TORONTO -- The Stanley Cup final opens Wednesday in Chicago as the Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins. Here are five storylines to watch in the seven-game series: 1. Original Six returns Its the first time two Original Six teams are meeting in the Stanley Cup final since the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers in 1979. Its also the first time two of the past three champions will play for the Cup since the Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976. More than anything else, Boston and Chicago being back in the final speaks to the revitalization of two historic hockey towns that until recently, hadnt experienced this kind of success in decades. The Bruins last title before 2011 came in 1972, and the Blackhawks last before 2010 came in 1961. Winning makes up for a lot of lost time, and since then Bostons TD Garden and Chicagos United Center have featured sellout crowds and electric atmospheres. And while the careers of Bobby Orr and Bobby Hull made for plenty of Bruins and Blackhawks history, its the first time these teams are facing each other in a Cup final. For just the third time in major North American sports history, teams from Chicago and Boston will play for a championship. 2. Conn Smythe watch David Krejci is scoring at a remarkable pace, but hes still not the Conn Smythe front-runner for the Bruins. Krejci leads all players with nine goals and 21 points and Nathan Horton has 17 points of his own, but goaltender Tuukka Rask has been Bostons standout performer. Rask has a playoff-best .943 save percentage and two shutouts, and he stifled the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference final. Following in the path of 2011 Conn Smythe-winner Tim Thomas, Rask is the reason the Bruins have got this far. From Chicagos end, its a wide-open race. Goalie Corey Crawfords numbers arent far behind Rasks, including a 1.74 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. His play hasnt earned him as much acclaim as Rask, but Crawford outduelled Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and has done everything asked of him so far. Still, dont forget about Patrick Sharp (14 points), Marian Hossa (14 points) and Bryan Bickell (eight goals), any of whom could earn the trophy with a strong series. 3. Goalie change Rask was on the bench two years ago when Thomas carried the Bruins to the Stanley Cup with a 1.98 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. A year earlier, Rask was on the hk as the starter when the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. With Thomas taking a year off and being shipped to the New York Islanders for some welcome salary-cap relief, its Rasks job as Anton Khudobin serves as the backup. Rask has a ring from 2011, but its not the same as winning the Cup as the No. 1 guy. Crawford doesnt have a ring from 2010, when he was the third goaltender watching Antti Niemi win the Cup for the Blackhawks. Crawford lost his two previous series before this years playoffs, stumbling to a sub-.900 save percentage in last seasons loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. But after splitting duties with Ray Emery during the regular season, Crawford has the reins for the Blackhawks in the post-season. He could start making a nice career for himself like Niemi after this impressive run. 4. Power outage The Bruins and Blackhawks have plenty of offensive firepower, but the conference finals didnt feature a whole lot of anything on the power play. Even in breezing into the Cup final, Boston and Chicago combined to go 1-for-27 on the power play in the last round. The Blackhawks were 1-for-14, while the Bruins were 0-for-13. Credit Quick and the Penguins Tomas Vokoun for some of that, but getting the power play back on track may be key in a series that could have a shortage of goals. For Boston, it starts from the point. Rkie defenceman Torey Krug has a team-best three power-play goals despite playing in just nine games. The Blackhawks count on Hossa, who has three, and on their penalty kill to stifle opposing power plays. Chicago has allowed just three power-play goals on 58 chances, gd for 94.8 per cent. 5. Chara effect Few defencemen can change the complexion of a game or series like the six-ft-nine Chara, who, despite a lack of mind-blowing stats, should be a Norris Trophy finalist every year. Chara skates almost 30 minutes a game and is a factor in every situation. Along with Rask, he played a huge role in the Bruins holding Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to zero points. The Blackhawks depth will test the Bruins, but Chara and Dennis Seidenberg thrive on heavy workloads. Unless coach Joel Quenneville can design a way to free his top players from Charas suffocating presence in the defensive zone, its a tall task to beat the Bruins. And Chara is a factor offensively, as well. He has two goals and nine assists in these playoffs, and his blistering slapshot engenders plenty of fear. Fear of Charas impact, on both ends of the ice, is well-deserved.Buy Puma Shoes Cheap Online . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team tk control of the game early. Original Puma Shoes Wholesale . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. http://www.pumawholesale.com/ . PAUL, Minn. Puma Shoes Sale 70 Off . Jason Zucker and Matt Cke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rkies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Cheap Puma Shoes From China . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing rm, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays had plenty of chances for a breakout inning Sunday against Baltimore. When it finally came, it was light-hitting Munenori Kawasaki who delivered the knockout blow against Orioles closer Jim Johnson to give Toronto a thrilling 6-5 walk-off victory. Kawasaki capped Torontos four-run ninth with a two-run double that pushed Mark DeRosa across with the winning run. The Rogers Centre crowd of 28,502 erupted while the Blue Jays raced out to second base to mob the Japanese shortstop. The quirky Kawasaki -- who had reporters in stitches as he joked around after the game -- called it the best moment of his Major League Baseball career. "I did it," a smiling Kawasaki said as he flipped through a translation bk. "And give me a hug." The affable 31-year-old shortstop has filled in admirably for Jose Reyes since the all-star went down with an ankle injury. Kawasaki has been steady defensively and came through with some clutch hits -- a nice bonus from a player who started the season in triple-A Buffalo. "Hes making the most out of it," said manager John Gibbons. "You tip your hat to the kid." The Blue Jays got to Johnson (2-5) early in the ninth, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Edwin Encarnacion got things started with a double and Adam Lind moved him to third with a single. J.P. Arencibia followed with a single that scored Encarnacion to trim Baltimores lead to 5-3. Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., flew out and Anthony Gose walked to load the bases. DeRosa grounded weakly to short to push another run across but forcing Gose out at second. With the outfielders playing shallow for the usually light-hitting Kawasaki, he drilled a Johnson pitch into the gap in left-centre field. Steve Delabar (4-1) worked one inning of relief for the win as the Blue Jays salvaged a split of the four-game series. "We should be getting on the plane with three wins here, but I cant hang my head t long," Johnson said. "Its going to hurt for a little bit, and it should. Weve got to get ready to play again tomorrow." Kawasaki, who was given the celebratory cream pie and Gatorade treatment by his teammates after the game, had three hits to raise his batting average from .228 to .247. "When Reyes went down we were scrambling," Gibbons said. "We didnt know what we were going to do. We knew very little about him but hes come up here and done a tremendous job for us. Hes played just a gd brand of baseball." The dramatic finish was most welcome for the Blue Jays after they loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth innings but only had one run to show for it. Toronto left 13 men on base, one more than the visitors. There was some drama in the Toronto dugout as well as on the field in the ninth inning. Lawrie, apparently upset that Lind was held at third base on his fly ball to right field, exchanged words with Gibbons in the dugout. "Weve probably talked this year more than you guys will ever know," Gibbons said. "I dont want to say hes like my son, were not that tight, but we do talk a lot. He got a little heated, I got a little heated. Thats over. Its no big deal, those things happen." Lawrie didnt go into details bbut said he got "caught up in the moment" as the Blue Jays were trying to chip away at the lead.dddddddddddd Adam Jones homered for the Orioles, who outhit Toronto 14-12. The Orioles scored twice in the second inning and Jones hit a solo shot in the seventh for his 10th homer of the season. Baltimore (27-23) added a pair of runs in the ninth but the three-run lead wasnt enough. Toronto (21-29) will close out its nine-game homestand with a two-game mini-series against the Atlanta Braves beginning Monday night. Baltimore starter Miguel Gonzalez turned in a steady performance on a sunny, comfortable afternn. He gave up one earned run, four hits and three walks while striking out seven. Toronto starter Chad Jenkins lasted five innings, allowing two earned runs, eight hits and three walks (two intentional). The Orioles were aggressive from the start against the 2009 first-round draft pick, who was making his second start of the season. Nick Markakis singled in the first inning and tried to score when Jones doubled off the wall in left field. Melky Cabrera fired the ball to Kawasaki, who relayed it to Arencibia in plenty of time for the tag. In the second inning, Chris Davis hit a ground-rule double and moved to third on a J.J. Hardy single. Davis jogged home on a double from Matt Wieters and Hardy made it 2-0 when he scored on a Danny Valencia grounder. Gonzalez, meanwhile, kept the Blue Jays off the bases until Kawasaki reached on a bunt single in the third inning. Kawasaki moved to third on a Jose Bautista single but they were stranded when Encarnacion struck out. Toronto halved Baltimores lead in the fourth inning. Lind singled, moved to third on a double by Arencibia and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lawrie. Gose followed with a sharp drive to centre field but had an extra-base hit taken away when Jones made a nice running catch. The Orioles loaded the bases in the fifth inning. Jenkins escaped by getting Hardy to line out to Encarnacion at first base. Thad Weber relieved Jenkins in the sixth and Baltimore once again loaded the bases. This time it was Manny Machados turn to strand three runners, as he hit into an inning-ending double play. Gonzalez was pulled with two out in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Brian Matusz came on and Gose lined out to end the inning. The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the seventh inning with two outs. Lind flew out to shallow centre field to end the threat. Toronto made it a one-run game in the eighth inning when Kawasaki singled with the bases loaded to bring home Arencibia, who had reached on a single. Cabrera then hit a grounder to first base but Lawrie was forced out at home. Bautista came up with two outs and hit a sharp comebacker that reliever Tommy Hunter bravely bare-handed before getting the out at first. Delabar loaded the bases in the ninth inning. Wieters lashed a double to right field that scored Markakis and Jones. Notes: The game tk three hours 19 minutes to play. ... Jones has homered in four straight games. It is the first time in his career he has accomplished the feat. ... Mark Buehrle (1-3) is scheduled to start for the Blue Jays in the series opener against Atlanta. The Braves will counter with Tim Hudson (4-3). ' ' '
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