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SETHWENIG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS New York Rangers right wing Martin St. Louis (le ) and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez react a er St. Louis scored in the second period Wednesday in New York. ByIraPodell The Associated Press NEW YORK ThechampagnetheLos Angeles Kings had ready for a coro- nation stayed in boxes. The New York Rangers suddenly have some life in the Stanley Cup finals. Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves and had the Madison Square Gar- den crowd chanting his name in the Rangers' 2-1 victory in Game 4 that kept the Los Angeles Kings from sweeping them on Wednesday night. Benoit Pouliot and Martin St. Louis each scored for the Rangers, who kept the Kings at bay. Los An- geles leads the series 3-1 and will get its second shot to claim the Cup for the second time in three years Friday night at home. Los Angeles hoped to become the first team since 1998 to complete a sweep in the finals. Now the Rang- ers will try to become the second team to erase a 3-0 hole in the finals and go on to win the Cup. The Kings had that kind of comeback in the first round against San Jose. "It's not impossible," Lundqvist said. "They've done it." Twice Los Angeles put the puck on the goal line, but couldn't get it all the way across. The last came with 1:11 left in the game when Rangers forward Derek Stepan pushed the puck out of danger in the crease af- ter it got behind Lundqvist. Pouliot scored 7:25 into the first period and St. Louis added a goal in the second for the Rangers. New York squandered multiple two-goal advan- tages in losing the first two games in overtime in Los Angeles. Not this time. Lundqvist and the Rangers contin- ued their mastery of extending their seasons. New York is 11-2 in the past 13 games when facing elimination, STANLEY CUP FINALS Rangerstriumphtostayalive New York cuts series deficit to 3-1 with win in home elimination game The world will be watching the FIFA World Cup starting with to- day's opening game kickoff be- tween the hosts Brazil and Cro- atia. Hopefully they won't be watching my following prognostications — at least not if the beautiful game turns out to prove me wrong. Although I'm going to agree with most of the world and go ahead and nab tournament hosts and favorite Brazil to win it all. Neymar and Oscar will usher in the next generation of great Brazilian players as the country will claim its sixth World Cup ti- tle. Heart and head both say this is Brazil's tournament to lose. The real question has to do with who they will be playing in the July 13 final in Rio de Ja- neiro. An All-South American clash WORLD CUP My picks: Brazil will get 1950 redemption By Josh Dubow The Associated Press SANTA CLARA The San Fran- cisco 49ers are hoping a player who spent last season acting in a zombie movie instead of playing football can provide a needed up- grade to what was once a thin re- ceiving corps. Brandon Lloyd is showing in the first few weeks of offseason workouts in his second stint in San Francisco that he might be able to fill that role and give the Niners another receiving threat to test Super Bowl champion Seat- tle's vaunted secondary. Lloyd has been one of the big bright spots of the offseason so far for the 49ers, making the same type of highlight-reel catches that made him one of the league's most productive receivers before taking a sabbatical last season to star in a direct-to-DVD zombie movie ti- tled "After Effect." "He's got the ability to burst at the top of his routes," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "Runs excellent NFL 49ers'Lloyd returns to NFL a er sitting LeBron James has learned an important lesson during his journey from 19-year-old rookie to two-time NBA cham- pion: Never talk back to the coach during a film session. Game 4is tonight. NBA FINALS Heatturntothe tape to make fixes FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 The American Legion Red Bluff Bulls under-17team will compete over the weekend at Chico's Father's Day tourna- ment. The under-15Bulls are traveling to Reno, Nevada for a tournament. AMERICAN LEGION Red Bluff Bulls hit road for tournaments Mercy High School will host its annual volleyball camps for sixth- through ninth-graders July 28-31. The cost is $40 and includes a shirt. For more information email ckeller@ mercy-high.org. YOUTH VOLLEYBALL Mercy Lady Warriors hosting July camp By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press PINEHURST, N.C. The Open starts today, and for anyone who takes a quick look at Pine- hurst No. 2, there is sure to be one question. Just which Open is this? The fairways are as much brown as they are green, mainly along the edges. They are run- ning so fast that some players are hitting iron off the tee on par 4s that measure more than 500 yards. The sandy areas along the fairway appear to be dunes. It all makes this look more like a British Open. The U.S. Open is notorious for tight fairways and thick rough. Pinehurst has plenty of room off the tee and — get this — no rough. Bill Coore, who along with Ben Crenshaw was in charge of the restoration project at this Donald Ross masterpiece, can only imagine the conversations. "What's all this brown about? What's all this sand? What's all this native grass about?" Coore said. "People could look at this on television and go, 'Oh my God, Pinehurst quit maintain- ing the course.'" What hasn't changed is the U.S. Open reputation as the toughest test in golf. No one expects anything less. Jonas Blixt dropped by Pine- hurst No. 2 a month ago because he had never seen the course. After finishing his round, he was walking down the steps to- ward the locker room when he ran into a familiar face. "Over par wins," Blixt said, and he kept right on walking. Weather usually dictates scor- ing in the U.S. Open. Rory Mc- Ilroy shattered records at rain- softened Congressional three years ago at 16-under 268 to win by eight. He is a U.S. Open cham- pion who still feels as though he has something to prove in golf's second-oldest championship. "I haven't won a tournament whenever it's been like this," he said of the hot, crispy con- ditions. "That's why I'm relish- ing the challenge. It's conditions that I haven't won in before and I'd love to be able to prove to my- self, prove to other people, that I can win in different conditions. It's a great opportunity to do that this week." Thunderstorms are likely to pop up in the heat of the after- noon. Even so, Pinehurst already has proven to be a beast under any circumstances. In the pre- vious two U.S. Opens here, only Payne Stewart finished under par at 1-under 279 in 1999. Michael Campbell won at even par in 2005. USGA executive director Mike Davis has been beaming all week, mostly at the tinge of brown across what used to be emerald Pinehurst. "We are really ready right now," Davis said Wednesday. "This is exactly where you want it. You're not always lucky to get it this way going into every Na- tional Open Championship. But we've got it this year." The perception is the U.S. Open wants a winning score at about even par. Davis swears that isn't the case. Earlier in the week, he said the USGA could set up the golf course so that 15- over par would be the winning score. "You could make these things unplayable," he said. "We don't want to do that." Still, he left little doubt that something around par would go a long way. The last two U.S. Open champions finished at 1-over par — Webb Simpson at Olympic Club, Justin Rose at Merion. The last time three straight U.S. Opens had a win- ning score over par was from 1957-59. "What the winning score is? I'm not a good guesser at that, partly because I never know what the weather is going to give us," he said. "But I will tell you, if we don't get any rain from here on out, this is going to be a U.S. OPEN GOLF OPEN HAS BROWN, BRITISH LOOK NOW Tournament at Pinehurst No. 2 gets under way today, remains as toughest test in golf CHARLIE RIEDEL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Rickie Fowler hits out of the long grass on the 18th hole during a practice round Wednesday for the U.S. Open golf tournament in Pinehurst, N.C. The tournament starts today. ESPN has hired Landon Dono- van to offer commentary on the U.S. soccer team he was cut from just before the World Cup. He made his debut during ESPN's two-hour World Cup preview show Wednesday. WORLD CUP SOCCER ESPN hires Donovan to offer commentary FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 Rich Greene GREENE PAGE 2 OPEN PAGE 2 LLOYD PAGE 2 RANGERS 2, KINGS 1 Up next: Kings lead series 3-1. Game 5Friday, New York at Los Angeles, 5 p.m., TV on NBC. THESCORE FINALS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, June 12, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1