CHICAGO -- First, it was Jonathan Toews on a power play, and then Patrick Sharp got loose on a breakaway. Kiko Alonso Jersey . 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." 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. 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 nights 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." Sharps 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 didnt get it done and were 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 cant watch hockey," Seabrook said. "Youre 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. NOTES: Blackhawks F Kris Versteeg was scratched after he played in the first five games. ... Keith, a top candidate for the Norris Trophy awarded to the NHLs top defenceman, tied a playoff career high with four points. ... Miller, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency, on his immediate future: "I dont know. Ive just got to take things as they come right now. I guess Im free to go to my sister-in-laws wedding. Thats about it." Josh Huff Jersey . Rich Peverleys goal at 4:41 of overtime completed a comeback and gave Dallas a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. Cody Parkey Eagles Jersey . - Andrew McCutchen went 4 for 5 and finished a home run short of a cycle, and Jordy Mercer drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-2 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona came out of its last meeting with California a bit discombobulated, hurting from its first loss and the loss of forward Brandon Ashley for the rest of the season. It took a little while, but the Wildcats seem to have their groove back -- just at the right time. Coming off two solid road wins, No. 3 Arizona played one of its best games of the season -- certainly since Ashley went down -- quickly turning its rematch with Cal into an 87-59 rout Wednesday night. Nick Johnson had 22 points after struggling against Cal the first time and Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for the Wildcats, who pulled out a tough win at Utah and routed Colorado last week. "Obviously, we played very well tonight, one of our best games of the season," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "You might make the argument that the game against Colorado and tonights game were the best back-to-back games weve played all season." Cal won the first meeting 60-58 on a last-second jumper by Justin Cobbs that sent the students pouring onto the court. Arizona (26-2, 13-2 Pac-12) ran away from the Bears early in the rematch, using a big first-half run and good shooting all game to prevent the season sweep. T.J. McConnell finished with 13 points and six assists, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson provided a lift off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson also had seven rebounds and five assists after scoring four points on 1-of-14 shooting the first game against Cal. "It feels good right now," said McConnell, who has 22 assists and one turnover the past three games. "Were shooting the ball well and when we do that, were tough to beat." Cal (18-10, 9-6), struggled at times against Arizonas defensive pressure and had little chance of stopping the Wildcats at the other end to lose for the 17th time in 19 games at McKale Center. Arizona shot 50 per cent against the Bears and had a 42-25 rebounding advantage, including 15 on the offensive glass. Cobbs led Cal with 12 points. "Theyre good; you have to give credit where credit is due," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "They were solid and a little angry having lost to us. Theyre making shots now and at our place they werent making all their shots. Theyre playing really well right nnow. Randall Cunningham Eagles Jersey. " Arizona wanted a little revenge after what happened in the first meeting against Cal. The Wildcats entered the Feb. 1 game with the No. 1 ranking and a school-record 21-game winning streak. They left Berkeley with their first loss of the season -- thanks to Cobbs stepback jumper with 0.9 seconds left -- and Ashley in a walking boot after he injured his right foot going up for a rebound in the first half. Ashley is done for the season, but Arizona has found ways to win without him, picking up three victories in four games, including Sundays 88-61 blowout at Colorado. The Wildcats started slowly in the rematch against Cal, opening 1 for 6 to miss more shots in the first 3 1-2 minutes than they did the entire half against Colorado (22 for 26). Once they got rolling, the Bears couldnt keep up. Triggered by its defence, Arizona went on a 12-2 run, building its lead to 39-23 on a series of steals and dunks. Johnson had one dunk in transition after a steal and Aaron Gordon had another, racing off for a head-above-the-rim reverse dunk that triggered a roar inside McKale Center. Hollis-Jefferson had a high-flying dunk on an alley-oop pass on an inbounds play, then threw down a tomahawk in transition after Johnson tracked down Cobbs to block his layup from behind at the other end. Arizona made 18 of 36 shots to lead 44-29 at halftime. Johnson had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, four rebounds and three assists while leading the top of Arizonas defence with McConnell at the top. "Its always good when everybody is hitting shots," Johnson said. "Whenever you hit a shot, it feels good and you hit a few in a row, its great for your confidence." The Wildcats quickly built the lead to 20 points in the second half, but Cal showed a little resiliency, going on an 11-0 run that cut Arizonas lead to 53-44. That was as close as the Bears would get. Arizona turned up the pressure again, McConnell hit a 3-pointer in transition and Gordon soared in for another dunk, putting the Wildcats back comfortably ahead, 70-52. "We cant afford a 15-point deficit against a team like Arizona," Cobbs said. "We played well for a stretch and cut the lead by eight, but they executed well on offence and I give them credit." cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseyswholesale jerseys ' ' '
