Dein erstes Forum » ceding home-court advantage

MONTREAL -- Montreal Canadiens fans experienced a mixture of pride and dejection on Thursday night after watching their heroes get eliminated from the NHL playoffs. The Habs, the only Canadian team to make this years post-season, saw their Stanley Cup dreams extinguished as the New York Rangers eked out a 1-0 victory in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference final. Although the game was played in New York, the Bell Centre in Montreal was packed once again as the decisive matchup was broadcast on giant screens for a sold-out crowd. Fans emerging from the arena after the game were obviously disappointed but there was no trouble downtown. Helmeted, riot-equipped police stood watch along Ste-Catherine Street but even many of them didnt stay around too long. It was in sharp contrast to the final game of Montreals previous series, against the Boston Bruins, when police lined the street to protect businesses from rowdy fans. On Thursday night, although there was the occasional vocal outburst from unhappy or frustrated fans, Montrealers appeared to accept the defeat as they quietly headed home. Emilie Quilliams, 18, said her disappointment at the playoff exit was tempered by seeing the Canadiens reach the semifinals. "Im still proud of them," she said. "For them to come to the second-to-last round of the playoffs, its something that we havent seen in quite a while, so I was really happy for them." Many fans were already looking ahead to next season, particularly after a gritty playoff performance that included goaltender Dustin Tokarski filling in admirably for starter Carey Price, who was injured early in the Rangers series. Joe Kutlu, 40, heaped praise galore on Tokarski and urged the Canadiens to sign him up. "They bring up a goalie who is a legend right now and hes going to be known and Im guessing a lot of players are really going to admire him for years to come," Kutlu said. Jean-Francois Belisle echoed the sentiments of many fans as he looked at the season with a sense of accomplishment. "Im proud of the Canadiens season, Im not angry," he said. "Obviously, it would have been great to go further but it was a good match, a good series and good playoffs." The Canadiens were a pleasant playoff surprise for their faithful, sweeping the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round and then defeating the Bruins, the leagues top team, in seven in the next round. The Habs were the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup when they defeated the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. The Rangers, who last won the trophy in 1994, will play either the Kings or the Chicago Blackhawks in the final. Thursday nights game was the third time this post-season that Habs fans had been able to attend the Bell Centre to see their team play on the road. Cheap Nike Shoes . 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The five-foot-eight 166-pound centre also has 28 points (10-18) in 15 games with AHL Oklahoma City. INDIANAPOLIS -- Paul George spent much of Friday worried about whether hed be suspended for Game 7 against Atlanta. Not a chance. Less than an hour after wrapping up practice, an NBA spokesman confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that league officials reviewed the tapes from Thursday nights altercation and determined none of the players who stepped onto the court would be punished for the decisive game of this first-round series. It was no surprise to the Pacers. "Were planning for him to be here until were told hes not going to be in there," coach Frank Vogel said shortly before the decision was made public. "I think he stayed in the vicinity of the bench." Players who leave the "vicinity" of the bench during a fracas can be suspended under league rules. Few, including Stu Jackson, the leagues former disciplinarian, expected that to happen with George, who took two slow, short steps onto the court before he was pushed back by assistant coach Popeye Jones. Jackson wrote on Twitter that he didnt expect the league to suspend George, Indianas best player and an All-Star starter. Losing George would have been a major blow to the Pacers comeback hopes. George has topped 20 points in all six games, has double-doubles in five of them and has been the one Pacers defender able to slow down quick, shifty Hawks guard Jeff Teague. And it was George and David West who saved the Pacers season with a late Thursday night in Atlanta, too. All the leagues best regular season home team must do now to reach the second round and avoid the distinction of becoming the sixth No. 1 seed in league history to be eliminated in the first round is protect its home court. Lately, thats been a problem. "My thing is that three of the last four times weve played these guys (in Indy), they built 20-point leads and beat us pretty good," Vogel said. "So I dont think anyone from this team can thinnk were going to be OK just because were back home.dddddddddddd." The eighth-seeded Hawks understand. They had a chance to wrap up the best-of-seven series at home and rallied from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter to take a five-point lead late in the fourth. Yet they still lost. "Weve responded well all year when weve been in difficult situations," coach Mike Budenholzer said Friday. "Part of our response is going to have to be better execution. I think we have a lot of positive reference points from all year. Our group has been very good and very resilient. I have a lot of confidence in our group." But this is going to be different. The Pacers, who spent all season chasing the Eastern Conferences top seed, expect a raucous crowd for the first Game 7 to be played at home in the franchises NBA history. Plus, they appeared to find a defensive solution to Atlantas spread offence by going small in Game 6. The Hawks, meanwhile, have only a day to adjust to Vogels new rotations and are on their own historic quest. A win Saturday would give Atlanta the distinction of having the fewest regular-season wins (38) of any second-round team since Detroits 36-win team beat Milwaukee in the first round of the 1976 playoffs, according to STATS. "Weve won on that floor before, so we know we can do it," Teague said. "We just have to go out there and do what we do and play our style of basketball, and it will take care of itself." George has plenty of motivation after a stressful week that included ceding home-court advantage for the second time in the series, losing his 2014 All-Star ring in a burglary that took place while he was playing Game 5, two elimination games and speculation that his 24th birthday celebration might be marred by the announcement of a one-game suspension. Theres only one thing that really would help him relax -- getting a second straight win and setting up ' ' '