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2B Daily News– Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Blues throttle Sharks top scorers to take 2-1 lead SAN JOSE (AP) — If the Sharks' big guns don't start scoring soon, San Jose might have a quick stay in the Stanley Cup playoffs after making it to the Western Conference finals for two straight years. The St. Louis Blues have throttled the top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. The high-powered trio that com- bined for 79 goals in the regular season has none this series or in four regular- season games against the Blues. Logan Couture, one of San Jose's three 30-goal scorers along with Mar- leau and Pavelski, got his first in seven games this season against St. Louis with 17 seconds remaining in a 4-3 loss in Game 3. But it was too late to make a difference. ''We're getting the chances. We just have to stick with it and keep going,'' Marleau said Tuesday. ''There's tweaks here and there that we do between games and during games. It's up to us to go out there and execute that and make sure we get the job done.'' chances we've got to find ways to score. We've been close, but we have to find ways to get the lead early. When we have had the lead it's a dif- ferent game.'' The Blues have done a good job all season limiting scoring chances, set- ting an NHL record by allowing 155 goals in an 82-game season. It hasn't mattered whether Halak or Elliott has been in net as both players have been sharp against the Sharks. That was also the case in the regu- lar season when St. Louis swept all four games, getting shutouts from each goalie. ''We all know what kind of team The top players have not been doing that. Thornton did chip in three assists in the loss on Monday night, but two came in the final 3:02 when the game had essentially been decided. The Sharks have been held to six goals this series, with only Couture's coming from the team's top five scor- ers in the regular season. San Jose has struggled even to set up in the offensive zone against a tena- cious St. Louis defense and has not generated enough quality scoring chances against either Jaroslav Halak or Brian Elliott. ''It's a team where you're not get- ting a whole lot against them regard- less,'' Pavelski said. ''When we get our SACRAMENTO, (MCT) — So: Will they stay or will they go? Three days after the collapse of the Sacramento arena deal, the future of the Sacramento Kings remained a tantaliz- ing mystery Monday. The Kings will stay put in Sacramento for next sea- son — and the team's own- ers, the Maloofs, insist they're committed to finding a way to remain in town long-term. An investment group with deep pockets said it's interested in keeping the downtown arena deal alive. But other cities beckon. An official with the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., which nearly lured the Kings away last spring, said he wouldn't be sur- prised if the courtship were to resume. Seattle indicated it remains interested in the team. Kevin Johnson said Monday he isn't sure he believes the Maloofs want to stay: "I can't tell you whether they want to be in Sacramento or not." And Sacramento Mayor vowed, "This is not over. We're going to figure out something. ... We're not going to just sit on our hands and roll over." But in the next breath, he they are,'' defenseman Carlo Colaia- covo said. ''They have guys who are known for playing at this time of year and a team that's built for this time of year. They have some skilled weapons who have scored some big goals for them. We're aware of that. ''Obviously, we want to make it as tough as we can on them, keep them on the other side and limit their shots and scoring chances. For the most part we've been able to do that.'' With two days off before Game 4 on Thursday in San Jose, both teams took it easy on Tuesday. The Blues canceled practice, giving the players a day off the ice. ''They felt like getting away would look at the line combinations, the potential lineup changes. There's a lot of things we can do. It's 2-1. We've been here many times. We've conduct- ed ourselves appropriately and come back and won series. ''The way you asked that question, it's like we're out of it. We're not. We're in a spot where we can win a game and keep going.'' The situation the Sharks face is Halak, who missed Game 3 because of an undisclosed lower body injury, got on the ice to test his injury but won't play on Thursday. The Sharks held meetings and an optional skate that most of the top-line players chose to skip. ''We can do some things in all areas of our game to get better,'' Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. ''We can re-energize everybody,'' coach Ken Hitchcock said. ''At this time of the year you're in a partnership with the players. After talking to them after the game we agree with them and took a break.'' Antarctica Capital, which was poised to spend $2.3 billion on state office build- ings. The deal was canceled by California Gov. Jerry Brown. move the Kings, it may not be that easy. The NBA's window for relocation requests for 2012-13 has already closed. Beyond that, they would need majority approval from fellow NBA owners, and likely would face the same objections they did last year if they try to move to Anaheim. That would put three teams in Southern California and infuriate the owners of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers. If the Maloofs do want to somewhat similar to the predicament they found themselves in two years ago when they fell behind 2-1 in the first round to Colorado, with the top line failing to score, before rallying to win the final three games. The biggest difference from that series is that the Sharks were the better team early in the series against the Avalanche but fell behind because of a few bad bounces. The Blues have mostly controlled the first three games, trailing for less than 15 of the more than 203 minutes in the series. ''There's no right or wrong way to win a series,'' Sharks forward Ryane Clowe said. ''There's going to be times you get behind. There's teams that have gotten behind early in the series and won Stanley Cups. Look at Boston last year, they were down 2-0 (to Montreal and Vancouver). It's game by game. If we win the next game they probably will be asking St. Louis questions about what they need to fix. That's just how it goes.'' The Blues have little experience to draw on at this time of year. Before winning Game 2, they had not won a playoff game since 2004. The Game 3 win was their first on the road in the postseason in nine years. With each win, the Blues are look- ing more and more like a seasoned playoff team that has the ability to make a deep run. ''The win in St. Louis eased the burden on everybody,'' Hitchcock said. ''I think there's a level of confi- dence starting to grow.'' Sacramento Kings' status remains in limbo have absolute power over where its owners take their teams. The late Al Davis suc- cessfully sued the NFL on antitrust grounds in the 1980s to move the Oakland Raiders to Los Angeles, arguing the league was being anti-competitive. A few years later, the San Diego Clippers moved to L.A. without NBA permis- sion. The league sued, and the case was settled with the Clippers paying the NBA about $5 million. Would the Kings sue if "I don't think the Kings are going anyplace but back to the bargaining table if they're intelligent," said con- sultant Andy Dolich, a for- mer executive with the Memphis Grizzlies and other NBA teams. The NBA would like the Kings to stay put. A year ago, Commissioner David Stern said the league would support a relocation if an arena deal weren't in place by now. But when asked Fri- day about the possibility of the team moving, he was non-committal. Johnson said he would present a response to the demise of the arena plan soon. "We're still committed ... to do something down- town that leads to job cre- ation, economic develop- ment." exchanges with the Maloofs in recent days, he plans to attend Friday's home game against Oklahoma City. Oscar Robertson, who played for the Kings' prede- cessors, the Cincinnati Roy- als, is being honored. The arena idea itself might not be completely dead. One of the groups planning to bid on the city's parking garages — a deal that would have raised $230 million for the arena — said Monday it's interested in reviving the project. "We're willing and open to play a larger role in help- ing to complete the (arena) project," said Roger Salazar, spokesman for Sacramento Forward. His group includes Despite his bitter "This is something that's particularly appropriately left to discretion of the own- ers, the Board of Governors and the committees that they designate," he said. David Carter, a sports business expert at the Uni- versity of Southern Califor- nia, said the Maloofs might have a hard time persuading owners to let them relocate to any city, not just Ana- heim. "They've alienated the league," he said. But the league doesn't NHL PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) Tuesday's results Florida 4, New Jersey 3 Florida leads series 2-1 Nashville 3, Detroit 1 Nashville leads series 3-1 Phoenix at Chicago, late Series tied 1-1 Today's games N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Rangers lead series 2-1 Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. Philadelphia leads series 3-0 Vancouver at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Los Angeles leads series 3-0 Other series St. Louis leads San Jose 2-1 Boston leads Washington 2-1 Sunday's game New York at D.C. United, 3 p.m. NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. —————————————————— Today's games Montreal at D.C. United, 4:30 p.m. Kansas City at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Saturday's games Real Salt Lake at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. Chicago at Toronto FC, 12:30 p.m. Houston at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles at Colorado, 6 p.m. FC Dallas at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Philadelphia at Chivas USA, 7:30 p.m. Kansas City at Portland, 7:30 p.m. they're prevented from leav- ing? Stern noted that the lead attorney the Maloofs brought to last week's NBA owners meeting has an antitrust background. The lawyer, Barry McNeil, couldn't be reached for comment Monday. Fam- ily spokesman Eric Rose said a lawsuit "is not even on the table." While the Maloofs have said for years they need a new arena, co-owner Joe Maloof said over the week- end the team could do well if Power Balance Pavilion were renovated. The differ- ence now, he said, is the money that will flow to small markets like Sacra- mento under the NBA's new revenue-sharing formula, MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Salt Lake 5 2 0 15 11 5 QUAKES 41 1 13 10 4 Seattle 3 1 1 10 6 2 FC Dallas 3 2 1 10 8 9 Chivas USA 3 3 0 9 4 4 Colorado 3 3 0 9 7 8 Vancouver 2 1 2 8 4 3 Galaxy 2 3 0 6 8 9 Portland 1 4 1 4 8 11 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Kansas City 6 0 0 18 9 1 New York 3 2 1 10 16 10 D.C. 2 2 2 8 7 6 Houston 2 1 1 7 3 3 N. England 2 4 0 6 5 8 Columbus 2 3 0 6 4 7 Chicago 1 1 2 5 3 4 Philadelphia 1 3 1 4 3 6 Montreal 1 5 1 4 6 14 Toronto FC 0 5 0 0 2 10 enabling the Kings to become more competitive. The revenue-sharing could mean another $10 million a year to the Kings, according to sports expert Matt Parlow of Marquette University. Yet USC's Carter won- dered if that would be enough to fix the team. Though Sunday's home game drew one of the biggest crowds of the sea- son, he said the Maloofs' actions could cause fans and sponsors to flee. "There's not going to be enough revenue sharing in the world to mask that kind of free-fall in ticket sales," he said. Rose said the Maloofs are 100-percent focused on playing next season at Power Balance. Co-owner Gavin Maloof spent Mon- day on the phone with sea- son ticket holders, according to the team. "They haven't had any talks with (any other city), period," the spokesman said. Beyond next season, he said, "they've got to see if there's anybody (at the city) willing to work with them." MLB West Division Texas Seattle Angels A's East Division Baltimore New York Toronto American League WL Pct GB 9 2 .818 — 6 5 .545 3 4 6 .400 4.5 47 .364 5 WL Pct GB 7 4 .636 — 6 4 .600 .5 6 5 .545 1 Tampa Bay 5 6 .455 2 Boston Central Division Detroit Chicago Cleveland 4 7 .364 3 WL Pct GB 8 3 .727 — 5 5 .500 2.5 4 4 .500 2.5 Kansas City 3 8 .273 5 Minnesota Oakland at Los Angeles, late Baltimore 3, Chicago 2 Detroit 3, Kansas City 1 New York 8, Minnesota 3 Texas 18, Boston 3 Toronto 7, Tampa Bay 3 Cleveland at Seattle, late Today's games Oakland (Colon 2-1) at L.A. (E.Santana 0-2), 7:05 p.m. Minnesota (Marquis 0-0) at New York (Kuroda 1-1), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Price 1-1) at Toronto (Morrow 0-0), 4:07 p.m. Texas (D.Holland 1-0) at Boston (Beckett 1-1), 4:10 p.m. Baltimore (Tom.Hunter 1-0) at Chicago (Peavy 1-0), 5:10 p.m. Detroit (Scherzer 0-1) at Kansas City (J.Sanchez 1-0), 5:10 p.m. Cleveland (D.Lowe 2-0) at Seattle (Vargas 1-1), 7:10 p.m. Thursday's games Oakland at Los Angeles, 7:05 p.m. Baltimore at Chicago, 11:10 a.m. Minnesota at New York, 4:05 p.m. Texas at Detroit, 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay at Toronto, 4:07 p.m. Cleveland at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. 3 8 .273 5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results West Division Dodgers Colorado Padres Arizona GIANTS East Division Washington 9 3 .750 — New York Atlanta Philadelphia 5 5 .500 3 Miami Central Division St. Louis Pittsburgh Chicago Milwaukee 5 6 .455 3 Cincinnati Houston WL Pct GB 7 4 .636 1.5 6 5 .545 2.5 5 6 .455 3.5 WL Pct GB 8 3 .727 — 4 7 .364 4 4 7 .364 4 3 7 .300 4.5 3 8 .273 5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results Philadelphia at San Francisco, late Atlanta 9, N.Y. Mets 3 Colorado 5, San Diego 3 Miami 5, Chicago Cubs 2 Milwaukee 5, L.A. Dodgers 4 St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1, 10 innings Washington 1, Houston 0 Pittsburgh at Arizona, late Today's games Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 0-1) at San Francisco (M.Cain 1-0), 7:15 p.m. New York (Dickey 2-0) at Atlanta (Jurrjens 0-1), 9:10 a.m. Pittsburgh (Ja.McDonald 0-1) at Arizona (D.Hudson 1-0), 12:40 p.m. Houston (Harrell 1-0) at Washington (Zimmermann 0-1), 4:05 p.m. Chicago (Garza 1-0) at Miami (Buehrle 0-2), 4:10 p.m. Los Angeles (Capuano 1-0) at Milwaukee (Greinke 1-1), 5:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Latos 0-1) at St. Louis (J.Garcia 1-0), 5:15 p.m. San Diego (Richard 1-0) at Colorado (Nicasio 0-0), 5:40 p.m. Thursday's games Chicago at Miami, 9:40 a.m. Los Angeles at Milwaukee, 10:10 a.m. Cincinnati at St. Louis, 10:45 a.m. Houston at Washington, 4:05 p.m. Atlanta at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Philadelphia at San Diego, 7:05 p.m. Thursday's games Milwaukee at Indiana, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Chicago at Miami, 5 p.m. Houston at New Orleans, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m. NFL Denver obviously will be an interesting way to start the season,'' Steel- ers President Art Rooney said. ''There will be a lot of attention paid to Pey- ton Manning's first game with the Denver Bron- cos, so it'll be exciting to start out that way.'' Pittsburgh's season ended in Denver in Janu- ary when Tim Tebow threw an 80-yard TD pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime in their wild- card playoff game. Man- ning presents a whole different challenge. ''Hopefully we can back up the playoff game that we had last year,'' Elway said. (Continued from page 1B) ''The opening game in games from September until December instead of just the second half of the schedule. The other Thursday night game is on Thanks- giving on NBC: New England at the New York Jets, Tebow's new team. Earlier that holiday, Houston is at Detroit, then Washington at Dal- las. Two Sunday games will be played outside the United States. St. Louis hosts New Eng- land on Oct. 28 in Lon- don, while Buffalo hosts Seattle on Dec. 16 in Toronto. Steelers at Broncos is one of four prime-time games in the league's kickoff week, Sept. 5-10. The schedule, released Tuesday, has the Super Bowl champion Giants hosting the Cowboys in the first Wednesday NFL game since 1948; the league moved the game to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama's Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention. ''We will have week-in and week-out challenge, not only in who we play, but with the different elements of our schedule,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ''We play on four different days and we have five night games. Our first three games are Wednesday-Sunday- Thursday. We play two road night games early, come home for a week and then go to San Fran- cisco. Our people are going to have to be real- ly good about it.'' The now-traditional Monday night opening doubleheader has Cincinnati at Baltimore, followed by San Diego at Oakland. A juicy opening-day matchup features San Francisco at Green Bay; the teams combined to go 28-4 in 2011. New Orleans, still awaiting league punishment to its players for the bounty program that targeted opponents for dangerous hits, hosts Washington. The Saints have a bye after their fifth game, which means interim coach Joe Vitt will actu- ally miss seven weeks during his six-game sus- pension for his role in the bounty system. A 14-week package of Thursday night games begins in Week 2 with Chicago at Green Bay. All but one of those games will be on NFL Network, which now has a MLB National League WL Pct GB 9 2 .818 — 7 3 .700 1.5 5 6 .455 4 46 .400 4.5 3 9 .250 6.5 Weeks 4 through 11. Beginning in Week 11, the league will have flex scheduling for the Sun- day night game. Tenta- tively scheduled for the first prime-time game that could be flexed are the Ravens at Steelers. Byes occur from Houston has one of the stranger schedules, with a month at home (Green Bay, Baltimore, bye, and Buffalo), and three straight road games (at Detroit on Thanks- giving, at Tennessee, at New England). Plus, the Texans play the Colts twice in the last three weeks. ''Those division games just carry so much weight,'' coach Gary Kubiak said. ''We've always had some big games against those guys. Hopefully, we've got ourselves in position right there, that those games are really, really big games for both of us and we can take care of our business.'' In all, 10 teams have three consecutive home games, while Green Bay and Houston are the only clubs with three straight road trips. ''As far as playing three on the road, I don't look at that as an extra- ordinary challenge,'' coach Mike McCarthy said of Green Bay's first such string since 1998. ''It is always challeng- ing, period, when you go on the road.'' The wild-card week- end is Jan 5-6, followed the next weekend by the divisional round, then by the conference champi- onships on Jan. 20, The Super Bowl is Feb. 3 in New Orleans, televised by CBS. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division x-Lakers WL Pct GB 39 22 .639 — x-Clippers 38 23 .623 1 Phoenix WARRIORS 22 38 .367 16.5 KINGS 32 29 .525 7 20 41 .328 19 Southwest Division WL Pct GB y-San Antonio 43 16 .729 — Memphis Dallas Houston 36 25 .590 8 34 28 .548 10.5 32 29 .525 12 New Orleans 19 42 .311 25 Northwest Division WL Pct GB y-Okla. City 44 17 .721 — Denver Utah Portland 34 27 .557 10 32 30 .516 12.5 28 34 .452 16.5 Minnesota 25 38 .397 20 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division x-Boston New York WL Pct GB 36 26 .581 — 32 29 .525 3.5 Philadelphia 31 30 .508 4.5 New Jersey 22 40 .355 14 Toronto 22 40 .355 14 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 43 17 .717 — 36 25 .590 7.5 y-Miami x-Atlanta x-Orlando 36 25 .590 7.5 Washington 15 46 .246 28.5 Charlotte Central Division y-Chicago 46 15 .754 — x-Indiana Milwaukee 29 31 .483 16.5 Detroit 7 53 .117 36 WL Pct GB 40 22 .645 6.5 23 38 .377 23 Cleveland 20 40 .333 25.5 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division —————————————————— Tuesday's results Detroit 116, Cleveland 77 Indiana 102, Philadelphia 97 Memphis 91, Minnesota 84 New York 118, Boston 110 San Antonio at L.A. Lakers, late Today's games San Antonio at Sacramento, 7 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Chicago at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Washington, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Detroit at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. New York at New Jersey, 4:30 p.m. Toronto at Miami, 4:30 p.m. New Orleans at Memphis, 5 p.m. Orlando at Boston, 5 p.m. Houston at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Denver, 6 p.m. Oklahoma City at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Utah at Portland, 7 p.m.