miaowang123: 75-yard kickoff return to set up

75-yard kickoff return to set up

20 May 2020 at 22:34

LOS ANGELES -- Mr. Fake New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Game 7 delivered in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Justin Williams scored 4:36 into overtime as the Los Angeles Kings rallied to edge the New York Rangers 3-2 in the opening game of the NHL championship series Wednesday night. The winning goal came on a cruel bounce, a sudden end to an evening that had started with so much promise for the underdog Rangers. Dan Girardi fanned on a clearing attempt and the puck ended up at the blue-line with Mike Richards, who found Williams alone in front. Williams, who is 7-0 on the Game 7 stage with seven goals and 14 points, scored high to the stick side to complete a Kings comeback from 2-0 down. It was his first career playoff overtime goal. "Ive said this many times, Justin is the most underrated player on our team by a mile," said Kings defenceman Drew ;Doughty, who had a roller-coaster night. "He doesnt get enough credit for what he does. "Theres two guys on this team that I want to give the puck to and thats him and Kopie (Anze Kopitar). When they have the puck, plays happen." Added coach Darryl Sutter: "Our best right-winger every night consistently." Williams eighth goal of the playoffs marked the third straight year that Game 1 of the final has gone to OT. Game 2 goes Saturday at the Staples Center with advantage Los Angeles. Teams winning Game 1 have gone on to claim the Cup 77 per cent of the time (57-of-74 series) since the final went to a best-of-seven format in 1939. Benoit Pouliot and Carl Hagelin scored for the Rangers before a crowd of 18,399, the Kings 118th straight sellout. Kyle Clifford and Doughty also scored for Los Angeles, which trailed 2-0 after 15 minutes. "Its a great result for us definitely but we have a lot of things to clean up," said Williams, who has nine points (three goals, six assists) in the last seven games. "Certainly not our best game by any standards especially ours. But we were able to get it done and thats the most important thing." "Weve got a lot to clean up but (we are) happy with the win," said Doughty. After going down early, the Kings tied it up at 2-2 in the second period and then came on like a freight train --outshooting New York 20-3 in the final period. The Rangers held on and then threatened late in a wild ending to regulation time. "I liked the way we played in the first two periods," said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. "I thought it was a hard-fought first 40 minutes by both teams. "Not quite sure what happened there in the third." New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist and the Kings Jonathan Quick both lived up to their reputations on the night, with Quick busy early and Lundqvist late in an entertaining end-to-end game. "He was the reason why we went to overtime," Vigneault said of Lundqvist. "I mean, he gave us a chance. When you get to overtime, a lot of times its a bounce, its a shot. Tonight they got it." "Our best player tonight," Sutter said of Quick. The Rangers managed 25 shots in regulation time. The shots were 2-2 in OT. "Quick didnt have many saves in the third period, but he had some Grade-A ones," said Williams. The Kings registered 13 straight shots in the third before the Rangers finally forced Quick into action 11 minutes 58 seconds into the period. The Kings werent good early on. New York, which had been off since disposing of Montreal last Thursday, came out buzzing. The speedy Rangers played with a purpose after the puck dropped. It was like little brother taking it to big brother -- they scored some knockdowns but eventually the bigger Kings began to claw back control. The Kings, who edged the Blackhawks in overtime Sunday in Chicago to win the Western Conference crown, finished with 45 hits to the Rangers 33. "They come at you hard," said Vigneault. "When you make a play, you got to be willing to take the hit to make the play. Thats something we knew coming into the series. "I thought for 40 minutes we handled it real well. Not quite sure what happened in the third there." New York -- the best road team in the East this season with 25 wins -- had two good scoring chances in the first three minutes. Quick had to poke-check Chris Kreider to end one threat and then stopped Hagelin from in front after a giveaway. It was an entertaining start, albeit a sloppy one. Quick was a busy man as the Rangers probed for an opening. New York went ahead at 13:21 when Doughty tried to be cute at the New York blue-line, attempting to drag the puck past an onrushing Ranger and lost possession. Things went from bad to worse when defence partner Jake Muzzin fell down and Pouliot scored to the stick side on the ensuing breakaway. The Rangers made it 2-0 the penalty kill at 15:03 as the Roadrunner-like Hagelin outraced Slava Voynov and headed to goal. Quick made the save but the puck bounced in off Voynovs skate for Hagelins seventh of the playoffs. While the bounce was unfortunate, it was the Rangers second scoring chance on the penalty. Hagelin, who also scored on the penalty kill against Montreal, is the sixth player in Rangers history to record more than one short-handed goal in one playoff year and the first since Mark Messier scored two in 1992. Los Angeles pulled one back at 17:33 on a good forecheck. Derek Stepan failed to clear the puck, turning it over and the Kings crashed the net, with Clifford jamming it in top shelf to revive the Staples Center crowd. It was Cliffords first post-season goal since April 23, 2011, snapping a 37-game playoff drought. The Kings outshot the Rangers 14-13 in a first period that belonged to the visitors. Doughty made up for his earlier turnover with a sweet goal that featured almost the same move that tripped him up before. Taking a nifty Williams backhand pass, a trailing Doughty toe-dragged the puck between his legs to evade Derek ;Dorsett and then snapped a shot through Lundqvists legs for his fifth of the playoffs at 6:36. While Doughty put on the brakes to score from in close, two Rangers and two Kings jostled on the other side of Lundqvist. It was Doughtys 17th point of the post-season, breaking the club record for a defenceman he set two years ago. Clifford made a fine pass to trigger the attack. On the bench, rugged Kings defenceman Matt Greene got treatment for a nasty gash by his left eye that looked like someone had taken a box-cutter to him. The game was getting nasty with Doughty complaining bitterly he had been butt-ended. Later in the game, he got a penalty for embellishment. The shots were 22-21 for the Rangers after 40 minutes. Both teams have travelled marathon journeys to get here. The Kings played 21 games, a league-record maximum, while the Rangers saw action in 20. The record for most playoff games in a single season is 26, set by the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers and 2004 Calgary Flames. The most by a Cup winner is 25, by the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes and 2011 Boston Bruins. Los Angeles finished 10th overall in the league during the regular season with 100 points, four ahead of No. 12 New York. The Kings are looking to win their second Cup in three seasons while the Rangers are after their first championship in 20 years. It was the Kings first playoff OT win at home since May 6, 2001, against Colorado. NOTES: Celebs at the game included Will Ferrell, Kate Bosworth, Jon Hamm, Ellen Page, Jim Carrey, Matthew Perry, Steve Carell, David Boreanaz, Kevin Connolly, Larry David, Catherine Keener, Spike Jonze, and Flea and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. New Orleans Saints Jerseys Store . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process. New Orleans Saints Jerseys Shop . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television.SEATTLE - If this all seems familiar for the Seattle Seahawks, thats because it is.A season ago, the Seahawks beat the St. Louis Rams in Week 17 of the 2013 season to wrap up the NFC West title and home-field advantage throughout the post-season.Nearly the exact same scenario is in play this Sunday when the Seahawks close out the regular season hosting the Rams. A victory would give the Seahawks (11-4) their second straight NFC West title. And barring a rare tie between Green Bay and Detroit, a Seahawks victory would route the NFC playoffs through Seattle for the second straight season.Not a lot of people want to come to Seattle, so if we make everybody fly out to Seattle and come enjoy our wonderful weather and our great fans, I think they kind of enjoy it — a little bit, Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said.Seattle is riding a five-game win streak, mowing through Arizona and San Francisco twice and knocking off Philadelphia to put the NFC playoff race back under the Seahawks control. It was a significant turn from where Seattle sat after losing at Kansas City in Week 11 and falling to 6-4.Sitting there is the opportunity for home-field advantage and making the rest of the NFC come to CenturyLink Field, where Seattle is 23-2, including the playoffs, over the past three seasons.St. Louis (6-9) beat Seattle 28-26 in October, but hasnt beaten a team on the road with a winning record. A win over the Seahawks would throw the entire NFC playoff seeding into turmoil and give the Rams a third straight seven-win season.Its not about rocking their world and affecting their playoffs, its just trying to find a way to win the last game, St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said.Heres what else to watch as the Seahawks and Rams meet in Week 17 for the fourth time in five seasons:WILSONS FINALE: Along with Seattles win streak has been some of the best play of Russell Wilsons young career. The Seattle QB has a passer rating of 106.2 during the five-game span, with seven touchdowns and one interception. Hes also averaging nearly 55 yards per game rushing during the span.With one more big game, Wilson could become the first quarterback in league history with 3,500 yards passing and 900 yards rushing in a single season. Wilson would need 58 yards rushing and 264 yards passing to reach those benchmarks.The best way to describe it is that hes an extra player on offence. New Orleans Saints Jerseys 2022. Theyre playing with 12 and thats very hard to defend, Fisher said.SACKS-A-PLENTY: The Rams pass rush was mostly silent the first five games of the season. The Seahawks served as a kickstarter.St. Louis sacked Wilson three times in October. That was just the start. Over the past 10 games, the Rams have 36 sacks, including eight against San Francisco, seven against Washington and six vs. Oakland. The Rams are now tied for 15th in the league.Its one you dont necessarily look forward to all the time because they do so many different looks, theyre physical, they know how to get to the quarterback, Wilson said.DEFENSIVE HISTORY: With another stellar defensive performance, the Seahawks could join a rare fraternity in NFL history as the best defence in the league for consecutive seasons. Seattle led the NFL in yards and points allowed last season and is in position to do it again. The Seahawks would become just the fourth team in league history to lead those categories in consecutive seasons. Seattle can also become the third team the lead the league in scoring defence in three straight seasons, the last being the Vikings from 1969-71.BEAST MODE: Marshawn Lynch likely wont set a single-season career high in yards rushing on Sunday. But he could cap off arguably the best all-around season of his career. Lynch has 1,246 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns, along with four TDs receiving. The 16 total touchdowns lead the NFL.Hes the hardest tackle in the NFL, in my opinion, St. Louis linebacker James Laurinaitis said.SPECIAL TEAMS DIFFERENCE: St. Louis won the first meeting largely because of its special teams. There was the 90-yard punt return touchdown by Stedman Bailey when the Rams duped Seattles coverage unit by running to the opposite side of the field of where the ball was kicked. Benny Cunningham had a 75-yard kickoff return to set up another score.The capper was punter Johnny Hekker, a Seattle area native, completing his second career pass against the Seahawks on a fourth-down fake punt with less than two minutes remaining in the game.Being able to play for a coach that does like to throw that kind of stuff in quite frequently is kind of fun, Hekker said. It throws the players a bone that sometimes doesnt get recognized.___AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '



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