VANCOUVER - A better effort produced the same the result for the Vancouver Canucks. Anthony Spencer Jersey . Martin St. Louis scored his first goal with the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves Tuesday as New York defeated Vancouver 3-1. It was another frustrating night for the Canucks, who are all but assured of missing the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Coming off a demoralizing 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, the Vancouver players showed the fight they have been preaching in the locker-room, but were unable to translate that effort into a result on the scoreboard. "I thought we should have won this game but it doesnt matter right now," said Canucks forward Daniel Sedin. "We are where we are because weve been on the wrong side of these kind of games throughout the season." Where the Canucks are is 10th in the Western Conference, six points back of the final wild-card berth with just five games left on their schedule. While the team has not been mathematically eliminated, the website sportsclubstats.com currently pegs Vancouvers chances of making the playoffs at zero. "Its always difficult. You battle all year to play in the playoffs and work to get a chance to play in the playoffs. Thats what its all about," said Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows. "When youre on the outside looking in youve got to keep playing and be a pro and work for each other." Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot had the other goals for New York (43-30-4), which has won seven of its last eight games and sits comfortably in an Eastern Conference playoff spot. Ryan Kesler replied for Vancouver (34-32-11), while Eddie Lack finished with 28 saves. "I think good teams find a way to win and right now were not finding that way," said Kesler. "Im not saying that were not a good team, were just not getting the job done." The game marked the regular-season return of Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault to Rogers Arena. Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven seasons, winning six division titles and leading the Canucks to within a victory of the 2011 Stanley Cup. The Canucks fired Vigneault last summer after the clubs first-round playoff exit and replaced him with John Tortorella after the latter was axed by the Rangers. The flip flop of coaches has worked out much better for New York, with Vancouver limping towards an uncertain off-season. The Rangers led 2-1 after two periods and St. Louis, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Lightning, put the game out of reach while killing a penalty at 10:15 of the third. Vancouver defenceman Yannick Weber dove trying to keep the puck in at New Yorks blue-line but failed to do so, allowing Rick Nash and St. Louis to race the other way on a 2-on-1. Nash fed a perfect pass to St. Louis, who ripped his 30th of the season and first in 15 games since joining the Rangers. "I love to score goals, everyone loves to score goals, and 15 games plus the two prior to coming here, thats as long a drought as I have had in a while," said St. Louis. "There is a lot of things playing against you a little bit with a new team and new environment, but you try to stay the course, play the right way and find that fine line of anticipating and not cheating. "I feel like I am getting more comfortable finding that line." Vigneault said the commitment to defence shown by star players like St. Louis and Nash allows him to put them on a penalty kill that has 10 short-handed goals this season, and three in the last two games. "Those guys are willing to do that it takes to kill penalties, which is get in lanes and block shots and have good sticks and its paid off," said Vigneault. The Canucks trailed 2-0 after the first period but showed fight in the second for the embattled Tortorella, with Kesler cutting the Rangers lead in half at 6:21. Sedin grabbed the puck off an offensive zone faceoff and found Kesler in the slot, who snapped his 24th of the season through a surprised Lundqvist. "I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought we played better through the game than the other night (against Anaheim)," said Tortorella. "I thought our team played hard. We dont score. They score three, we score one." The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 4:59 of the first when Carcillo banged home his fourth of the season on a play that had the Canucks fuming. Lack appeared to have the puck covered but Rangers forward Brian Boyle jarred it loose moments before the goal. "I felt like I had it under my glove and then I get a pitchfork and I lost it and they scored," said Lack. "(The ref) said that he was going to look at it after." New York stretched the lead to 2-0 at 14:43 on the power play. Lack made a great blocker save on Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, but the puck bounced to Derick Brassard, who in turn fed a wide open Pouliot for his 13th. "No whining. We lost. Were losing," said Tortorella. "Weve just got to keep on trying to get better." NOTES: Burrows was assessed a five-minute penalty for elbowing on Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh late in the third period. McDonagh appeared to be in some discomfort as he left the ice, but Vigneault did not provide an update after the game. ... New York set a franchise record with its 25th road victory of the season. ... The Rangers and Canucks played during the pre-season at Rogers Arena in September. The Canucks honoured Vigneault on the videoboard during that game, but did not pay tribute to their former coach on Tuesday. Dwayne Harris Cowboys Jersey . The 24-year-old piloted the No.06 Sprott Inc. Newman/Haas Racing entry to nine top-ten finishes, including three season-best fourth-place finishes, all on wildly different tracks - at Long Beach (street course), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (short oval) and Kentucky Speedway (1. Bob Lilly Cowboys Jersey . Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points, Tony Parker had 16 points and 10 assists, and San Antonio rolled to a 114-97 victory over the Trail Blazers on Thursday night for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins spot in the post-season is assured. The Phoenix Coyotes are living much more dangerously. For long stretches during Phoenixs 3-2 win on Tuesday night, it certainly looked like the other way around. Pouncing on a series of sloppy mistakes by the suddenly erratic Penguins, the Coyotes picked up two vital points in the chase for the eighth-seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Thomas Greiss stopped 23 shots -- including all 15 he faced over the final two periods -- and received plenty of help as Phoenix rebounded a night after losing starting goaltender Mike Smith indefinitely with a right leg injury in a loss to the New York Rangers on Monday. David Moss, Antoine Vermette and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Coyotes, who never trailed while dropping the Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins to just 6-6-2 since the Olympic break. "It gives confidence that if you can win in Pittsburgh you can win anywhere," Phoenix forward Shane Doan said. Jussi Jokinen and Taylor Pyatt scored for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves, but the Penguins failed to clinch a playoff berth and looked lifeless at times without centre Evgeni Malkin, who is out 2-3 weeks after hurting his foot in a loss to St. Louis on Sunday. While hes expected by the end of the regular season, his absence is just the latest setback in a season in which Pittsburgh has lost over 400 man games due to injuries. It didnt seem to bother the Penguins as they built a seemingly insurmountable division lead. Coach Dan Bylsma isnt sure now is the time to start throwing around blame. "I dont think injuries had anything to do with today or what you saw on the ice," he said. More disconcerting for Pittsburgh is its lack of focus. The Penguins held a brief players only meeting after the game and cancelled a scheduled practice on Wednesday. "I dont think theres anyone feeling sorry for us, but that still doesnt allow us not to have the right type of effort and work ethic," centre Sidney Crosby said. Phoenixs play had a little bit to do with it. If the Coyotes were rattled by the loss of their franchise goaltender, it didnt exactly show. Greiss has been effective when sspelling Smith this season, though he wasnt sharp while allowing the Rangers to steal two points Monday by rallying for an overtime victory after he replaced Smith with 7:32 left in regulation and the Coyotes holding a one-goal lead. Rolando McClain Jersey. No matter. Despite a short turnaround in the midst of a three-game road trip that could shape the final weeks of the regular season, Greiss kept the Penguins in check. "I thought we did a good job of being close to one another," Moss said. "It seemed like if there was a breakdown, there was support. If they had a chance, (Greiss) made a huge save." Whenever Pittsburgh made a mistake deep in its own zone, the Coyotes were there to take advantage. Moss picked up his seventh goal of the year when great forechecking by Martin Hanzal and Brandon McMillan produced a turnover that ended with Moss all alone in front of the Penguins net. Jokinens 18th goal of the season tied it 11:51 into the period, kind of. His wrist shot caromed out of the back of the net so quickly the goal light never came on. Play continued for nearly 3 minutes before a stoppage in play provided time for the goal to be awarded on replay. Vermette put Phoenix back in front with a power-play goal, poking a rebound between Fleurys legs. Pyatt knotted it at 2 with just 4 seconds left in the first by deflecting in Rob Scuderis shot from the point. The back-and-forth play, however, stopped over the final 40 minutes as the Coyotes choked off the Penguins while continuing to effectively counterpunch. Boedker put Phoenix in front to stay 13:18 into the second period by grabbing a rebound in front of the Pittsburgh net and roofing it over Fleurys glove as a penalty to Jokinen expired. NOTES: Injured Penguins defenceman Paul Martin did not skate on Tuesday morning due to an illness. Martin, who has not played since injuring his hand while playing for Team USA in the Winter Olympics, will have an X-ray on Sunday to determine his progress. ... The Coyotes recalled G Mark Visentin from the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League to serve as the backup until Smiths status is determined. ... The Penguins host Los Angeles on Thursday while Phoenix wraps up its road trip Thursday in New Jersey. ' ' '
