Xbox360 » Subban says defending comes first

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Claude Giroux didn’t like the way he was playing Adidas Matt Bartkowski Jersey , so the Philadelphia captain called himself out. And he responded in a big way.Two days after saying he needed to ”step up and bring more for the team,” Giroux had a goal and two assists to help the Flyers to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.”When it’s not going your way, you have to challenge yourself,” Giroux said.Giroux had been pointless in two of his previous three contests. Philadelphia survived his turnover in overtime Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory over Carolina when Brian Elliott made a spectacular stick save. That came one game after another Giroux turnover cost the Flyers a goal in a 4-3 shootout home loss to Ottawa.Giroux bounced back with his fifth three-point game of the season.”He’s pretty hard on himself, maybe overly so, but he felt like he could play better and he did that,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. ”He expects a lot of his teammates, but he puts himself at the head of the line.”Travis Konecny scored twice, Jakub Voracek and Ivan Provorov also scored, and Shayne Gostisbehere had three assists. The Flyers kept their hold on a playoff spot in a crowded race in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia entered in seventh place, but just one point ahead of Columbus and the New York Islanders, and only four in front of 10th-placed Carolina.Brian Elliott made 25 saves in his second game back from a lower body injury after missing four games.”Keep packing on two points and we’ll put ourselves in a good spot Adidas J.T. Brown Jersey ,” Elliott said.Logan Shaw, Artturi Lehkonen and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal.The game ended a historic day in Philadelphia that featured the victory parade for the Eagles’ first Super Bowl championship. The Flyers congratulated the Eagles on the video board and played highlights from the parade to the delight of the crowd, which unleashed a loud ”E-A-G-L-E-S! E-A-G-L-E-S!” chant.Hakstol watched some of the parade festivities on television.”It’s hard not to be excited,” he said. ”It’s pretty inspirational for the entire city. What an awesome sight. Their organization did such a good job from top to bottom the entire year. That’s their just rewards.”The parade also altered both teams’ normal routines. The Flyers held their morning skate at their practice facility in Voorhees, New Jersey rather than on their home ice in Philadelphia. They also had players who live in Philadelphia stay at a hotel in South Jersey on Wednesday night to ensure they could make the morning skate.The Canadiens switched hotels from their normal spot in downtown Philadelphia to a place near the airport to avoid the crowds while also canceling their morning skate.Montreal could’ve used the extra work to practice its penalty kill.”Those penalties hurt,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said. ”Their power play was going good and our penalty kill wasn’t good enough.”Voracek broke a 2-all tie and made amends for an earlier turnover that led to a Canadiens goal 27 seconds into the third period when he roofed a wrist shot over Carey Price’s left shoulder for Philadelphia’s second power play goal of the contest.Konecny made it a two-goal advantage 1:01 later when he pounced on a rebound after Gostisbehere’s shot from the point trickled out of the grasp of Price. It was his 13th tally of the season and seventh in the last 10 contests.Gallagher’s power play goal with 2:54 left brought Montreal within a goal.Provorov iced the win with an empty-netter with 55.9 seconds remaining.The teams each scored a pair of goals in the second period.Konecny opened the scoring by finishing a great passing play 42 seconds into the period.Lehkonen stripped Voracek near center ice and whizzed a shot past Brian Elliott’s glove side with 10:51 left in the second. It was the ninth short-handed goal the Flyers have allowed this season.Philadelphia answered 28 seconds later on the power play when Giroux’s wrist shot got through traffic and past Price.Shaw sent the teams into the final period tied at 2 when his wrister went off Elliott and in with 1:11 left.The Flyers lost all four contests without their top goalie, who got an assist on Provorov’s tally.Notes: Montreal D Shea Weber and C Phillip Danault did not make the trip to Philadelphia but skated prior to Wednesday’s practice. Weber (foot) has been out since Dec. 16 and Danault (concussion) has been sidelined since Jan. 13. … The teams play the second of three contests Feb. 20 in Philadelphia before finishing the season series Feb. 26 at Montreal. … Philadelphia’s power play had been 4-for-30 over the 10 previous games before scoring twice against Montreal.UP NEXTCanadiens: Host Nashville on Saturday night.Flyers: Play at Arizona on Saturday night. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Playing the Winnipeg Jets is exactly why Nashville coach Peter Laviolette wanted home-ice advantage in the NHL playoffs.Even if it’s a round – or two – earlier than anyone really wants.Laviolette’s Predators play Winnipeg in the Western Conference semifinals after turning in their best season in franchise history to grab the right to start and end a series in the place called ”Smashville.”They edged out their Central Division rival by a mere three points for the Presidents’ Trophy, and this will be just the fifth series since 1990 between the NHL’s top two teams in the regular season.”They wanted divisional battles, got them,” Laviolette said. ”This should be a big series.”It’s the second straight postseason that division foes and the league’s top finishers meet in this round. Pittsburgh, which wound up beating Nashville in the Stanley Cup Final Adidas Adam Pelech Jersey , advanced to the Eastern finals by downing the Capitals in Game 7 in Washington.Winnipeg and Nashville played so well that this series has been anticipated for weeks, so good it could be a Cup Final despite the Predators winning the regular-season series 3-1-1. Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban dismissed such talk Thursday, noting this round remains a long way from the Stanley Cup Final.A thrilling series with lots of speed and goals? That the Jets and Predators can provide.”The thing about winning, and I’m sure you ask anybody who’s won a Cup, is the steps that it takes to get there,” Subban said. ”You have to go through some thick walls, and this is definitely one of the thickest walls that we’re going to have to get through to get there.”Winnipeg goes against the defending Western Conference champs coming off the franchise’s first postseason series victory after relocating from Atlanta in 2011 with 10 Jets making their playoff debuts against the Wild. Winnipeg center Bryan Little says that makes the Jets the underdogs by just a little bit.”It’s going to be a really tough series and a tight series, so I think that’s why everyone’s so excited about it,” Little said.Some things to know before Game 1 on Friday night:VEZINA FINALISTSGoalies for both the Jets and Predators are finalists for the Vezina Trophy with Nashville veteran Pekka Rinne looking to win the award in his fourth try.Connor Hellebuyck made his postseason debut, shutting out Minnesota twice with a 1.94 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. Rinne’s numbers weren’t nearly as glitzy against Colorado, but he tightened up over the final three games with a 1.34 GAA and .951 save percentage, including a shutout in the series clincher.HOME AND ROADNobody was better in the NHL at home than the Jets who went 32-7-2 Adidas Thomas Hickey Jersey , and they have won 12 straight in Winnipeg, including all three in ousting Minnesota. The Jets haven’t lost at home since Feb. 27 – to Nashville. The Predators were the league’s best away from home (25-9-7). The Predators won twice on the road in the first round, including clinching in Colorado in Game 6.OFFENSIVE FIREPOWEREven with Rinne and Hellebuyck in net, these teams combined for 42 goals in five games in the regular season with Nashville outscoring the Jets 22-20. It was the most goals the Jets scored against any team, while they also gave up the most goals to any opponent. The Jets also ranked second in the regular season for both most goals (273) and average goals per game (3.33)SHUT DOWN WHO?Nashville’s top trio is nicknamed the ”JOFA” line for Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. But the Predators’ top scoring line against Colorado was their third line of center Nick Bonino with Austin Watson and Colton Sissons, who combined for 19 points. The Jets can match Nashville’s scoring depth with seven players scoring at least 43 points in the regular season led by Blake Wheeler (91 points) and Patrik Laine (team-high 44 goals).SO DEFENSIVENashville has four of the NHL’s best defensemen in Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Subban and Mattias Ekholm. But the group that led the league with 55 goals only had one goal in the first round, and that came in Game 6 from Ekholm. Subban says defending comes first for a team that ranked second in the regular season in allowing both the second-fewest goals (204) and average goals per game (2.49).—