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e started acting that way when he called practice a smoother operation after the suspended Brady was banished from the grounds.
e started acting that way when he called practice a smoother operation after the suspended Brady was banished from the grounds.
in Gilde 18.01.2020 12:39von jj009 • 2.159 Beiträge
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins comeback fell short this time. 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. Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. J. R. Richard Jersey . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.customastrosjersey.com/custom-chris-devenski-jersey-large-1196y.html . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Mike Scott Jersey . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Bob Watson Jersey . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Now you know why Tom Brady did not seem terribly thrilled this summer with the whole notion of Jimmy Garoppolo, first-string temp. The kid has a lot of talent, a little swagger and the kind of cover boy looks that, you know, a supermodel could fall for.Oh yeah, and hes 15 years younger than the 39-year-old Brady. Deep down, even a four-time Super Bowl champ who will likely go down as the greatest quarterback of all time could feel a little threatened by that.Bill Belichick has already Gronk-spiked the notion that a 4-0 Garoppolo could keep Brady on the bench for Week 5 in Cleveland, so theres no point in harboring any crazy ideas. Only heres the thing: Everyone gets replaced at some point, thanks to human frailty and the indomitable forces of gravity and time. Just as clearly as Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Bobby Orr and Larry Bird were replaced in Boston, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is going to be replaced in Foxborough.And Sunday night, Garoppolo offered up the first strong suggestion that he might be the man worthy of the honor. In fact, as a nod to Bradys childhood idol, Joe Montana, Garoppolo showed he just might be the New England Patriots answer to Steve Young.No, Garoppolo doesnt have Youngs athleticism, even if Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians tried warning his team during the week that the new Patriots quarterback had feet like Michael Vick. But Garoppolo, 24, can move around in ways Brady cannot, and the time he bought for himself was critical in this highly improbable 23-21 victory over a home team that was, by Arians admission, obviously not ready to play.More to the point, the Cardinals were not ready to play against this version of Garoppolo, who walked into his first career start facing the worst kind of circumstances. Carson Wentz got the Cleveland Browns at home. Garoppolo? He traveled across the country to face a Super Bowl contender with a fearsome defense, a thundering dome crowd and every reason to believe it would shred a Patriots offense missing the injured Rob Gronkowski and a couple of starters on the offensive line.The Patriots were 9?-point underdogs, the biggest spread against them since they upset the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl nearly 15 years ago. I picked New England to go 3-1 without Brady. I thought this would be the 1.And yet Garoppolo was last seen walking out of University of Phoenix Stadium with a self-satisfied smirk on his face and two footballs tucked under his left arm, one a game ball. He took smelling salts before the game (Nothing crazy, it just gets you going, he said), and then it was no Brady, no Gronk, no problem from there.Garoppolo overthrew Chris Hogan on the first play of the rest of his life, and then he calmly led the Patriots on an eight-play, 74-yard drive. He found a wide-open Hogan down the left sideline for a 37-year-old touchdown, following the game plan that instructed him to attack the Arizona rookie corner?Brandon Williams, who had been a running back for most of his college career.Garoppolo?weathered his share of big hits as the night unfolded and backed up Belichicks earlier claims about his physical toughness. In the second quarter, Garoppolo was blasted by a blitzing Tony Jefferson on a second-down incompletion, then he stood tall on the very next play in hitting Hogan for 19 yards.Jimmy made some really gutsy plays, Patriots defensive end?Chris Long said. He has a quiet confidence, and everyone on this team was confident in him.Garoppolo did fumble the ball on a sack, and the Cardinals did recover and later score to cut their deficit to 10-7. But in the fight for that loose ball, Garoppolo angrily rolled over the top of his former teammate, Chandler Jones, and dug an arm underneath the linebacker in a vain attempt to rip away the ball. In other words, even in his worst moment Sunday night, Garoppolo was putting up a fight.He caught his own deflected pass and ran for three yards (lets see Brady do that). He scrambled 10 yards for a first down. He burned Williams again, and he kept denting Arizonas spirit with big thirdd-down plays (the Patriots converted 10 of 16 chances).ddddddddddddn the fourth quarter, after the great Larry Fitzgerald did what the great Larry Fitzgerald does -- borrowing an over-the-head catch out of the Willie Mays playbook for his 100th career touchdown -- Garoppolo had to deliver the throw of the night on third-and-15, with the home crowd at full roar. He used his dancers feet, stepped up and fired a pass down the middle just before he got drilled from behind. Danny Amendola made the 32-yard catch, and soon enough Stephen Gostkowski was returning a lead to the Patriots that they wouldnt surrender.Hes incredible, Patriots defensive back?Devin McCourty said of Garoppolo. All game he went out there and made the plays he was supposed to make.We believed in him. There was no doubt in this locker room that Jimmy could go out there and play.The Cardinals had their chance to reduce the visiting quarterbacks performance?to a moral victory, the equivalent of a mortal sin in New England, but they botched the snap and the kick that wouldve done the trick. Belichick wasted precious seconds before finally calling a timeout before Arizonas last-ditch field goal attempt; he explained that when he saw the Cardinals rush onto the field, he figured (incorrectly) that they would rush the kick and allow him to save the timeout for Garoppolo.The scene summoned the memory of Belichicks dramatic timeout gamble the last time his team had played in this building in the Super Bowl 19 months ago, when Belichicks stare down of a frazzled Pete Carroll led to Seattles, well, you know what it led to.When it was over Sunday night, Belichick wanted no part of the canonization of Saint Jimmy, mocking the notion that he cared a lick about Garoppolos play as the news medias lead storyline. His former boss, Bill Parcells, liked to say a certain great player was heading to Canton on roller skates. Belichick wasnt about to lace em up for his kid quarterback.Good, was the coachs assessment of Garoppolos play. Asked to elaborate, Belichick said, Its been good. He made some plays. Its not perfect, but he made a lot of good plays.As it turned out, Garoppolo made enough good plays to complete 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards, and to go punch for punch with an old pro, Carson Palmer. By comparison, a 24-year-old Tom Brady was no comparison in his first NFL start; he went 13-for-23 for 168 yards and no touchdowns in a Week 3 victory over the Colts in 2001.Garoppolo said he was amped up before the game. He didnt need any time to catch up to the speed of his first regular-season game -- and to remain one step ahead of a defense heavily favored to eat him alive.We were confident going into the game, Garoppolo said, and it showed.Hes no longer a quarterback at Eastern Illinois, breaking?Tony Romos records and lighting it up against the?Eastern Kentuckys and Murray States. Garoppolo is officially a big leaguer now. He started acting that way when he called practice a smoother operation after the suspended Brady was banished from the grounds. And when he told WEEI of his possible not-too-distant future as a Patriots starter: Its a crazy league, and anythings possible, really.Just as crazy as it was on Sept. 23, 2001, the first Sunday of pro football after the 9/11 attacks. When Drew Bledsoe, $103 million man, was knocked out by Mo Lewis of the Jets, who could possibly believe that some sixth-round scarecrow could become what he became?Brady grew into a titan so big that the Patriots slapped an outsized banner of him on the Gillette Stadium lighthouse. Now that banner has been taken down, physically and symbolically, to make room for Garoppolos team next Sunday.Brady will be the starting quarterback in October, but he knows this isnt a lifetime job. He watched his idol, Montana, get forced out in San Francisco. If Garoppolo turns out to be New Englands Steve Young, Bradys challenge will be to handle it with more grace than Montana did. ' ' '
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