FOW Archiv » Franciscos slash line of .311/.403/.623 (1.026 OPS)

MONTREAL - Rene Bourque had just nine goals and 16 points in 63 regular season games, but the Canadiens forward has become a key cog in Montreals offence during the playoffs. A trade bait name brought up over and over again on local radio, web message boards and social media all season, Bourque netted his first career playoff hat trick in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final Tuesday, giving him eight goals and 11 points in 16 playoffs games and helping his team stave off elimination with a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers. A while his sudden emergence as a scoring threat in the playoffs has surprised many, its nothing new to his teammates. Despite his regular season struggles, they never doubted the 62, 217-pound power forward would shine through when it mattered most. "Ive said it before and Ill say it again, hes got world class speed and a world class shot and its showing right now in the playoffs," said forward Max Pacioretty, who also chipped in Tuesday night with a goal and an assist. "Hes a bigger body and he plays a simple game and that suits him well in the playoffs. Its a great time for him to step up and he was huge tonight, he helped out a lot." After the Canadiens blew a 4-1 lead in the second period on Tuesday night, Bourque halted the Rangers comeback scoring his second goal of the game at 15:10 of the second period to make the score 5-4 and give Montreal a lead they wouldnt relinquish. Bourque then added another goal at 6:33 of the third period to complete the hat trick and help the Canadiens avoid elimination for the third time in these Stanley Cup playoffs. Montreal will try to repeat the feat for a fourth time in Game 6 in New York on Thursday and force a Game 7 back in Montreal on Saturday. "Even going back to last year, he just loves this time of year," said forward Brendan Gallagher. "Hes leading by example again. For him to go out there and score not only three goals but very timely goals was big. Anytime you give up the lead like that and can come right back and score thats big. Thats what clutch guys do at this time of year, they score timely goals." Since being acquired from Calgary two years ago in a trade that saw popular scorer Michael Cammalleri go the other way, many have doubted Bourques role on this team. But not Gallagher and his teammates. They saw a hard-working character player that could come up big when it mattered most. "You just gotta understand the character he has," Gallagher explained. "Hes big. Hes a guy that we rely on. He showed up and thats what we expect from him. Hes a competitor. He loves the atmosphere and he loves the opportunity we have right now and thats kind of expected from him." Michel Therrien was also thrilled with Bourques performance. "He played a great game; he was a force out there," the Canadiens head coach said. "On the forecheck, he took the man. He was moving his feet. He was going hard to the map mat. Hes a very good scorer, so definitely that was a great performance by him." The always quite and humble Bourque wasnt about to take all the credit though. "Everybody was ready for this game," he said after the game. "We knew the situation. We got a big power-play goal early and a few others. "It was just a see-saw battle back and forth. (Dale) Weise made a great play to me. I called for the puck and somehow it got through. It was nice to get in there." The pucks have gotten through for Bourque just one less time than they did in the regular season and the Canadiens are hoping his clutch run continues as they try to come back from what is now a one-game deficit. James Murphy is a freelance reporter who also writes for NHL.com, the Boston Herald and XNsports.com. He covered the Boston Bruins/NHL for last 11 seasons writing for ESPNBoston.com, ESPN.com, NHL.com, NESN.com, the Boston Metro, Insidehockey.com and Le Hockey Magazine. Murphy also currently hosts the radio show "Murphys Hockey Law" heard Saturdays 9-11 AM ET on Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio and 4-6 PM ET on Websportsmedia.com. In addition to that, he is a regular guest TSN 690 in Montreal and Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio as well as a hockey analyst on CTV Montreal. Scarpe Jordan Uomo Scontate . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss. Jordan Scarpe Sconti . The Raptors have to get through the pesky New York Knicks Wednesday at Madison Square Garden and can lock up the third spot in the Eastern Conference with a win or a Chicago loss in Charlotte. http://www.airjordanscontate.it/. It was the quickest three-goal sequence in Olympic history, with the latter two coming just eight seconds apart. Kessel, Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne all scored twice for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 10 saves in her Sochi debut. Scarpe Jordan Scontate . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season. Air Jordan Scarpe Italia . - Wesley Matthews got a chance to practice his bow-and-arrow 3-point celebration on Sunday night.TORONTO – Brett Lawries impending return from hamstring tightness creates a problem – a good problem – for manager John Gibbons. That is, how does he keep the red hot bat of Juan Francisco in the lineup when first base is taken by Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind is back as the designated hitter? "Maybe Francisco can play second," joked Gibbons. In all seriousness, Francisco has been a revelation for the ballclub since signing a minor league deal on April 2 and arriving in Cleveland to meet his new Blue Jays teammates on April 20. Coming off an 18-home run season split between Atlanta and Milwaukee last year, Franciscos already hit five in 61 at-bats for Toronto. He doesnt get cheated, either, having deposited one in the fourth deck of Rogers Centre, just above Paul Beestons name on the Blue Jays Level of Excellence. Franciscos slash line of .311/.403/.623 (1.026 OPS) is well above his career .248/.308/.447 (.755 OPS) but even if his history suggests his numbers will regress the longer he plays, until it happens, Francisco needs to stay in the lineup. "Right now were looking at everything," said manager John Gibbons. "While hes hot weve got to find a way to keep him in there somehow." The obvious play is to move Brett Lawrie to second base. It doesnt have to be permanent. Lawrie, should the decision be made, hopes its only temporary. "Im going to do it because its for the team but Im not necessarily amazed about it," said Lawrie. "Im a third baseman. Its where I play. Its what Ive been doing. Its what I did to work to get here. Obviously Francisco is swinging a hot bat but were going to have to find another way to get him in the lineup, who knows, but if I do get put at second base thats how it goes. Ill just do it for my team.dddddddddddd" Look at this hypothetical starting lineup with Francisco at third base and Lawrie at second base: Reyes – SSCabrera – LFBautista – RFEncarnacion – 1BFrancisco – 3BNavarro – CLind – DHLawrie – 3BRasmus – CF One through nine, wheres the easy out? The Blue Jays would be giving something up defensively with the realignment but Francisco has proven to be more adept at third base in Lawries absence than expected. "Ive been very impressed," said Gibbons. "I think that was his rap. His defence was the reason he never really established himself but we havent seen it. Of course hes not Lawrie down there but how many guys are?" Dont count on Saturday being Lawries return date. He took ground balls on Friday afternoon and participated in batting practice for a second consecutive day. Its part of the process of ramping up the effort level, testing his sore right hamstring. "Ive still got to do some other stuff baseball-wise," said Lawrie. "Ive still got to get up to relatively full speed to see how were doing. Ran on the treadmill today at a little bit higher pace so feeling a little bit better." Lawries willing to be a team guy. He also wants the appropriate recognition for his gold glove caliber play at the hot corner. "Im a third baseman," said Lawrie. "I worked my butt off to get where Im at. Im not saying its not going to help the team. Im here to do what it is to help the team but I worked my butt off to be that good at third base and continue to do what Im doing. I work everyday over there. Still continuing to get my work in and second base, it is what it is, man, its not what Im here to do. I worked my butt off to do what I do out there." ' ' '