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| | he sixth. Howie Kendrick grounded out to (2nd Jul 16 at 9:24am UTC) | | | SAN JOSE, Calif. Wales Euro Kit . -- Now that the Los Angeles Kings have made it halfway to a historic comeback, the task actually seems even more difficult now that they know how close they are. Jonathan Quick made 30 saves to shut out San Jose for the fourth time in his career in the post-season and the Kings staved off elimination for a second straight game by beating the Sharks 3-0 on Saturday night in Game 5 of their first-round series. "If anything, it seems a little more daunting because we came this far to get two, now we need to take two more," defenceman Drew Doughty said. "It puts more pressure on us because we can kind of smell it. We cant get ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of work ahead of us." Tyler Toffoli, Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored for the Kings, who have rebounded after losing the first three games of the series. Quick allowed 16 goals in those losses, but once again is starting to look like the goalie who stymied the Sharks in a second-round series a year ago. Antti Niemi allowed three goals on 19 shots and got pulled for the second straight game for the Sharks. Perhaps more importantly, San Jose also lost star defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic to an upper-body injury after he was elbowed in the head by Jarret Stoll late in the first period. "We did a lot of good things for 3 1/2 games. Tonight was red rotten," coach Todd McLellan said. "Thats simply put. When we started the series, we talked about leaving games behind, closing the book on it. Theres no doubt well look at it. We have to improve. But its put in the bank and well move on." They may have to do it without Vlasic. He is questionable for Game 6 on Monday night in Los Angeles as the Kings are looking to become just the fourth NHL team to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. They finally broke through in San Jose after losing five playoff games here the past two seasons and 12 of 13 games here overall. But they will need to win here again to complete the comeback as Game 7 will be in San Jose on Wednesday, if necessary. The Kings came out looking like a desperate team and dominated from the start against the listless Sharks, who were unable to feed off the energy from a frenzied crowd hoping to see a fierce rival get eliminated. "We had a good start," Quick said. "We got a few shifts and we just tried to keep building on it. They came with a lot, too. They had a big pushback. Its not easy to win against this team. Theyre a great team for a reason." Los Angeles controlled the game on the ice, the shot clock and the scoreboard to take a 2-0 lead in the first period and mostly silence the crowd. The Kings opened the scoring when Tanner Pearson outraced Vlasic to a loose puck and fed a rushing Toffoli, who patiently skated around James Sheppard and beat Niemi with a shot from the slot to make it 1-0. The Kings made it 2-0 shortly after Joe Thornton was unable to bat a cross-ice pass from Brent Burns into an empty net. That fueled a 3-on-2 rush the other way and Kopitar knocked in a rebound of Dustin Browns shot. "Usually, we have really fast starts in this building and that wasnt the case tonight," Thornton said. "They started faster than us. Really, its a rarity around here. We just have to have better starts. Thats the bottom line." The Sharks responded to a 2-0 deficit in Game 2 that deficit with seven straight goals, but it was quickly clear that would not repeat when Carter banked a shot off Brad Stuarts skate for a power-play goal 22 seconds into the second period to end Niemis night. Alex Stalock came in and stopped 22 shots, but it was too late to save the Sharks in this game although it could make McLellan consider starting him in Game 6. "Well have to make some decisions throughout our lineup at every position because we werent obviously near good enough tonight," McLellan said. San Jose finally showed some life late in the second period, but by then Quick was on his game, robbing Brent Burns with a pad save on the power play late in the period. "I thought tonight was probably our best defensive game so far this series," Doughty said. "We dont want Quicky to have to stand on his head every night. We want to play well in front of him. We want to do things to make it a little easier for him. I thought we did that tonight but when he was called upon he was huge." NOTES: Niemi has been pulled four times in 38 playoff starts for San Jose, all against Los Angeles. ... Carter has points in nine straight playoff games dating to last season. http://www.walessoccerjersey.uk/aaron-ramsey-shirt-wales.html . Or at least something approaching the greatness of the New York Rangers goaltender. Wales Football Shirt . Markus Granlund scored the shootout winner as the Heat defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 in the American Hockey League. "It was tough on us, losing the last few games, and with this being our last game before Christmas we will definitely take the win," said Granlund. http://www.walessoccerjersey.uk/ . -- Kevin Martin hit a step-back jumper with 8.HOUSTON -- Chris Carter insists he doesnt think about winning the home run title. If he keeps hitting long balls at his current pace, soon it will be difficult to ignore that race. Carter homered twice and drove in three runs, Collin McHugh pitched into the eighth inning and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 on Wednesday night. Carter has 35 home runs, and his seven multihomer games this season are a franchise record. Its the most homers by an Astros player since Lance Berkman hit 45 in 2006. The designated hitter, who also singled, leads the majors with 22 homers and 52 RBIs since July 1. His 35 home runs rank third in the majors behind Baltimores Nelson Cruz and Miamis Giancarlo Stanton, who have 36 apiece. "Its still nothing Ive thought about," Carter said of the possibility of leading the league in homers. "Im just out there trying to have good at-bats. I just want to keep doing what Im doing." He was, however, happy about setting a franchise record, especially after he finished last year with 212 strikeouts, third-most in major league history. "Its nice to have a good record this time instead of the one I had last year," he said with a laugh. It was the second straight win for the Astros since manager Bo Porter was fired on Monday and replaced by interim manager Tom Lawless. Carter put Houston on top 1-0 with his homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field in the second inning off Angels starter Jered Weaver (15-8). "I thought he kind of mishit it, hit it off the bat, but hes strong as an ox," Weaver said. Carters two-run, opposite-field shot made it 4-1 in the eighth. The first-place Angels lost both games in the series after sweeping the As in a four-game set before arriving in Houston. "Luckily, the As lost a couple as well, so it doesnt hurt us too bad, but it would have been nice to get a couple of wins here and extend the lead a little bit," Weaver said. "Just have to keep trucking on and get another winning streaak going. http://www.walessoccerjersey.uk/joe-ledley-shirt-wales.html. " McHugh (8-9) yielded four hits and a run with eight strikeouts in 7 2-3 innings for his fourth straight win, extending a career high. Chad Qualls pitched a perfect ninth for his 17th save. Angels starter Jered Weaver (15-8) allowed five hits and two runs in six-plus innings for just his second loss since June 16. Dexter Fowler walked with one out in the fourth and stole second with two outs. Jason Castros single scored Fowler to put Houston up 2-1. The Angels tied it at 1 in the third when Efren Navarro scored on an error by shortstop Jonathan Villar that allowed Mike Trout to reach. The play pushed Trouts RBI total to a career-high 98. McHugh retired the next 10 batters, with the next hit by Los Angeles coming on a single by Josh Hamilton with two outs in the sixth. Howie Kendrick grounded out to end the inning. That was the first of six in a row set down by McHugh before he was replaced by Jose Veras. Jose Altuve, who had four hits in each of his previous two games, doubled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. He has a major league-leading 194 hits this season. WHAT A MONTH Los Angeles right-hander Matt Shoemaker was selected American League pitcher and rookie of the month for August. Hes the ninth player to win both honours in the same month and the first Angels player to do it since Trout received both awards in July 2012. Shoemaker is 14-4 with a 3.14 ERA this season and was 6-1 with a 1.31 ERA last month. He has pitched 23 1-3 consecutive scoreless innings, second in franchise history for a rookie behind Bob Lees 27 straight in 1964. TRAINERS ROOM Angels: Manager Mike Scioscia said reliever Joe Thatcher (sprained left ankle) has been throwing off a mound and could pitch a simulated game in the next few days. UP NEXT The Angels open a four-game series at Minnesota, with Hector Santiago opposing Kyle Gibson. ... The Astros are off Thursday before starting a three-game series in Oakland. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China ' ' ' | |
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