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our stolen bases in his previous start against Houston on Wednesday. ... The series concludes on Sunday whe | Forum
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Nov 21 '16, 06:21AM
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins comeback fell short this time. Jaromir Jagr Jersey . And suddenly the Stanley Cup final is a lot more interesting. Brent Seabrook scored at 9:51 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 6-5 win over the never-say-die Bruins in a wild game Wednesday night. The defencemans shot through traffic that beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask gives the Blackhawks, who never trailed in the game, a new lease of life. The teams are now tied at 2-2 heading into Saturdays Game 5 in Chicago. And Bostons momentum, from two straight wins built on prickly defence, has been arrested. "(We were) thinking we pretty much have to win one game (in Boston), so mission accomplished," said Chicago defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson. "And weve got two days here to regroup and go back to Chicago and play in front of a big crowd back home. Hopefully we can feed off the energy in the United Center." Added forward Patrick Sharp: "Best of three with two home games but it doesnt really mean much. Bostons been tough in their building and tough in Chicago. I dont think it matters where we play, its going to be an even series." The Bruins threw everything they had at the visitors in mounting a furious comeback but came up short in the third game of the series to go to overtime. Seabrooks winner was his third of the playoffs and second in overtime. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said he felt confident going into extra time, despite Bostons fightback. "I still thought in the third period we didnt give up a ton even though it was a 5-5 game," he said. "We still had some composure going into the overtime. I thought the bench was where it needed to be and (we) continued to move forward. "But certainly they got the crowd (going) and we lost the momentum a couple of times. We had a nice lead, but they pressed. Their power play helped them tonight as well. But we did a lot of good things. "Well look at the positives and move forward." It was a crazy contest, crammed full of offence and momentum swings bristled with more than a little bad blood. At times, it was like a violent all-star game. Quennevilles decision to reunite Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell paid dividends. Toews and Kane each scored for the Blackhawks, with Michal Handzus, Marcus Kruger and Sharp getting the Blackhawks other goals. But the Bruins refused to keel over in trying to defending a seven-game playoff winning streak at home. Patrice Bergeron scored twice and Rich Peverley, Milan Lucic and Johnny Boychuk added singles for Boston, which found itself behind the eight-ball all night. It was a roller-coaster ride for the crowd of 17,565 -- the 164th straight full house at TD Garden -- as the Bruins trailed 3-1 and 4-2. Chicago outshot Boston 41-28 after regulation time and 47-33 overall. "We opened up and scored goals. But we gave them some goals," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "Our whole team was average tonight ... They were better than we were." Julien cited poor decision-making and sloppy puck movement in what he termed "a tough outing." What kind of night was it for Boston? Hulking captain Zdeno Chara had two assists but was minus-3. The Toews-Kane-Bickell line combined for two goals and three assists and was plus-7. Bickell and Kane both had assists on the winning goal. "We knew it was going to be a tough series and an even series," said Bergeron, who finished at minus-2 despite his two goals. "Thats where were at. We never said it was going to be easy. Theyre a great team out there and so are we." Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, Chicago pulled ahead by outscoring the Bruins 3-2 in a frenetic second period that saw five goals in 10:49 and three in 2:39. The five second-period goals matched the combined total of Games 2 and 3. And Chicagos three-goal production for the period was one more than the Pittsburgh Penguins managed to put past Rask in four games. Trailing 4-3 to open the third period, Bergeron pulled the Bruins even at 2:05 with a wrist shot on the glove side that Corey Crawford might want back. Jaromir Jagr, in his 200th NHL playoff game, drew the assist on Bergerons ninth goal of the post-season after some dogged possession in the Chicago end. The Bruins are no strangers to comebacks. Boston trailed 4-1 with 11 minutes to go in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, only to make history by winning 5-4 in OT to become the first NHL team to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals in the third period. Sharp put Chicago ahead 5-4 on the power play at 11:19 just six seconds after Boston survived a brief two-man disadvantage. Sharp stuffed the puck in from close range with Jagr trying to race back in the play from the penalty box, which still had David Krejci in it. Boston remarkably answered back with Boychuks slapshot just 55 seconds later knotting the score at 5-5 before Seabrook ended it in overtime to give Chicago a win it desperately needed. Teams have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-seven a total of 229 times and have come back to win the series on 20 occasions or 8.7 per cent of the time. But the only team to do it in a Stanley Cup final was the 1942 Maple Leafs, who famously rallied to beat the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago came out with purpose in the first period and Rask had to stop Marian Hossa, back in the lineup after missing Game 3 due to an upper-body injury, from point-blank range early on. By the five-minute mark, Chicago had outshot Boston 5-0. A penalty to the Blackhawks Johnny Oduya seemed like a reprieve but a short-handed 2-on-1 rush with Handzus and Brandon Saad put Chicago ahead at 6:48. Tyler Seguin lost the puck to Saad near the blue-line, allowing the penalty killing duo to take off. The goal, the first short-handed effort of Handzus 95-game playoff career, ended Rasks shutout streak at 129:14 and the Bruins home shutout string at 193:16. But Boston began to show signs that it was digging itself out of the hole. A Krejci chance at the side of the net just missed when the puck bounced over his stick and several other passes also just missed their targets in front of the Chicago net. Peverley then tied it up in the dying seconds of a power play. It was a typical sequence by the Bruins, the product of hard work. Andrew Ference made a nice play at the blue-line to keep the puck in and when Saad couldnt clear the puck, Peverley swooped in and rifled a wrist shot past a surprised Crawford on the glove side at 14:43. It was Peverleys first goal since Game 3 of the first-round series against the Maple Leafs. As the first period wound down, the Bruins were moving their feet and creating chances. Outshot 7-1 earlier in the period, Boston finished with nine shots to Chicagos 12 and had a shot ring post after one. It was a tight second period until Toews, with his first point of the series, tipped in a Michal Rozsival point shot at 6:33 to make it 2-1 past a screened Rask. It was just Toews second of the playoffs and his first goal since May 25. Less than two minutes later, Kane scooped a backhand for his seventh of the playoffs into a near empty net at 8:41. Julien called a timeout in a bid to staunch the flow of goals and it seemed to work as Lucic pulled one back with his sixth at 14:43, stuffing in a backhand of a Chara rebound after some fierce Boston forechecking. But Kruger ended the celebrations 49 seconds later, tucking a shot home after a nice setup by Michael Frolik. Kruger appeared to have outdeked himself, but pulled the puck back as it went past the post and stuffed it in. Boston got the crowd going again at 17:22 on the power play, cutting the deficit to 4-3 with an opportunistic Bergeron goal. A booming Chara shot came off the glass behind Crawfords goal and bounced right in front of the crease where Bergeron banged it on. An action-packed second period ended with Chris Kelly hitting the post and Crawford stopping Jagr from close range. Chicago outshot Boston 13-11 in the period. Badly beaten in the faceoff circle last time out, Chicago held a 25-20 edge in faceoffs after two periods in Game 4. The Bruins led 35-33 after three periods. Coming into Wednesdays game, the Bruins had won seven straight at home, outscoring their opponents 21-10. Prior to Game 4, the Bruins were 11-2 in their last 13 games, with both losses coming in overtime. They had outscored opponents 40-21 in that span. Patrick Kane Jersey . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. Gump Worsley Jersey . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. http:///...ari-Lehtonen-Jersey/ . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining.PITTSBURGH -- A.J. Burnett walked into the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout after falling two runs down to the Cincinnati Reds in the second inning Saturday night when his catcher decided it was time for a little pep talk. "I told him Thats all were giving up today and he said Yes sir," Russell Martin said. "Thats his attitude. If you give up a couple, its not the end of the world. If you give up a couple, youve got to keep going out there, keep grinding." Something the veteran ace and his resilient club do better than just about anyone else in baseball. A night after a stunning ninth-inning collapse, Pittsburgh responded behind Burnett, who scattered four hits in seven strong innings to lift the Pirates to a 4-2 win and a one-game lead over the Reds for the top spot in the NL wild-card race. "Go out, its a big game, its a big series, you want to attack," Burnett said. "We were able to do that and get through seven somehow. I felt like I got stronger as it went on." Burnett struck out a season-high 12 against three walks and became the first right-hander in the 126-year history of the franchise to top 200 strikeouts in a season when he fanned Joey Votto in the sixth. "I was just focused, I was locked in," Burnett said. "It was probably the best command of that hook Ive had in a long time. I had a put-away pitch tonight, and its lot different when you have those." Jason Grilli worked the ninth for his 31st save, his first since going to the disabled list with a strained right forearm in July. Martin slugged a two-run homer, and Jose Tabata added two hits for the Pirates. Zack Cozart hit his 12th home run of the season for Cincinnati, and Ryan Ludwick added an RBI but Homer Bailey (11-11) lost his first decision since July 26. "The story of the game is we didnt score enough runs," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We just couldnt get much going against (Burnett). We got some runs early, then he settled down." The Reds rallied for a 6-5 win in 10 innings on Friday, turning three unearned runs in the ninth and Vottos solo homer in the 10th into a tie with the Pirates in the race for home field in the wild card round. It was the second gut-punch loss by the Pirates in three days. In danger of falling behind the Reds in the standings for the first time in since June 20, Pittsburgh reduced its magic number to three behind Burnett and a bullpen thaat regained its composure after a pair of potentially confidence-shaking meltdowns. Chris Kunitz Jersey. Reliever Justin Wilson induced a double play to get out of the eighth, and Grilli -- an All-Star this summer after racking up 29 saves in the seasons first half -- looked like his old self while working around Ludwicks leadoff single in the ninth. "Im just a competitor," Grilli said. "I want the ball. I want to participate. Watching these guys do it for so long made me want to come back and do it with him. It was a big win, obviously, and a lot of fun to be out there." Bailey wasnt quite as sharp. Making his first start at PNC Park since throwing a no-hitter at the Pirates last September, Bailey was solid but not spectacular. An off night by Cincinnatis typically reliable defence didnt help. Alvarez reached with two outs in the third when Votto mishandled a slow chopper to first. Martin followed by taking a fastball from Bailey and sending it into the bleachers in left field to tie it at 2. Pittsburgh broke the tie in the sixth. Andrew McCutchen walked with one out and sprinted to third when Baileys attempted pickoff throw slipped past Votto and rolled to the wall. Justin Morneau walked to put runners on the corners, and Marlon Byrd hit a sacrifice to deep centre field to give the Pirates the lead. Bailey gave up four runs, two earned, and three hits with four walks and three strikeouts. "The loss is on me," Bailey said. "I had the throwing error at first base, I didnt execute very well, I made a couple of bad pitches. (The offence) gave me a couple of runs to work with early and I didnt take advantage of it. I gave them all back and then some." Reliever Zach Duke -- who spent six years in Pittsburgh during the clubs two-decade losing streak -- came on after Byrds sacrifice fly and immediately surrendered an RBI single to Alvarez that gave the Pirates a two-run cushion. NOTES: Cincinnati CF Shin-Soo Choo sat out after injuring his right hand while sliding into first base on Friday. Baker said he wasnt sure when Choo will return. ... Cincinnati rookie OF Billy Hamilton will make his second start of the season on Sunday. The base stealing specialist went 3 for 4 with four stolen bases in his previous start against Houston on Wednesday. ... The series concludes on Sunday when Pittsburghs Jeff Locke (10-6, 3.27 ERA) faces Cincinnatis Bronson Arroyo (13-11, 3.56). Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '
