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Data inscrierii: 21/Feb/2019 Mesaje: 391
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NEW YORK -- Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of these playoffs, and Marc-Andre Fleury earned his second shutout of the New York Rangers in two nights as the Pittsburgh Penguins regained home-ice advantage with a 2-0 victory in Game 3 on Monday night. Crosby snapped a 13-game goal drought in the playoffs to give the Penguins the lead in the second period, and Jussi Jokinen added a breakaway goal. Fleury stopped 35 shots to back up his 22-save effort Sunday in a 3-0 win in Pittsburgh. He has eight career post-season shutouts and 51 wins. The Penguins, who lost the opener in overtime, lead the Eastern Conference second round series 2-1. Game 4 is Wednesday in New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 13 saves for the weary Rangers, who played for the fifth time in seven days. They have consecutive losses in these playoffs for the first time. The tide turned in Pittsburghs favour in the second period for the third straight game. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said earlier Monday that he "hated" the second period in Games 1 and 2, and he couldnt have liked this one, either. New York had 2:15 remaining on a 4-minute power play that began in the first period, but couldnt cash in. To make matters worse for the Rangers, Crosby took a long stretch pass from defenceman Robert Bortuzzo, outraced Marc Staal, and beat Lundqvist between the pads from the left circle just 19 seconds after James Neal left the penalty box. It was Crosbys 41st career playoff goal. Although Crosby didnt score in Game 2, he played a dominant game. "Eventually youre going to see him get a goal," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said before Game 3. "Eventually youre going to see him break out. Theres no question about that." The Penguins struck for their second goal again right after killing a penalty. Jokinen jumped out of the box and got to a loose puck in the neutral zone after Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello failed to connect on a backward pass in the Pittsburgh end. Jokinen came in alone on Lundqvist and scored his fifth of the playoffs with 4:40 left in the second -- 8 seconds after his penalty ended. The Rangers were suddenly down 2-0 and had the weight of their anemic power play enveloping them even more. They finished 0 for 5 and have failed on 34 straight advantages overall -- including one in the final minutes. During their last man-advantage in the second period, the Madison Square Garden crowd implored the Rangers to "Shoot the puck!" They did, but to no avail. New York led 26-14 in shots through two periods, yet trailed by two goals. Zuccarello thought earlier in the second that he had tied the game at 1, but his drive struck the crossbar behind Fleury, skittered across the goal line, and stayed out. The Rangers received their first power play of the night 5:16 in when Marcel Goc was called for roughing Dominic Moore after an icing call. Neal later got a 4-minute power play for hitting Jesper Fast in the mouth with a high stick with 1:45 remaining. Benoit Pouliot had the best chance during the first half of the advantage when he fired a drive off the right post with 14 seconds left in the period. Before that, Zuccarello had the best scoring chance when he one-timed a pass from Pouliot during 5-on-5 play from the left circle that Fleury snagged with a stretch of his glove hand with 2:41 left. Lundqvist was sharp early for the second straight night and turned aside Chris Kunitz on a breakaway, for the second time in as many days, during New Yorks first power play. NOTES: Crosby was nominated as a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, given annually to the "Most Outstanding Player" as voted by fellow members of the NHL Players Association. Crosby won the award last season and in 2007. ... The Rangers replaced rugged forwards Daniel Carcillo and Derek Dorsett in the lineup with Fast and J.T. Miller, and put defenceman Raphael Diaz in for the first time in these playoffs. John Moore sat out. ... Lundqvist made his 77th playoff appearance, the most for a Rangers goalie. TORONTO – Just when you thought the Blue Jays starting rotation was poised for the protracted regression so many are expecting, enter Drew Hutchison and one of his brilliant performances to set the clubs proverbial planet back on its axis. This one was special, rivaling and perhaps exceeding his two-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the Rangers on a May night in Arlington, a night when he was better than Yu Darvish. Hutchison had his fastball grooving, painting either side of the plate and working high and low, and his slider dancing with a nasty down-and-away bite that made the likes of Manny Machado and J.J. Hardy look silly. He threw 8 2/3 innings of one-run, one-hit, one-walk, two-over-the minimum baseball. If not for a Chris Davis opposite field home run into the second deck in the second inning and an adrenaline-related two out walk to Nick Markakis in the ninth, Hutchison would have pitched a complete game and vied for a perfect game. As the old saying goes, timing is everything. "Perfect timing," said manager John Gibbons, whose club snapped a four-game losing skid and made up the game in the standings it lost to Baltimore on Tuesday night. "Weve been struggling a little bit. Against a good ballclub we needed that. We scored some runs early and made them stand up. He looked good. Hes pitched some great ballgames for us this year but deplin timing tonight." Hutchison improved his record to 2-0 against the Orioles in four starts this season. How puternic has he been against Baltimore? His ERA against the AL East foe actually went up after his performance. He entered with a 0.95 number, which skyrocketed to 0.98 following the outing. The Orioles boast one of baseballs best offences. Consistently shutting down a lineup that includes Nick Markakis, Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis is no small feat. "I approach it the same as always, whether its on the road or here at home, whoever Im facing," said Hutchison. "You approach them all the same. You game plan the same way and Ive just had good success against them." Hutchison made a small mechanical adjustment in his between-starts bullpen session, which he said allowed him to stay more on top of the baseball, driving through his delivery. "Locate my heater down, which was more important and the slider comes off of that," said Hutchison. "I think that was more a byproduct of getting through the ball and getting through with the fastball command first and that came off it. I thought my changeup was really good tonight." The search for consistency continues. Hutchison hasnt put together back to back quality starts (six or more innings, three earned runs or less allowed) all season. Hell look to do that on Monday when the Blue Jays open a three-city, eight-game road trip in Seattle. His mound opponent is scheduled to be &"King" Felix Hernandez.dddddddddddd "You want to be as consistent as possible and as a competitor you expect yourself to be consistently good every time out so when youre not it is frustrating," said Hutchison. "Youre not going to be great every time out. I think the key is the nights you arent great to be able to get through them without a lot of damage, which I havent been great at yet this year but going forward thats obviously something that you want to do." Hutchison is only 23. Hes also working his first full big league season coming off Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, which nowadays is routine but always will be a major procedure. "Thats a glimpse of what we think hes going to be down the road," said Gibbons. "He gets a year or two under his belt from his Tommy John, hes going to be physically stronger. We forget hes a young kid. Hes got a chance to be a real good one." LAWRIES STATUS UNCERTAIN Brett Lawrie underwent an MRI on Wednesday after feeling tightness in his lower back during Tuesdays loss to the Orioles. He left that game after three innings. Hed just returned from a 36-game absence with a fractured right index finger. As of this posting, the Blue Jays hadnt revealed the results of the MRI but the club announced that team doctors in Toronto and Florida were reading the imaging and comparing it to the MRI taken of Lawries oblique injury in 2012. Lawrie missed 30 games, mostly in the month of August, that season. Last year, he suffered an oblique strain in a Team Canada tune up game for the World Baseball Classic on March 5. He didnt make his 2013 season debut for the Blue Jays until April 16. Expect the club to reveal more details on Thursday. LIND NEARS RETURN Adam Lind, out since July 8 with a fracture in his right foot, will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays on Thursday. Use a pencil, not a pen, to write Lind back into the Blue Jays lineup at the start of the next road trip, Monday in Seattle. "That would be a good goal," said manager John Gibbons. "Hell start playing games in the Gulf Coast (on Thursday) and well see where hes at." The Blue Jays have missed Linds left-handed bat in the middle of the order when the club faces right-handed starting pitching. Few in baseball hit right-handers better than Lind. In 166 plate appearances this season, hes worked a .369 batting average and 1.004 on-base plus slugging percentage versus righties. NORRIS PROMOTED TO BUFFALO Daniel Norris iute ascent through the minor leagues continues. Hes been promoted to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. In 21 starts with Single-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire, the 21-year-old lefthander is 9-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 102 innings. Norris appeared in the Florida State League All-Star Game in mid-June and then was moved up to New Hampshire. ' ' '
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| 26/03/2019 07:55 |
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