Wayne Simmonds powers Flyers to decisive Game 6 victory

Wayne Simmonds and the Philadelphia Flyers are going back to New York for Game 7. There is no time to waste, too.

Simmonds scored three goals, Steve Mason stopped 34 shots and the Flyers beat the Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday night to even their first Eastern Conference playoff series at three games apiece.

Erik Gustafsson also scored as Philadelphia added a third Game 7 to the NHL schedule for Wednesday night. While the other two series last played on Monday night, the Flyers and Rangers have a quick turnaround before their final game at Madison Square Garden.

"You've got to hop on the train and put it behind you. I've got a few episodes of Scandal to catch up on," Mason said, referring to the popular TV show.

Simmonds scored in the first period and twice more in the second for his first career post-season hat trick. Mason survived a busy first period and stopped 31 straight shots until Carl Hagelin scored late in the third. Mats Zuccarello also scored for New York in the final minute.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds, second from right, celebrates his hat trick with teammates during the second period in Game 6 on Tuesday. (Chris Szagola/The Associated Press)

By the third, Simmonds had ready helped stake the Flyers to a 4-0 lead and the outcome was a mere formality. Mason raised his stick in the final minutes toward a rowdy crowd that wouldn't stop chanting his name.

Claude Giroux had an empty-netter for the Flyers, who will try for a second win in New York this series.

"We're not ready to go home yet," Simmonds said.

Simmonds, a 29-goal scorer who had one in the first five games, completed the hat trick with 4:41 left in the second. With a short break, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was yanked for Cam Talbot to open the third period.

Lundqvist stopped 19 of 23 shots. He couldn't stop Simmonds.

"I already started thinking about (Game 7)," Lundqvist said. "You don't want to analyze this too much. We have a Game 7 at home."

Simmonds camped out in the dirty area, in front of the crease, and pounded home three short goals that had Flyers fans going wild. On the brink of elimination, about the only thing that could slow down the Flyers were their fans — the game was delayed for a lengthy cleanup after they littered the ice with hats. Someone even threw a shoe.

Outplayed for most of the series, the Flyers were lucky to escape the first period with a 1-0 lead. They were careless with the puck in their own zone and had nine turnovers, which led to a ton of work for Mason, who made 13 saves in the period.

"It's always important to feel the puck early," he said. "I was able to make a couple of timely saves to start off the game and feel good for the rest of it. It was nice to be busy a little earlier in the game."

Simmonds put Philadelphia in front with his third hack at a rebound on a power play. Across the street, the rain-delayed Philadelphia Phillies rang the home run Liberty Bell in celebration of the goal.

Simmonds, a 6-foot-2, 183-pound forward, was just warming up.

Brayden Schenn stripped New York's Dan Girardi of the puck, and then lost control in front of the crease. Simmonds was perfectly positioned off to Lundqvist's right side and pounded in the trickling puck for a 2-0 lead just 1:32 into the second.

Simmonds again was just outside the crease to knock in his third goal late in the second for the 4-0 lead.

"We knew the situation," Simmonds said. "You've got to get pumped up for games like this."

After a sloppy first, the puck just seemed to bounce Philadelphia's way.

Gustafsson, who did not play the first five games, came storming out of the penalty box in the second period, his stick hit the puck in a flash and he scored for a 3-0 lead.

"It was a lot of fun when I saw the puck come down to me," he said. "I think it took a fortunate bounce."

Mason, who had never won a post-season game until this season, was hardly challenged in the last two periods as he chased the shutout. He snared Benoit Pouliot's point-blank shot in the second period and made an out-of-nowhere kick save against John Moore in the third.

"If we win Game 7, it's going to feel even more special because it's over there," Giroux said.

The Rangers had scored four goals in three other games this series. New York is 13-2 in series it has led 3-2, but the Rangers have lost 12 straight games in which they had a series lead.

"It was one of those nights where we just couldn't execute," Rangers centre Brad Richards said. "This team is not going to be thinking about what happened tonight. It's over once we get on the train. You have to move on quick."

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Donald Sterling banned for life by NBA over racist comments

NBA commissioner Adam Silver delivered the swiftest, strongest penalty he could, then called on NBA owners to force Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling to sell the team for making racist comments that hurt the league.

Almost unanimously, owners supported the commissioner Tuesday as he handed down one of the harshest penalties in the history of U.S. sports.

"We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling's views. They simply have no place in the NBA," Silver said at a media conference.

Sterling, 80, is banned for life from any association with the league or the Clippers and was fined $2.5 million — the maximum allowable under the NBA constitution. If three-fourths of the other 29 owners agree to Silver's recommendation, Sterling will be forced to sell the team he has owned since 1981.

Silver expressed outrage at Tuesday's media gathering.

"I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him," Silver said of Sterling.

Several owners immediately chimed in with support of Silver's decision. Silver said a league investigation found that Sterling was in fact the person on the audiotapes that were released over the weekend and immediately sent shock waves throughout the game.

Sterling acknowledged he was the man on the tape, Silver said.

A message left seeking comment at Sterling's business office hadn't been returned Tuesday afternoon. Team spokesman Seth Burton said in an email that the Clippers had no plans to issue a statement from Sterling on Tuesday.

It's unclear how Sterling will respond.

Players and others cheered Silver's quick action, with union officials saying that if the league's punishment hadn't included a mandate for Sterling to sell the team, players were considering boycotting playoff games, including Tuesday's Golden State Warriors-Clippers matchup, the team's first home game since the scandal erupted.

"We wanted to be a part of this decision and we wanted Adam Silver to know where we stood. And we were very clear that anything other than Sterling selling his team was not going to be enough for us," said Roger Mason Jr., the first vice president of the players' union.

Chris Paul, the Clippers' all-star point guard and president of the players' union, issued a brief statement before leading Los Angeles against the Warriors in Game 5 of their tied playoff series.

"In response to today's ruling by the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver, my teammates and I are in agreement with his decision," Paul said. "We appreciate the strong leadership from commissioner Silver and he has our full support."

"This league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach and any one player," said Silver, who as commissioner has broad powers under what's typically called the "best interest of the game" clause of the NBA constitution.

But Silver works for the owners and he will need 75 per cent of them — if all 30 teams vote, he'll need 23 on his side — to force Sterling out of the league completely.

The fine will be donated to organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and the Players Association, Silver said.

"This has all happened in three days, and so I am hopeful there will be no long-term damage to the league and to the Clippers organization," Silver said. "But as I said earlier, I'm outraged so I certainly understand other people's outrage. This will take some time and appropriate healing will be necessary."

Current and past players from the NBA reacted to the Sterling controversy, including Sacramento, Calif., Mayor and ex-NBA player Kevin Johnson, middle, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (Associated Press)

After the announcement, the Clippers' website had a simple message: "We are one," it read.

"We wholeheartedly support and embrace the decision by the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver today. Now the healing process begins," the Clippers added in a statement.

The "We are one" mantra was repeated by the team's public-address announcers and chanted by their fans several times during their playoff game Tuesday night, a cathartic 113-103 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

The Clippers received raucous cheers when they took the court for warmups before Game 5. Two days earlier, they dumped their team warmup jerseys in a pile at centre court in Oakland in a gesture of defiance against their owner before losing Game 4 of the series.

Sterling's Clippers have been one of the most incompetent franchises in pro sports and nearly all of their previous seasons would have been finished by now. But after the most successful two-year stretch in Clippers history, the current team is a title contender led by Doc Rivers, a black head coach whom Sterling brought in from Boston and paid $7 million a year.

"[Silver] made the decision that really was the right one that had to be made," Rivers said before the Clippers' game. "I don't think this is something that we rejoice in or anything like that. I told the players about the decision and I think they were just happy there was a resolution and that it's over, at least the start of it. I think we're all in a better place because of this."

Sterling's comments were released over the weekend by TMZ and Deadspin and numerous NBA owners and players have condemned them. Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the crisis, the first of Silver's brief tenure as commissioner.

"Commissioner Silver thank you for protecting our beautiful and powerful league!! Great leader!!," Miami Heat star LeBron James wrote on Twitter.

Nash lauds NBA commissioner

Lakers guard and Canadian Steve Nash, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson, along with Los Angeles major Eric Garcetti.

Nash, from Victoria, thanked Silver for "a quick, unequivocal and concise decision made today on behalf of everyone involved in this situation.

"It begs the bigger question: if racism is a learned behaviour, how long will it go on for?" Nash continued. "How long will people be taught to be bigoted, to discriminate and to instill hatred in our communities?

NBA commissioner Adam Silver issues a lifetime ban to Clippers owner Donald Sterling in New York on Tuesday. (Kathy Willens/Associated Press)

"Let's hope this is an opportunity for all of us ... to help educate and take one step further to eradicating racism in our communities."

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors, also released a statement in support of Silver's decision. 

"As a proud member of the National Basketball Association, we stand strongly in our  belief that the comments attributed to Mr. Sterling have no place in our society or sport, the statement read. 

"Our organization will always work to contribute to a culture of diversity and acceptance in this  league and fully support the actions taken today. We thank Commissioner Adam Silver, and all  of the NBA players, for their leadership on this important issue." 

Investigation began Saturday

The league's investigation started Saturday and players immediately began expressing intense displeasure with the situation, even going so far as to ask Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to get involved on behalf of the players' union.

"When one rotten apple does something, or if you see cancer, you've got to cut it out really quickly," Kevin Johnson said at a news conference in Los Angeles, flanked by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and players like Steve Nash, Tyson Chandler, Luke Walton and Roger Mason Jr., among others. "And Commissioner Silver did that in real time. We're so proud and thankful for him."

The sanctions came a few hours before the Clippers were to play Golden State in Game 5 of a tied-up Western Conference first-round playoff series.

"When you get this many Lakers to stand up for the Clippers, you know something big is happening in L.A.," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. "We are a single team here today, a team not only speaking out for what we're against — racism, hatred, bigotry, intolerance — but what we're for. We're for great basketball."

Before Silver took the podium, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted out a photo of the NBA Constitution, saying "It exists for a reason."

Several sponsors either terminated or suspended their business dealings with the team on Monday, though individual deals that some of those companies have with Clippers stars like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will continue and were not affected. Still, it was a clear statement that companies, like just about everyone inside the league, were outraged.

"Commissioner Silver showed great leadership in banning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life," Magic Johnson, who was referenced on the taped conversation involving Sterling, tweeted shortly after the league's decision was announced.

Johnson's role on the tape stemmed from Sterling's female companion apparently posting a photo of her and the Hall of Fame player on her Instagram account. That photo has since been deleted, but raised Sterling's ire nonetheless.

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to?" Sterling asks the woman on the tape.

Long history of controversy

The issues raised when the tapes were released over the weekend represent just another chapter in Sterling's long history of being at the centre of controversy.

In the past, he's faced extensive federal charges of civil rights violations and racial discrimination in his business dealings, and some of his race-related statements would be described as shocking.

The scandal has attracted attention from outside the world of basketball. Filmmaker and avid basketball fan Spike Lee attended Tuesday's news conference by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in New York. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)

He has also been sued in the past for sexual harassment by former employees, and even the woman who goes by the name "V. Stiviano" — purportedly the female voice on the tapes at the center of this scandal — describes Sterling in court documents as a man "with a big toothy grin brandishing his sexual prowess in the faces of the Paparazzi and caring less what anyone else thought, the least of which, his own wife."

Stiviano is being sued by Rochelle Sterling, who is seeking to reclaim at least $1.8 million in cash and gifts that her husband allegedly provided the woman.

Stiviano is "very saddened" by his lifetime NBA ban and she didn't release the recording of their conversation, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Stiviano "never wanted any harm to Donald," Siamak Nehoray of Calabasas told the Los Angeles Times. 

Somebody released it "for money," but it wasn't Stiviano, the attorney said.

"My client is devastated that this got out," he said.

Nehoray previously said the recording posted online is a snippet of a conversation lasting roughly an hour.

Silver said when he first heard the audio, he hoped it had been altered or was fake — but also said that from his 20-year relationship with Sterling, he suspected the voice was his.

"This has been a painful moment," Silver said, "for all members of the NBA family."

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Canadiens, Bruins begin series Thursday in Boston

The wait is over for the rested Montreal Canadiens and Boston, with the rivals starting their Atlantic Division series on Thursday.

Coverage will be begin on Hockey Night in Canada and on CBCSports.ca with Hockey Tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The puck will drop at TD Garden in Boston just after 7:30 p.m.

Further details regarding the second round schedule for the NHL playoffs will be officially released on Wednesday.

It will be the 34th time the rivals have met in the NHL playoffs, the most of any two franchises.

Montreal holds a 24-9 edge, dominating the rivalry for several decades.

Over the last 15 meetings, however, it has been fiercely competitive, with an 8-7 edge for the Canadiens. The seven Boston wins have come in the last 11 matchups.

Montreal has been idle since sweeping Tampa Bay on April 22. The Bruins clinched their series over Detroit four days later.

Boston has home ice advantage after earning the Presidents' Trophy with the most points in the NHL, at 117.

The Bruins earned only three of a possible eight points in the season against Montreal, who elected to start backup goaltender Peter Budaj over Carey Price in three of those meetings.

Boston's stellar goaltender Tuukka Rask has struggled in his career against the Canadiens, winning just three of 17 regular season appearances.

The clubs will meet in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1992.

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Clippers face uncertain future if put up for sale

While Donald Sterling's lifetime ban from the Los Angeles Clippers was greeted with widespread acclaim Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver's decision raised a host of new questions for the owner's long-troubled franchise.

The Clippers took the court for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night in an arena nearly free of visible advertising, but full of roaring fans. Many of the Clippers sponsors ended or re-evaluated their relationship with the team in the wake of Sterling's incendiary racial remarks.

It's too soon to know whether Silver's sweeping ruling will return those sponsors to the Clippers and the NBA, but the Clippers' long-suffering fans in attendance appeared to lose little faith in their players.

Geffen Interested

Reuters reports that billionaire media executive David Geffen is interested in buying the Los Angeles Clippers, according to a person with knowledge of Geffen's thinking. 
 
Geffen, who started two record labels and the Dreamworks film studio with Jeffrey Katzenberg and director Steven Spielberg, expressed interest in buying the Clippers in the past but never made a formal offer. 
 
Geffen has a net worth of an estimated $6.2 billion US, according to Forbes magazine.

"My message to the Clippers fans is this league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach, any one player," Silver said. "This institution has been around for a long time and it will stand for a long time and I have complete confidence in Doc Rivers, in the basketball management of that club and the players deserve their support.

"They've just been through an incredibly difficult incident in their lives."

The Clippers' top executives are unlikely to be shuffled in the short term, particularly while the team is still involved in the NBA post-season. Team president Andy Roeser has been a loyal Sterling employee for many years, while Rivers also has a say in personnel decisions.

After the news of Sterling's comments broke last weekend, Rivers clearly questioned whether he would stay with the team that pried him away from the Boston Celtics a year ago with a lucrative contract. The championship-winning head coach said he still hadn't made up his mind before Game 5.

"I had given it zero thought as far as that goes," said Rivers, who briefly played for Sterling with the Clippers.

"Obviously, Adam's decision, if there was going to be one, makes mine easier."

In the first few hours after Silver's landmark decision, the Clippers didn't know whether Sterling's wife, Rochelle, would be eligible to take a leadership role with the team in Donald Sterling's absence. Donald Sterling wasn't a micro-managing owner, but the 80-year-old real-estate mogul still presided over the team's major decisions, including the hiring and firing of innumerable executives and coaches in the past three decades.

"There have been no decisions about other members of the Sterling family," Silver said. "This ruling applies specifically to Donald Sterling and Donald Sterling's conduct only."

That language likely means Rochelle Sterling, who has been estranged from Donald Sterling for many years, is still welcome for now at the Clippers' games at Staples Center and their state-of-the-art, $60-million US training complex built in Playa Vista, Calif., in 2008. The NBA hasn't yet specified or determined what her long-term future with the Clippers might be.

Rochelle Sterling has played a nebulous role in running the team in the past and it's conceivable she could be allowed to assume a figurehead position in Donald Sterling's absence before the sale of the team, which could drag on for months and years if Donald Sterling is determined to fight. Despite years of separation, the Sterlings co-own many items in their vast wealth portfolio under California's community property laws.

Despite the urgency of the potential move, Sterling seems almost certain to get the highest sale price in history for an NBA franchise if he is indeed forced to sell — something he is famously loathe to do with any of his possessions, particularly in his real-estate empire.

Even after decades of incompetence under Sterling's watch, the Clippers are a successful team located in glamorous Los Angeles — and they're about to get much more valuable.

That's because the Clippers' television contract with Fox Sports is up after the 2015-16 season, and they're the only franchise in the nation's second-largest media market that will be up for bid soon. Fox needs to keep the Clippers after losing the Lakers and the Dodgers to those teams' own Time Warner Cable-backed networks, but both of those new networks seem likely to bid on the Clippers' rights as well.

If the Clippers go on sale, the potential buyers would include several of the world's wealthiest men.

Magic Johnson, Mark Walter and their Guggenheim Partners group in the billion-dollar purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers are possible bidders for the team. Billionaire music mogul David Geffen and real-estate tycoon Rick Caruso both have already indicated interest.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire often described as the richest man in Los Angeles, bought Johnson's share of the Lakers in 2010, but could be interested in owning his own team. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has attempted to purchase several sports teams in recent years, but been rebuffed despite his vast fortune.

Perhaps the buyer could come from elsewhere, too. Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and music mogul Sean Combs both claimed interest in buying the team Tuesday.

Financial interest in professional sports franchises is at an unprecedented high. The small-market Milwaukee Bucks attracted nine bidders before selling for $550 million US to finance executives Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens.

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Zach Parise, Wild force Game 7 in Colorado with late goal

The Minnesota Wild gave Zach Parise all that money for games like this. Parise signed that megadeal two years ago for games even bigger than this.

They forced at least one more with a furious finish.

Parise scored early and late on tipped shots, and the Wild tacked on two empty-net goals for a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night that sent the first-round playoff series to a decisive Game 7.

"It's one of those nights where you just want to keep touching it and keep having the puck," said Parise, who added two assists for a career-playoff-high four points.

The teams will meet in Denver on Wednesday night, with the winner taking on the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference semifinals.

"We don't have any time to hang our heads here and feel sorry for ourselves," Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said. "We're just going to get right back on the horse here and get ready for Game 7."

Ah, Game 7. An already-tight series will produce one final dramatic performance.

"We didn't sign here to win a first-round game. We look at the big picture," said Parise, who joined close friend Ryan Suter in signing 13-year, $98-million contracts with the Wild two seasons ago.

The Wild were in trouble at the second intermission after what Avalanche rookie head coach Patrick Roy said might have been his team's best period of the whole series.

Parise scored just 49 seconds into the game on a power play and Mikael Granlund made it 2-0 later in the first period, but a costly turnover by Suter at the end of a failed 5-on-3 situation led to a short-handed goal for the Avalanche when Paul Stastny scored for the fourth time in the series.

Nick Holden got the tying goal in the second period to stop the power-play skid for the Avalanche, who had been denied by a resurgent Wild penalty-kill unit in 19 of 20 previous opportunities in the series. The Wild stumbled through to the second intermission, lacking the edge they had here throughout Games 3 and 4 and in the first period of this Game 6, and the atmosphere in the building became anxious, with one more goal by the Avalanche holding the power to end the home team's season.

So Wild head coach Mike Yeo gave his team a spark by reuniting Parise on the first line with centre Mikko Koivu, who had two assists.

"I think we started to get a little bit of fear in our game. Not necessarily afraid of them, just afraid maybe of what we were losing," Yeo said, adding: "Both of those guys were leading the charge up front and for me, their determination, their kind of get-after-it attitude, I wanted those guys going out together."

Parked in the crease with the season on the line, Parise took a shove in the back from goalie Semyon Varlamov and then outmuscled defenceman Erik Johnson for position on Koivu's shot from behind the circle that he knocked in with his stick with 6:29 left in the game.

Roy pulled Varlamov with 2:44 remaining, and this time the daring move backfired after it led to tying goals for the Avalanche in Games 1 and 5. Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella found the back of the net for the Wild, and the celebration was on.

Matt Duchene returned to the Avalanche lineup and notched an assist in extensive time on the power play, after missing the last month due to a left knee injury. The Avalanche leader with 70 points during the regular season, Duchene wasn't cleared for action until minutes before faceoff.

"He was flying out there. He was playing well. He was playing hard," Roy said.

He wasn't the only one. Ryan O'Reilly had two assists, and the Avalanche refused to express any frustration afterward, even though they'll be in an elimination situation for the first time in the series.

"If that's what it's going to need to be, then that's what it's going to need to be," Avalanche right wing P.A. Parenteau said. "It's been a battle back and forth with the Wild. We're lucky we have the home ice advantage, but we're going to have to be ready."

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Ron Francis on HNIC Radio

Audio

Former Hurricanes captain succeeds Jim Rutherford as GM

CBC Sports Posted: Apr 28, 2014 6:39 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 28, 2014 6:39 PM ET

The Carolina Hurricanes' newest GM joined Hockey Night In Canada Radio host Rob Pizzo and CBCSports.ca's Mike Brophy on Monday.

Hear more about what Ron Francis had to say about his new role with the team by clicking on the link above.

Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

Submission Policy

Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.

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Coach's Corner: Dumb-Dumb questions

Video

Grapes points out a few snappy answers to stupid questions

CBC Sports Posted: Apr 28, 2014 9:08 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 28, 2014 9:08 PM ET

Watch Don Cherry and Ron MacLean in the Coach's Corner as they point out the patience shown by players when asked "dumb-dumb" questions by reporters during the Stanley Cup playoffs. 

Watch previous episodes of Coach's Corner here. 

Follow Don Cherry on Twitter @CoachsCornerCBC.

Follow Ron MacLean on Twitter @RonMacLeanCBC.

Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

Submission Policy

Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.

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Evgeni Malkin hat trick helps Penguins put away Jackets

Evgeni Malkin and the Pittsburgh Penguins finally flexed their offensive muscles.

And they needed every bit of scoring they could muster.

Malkin had a hat trick and the Penguins almost blew a four-goal lead before holding off the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Monday night to clinch their first-round playoff series in six games.

"It's more important that we win the game and [end] the series," Malkin said of the 10th time he's scored three times in a game in his career.

"Going into the second round now, you feel so much better when you have confidence. I hope in the next round I can score more."

Pittsburgh awaits the winner of the New York-Philadelphia series, with the Rangers leading 3-2 going into Tuesday night's Game 6.

It's a good thing for the Penguins that Malkin — scoreless in his past nine playoff games including the first five in the series — finally found the net.

The Blue Jackets, closer to making tee times than thinking about a Game 7, scored three times in a 4:52 span in the third period to turn up the pressure on the Penguins, an overwhelming favourite before the series got under way.

"We're a proud group in here," forward Brandon Dubinsky said. "We didn't want to get embarrassed on home ice. If it was going to be our last game of the season, we didn't want to have any quit. We didn't have any quit in this locker room all season. We just kept pushing and pushing."

Brandon Sutter also scored before leaving with an injury and Matt Niskanen had two assists as the Penguins became the first team in the series to score first and win — but barely. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves and made a couple of big stops after the game turned into a squeaker.

"It was a good test," he said of the wild last few minutes.

Coach Dan Bylsma said the toe-to-toe matchup heralded a new level of contentious play between the teams.

"We've got a rivalry going here with the Jackets," he said. "They gave us everything we could handle and it was a nice series for them. That was an extremely tough first-round opponent."

Fedor Tyutin, Artem Anisimov and Nick Foligno scored for Columbus, Foligno's redirect of a Tyutin shot cut the gap to a goal with 4:47 left.

A crowd of 19,189 stood and roared the rest of the way as the Blue Jackets piled up scoring chances.

The Penguins were hard pressed to fight off the aggressive Blue Jackets after goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who also had 24 saves, was pulled for an extra attacker with under 2 minutes left.

Matt Calvert was wide with a potential tying shot with 3:30 left. Dubinsky's shot with 35 seconds left was deflected by Fleury.

Columbus had overcome a 3-0 deficit at home in Game 4, scoring on a Fleury gaffe in the final seconds of regulation before Foligno won it in the overtime.

"After we got the third goal, anything could happen," coach Todd Richards said. "We had done it the last time we played in the building. My thought was it was going to happen."

Up until the last few minutes, it was Malkin's game. He hadn't scored in the first 332:52 of the series, then scored three times in a span of 26:11.

"I could see it coming in the morning skate," teammate James Neal said. "His shot was going into the back of the net."

The Blue Jackets, one of the NHL's youngest teams, looked hopeless until Tyutin's shot from the right dot ended Fleury's shutout streak at 97:26 — since the Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the first period of Game 5.

But then Anisimov scored from the left point with 6:06 remaining to make it 4-2 and Foligno redirected a Tyutin shot to cut the lead to 4-3.

"That was a big win," said Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, who went goal-less in the series. "Obviously we didn't want to make it as close as we did. But we found a way to win."

Pittsburgh improved to 8-4 in Game 6s when up 3-2 in the playoffs.

For the second game in a row, the Penguins didn't have defenceman Brooks Orpik, sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

Sutter was limping as he went to the dressing room with 6 minutes left in the second period. He did not return.

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Kings show plenty of fight to push Sharks to Game 7

The puck was sitting underneath Sharks goalie Alex Stalock when Justin Williams whacked at his pads and the narrow space between them. Like a magic trick, the puck popped out behind Stalock in the San Jose net.

While Sharks coach Todd McLellan decried the legality of the tiebreaking goal, the Los Angeles Kings celebrated their latest, greatest escape yet.

Down 0-3 just a few days ago, the Kings squeezed through that minuscule opening and emerged in Game 7.

Williams scored the go-ahead goal with 8:04 to play, and the Kings beat the Sharks 4-1 in Game 6 on Monday night, rallying all the way back from a daunting series deficit.

Williams and Anze Kopitar each had two goals and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves as the Kings became just the ninth team in NHL history to force a seventh game after losing the first three.

"We certainly didn't want to go away quiet," Kopitar said. "We're only thinking about one more step now. We're going to have to play our best game of the series up there."

Just three teams in NHL history have rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series, and Los Angeles has earned a shot to join them. The winner of the California rivals' third playoff meeting in four years will face the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks in the second round.

After watching three Kings goals and several violent scrums in the final minutes, Los Angeles' fans roared with an intensity that likely hadn't been reached since the Kings' Stanley Cup run two years ago, sending their team back to the Shark Tank on Wednesday night.

A tie game turned when Williams whacked home Robyn Regehr's shot at Stalock, using the opportunistic scoring sense that has made the two-time Stanley Cup champion into a clutch playoff performer.

"Maybe we got a break, maybe we didn't," Williams said. "But nobody blew the whistle."

San Jose's bench loudly protested the call, saying the puck should have been blown dead under Stalock, but it was upheld on video review.

"We got cheated," McLellan said. "Simple as that. I was told that you could see the puck laying behind his feet the whole time."

McLellan said the Sharks couldn't see the puck on video review. Kings coach Darryl Sutter thought replays showed the puck was loose.

Kopitar followed with two goals 1:15 apart for the Kings, who have outscored San Jose 13-4 in the last three games after San Jose dominated the first three by a combined 17-8.

Stalock stopped 26 shots in his first NHL playoff start, and James Sheppard scored on a double deflection in the second period for the spiraling Sharks. After utterly dominating the first two games, San Jose has scored just one goal against Quick in the last 128:24 in the series.

"In my mind, if it gets to Game 7, it doesn't matter how it gets there," Sharks forward Logan Couture said. "It gets there, and you're going for one game. We played all year for the home ice. I'm sure our building is going to be loud. We've got to turn this thing around and win that game."

McLellan changed starting goalies after Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi was pulled from each of the last two losses. McLellan took a risk on Stalock, whose NHL experience consists of 27 regular-season games and 57 minutes of scoreless relief in this series.

Drew Doughty had two assists for Los Angeles, which lost the first three games of the series in discouraging fashion before rallying with resounding victories at home in Game 4 and at the Shark Tank in Game 5 on Saturday night. Doughty set up the Kings' first goal with a sharp pass to Williams, who has four goals in the Kings' last two home games.

San Jose got a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:38 early in the second period, but the Kings killed it off. The Sharks finally tied it moments after a third fruitless power play when Sheppard deflected Justin Braun's slap shot out of midair and off Regehr.

After Williams' go-ahead score, Kopitar got loose on a 2-on-1 rush with Williams, who set him up perfectly. Kopitar added a power-play goal.

The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the three teams to accomplish what the Kings hope to do, rallying from three games down to beat Boston in 2010 with a roster including current Kings forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards.

The Sharks played without key defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who left Game 5 early with an upper-body injury. The Canadian Olympic gold medallist was replaced by Matt Irwin, while streaky forward Marty Havlat also was in San Jose's lineup for the first time in the series, replacing Mike Brown.

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Ducks knock out Stars in OT shocker

Anaheim Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau was certainly trying to remain optimistic, even if he didn't expect such a dramatic comeback.

"I wasn't confident at all," Boudreau admitted. "You're always hopeful ... but deep down, you don't really think it's going to happen."

Well, it did. And the Ducks are moving on in the playoffs.

The Ducks scored twice in the final 2:10 of regulation, and then Nick Bonino scored in overtime for a 5-4 series-clinching victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 on Sunday night.

"It's still hard to believe. I've got butterflies in my stomach," said Bonino, who also scored one of those late regulation goals.

Devante Smith-Pelly (77) of the Ducks exults in scoring the tying goal in the final minute of regulation of Sunday's 5-4 OT win. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

"Scoring the winning goal in a playoff series is something you play in your driveway when you're a kid."

Bonino got the game-winner on a wrist shot from in front of the net 2:47 into overtime after getting a pass from Andrew Cogliano, and made sure the Ducks didn't need a Game 7 to advance in the playoffs for only the second time since winning their lone Stanley Cup title seven years ago.

"We've done it all year," Cogliano said. "We had games when we clawed back, especially in the third period.

"That's what the playoffs are all about, to keep clawing."

The home team won in each of the first five games, but the Ducks wanted to take advantage of the first opportunity they had to end the series.

Anaheim also led its opening-round series 3-2 last year. But the Ducks then lost twice to Detroit, including Game 7 at home.

Trevor Daley scored twice on breakaways for the Stars, the first goal coming after he got the puck charging out of the penalty box.

Daley, who also had an assist, is the only current player that was also on their last playoff team in 2008 for the Stars, who came so close to a deciding Game 7 in their first season under coach Lindy Ruff.

"Sometimes, hockey's cruel," Ruff said. "It was cruel, really cruel, to a group of guys that worked as hard as they possibly could tonight.

"There wasn't one guy that was a passenger."

Bonino skated around the from behind the net and got a puck over Kari Lehtonen's left shoulder to get the Ducks within 4-3 with 2:10 left in regulation.

"After they got the first one, we were just kind of on our heels too much," Stars forward Ryan Garbutt said.

Anaheim got the overtime-forcing goal with 24 seconds left after a wild scramble in front of the net with an extra skater and Lehtonen without his stick. When the puck trickled free, Devante Smith-Pelly pushed into the open gap for his second goal of the game for a 4-4 tie.

'I was just standing outside the net, and guys were whacking at it," Smith-Pelly said. "You do what you've got to do to score.

"Not every goal is going to be tic-tac-toe."

Corey Perry had the primary assists on both third-period goals for the Ducks, who will have to wait to see if they play San Jose or Los Angeles in the second round. Teemu Selanne assisted on the first two Anaheim goals by Smith-Pelly and Ben Lovejoy.

Ducks veteran goalie Jonas Hiller stopped all 12 shots he faced after replacing rookie Federick Andersen midway through the second period after Daley's second breakaway put Dallas up 4-2. He stopped only eight shots.

"This was a little more special for me," said Hiller, who won 29 games during Anaheim's best regular season ever. "It was a great feeling. I thought I had a couple of good stops right when I came in and that gave me confidence.

"When you get the chance, you get so much adrenaline going."

Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist for Dallas, while Lehtonen stopped 25 shots.

Dallas went ahead only five minutes into the game when Daley came out of the penalty box and skated toward the Anaheim net. After having to get around a referee to get to the puck pushed ahead by Shawn Horcoff, Daley scored.

Eakin scored a power-play goal five minutes later, a one-timer on a pass from Tyler Seguin to make it 2-0.

Smith-Pelly had a power-play goal with about two minutes left in the first period. But Garbutt scored a minute later.

Garbutt got a major penalty for spearing Perry and a game misconduct midway through the first period of the Ducks' 6-2 win in Game 5 on Friday night. He was fined by the NHL, but not suspended.

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Blackhawks wrest control in 3rd period to eliminate Blues

First, it was Jonathan Toews on a power play, and then Patrick Sharp got loose on a breakaway. Andrew Shaw tipped one home, and it was all over.

One dazzling stretch for the Chicago Blackhawks put an end to their tight first-round series against the St. Louis Blues.

Duncan Keith had a goal and three assists, and the Blackhawks used a four-goal third period to finish off the Blues with a 5-1 victory in Game 6 on Sunday.

"It feels good to contribute in a big game," Keith said, "and I think just the main thing for me is just being able to move on and get a couple days to relax and just regroup and focus on the next round."

'"The third goal was really a backbreaker for us. That was really the one that hurt. We had been chasing them all series and able to catch up in games, but I thought the third goal really took the wind out of our sails.'- Blues coach Ken Hitchcock

Chicago won four in a row after a slow start in St. Louis. The defending Stanley Cup champions will play the winner of the Minnesota-Colorado series in the Western Conference semifinals. The Avalanche lead the Wild 3-2 heading into Game 6 in Minnesota on Monday night.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp scores the third goal for his team against St. Louis goalie Ryan Miller, a goal Blues coach Ken Hitchcock later said was a "backbreaker.". (Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press)

Toews, Sharp and Shaw scored in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the third and Keith closed out the scoring as the Blackhawks improved to 14-2 in home playoff games over the past two seasons.

Bryan Bickell scored in the first and Corey Crawford made 35 saves, keeping Chicago in a tie game when St. Louis controlled the second period.

"They were dominating the first 40 minutes here and we came back with maybe the best period of the year," coach Joel Quenneville said.

T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues, who outshot the Blackhawks 36-27. Ryan Miller finished with 22 saves.

St. Louis went 0 for 6 in 10 minutes of power-play time over the first two periods, wasting a chance to take the lead. The Blues went 2 for 29 with the man advantage for the series.

"I think both the PK and [Crawford] won the game and the series ultimately," Quenneville said. "I think that was the big factor in us getting through."

The Blackhawks also struggled on the power play, but they scored when it mattered most.

With Jay Bouwmeester in the box for tripping, Keith made a nice stop to keep the puck in the St. Louis zone, and then sent a pass over to Toews. The captain beat Miller over his right shoulder for a 2-1 lead just 44 seconds into the third.

It was Toews' third game-winning goal of the series. He also scored on a breakaway in overtime of Friday night's 3-2 win.

Toews' 23rd career post-season goal seemed to take the air out of the Blues, and it got even worse for St. Louis. Sharp got loose for a breakaway, shook off a stick to the face by defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk and slid a shot past Miller.

"The third goal was really a backbreaker for us," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That was really the one that hurt. We had been chasing them all series and able to catch up in games, but I thought the third goal really took the wind out of our sails."

Sharp's first point of the playoffs sent a charge through the towel-waving sellout crowd of 22,144, and there were mocking chants of "Mil-ler! Mil-ler!" as Shaw added his second goal of the series and helped set up Keith for his second.

It was an eerily similar playoff exit for St. Louis to a year ago, when the Blues also were eliminated by the defending Stanley Cup champions in six games in the first round. In that 2013 playoff series, St. Louis won the first two games at home against Los Angeles, and then lost four in a row.

This year was supposed to be different, especially after the Blues acquired Miller from Buffalo on March 1. But they lost their last six games of the regular season, putting them in a first-round series against rival Chicago.

St. Louis rebounded for two 4-3 overtime victories, but the Blackhawks found their stride when the series shifted to Chicago. Crawford had a shutout in Game 3, Patrick Kane scored in overtime in Game 4, and Toews' breakaway score in St. Louis put the Blackhawks in position to advance.

"It was one play here, one play there," Blues captain David Backes said. "But it was on our stick and we needed to get the job done. We didn't get it done and we're going home too early."

Chicago defenceman Brent Seabrook returned from a three-game suspension. Seabrook was punished by the NHL for his hit on Backes in Game 2.

"It was tough. I can't watch hockey," Seabrook said. "You're hanging on every shot, every save, every play. You want to be out there helping the guys. It was obviously tough to watch it, but they did a great job."

Backes exacted a measure of revenge when he delivered a hard hit on Seabrook into the end boards in the second period. But Seabrook added two more assists and had six points for the series.

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Clippers stage jersey protest amid Donald Sterling controversy

The Los Angeles Clippers chose not to speak publicly about owner Donald Sterling before they faced the Golden State Warriors for Game 4 of their first-round series Sunday. Instead, they made a silent protest to generate attention.

In response to Sterling's purported comments urging a woman to not bring black people to his team's games, the Clippers let their uniforms become a show of solidarity.

They ran out of the tunnel wearing their usual warmups. Then they huddled at centre court and tossed the outer layer of their warmups to the ground, going through their pregame routine with their red Clippers' shirts on inside out to hide the team's logo.

Players also wore black wristbands or armbands during the game, which they lost 118-97. They also donned black socks with their normal jerseys.

"It's just us, only us. We're all we got," Clippers point guard Chris Paul could be heard shouting to teammates before they ran out.

Los Angeles Clippers players warm up before Sunday afternoon's game against Golden State with their warm-up shirts turned inside out. (Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters)

The Warriors' announced sellout crowd of 19,596, decked out in gold shirts, booed the Clippers — as they always do — during team introductions.

Sterling's wife was sitting courtside across from the Clippers' bench. Commissioner Adam Silver had said Donald Sterling would not be at the game.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers said prior to the game that he would remain the only one to speak for the team on the issue because players wanted to remain focused on basketball. Afterward, Rivers said he knew what his players had planned but didn't voice his opinion.

Rivers said he wasn't thrilled about the demonstration, though he didn't elaborate why. Even he, though, acknowledged that staying focused has not been easy since TMZ released the alleged recording of Sterling.

"Our message is to play," Rivers said. "Our message is that we're going to let no one and nothing stop us from what we want to do. And I think that's a good message. I really do. I think that's the message we're trying to send. And if we can pull this off all the way, I think that would be a terrific message."

In an overcrowded postgame locker room, most of the Clippers' players deflected comment or refused to answer questions related to Sterling — other than to say they remain united and focused on basketball.

Shooting guard J.J. Redick, who is white, said the controversy has impacted everybody on the team and around the league. He also admitted it might have affected their preparation.

"Maybe our focus wasn't in the right place would be the easiest way to say it," Redick said. "I didn't get the sense that we couldn't function. I thought we competed, but give them a lot of credit as well. It wasn't just the distraction of everything that has happened in the last 24 hours. Golden State played a great basketball game, let's keep that in mind."

While the Clippers wanted to let their play do the talking, other NBA players continued to speak out on the subject.

Some talked about the hurt Sterling's alleged words caused. Others urged Silver to take an aggressive stance against Sterling, who has a history of alleged discrimination. Most of them hoped Sterling would be removed as the team's owner someday soon.

Miami Heat star LeBron James said Silver needed to take action, going so far as to suggest "there is no room for Donald Sterling in our league." Lakers star Kobe Bryant wrote on his Twitter page that he couldn't play for Sterling. Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said he could forgive Sterling but couldn't play for him right now, either.

Asked if he needed to hear something from the league or Sterling to return as coach next year, Rivers said he didn't know and that he was just concentrating on the playoff series.

At the Trail Blazers' playoff game against the Houston Rockets on Sunday night, Portland players all wore black socks in solidarity with the Clippers players.

"I wanted to do something to support our brothers," Blazers All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge said before the game in Portland.

The players union, still without an executive director since firing Billy Hunter in February 2013, is following the situation closely. The union has asked former NBA All-Star and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to take a leading role on the players' behalf to address the Sterling matter.

Johnson and Silver attended the game Sunday. Johnson said he called an emergency phone meeting of every player representative to the union Saturday night and spoke with Silver before the game. He said this is a "defining moment" for the NBA and for Silver.

Johnson said players trust that the commissioner will meet their demands, which include: Sterling not attend any NBA games for the rest of the playoffs; a full account of past allegations of discrimination by Sterling and why the league never sanctioned him; the range of options that the league can penalize Sterling, including the maximum penalty, which players want if the audio recording is validated; assurance that the NBA and the union will be partners in the investigation; and an immediate and decisive ruling, hopefully before the Clippers host the Warriors for Game 5 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Johnson also said there will be no league-wide protest by players or a boycott because there's enough attention on the issue already and that players "trust Adam Silver. They trust that Adam Silver will do the right thing."

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Raptors claw back to win Game 4 over Nets

In the final dramatic couple of minutes Sunday night, offensively-gifted DeMar DeRozan turned into a defensive superstar, sent sprawling to the floor when he took two charges.

Not to be outdone, hobbling six-foot point guard Kyle Lowry dropped a lovely sky hook over 6-11 giant and future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.

The final minutes of the Toronto Raptors' 87-79 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday could define this young team and their season — fighting to the end, finding a way to win.

"That's just us, man," DeRozan said. "We're resilient. We're not going to give up until the game's over, we're going to fight it through. . . We did it on the defensive end to win this game."

DeRozan scored 24 points and Lowry added 22 to lift the beaten-up Raptors to their first playoff victory on the road since Game 1 against Philadelphia way back in 2001. After the final whistle, a smiling coach Dwane Casey said it was the most proud he's ever been of his team.

DeMar DeRozan (10) of the Raptors drives on defender Paul Pierce (34) of the Nets in Game 4 at Barclays Center on Sunday. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

"(But) we're on a mission, it's a marathon," the coach added. "We can't get too excited about a win, can't get too down about a loss. That's what the playoffs are about."

Amir Johnson, playing on the wonky ankle that has plagued him all season, finished with 17 points. Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez finished with nine points apiece off the bench, and Patterson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

The best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series heads to Toronto tied at two wins apiece. Game 5 is Wednesday at Air Canada Centre, while Game 6 will be back at Barclays Center on Friday.

The Raptors led by as much as 17 points — the biggest lead by either team in this series — in the first half, but struggled through the second and third quarters, running into foul trouble and failing to hit shots. Still, the nailbiter went into the fourth tied at 67-67.

From there, the Raptors dug in with one of their best defensive efforts of the season, holding the Nets to just three baskets in the final 12 minutes. And when the final whistle blew, the Raptors fans in attendance at Barclays Center stood and applauded the Toronto players off the floor.

"I think we're just encouraged," Lowry said. "We're going home 2-2. We're encouraged by that. We got a split, now it's a three-game series, now we've got to take care of home. Our confidence is high, we're excited."

Lowry, who came away from Friday's game with a bad right knee and a busted lip, was noticeably limping at times.

"I'm OK," Lowry said. "It's something that's controllable, we can do what we've got to do to get through the playoffs, it's nothing where I need surgery. It's definitely a pain, but I'm not going to worry about it, I'm not going to complain about it, I'm going to go out there and do my job."

Lowry kept his composure despite playing the entire second half with five fouls.

"He's dealing with a lot right now, and he came through with flying colours," Casey said. "Fought through foul trouble, a little bit of adversity throughout the game and still came through."

Lowry's teammates heaped praise on their tough-as-nails point guard in the post-game dressing room.

"I am not surprised at all that Kyle is limping around," Chuck Hayes said. "Man, he was limping all four quarters. He's a warrior. He's everything to this team. The guy gives it his all. We just feed off him."

Lowry and DeRozan — the team's leaders through this remarkable season — sat side by side at the podium after the game, addressing the media. They talked about the chemistry in this young team.

"We're a pretty close-knit team, we understand the situation that we're in, it's a stepping stone for us," Lowry said. "We're getting our feet wet. This man (DeRozan) is becoming a superstar in front of everybody's eyes. He's doing it on the defensive end, the offensive end."

They both chuckled when Lowry was asked about his late-game hook shot over Garnett that gave Toronto a six-point lead.

"I think that was the first time (I've done that) in a game," Lowry said. "That's something I work on in the summertime. Kevin Garnett is 6-11, he's a guy who can block shots, and I thought that was a shot I can go to. I took the shot to be aggressive. It looked good. It felt good."

There was more laughter when DeRozan was asked if the two charges he took down the stretch marked a career high.

"Nah. I don't think so. I hope it's not," DeRozan said. "With Kyle (being injured), I knew I had to pick up the offence early, so I did that, just come out aggressive and I knew they were going to change up and start trying to get the ball out of my hands. . . I knew I could do some things on the defensive end and that's what I did."

Paul Pierce led the Nets with 22 points, while Mirza Teletovic had 12. Garnett and Deron Williams finished with 10 points apiece.

"They're a competitive group," Pierce said on the Raptors' play down the stretch. "We've seen that all season long, how well they play, getting 48 wins, how well they play in the fourth quarter, so many comeback wins. We understand that this is a group that's not going to back down, that's not going to give up. They earn a lot of respect around the league."

The Nets won Games 1 and 3, while the Raptors took Game 2 in what's been an incredibly even matchup all season between these two teams. Prior to Sunday, Toronto had outscored the Nets 678-677 in their seven meetings.

The Raptors had struggled with turnovers all series, but cleaned up their act Sunday, giving up the ball just 12 times.

The one negative on the night was Terrence Ross, who was M.I.A. for a fourth straight game. Couple with his struggles, Landry Fields being sidelined with a bad back, and the number of Raptors in early foul trouble, Casey went deep into his bench, utilizing John Salmons, Chuck Hayes and Steve Novak for stretches of the third and fourth quarters.

Ross, who dropped 51 points in a game earlier this season, has struggled in his playoff debut, and had another rough night Sunday, finishing with zero points in 16 minutes.

Fields, who got dumped on his back during Friday's game, didn't dress.

While the Raptors braced a hostile crowd at Barclays Center — especially after GM Masai Ujiri's now famous F-bomb about Brooklyn — it never really materialized. The crowds on either Friday or Sunday didn't pack the auditory punch of the Air Canada Centre. Fans waved white towels, and there was the odd chant of "Ref you suck!" A group of Nets fans chanted "Raptors suck!" before the singing of O Canada.

There were large pockets of red-clad Raptors fans in attendance, and their cheers for Raptors' baskets down the stretch almost negated Brooklyn's homecourt advantage.

Rihanna sat courtside, along with Michael K. Williams and Felicia (Snoop) Pearson — Omar and Snoop from "The Wire." Williams did the Nets' introductions. Russian boxer Ruslan Provodnikov, the current world light welterweight champion, was also in attendance.

Meanwhile, back in Toronto on Sunday, thousands of fans jammed Maple Leaf Square to watch the game on the giant screen outside Air Canada Centre. They chanted "We the North!" Two fans participated in a tug-of-war with a Nets T-shirt on stage, eventually ripping it.

Amir Johnson led the way with 11 points as the Raptors sprinted out to an 11-point lead just three minutes after tipoff. They continued to build their advantage, and seven straight points by Johnson put Toronto up by 15. They led 35-22 at the end of the first.

The Raptors stretched their advantage to 17 points with 5:40 left in the first half. But the Nets went on a 14-2 run to pull within five points. The Raptors headed to the locker-room with a 51-44 lead at halftime.

Toronto went a horrible 1-for-16 to open the third quarter, but managed to remain within five points of the Nets, and the game went into the fourth all tied up.

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Hall of Fame basketball coach Jack Ramsay dies at 89

Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship before he became one of the NBA's most respected broadcaster, has died following a long battle with cancer. He was 89.

Ramsay's death was announced by ESPN, for whom he worked as a broadcaster for many years.

"Dr. Jack Ramsay has passed," ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca wrote on Twitter early Monday. "A rare man. Loved and respected by all. Fascinating life well lived. An inspiration to so many."

Ramsay coached in the NBA for parts of 21 seasons before embarking on a second career as an NBA analyst. He was diagnosed with melanoma in 2004 and later battled growths and tumors that spread to his legs, lungs and brain, then later fought prostate cancer and most recently a marrow syndrome.

His affinity for fitness never wavered, though. Ramsay, who competed in at least 20 triathlons during his life, worked out regularly into his 80s, even as he battled the various forms of cancer that he was stricken with. He often spoke of his love of swimming in the Gulf of Mexico near his home in Naples, Fla., or jogging in a pool or from wall to wall in his hotel room when he was travelling on NBA assignments.

"He's probably forgotten more about the game than I know," Miami Heat coach and president Pat Riley once said of Ramsay, whom he counted as a close friend.

Ramsay also spent several years late in life caring for his wife, Jean, who was diagnosed in 2001 with Alzheimer's disease. She died in January 2010.

Ramsay had enormous popularity within the league, even until the final stages of his life. To commemorate Ramsay's 89th birthday earlier this year, Portland coach Terry Stotts wore a loud checkered jacket and open-collared shirt for a Blazers' game — a nod to how Ramsay dressed when he coached the club.

"Jack's life is a beacon which guides us all," Bill Walton, who was on Ramsay's 1977 title team in Portland, told USA Today in 2007. "He is our moral compass, our spiritual inspiration. He represents the conquest of substance over hype. He is a true saint of circumstance."

John T. Ramsay was born Feb. 21, 1925, in Philadelphia and enrolled at Saint Joseph's in 1942, eventually becoming captain of the basketball team there for his senior season. He earned a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1949, explaining the "Dr. Jack" moniker that most players and fans simply knew him by.

Ramsay's biggest impact on Hawk Hill would be when he started coaching his alma mater in 1955. He was wildly successful there, going 234-72 and taking the Hawks to the NCAA tournament seven times, the Final Four in 1961 and to a No. 1 preseason ranking by Sports Illustrated in 1965.

To Ramsay, the most significant part of the Saint Joseph's years was this: "I met my wife there," he said.

He was a founding father of sorts for the growth of "Big 5" basketball, which is what the annual series between Philadelphia-area schools Saint Joseph's, La Salle, Penn, Villanova and Temple was dubbed.

"I felt a lot of personal pride and interest in the outcome of those games," Ramsay told the AP in 2004. "There wasn't as much interest in conference play. There wasn't the impact of a national championship or conference championships like there is today. The Big 5 was clearly the biggest thing any of those schools were involved in at that point."

Ramsay took over as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, moved on to the Buffalo Braves in 1972 and took his craft to Portland in 1976 — where he took a team with stars like Walton and Maurice Lucas and delivered an NBA championship in his first season, beating the 76ers in six games in the final series.

"For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one that I will cherish forever," Ramsay in an 1997 interview.

Indeed, that was his lone NBA title. Walton got hurt the next year, crippling Portland's chances of getting back to championship form during that era. Ramsay coached the Blazers for nine more seasons without another trip to the finals, and spent the final three years of his NBA sideline career in Indiana — resigning from the Pacers in November 1988 after the team got off to an 0-7 start.

Ramsay was 864-783 in his NBA career, being named one of the league's Top 10 all-time coaches in 1996.

When he left the Pacers, Ramsay carefully did not use the word "retire," and began working as a television analyst on 76ers games. Eventually, he worked on Heat television broadcasts for eight seasons before moving full-time to ESPN for radio and TV commentating before the 2000-01 season.

"So grateful that his path crossed ours," his former Heat broadcast partner Eric Reid wrote on Twitter early Monday. "Hall of Fame coach and man."

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Nathan MacKinnon's OT winner puts Avs back in series lead

Nathan MacKinnon scored 3:27 into overtime after P.A. Parenteau tied the game late in regulation, helping the Colorado Avalanche rally for a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night and a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.

MacKinnon poked the puck past Darcy Kuemper's glove with two defenders near him. The rookie also had two assists.

Parenteau scored with 1:14 left after Avalanche coach Patrick Roy pulled goaltender Semyon Varlamov with 2:22 remaining. The strategy worked out yet again.

The series switches back to Minnesota for Game 6 on Monday.

Nick Holden and Cody McLeod also added goals for the Avalanche.

Kyle Brodziak, Zach Parise and Matt Moulson scored for the Wild. Two of Minnesota's goals came after a Colorado defenceman shattered their stick and had to play without one.

'The kid's special. The sky's the limit for this kid. ... This is the kid we want on our side.'- Avalanche's P.A. Parenteau on teammate Nathan MacKinnon

When his team trails, Roy has been rather liberal in pulling Varlamov all season long, preferring to send out an extra skater with plenty of time left on the clock. It worked in Game 1, as Paul Stastny scored with 13.4 seconds remaining in regulation and then added the OT winner.

This time, it was MacKinnon's turn to step up. He was mobbed by teammates shortly after scoring.

"The kid's special," Parenteau said. "The sky's the limit for this kid. I know it's cliche to say, but it's pretty impressive to see. ... This is the kid we want on our side."

There may have been a little controversy on Parenteau's tying goal, with Paul Stastny possibly being offsides on the play. At least, that was the Wild's take.

"They missed the call and we paid for it," Minnesota defenceman Ryan Suter said. "No excuses. We have to play better in overtime. We've got to get more pressure on the kid (MacKinnon) when he comes to the net."

MacKinnon is having quite the series, with two goals and eight assists. But he was more focused on the Avs allowing a tying goal in the third than his offensive production.

"We don't want to be on this emotional roller-coaster," MacKinnon said. "It's cool to come back, but we want to hold that lead."

Parise tied the game 2-2 early in the third when he glided down the left side and beat Varlamov with a shot over his glove.

Nearly two minutes later, Brodziak gave the Wild the lead after defenceman Jan Hejda broke his stick and struggled to cover anyone.

The Avalanche finally figured out a way to get the puck past Kuemper — by tipping in shots. Kuemper had allowed just one goal heading into Saturday since taking over for Ilya Bryzgalov in Game 2.

The Avalanche's trouble on the power play kept on going as they went 0 for 3. They've now scored just one goal in 18 power-play chances, the lowest percentage of any playoff team.

Colorado generated some quality scoring chances and found more open ice in front of a capacity Pepsi Center crowd. The Avs were outshot 78-34 in the last two games.

McLeod had a short-handed goal at 8:04 of the second period, when he redirected a pass from Ryan O'Reilly past Kuemper.

The lead was short-lived as the Wild answered 1:13 later when Moulson tipped in a shot by Jared Spurgeon from the blue line. On the play, Maxime Talbot gave his stick to defenceman Andre Benoit after his broke and then Jamie McGinn passed his to Talbot, leaving McGinn without a stick.

There was a little scuffle between captains Mikko Koivu and Gabriel Landeskog, with both receiving roughing penalties.

Advantage Colorado, though, since the 4-on-4 situation opened up more room for the speedy Avs to manoeuvr. Benoit lined a shot wide of the net, but Holden stuck out his stick and deflected the puck by Kuemper to give the Avs a 2-1 lead.

This could help the Avs offence: They may soon have leading scorer Matt Duchene back in the lineup as he skated with the team Saturday morning. Duchene has been sidelined since hurting his left knee when he ran into a teammate against San Jose on March 29.

Expect Duchene back for Game 6?

"We're going to take a serious look at it," Roy said.

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Capitals show coach Adam Oates, GM McPhee the door

The Washington Capitals on Saturday made sweeping changes to their bench and front office, firing head coach Adam Oates and opting not to renew the contract of longtime general manager George McPhee.

Washington missed the playoffs this season for the first time since 2007, finishing ninth in the NHL's Eastern Conference with a 38-30-14 record for 90 points, three shy of eighth-place Detroit.

Oates, 51, was hired to coach the Capitals in June 2012, taking over from Dale Hunter and guiding the club to first place in the Southeast Division and a playoff berth in last year's lockout-shortened season with a 27-18-3 mark.

Which NHL team will hire ex-Capitals GM George McPhee?

"We thank Adam for his devotion, worth ethic and contributions to the Capitals the past two seasons," Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis said in a statement. "He is a smart, tactical coach who improved the performance of several of our players. He is a Hall of Fame player who we believe will be a longtime coach in the NHL.

"This is an important time for our organization, and I feel a change is needed in order to get us back to being a top echelon team that competes for the Stanley Cup."

There was no immediate word on Oates's assistant coaches Calle Johansson and Blaine Forsythe along with head goaltending coach Olaf Kolzig, assistant goalie coach Scott Murray and video coach Brett Leonhardt.

Oates played 19 seasons as a centre in the NHL, including parts of six seasons with the Capitals from 1996-2002. His 290 assists rank 10th in team history.

Before returning to Washington to coach, he spent three seasons as an NHL assistant, first with Tampa Bay before joining the New Jersey Devils, where he helped lead them to the 2012 Cup finals against Los Angeles.

Oates played in the NHL from 1985-2004, appearing in 1,337 games while scoring 341 goals with 1,079 assists for Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Anaheim and Edmonton.

Only Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux have averaged more assists-per-game than Oates in NHL history, and only Gretzky (662) had more assists than Oates (636) during the 1990s.

McPhee, 55, was the Capitals' GM since the 1997-98 campaign when the Capitals were swept in four games by Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals. They also won the Presidents' Trophy in 2009-10 for the league's best regular-season record.

"George has been a terrific, longtime executive for our franchise," Leonsis said in a statement released by the Capitals. "Under his leadership, the Capitals won seven division titles, twice were the top team in the Eastern Conference, earned a Presidents' Trophy and competed in the playoffs ten times.

"He was a highly effective manager who is extremely well regarded within our organization and around the NHL."

McPhee replaced David Poile (the longtime GM of the Nashville Predators) to become the fifth GM in Capitals' history.

Under the Guelph, Ont., native's watch, Washington reached Round 2 of the playoffs in 2009, 2011 and 2012 but also missed the post-season six times.

Only New Jersey's Lou Lamoriello (1987) and Carolina's Jim Rutherford (1994) have held their GM jobs longer than McPhee, with Rutherford expected to resign after the Hurricanes missed the post-season for a fifth consecutive year.

McPhee was a forward in the NHL during the 1980s with the New York Rangers, New Jersey and Winnipeg. He played college hockey at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and won the 1982 Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's best player before spending five years as the director of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks.

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Bruins finish off Red Wings in Game 5

The regular season wasn't much of a struggle for the Boston Bruins, and neither was their first-round playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings.

Tuukka Rask made 31 saves Saturday, and the defending Eastern Conference champions eliminated the Red Wings with a 4-2 victory in Game 5.

After finishing the regular season with the best record in the NHL, the Bruins advanced to the conference semifinals against the Montreal Canadiens.

"That series was much tougher than maybe the results showed," said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who gave Boston the lead for good with 4 seconds left in the second period. "I think that we handled it well, we came into this series ready and we got the job done."

Loui Eriksson opened the scoring for Boston, and Chara's goal on a 4-on-3 advantage snapped a 1-1 tie. Milan Lucic also scored, and Jarome Iginla added an empty-netter.

Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic scores past Detroit Red Wings goalie Jonas Gustavsson during the third period in Game 5. (Michael Dwyer/The Associated Press)

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored and Jonas Gustavsson stopped 29 shots for Detroit. The Red Wings scored only six goals in the five-game series.

"We're not there yet," said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, whose team failed to win a playoff series in two of the past three seasons. "The last two years, we battled to get into the playoffs. To me, that's a measure of where we are. Instead of battling for the Cup, we're battling to make the playoffs."

It was 1-1 when the Bruins gained a 4-on-3 power play thanks to a holding penalty on Johan Franzen just 22 seconds before Brendan Smith was called for cross-checking. On a faceoff in the Detroit zone, Patrice Bergeron lured two of the three Red Wings defenders toward the corner and then passed it across the ice to Chara, who one-timed it past Gustavsson.

Not usually demonstrative, Chara felt this one was worth celebrating.

"It was a big game and a big goal," he said. "So I'm not afraid to show it."

Lucic's goal with 4:27 gone in the third made it a two-goal game. Detroit made it 3-2 with 3:52 left after Rask made two acrobatic saves but left the puck to the side of the net for Zetterberg, the Red Wings captain who missed two months with back surgery and did not return until Game 4.

Less than a minute later, though the Wings were called for too many men on the ice, leaving them a man down while trying to finish the comeback. With 2 minutes left in the game, the Boston fans began chanting "We want the cup!"

Next up: Montreal, which swept Tampa Bay.

"Guys were never ever really talking about Montreal," Iginla said. "We know they've won their series and they're going to be next, but the only talk today was about thinking about Detroit and getting this series over."

The Bruins won it all in 2011 and returned to the Stanley Cup finals last year before they were eliminated when the Chicago Blackhawks scored two goals in 17 seconds in the final 76 seconds of Game 6. Boston seems on its way for another long playoff run this year, finishing the regular season with the best record in the NHL.

"We were playing a very good team, a team with a lot of experience, the President Trophy winners," Detroit forward Daniel Alfredsson said. "This is a team that was just playing better than us and we feel a little short."

The Bruins scored a power-play goal 3:27 into the first period when Dougie Hamilton's pass bounced off a defender's skate to Eriksson in the slot. Rask earned an assist on the play — his second career playoff point.

It stayed that way until Datsyuk came in and scooped up a rebound 12 seconds into a second-period power play against Lucic for high-sticking.

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Penguins too slick for Blue Jackets in Game 5

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma wanted to send a message to his team, putting Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin exclusively on the same line. Consider it received.

Attacking on offence early and often, the Penguins topped the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1 on Saturday night as Jussi Jokinen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to help give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference playoff series.

Pittsburgh peppered Sergei Bobrovsky with 50 shots on goal, keeping the Blue Jackets goalie busy all night.

"We competed hard," Crosby said. "We played desperate and really aggressive.

"That's the game we have to play. It's not always going to result in 50 shots, but it's our style of play."

Chris Kunitz had a power-play goal and Kris Letang scored into an empty net for Pittsburgh, which has the upstart Blue Jackets on the verge of elimination with an opportunity to close out the series Monday during Game 6 in Columbus.

"Their coach challenged them and they responded," Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards said. "Now we have to do the same thing on Monday [CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET]."

It hasn't been easy for the Penguins, a team considered by many a Stanley Cup contender. Columbus, which began the series searching for its first playoff win in franchise history, twice rallied to stun the heavily favored Penguins and outshot Pittsburgh three of the previous four games this series.

Boone Jenner scored the lone goal for Columbus, which played its first Game 5 in franchise history.

"I don't think anybody in this room would say they're uncomfortable going into the next game," Blue Jackets forward Ryan Johansen said. "Like we've been saying, all the guys, we believe we can get this done."

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury recovered from a game-changing gaffe in Game 4 for the victory on Saturday, making 23 saves. Fleury is 4-1 in his last five games after a playoff overtime loss.

"He was solid," Crosby said. "He showed his experience tonight."

Bobrovsky stopped 48 shots for the Blue Jackets.

"They were going to the net hard and, obviously, it was something they talked about, to make it hard on Bobrovsky," Richards said. "It's how they wanted to play the game."

Crosby and Malkin, despite playing on the same line and combining for eight shots, still haven't scored through five playoff games, but the message was sent.

"I think we went into the game with a good idea that we were going to see that," Bylsma said. "With the matchup, we were able to give those guys a good opportunity to play together and be a force."

Crosby, who led the league in scoring with 104 points, hasn't scored in his last 10 playoff games overall, while Malkin has gone nine without a goal. Richards hopes to extend the goal-less drought another game.

"I have the last change, so it's something I can possibly control a little bit better," Richards said. "But it makes for something different when you see [Crosby] and [Malkin] on the same line."

The teams were tied at 1 entering the third, but Jokinen touched a backhand rebound past Bobrovsky along the far post 6:16 into the period. Letang scored an empty-netter with 1:01 to play to seal it.

A 3-1 lead appeared to be a kiss of death for the team leading in the first four games of the series. Not on Saturday.

Both sides endured wild momentum swings through the first four games, all decided by a 4-3 margin where the winning team rallied from a 3-1 deficit every time for the first time in league history. The Penguins twice had an opportunity to take a two-game lead in the series, while Columbus put Pittsburgh in a two-goal hole two times, only to come up short.

The Penguins were seconds away from taking a 3-1 lead during the best-of-seven series in Game 5, when Fleury misplayed a puck behind the net, leading to Brandon Dubinsky's tying goal that forced overtime and Nick Foligno's innocent-looking wrist shot from the blue-line that evaded Fleury and evened the series.

Fleury, who was benched during Pittsburgh's run to the conference finals last year, responded Saturday.

"I think dealing with the pressure that he has, he was able to turn the page pretty quickly," Crosby said. "That's what he needs to do, especially in the playoffs."

Jenner helped the Blue Jackets score first Saturday with a power-play goal midway through the opening period. Fleury sprawled to cover a rebound at the top of the crease, but the puck came loose and Jenner jammed a shot home along the near post.

Kunitz tied it with a second-period power-play goal, corralling a bouncing rebound in front of the net and backhanding it past Bobrovsky.

Jokinen's goal in the third put the Blue Jackets on the brink.

"I expect nothing other than what they've done all year, to respond," Richards said.

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Jonathan Quick, Kings blank Sharks in Game 5

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 can't 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," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "Tonight was red rotten, that's simply put.

"When we started the series, we talked about leaving games behind, closing the book on it. There's no doubt we'll look at it.

"We have to improve. But it's put in the bank and we'll 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.

"It's not easy to win against this team. They're 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 Brown's shot.

"Usually, we have really fast starts in this building and that wasn't the case tonight," Thornton said. "They started faster than us.

"Really, it's a rarity around here. We just have to have better starts, that's 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 Stuart's skate for a power-play goal 22 seconds into the second period to end Niemi's 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.

"We'll have to make some decisions throughout our lineup at every position because we weren't 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 don't 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."

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Red Sox roll over Blue Jays in Toronto

The Boston Red Sox followed up one of their worst games of the season with one of their best.

David Ortiz homered, Jake Peavy pitched seven strong innings and the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Friday night.

"Good team win. We needed it after last night," Peavy said.

Will Middlebrooks returned from the disabled list with two hits and two RBIs as Boston bounced back from an error-filled loss to the Yankees on Thursday. The Red Sox held a pregame meeting after making five errors in their 14-5 home defeat against New York.

"No one is proud of the way things unfolded (Thursday) night," manager John Farrell said before facing Toronto. "That was an ugly game."

Farrell was feeling better after the Red Sox set season highs with 16 hits and eight extra-base hits. They roughed up left-hander Mark Buehrle (4-1), who was trying to become the first Blue Jays pitcher to start a season with five straight wins.

"Just a well-played game all the way around," Farrell said.

Buehrle came in with a major league-best 0.64 ERA, but allowed 12 hits and seven runs, six earned, in 5 1-3 innings.

"We had a pretty clear understanding of how he was going to try and pitch us," Farrell said. "The most important thing is we waited out those borderline pitches that were good pitcher's pitches that were off the plate to get into some good hitter's counts."

Buehrle gave up more earned runs in Boston's four-run second than he had in his four previous starts combined (two). He walked three and struck out none.

"I wasn't hitting my spots as good as I was in the past," Buehrle said. "And when I did, they got some base hits. But overall, too many strikes in the middle of the zone."

Juan Francisco homered for the Blue Jays, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.

Peavy (1-0) allowed one run and five hits to win for the first time in five starts. He walked two and struck out seven.

"We executed on all sides of the ball tonight," Peavy said. "We need to put those efforts together consistently now."

Chris Capuano struck out the side in the eighth and Andrew Miller finished for Boston.

Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski opened the scoring in the second with a sacrifice fly off Buehrle, his former Chicago White Sox batterymate. Middlebrooks followed with an RBI single, the first hit against Buehrle in 24 at-bats this season with a runner in scoring position. Dustin Pedroia capped the rally with a two-run single.

Ortiz made it 5-0 with a leadoff homer in the fifth, the 50th of his career against Toronto. Ortiz has 33 career homers at Rogers Centre, the second-highest total by an opposing player. Alex Rodriguez leads with 36.

Pierzynski singled to begin the sixth and scored on a double by Middlebrooks, who was thrown out at third. Buehrle left after walking Jackie Bradley Jr. and was replaced by Neil Wagner, who later issued a bases-loaded walk to Mike Napoli.

Peavy, meanwhile, breezed through the first five innings, allowing just two hits.

"That's what Jake can do when Jake is right," Pierzynski said. "He's been pitching pretty well all year, we just haven't scored any runs for him."

Jose Bautista hit a one-out double in the fourth and Edwin Encarnacion walked, but Bautista unwisely tried to steal third and was thrown out by Pierzynski.

Peavy called Bautista's decision to run "a shot in the arm for us."

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons made it clear he hadn't called for a steal.

"It wasn't smart, winning baseball and he won't do it again," Gibbons said.

Jose Reyes hit a one-out double in the sixth and went to third on Melky Cabrera's single, but Peavy struck out Bautista looking, then fanned Encarnacion to escape the inning.

Francisco ended Peavy's shutout bid in the seventh with a towering homer into the fourth deck, his first.

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Flyers take Game 4, even series with Rangers

Steve Mason skated off the Flyers' ice to a roar he waited a career to hear.

The thunderous cheers quickly changed to an appreciative chant: "Ma-son! Ma-son! Ma-son!

Headed to New York with new life, Mason sure earned this curtain call.

Mason stopped 37 shots for his first career post-season win, Matt Read and Jakub Voracek scored and the Philadelphia Flyers evened their first-round matchup against the New York Rangers with a 2-1 win in Game 4 on Friday night.

In his first start of the series, Mason shut down the Rangers, and shut out the noise of a raucous crowd.

"The crowd is unbelievable this time of the year," Mason said. "It's definitely loud out there. Sometimes, it's almost too loud for a goaltender. You can't hear the shot being released."

He had no trouble keeping his eye on the puck and was in top form almost two weeks after he suffered an upper-body injury. Ray Emery was solid in the first three games but Mason played the final 7:15 in a 4-1 loss Tuesday night.

Mason was just getting warmed up. He played perhaps his best game of the season, denying a Rangers team that pressured him with shots all game. He was a wall in the final tense minutes when the Rangers pulled goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the extra attacker.

Dominic Moore scored for the Rangers, who squandered their chance to win the series this weekend at home.

Game 5 is Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

"You don't want to go to MSG down 3-1 in the series and have to win in that building," Mason said. "For us, it was pretty much a must win."

The Rangers outshot the Flyers 16-6 and dominated a first period that put Mason to work in a hurry. But the Flyers escaped with a 1-1 tie after Jason Akeson's shot off the backboards bounced straight to Read, who beat Lundqvist on his left side for the goal.

"He told me he meant to do that," Read said. "It came right to me. I just had to one-time it. I think Lundqvist got a piece of it but we'll take it."

Read caught Lundqvist out of place at the perfect time.

"I didn't expect it to come out that fast and on his stick," he said. "It was hard for me to come across."

Voracek redirected Brayden Schenn's shot from the slot past Lundqvist for a power-play goal and a 2-1 lead. Mason had never played with a lead in five career post-season starts.

Mason hadn't started a playoff game in five years since his rookie season with Columbus. The Blue Jackets were swept by Detroit in that series, and the late-season injury against Pittsburgh delayed his Philadelphia post-season debut.

"I waited a long time for it, but one doesn't do much in the long run," Mason said.

Flyers captain Claude Giroux hasn't scored in the series but his strongest performance came after Game 3's loss when he said, "We're going to tie up the series and go back to New York."

Off they'll go to New York, the series tied.

"It's going to be better for us mentally to go up there," Giroux said.

Giroux limped to the bench after taking a hard hit from Mats Zuccarello late in the third. Giroux, third in the NHL with 86 points, had no shots on goal in the first two games and has only two assists through four games.

Moore gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead when he joined the rush out of the penalty box and scored on a wraparound goal 4:38 into the game.

The Rangers pounded Mason with shot after shot, doubling the Flyers' total for most of the first two periods.

Mason was sprawled in the crease stopping several shots and kept the Flyers in a game they desperately needed to win.

"He looked confident right from the get-go, and he had to be in the first," coach Craig Berube said.

Lundqvist, an eight-time All-Star and 2012 Vezina Trophy winner, stopped 23 shots but was betrayed by an offence that couldn't convert open looks.

The Rangers were 0 for 4 on the power play and are 0 for 12 since Game 2.

"We got good looks, but this time of year you need more than good looks," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "You need to get the job done."

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