. The Cardinals opened the first with singles by Matt Carpenter and Bourjos, and Holliday walked to load the bases with none out. Craig struck out before Molina cleared the bases with a drive to left-centre on a 1-2 pitch. NOTES: Lance Lynn (1-0, 5.40 ERA) opposes Homer Bailey (0-1, 8.31) in the second game of the series, another rematch from the season-opening series in Cincinnati. Lynn allowed three runs in five innings and Bailey gave up four runs in 4 1-3 innings in St. Louis 7-6 win. ... The Reds anticipate activating reliever Jonathan Broxton (forearm) from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday. The team held off making the move Monday to give Broxton two days off after pitching on consecutive days. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '