Dein erstes Forum » Rondo. "Nothing was wrong," Rondo

The Bruins bury the Red Wings, Pittsburgh controls play against Columbus, Colorados amazing comeback and the Kings stay alive; Scott Cullen has notes on Krug, Hamilton, Nyquist, Crosby, MacKinnon, Quick and more. BRUINS FINISH RED WINGS The Boston Bruins calmly dispatched the Detroit Red Wings, with a 4-2 win Saturday afternoon, wrapping up their first-round series in five games. While the series was short, it was relatively competitive but, in the end, the Bruins simply had too much. In Game Five, the Red Wings had a goal and an assist each from Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg -- and contributions from their superstars may have been their best chance for the upset -- but it wasnt enough. Boston got a goal and an assist from LW Milan Lucic and two assist from D Torey Krug on their way to the second round. The tough part for the Red Wings is that they couldnt get any production out of the young forwards that had played such vital roles this season. LW Tomas Tatar, C Riley Sheahan and RW Gustav Nyquist were held off the scoresheet in all five games and the tendency might be to think that these inexperienced forwards were overmatched in the moment, but they were Detroits best puck possession trio in the series, all three on for better than 58% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. Yet, there was ultimately some dissatisfaction from the Wings, who needed goals, not possession. In the series-deciding game, which Detroit trailed for 42 minutes, Nyquist played only 11:55, a threshold he surpassed in 44 of the previous 45 games. Detroits uphill battle was made steeper by the fact that G Jimmy Howard missed the last two games with a suspected concussion. Jonas Gustavsson actually played well, stopping 66 of 72 shots (.917), but its tough to upend the Bruins with a second-string goaltender. Datsyuk, playing on a bad knee, finished with five points in five games and was the only Red Wing with more than two points in the series. The Bruins emerged from the series, relatively easily, even though David Krejcis line struggled in possession terms. It certainly didnt hurt to have G Tuukka Rask at the top of his game, stopping 146 of 152 shots (.961) in the series. C Patrice Bergeron and Krug tied for the Bruins team lead with five points in the series. Lucic, RW Jarome Iginla and D Dougie Hamilton each had four points. That the Bruins young defencemen were able to contribute offensively proved to be a real advantage. The series win sets up Boston for a matchup with their rivals from Montreal. The top-seeded Bruins will be favoured, but the head-to-head matchups with the Canadiens have been tumultuous, dramatic affairs (well, forever, but also) in recent seasons, so it should be a fascinating battle. PENGUINS TAKE SERIES LEAD Perhaps feeling a little threatened, with the series tied 2-2, the Pittsburgh Penguins came out firing in Game Five and dominated play on their way to a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The margin could have been much if not for the play of Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 48 of the 50 shots he faced. As the Penguins made a concerted effort to play Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together on the top line, it turned out that Pittsburghs best possession numbers came from the second and third lines. Lee Stempniak, Brandon Sutter, Jussi Jokinen and Beau Bennett were each on the ice for more than 70% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Pittsburghs depth was also boosted by the presence of C Marcel Goc, who played 10:34 in his first game since suffering an ankle injury March 27. The possession domination for Pittsburgh, naturally, had a counter in Columbus, where Jack Skille, R.J. Umberger, Nick Foligno and Artem Anisimov were each below 30%. Penguins D Brooks Orpik missed the game with an undisclosed injury, giving Robert Bortuzzo an opportunity to play his first NHL playoff game and Bortuzzo didnt hurt the Penguins in 13:36 of ice time. While there has been criticism of Sidney Crosby for his play in this series, it needs to be said that his play is probably better than fine. After 11 individual shot attempts, and one assist, in Game Five, Crosby has five points and a in five games and has been on the ice for 60.1% of the shot attempts during 5-on-5 play. His LW, Chris Kunitz, had a goal and an assist, with seven shots on goal and six hits, in Game Five. This hasnt been an easy series for the Penguins, by any stretch, and theyre still trying to do it with the second-best goaltender in the series, but their skill advantage has been enough to give them the lead in the series. ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY Trailing 2-1 into the third period of Game Five, the Minnesota Wild scored twice in the first 6:25 of the third period to take the lead and appeared on their way to taking the game, before the Avalanche scored with 1:14 remaining to tie it, then finished matters 3:27 into overtime. In the end, the 4-3 overtime win gave the Avalanche a 3-2 series lead. The winning goal was authored by Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who finished the game with a goal and two assists, giving him a playoff-leading 10 points thus far. Hes three points away from Jaromir Jagrs scoring record for an 18-year-old rookie in the postseason. MacKinnon played 21:56 in Game Five, second among Colorado forwards, behind only Paul Stastny (22:38); MacKinnon, who averaged 17:21 of ice time per game during the regular season, has played more than 21 minutes in four of five games in the series. The sequence leading up to the game-tying goal was contentious. There was an apparent holding penalty that was ignored in Colorados defensive zone, with the net empty, and then the Avalanche appeared to be offside seconds before PA Parenteau buried the tying goal. This is what is known as "getting the breaks." Avalanche LW Cody McLeod scored a goal, but was obliterated at even-strength, on for two shot attempts for and 17 against (10.5%). With McLeod off the ice, the Avalanche had 56.2% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. For the Wild, LW Matt Moulson, C Mikko Koivu and D Marco Scandella were on the ice for at least two-thirds of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, though Scandella was unfortunate enough to get beaten by McKinnon on the winning goal. Its been a close series to this point, though the Wild have held the possession edge, and it shifts back to Minnesota for Game Six. Colorado may get a boost with C Matt Duchene nearing a return to the lineup. If Duchene is ready to go, that ought to help Colorados cause. KINGS KEEP ON KEEPING ON Facing elimination for the second time in the series, the Los Angeles Kings stormed into San Jose Saturday night and outplayed the Sharks from the get-go, building a 3-0 lead 22 seconds into the second period before chilling out and taking that lead to games end. The Kings had outshot the Sharks 19-6 by the time they had taken that 3-0 lead, chasing Sharks G Antti Niemi. Not only did the Sharks lose the game, but also lost D Marc-Edouard Vlasic was hurt (upper-body injury) on a run-in with Kings C Jarret Stoll. It cost Stoll two minutes for roughing, but Vlasic did not return. If hes not able to play in Game Six, thats a huge blow to the Sharks.. Kings RW Justin Williams had a game-high seven shots on goal (11 shot attempts), leading the Kings on ice for 73.1% of shot attempts. Kings G Jonathan Quick stopped all 30 shots sent in his direction, a decided improvement after some rough games earlier in the series. While the Kings are trying to make the unlikeliest of comebacks, from being down 3-0, if they manage to get good goaltending from Quick, maybe its possible. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. <a href="http://www.officialcincinnatibengalsfootball.com/authentic-shawn-williams-jersey-womens">Shawn Williams Jersey</a>. Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Wild team that has a nice mix of proven veterans along with young, inexpensive talent on the rise. When the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, making a big splash in the summer of 2012, it set the franchise on a path to being more competitive, but a big reason that they have been so competitive is the contributions of young players who still have more to give.PHILADELPHIA -- Rajon Rondo is starting to feel like his old self -- and the Boston Celtics are starting to win again. Rondo had eight points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in his eighth game back from a serious knee injury, and Jeff Green scored 17 of his 36 points in the third quarter in the Celtics 114-108 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. "Its only a matter of time before we got on the same page," Green said about Rondo. "He puts me in my spots, gets it to me in the open floor. He sees the floor very well. Hes helping me get into a good rhythm. I have to continue to make sure I get open for him." Jared Sullinger had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Boston. The Celtics improved to 17-33, winning their second straight game after losing 19 of 22. Rondo had 19 points and 10 assists in Bostons win over Orlando on Sunday. "Im getting back to my old self," Rondo said. "Im not there yet but Ill take the progress." Brandon Bass had 18 points for the Celtics, 2-6 since Rondos return. Thaddeus Young had 20 points, and Tony Wroten added 18 for Philadelphia. The 76ers (15-35) have lost four straight and 14 of their last 17 games. They also have lost six in a row at home for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Spencer Hawes added 13 points and 13 rebounds for Philadelphia and Lavoy Allen had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sixers coach Brett Brown noticed the difference in the Celtics with an effective Rondo. "Hes their compass," Brown said. "Hes a great point guard and a leader." Green scored 13 straight points during a 2-minute stretch in the third quarter, capped by a 3-pointer that gave the Celtics their biggest lead to that point, 83-71 with 3:44 left. Boston coach Brad Stevens credited Rondo for helping Green succeed. "He made a lot of shots and Rondo found him a couple of times early," Stevens said. "His job is simplified with Rajon out there.ddddddddddddHe pushed the tempo better than Ive seen him in the first eight games. He got us a lot of good looks. His greatest strength is he makes everyone else better and thats really shown true the last two games." Said Rondo: "Everybody needs easy buckets, especially a guy (Green) whos that talented and athletic. All he needs to do is see it go through a couple of times, get to the free-throw line. He gets hot quick." Wroten made a 58-footer at the buzzer to cut it to 88-82 entering the fourth. Philadelphia got as close as three points in the final quarter on Wrotens two free throws with 8:35 left but never got closer. The Sixers had a chance to get it to two points, but Evan Turner missed a baseline jumper with 1:13 left, and Sullinger converted a three-point play on the ensuing possession off an assist from Rondo with 59.4 seconds left to give Boston a 112-105 advantage. "He made a ton of good decisions and some huge plays late," Stevens said about Rondo. The Boston point guard, who is still getting into game shape, also got some help from his teammates. After going down at one point, Bass resuscitated a winded Rondo. "Nothing was wrong," Rondo said. "I was winded. He brought me back to life a little bit. Those guys pick me up. Whoever hits the floor helps each other up. Were a team and thats what they did on that particular play." The Sixers havent won since last Wednesdays buzzer-beating 95-94 win at Boston. Notes: Philadelphia guard Michael Carter-Williams was selected the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for January. It was the second honour for Carter-Williams, who also was recognized in November to join Allen Iverson as the only Sixers to earn the award multiple times. Carter-Williams averaged 16.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists last month. ... Sixers guard James Anderson (back contusion) left in the first half but returned after halftime. <a href="http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnfl.com/">Wholesale Jerseys</a> ' ' '