pier waters than Canada endured at the Oly

NEW YORK – The aftertaste of two stinging overtime losses in L.A. remained bitter for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers on the long flight back home to New York. "I personally use it as motivation," Lundqvist said on Monday morning, his team trailing the Kings by a dire 2-0 deficit heading into Game 3 at MSG. "You get upset and frustrated and disappointed when you lose. But you just have to respond the right way." The right response would be victory on home ice and some hope for a crowd that hasnt witnessed a Stanley Cup Final game in 20 years. Heavy underdogs coming into their first Final since 1994, the Rangers have, at the very least, demonstrated their ability to crash, bang and skate with the Kings. A bounce or two in their favour in Games 1 and 2 – not to mention a different ruling on a controversial third Kings goal – and this series could look quite different as the series shifts back East, but as it stands, they find themselves at the very edge of a near-inescapable hole. "We have to start winning and thats tonight," said Lundqvist, who has allowed eight goals on 87 shots in the Final. "I hope its going to be an exciting feeling to step out on the ice here; home crowd, great atmosphere; take advantage of that; enjoy the moment but at the same time, really push ourselves here to try to play our best game so far." New York has done its fair share of good in the Final so far despite the gaping series deficit. Packed with plenty of speed and punch, they raced out to 2-0 leads in both Games 1 and 2 only to come undone at the mercy of the resilient Kings en route to a pair of heartbreaking overtime losses – the latter in double overtime. Theyve done enough, however, to believe that this series is far from over. "Chance-wise, were right there with them," said head coach Alain Vigneault, ever optimistic hours before Game 3. "Weve played some good hockey. We got a little bit unfortunate in that last third period, but were right there and we feel real good about our game. "Things always even themselves out with the right effort and the right attitude. You say if you work hard, luck will come with you, well were working hard; were working our butts off here. Im very confident that were going to have that same type of effort here tonight and were going to be real good." History is not on their side. All but five of the 48 teams whove earned a 2-0 series lead in the Final (since 1939) have gone on to capture the Cup. Among those five, interestingly enough, were the Vigneault-led Canucks in 2011, Vancouver falling in seven games to Boston despite the commanding early series lead. The Kings are proof themselves that momentum can change quickly. They rallied furiously from a 3-0 series ditch in the opening round against San Jose, adding two more Game 7 victories along the way. "I think the key is to realize that were close and you dont have to change that much," said Lundqvist. "The difference has been a bounce here or a deflection. Were doing a lot of good things, but it hasnt been enough so we need to raise [our level] a little bit. But its important that you dont try too hard and try too many different things. We need to stick together here and do it together. We had stretches in both games where I think we played really well and created a lot of chances, enough chances to win the game." Drew Sample Jersey . Winners of two straight, the Flames will try to become the first team in 25 years to go three consecutive games without taking a penalty Saturday night in San Jose. Drew Sample Bengals Jersey . Vonn "reopened" the idea of competing in the season-opening World Cup event on Oct. 26-27 in Soelden, Austria after returning to the slopes last month in Portillo, Chile. http://www.bengalsrookiestore.com/Bengals-Jonah-Williams-Jersey/ . Granada goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez saved Morenos first two headers from corner kicks taken by Sergio Garcia, but the defender beat him on his third try after Garcia found Moreno unmarked at the near post in the 78th minute. Anthony Munoz Womens Jersey . -- With Tony Allen back, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to turn up their defence pressure and hold off the Los Angeles Clippers down the stretch. Anthony Munoz Youth Jersey . So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate.dddddddddddd As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. ' ' '