nt really louder, but you could tell the drivers were fighting with a wild

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues went the distance, and then some, to get the jump on the defending Stanley Cup champions. Alexander Steen scored at 26 seconds of the third overtime to cap the longest playoff game in franchise history and give the Blues a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Thursday night. Steen beat Corey Crawford off a pair of short passes from Steve Ott and David Backes to end the marathon. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock greeted reporters for the postgame news conference with a hearty "Good morning." "Its big. We want to start this series off on a good note," Steen said. "Especially at home in front of our fans." Ryan Miller made 39 saves and blanked the Blackhawks after Patrick Kane scored on a breakaway to put Chicago up 3-2 late in the first period. Jaden Schwartz tied it with 1:45 to go in regulation to send the game into overtime. Alex Pietrangelo logged 44 minutes, 8 seconds of ice time. Two Blackhawks, Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson, played more than 40 minutes. Hitchcock called Miller "a difference-maker." "From the second period on, I thought he was great," Hitchcock said. "Both goalies were outstanding." Crawford made 48 saves for Chicago. The Blackhawks werent panicking. "I think the big thing for us is we have to realize its only one game and weve got a quick turnaround coming back," Kane said. "Thats the best part about it, we get right back at it. Game 2 is Saturday afternoon. "Weve got to move ahead," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "We knew it was going to be a tough series from the start. We almost got through it." The Blues previous longest overtime game was a 4-3 loss at Detroit in 1984 that extended 37 minutes, 7 seven seconds. The home record for a playoff overtime game was 33:49 of extra time in a 5-4 win over Chicago on April 20, 1989. St. Louis had to kill off delay-of-game penalties for shooting the puck into the stands in the first two overtimes and Quenneville argued vehemently for a second delay of game that would have given Chicago a 5-on-3 advantage in the first OT. The Blackhawks killed off a holding penalty in the second overtime. Jonathan Toews, like Kane back from a lengthy injury absence, had two assists for Chicago. Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko and Adam Cracknell all scored their first playoff goal for the Blues. The Blackhawks kept the Blues pinned in their own zone for 2:10 during the first overtime, and Maxim Lapierre made the save of the session getting his body on a drive by Kris Versteeg with less than two minutes remaining. Tarasenko was among the best players coming off a 15-game absence because of a broken thumb. Cracknell tapped in a rebound early in the first to end a scoring drought of 148 minutes and 39 seconds for a team that got shut out the last two games of the regular season. Kane scored his 30th career playoff goal after catching the defence napping at the end of a St. Louis power play, beating Miller off a long lead pass from Toews for a 3-2 lead at 18:24 of the first. Miller allowed three goals on just seven shots in the first with defencemen Johnny Oduya and Brent Seabrook also scoring for Chicago. "They had a couple of nice shots in the first, but I had to come out and battle," Miller said. "Luckily I got ahold of a few of them." St. Louis top line of David Backes, Steen and Ott was a combined minus-5 in the first. Ott was a bit of surprise, considering he was minus-7 during the Blues six-game losing streak to end the regular season. Crawford faced just three shots in the second, but needed big saves to thwart Tarasenko and Ott. He made glove saves on drives by Steen and Tarasenko not long before Schwartz got the equalizer. NOTES: Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester, who has the longest consecutive game streak in major sports at 717 games, left in the first overtime and did not return. Hitchcock said Bouwmeester was dehydrated. ... Oduya and Seabrook combined for 10 goals in the regular season. Oduyas goal was first credited to Kris Versteeg on a deflection. ... St. Louis got most of its injured players back but key forward T.J. Oshie (head) and Patrik Burglund (shoulder) were scratches. ... Kane had two goals and four assists against St. Louis in the regular season and Toews had a goal and three assists. Nike Vapormax Sale Nz .The Los Angeles Lakers star passed Michael Jordan for third on the NBAs career scoring list Sunday night in a 100-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nike Vapormax Wholesale . A veteran of 16 NHL seasons, Prospals career was highlighted by him ranking fourth in points scored, third in assists and sixth in games played among all Czech Republic born players in NHL history. http://www.airvapormaxnz.com/vapormax-2019-sale-nz.html .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan opened the Ford Womens World Curling Championship with a 7-5 win over Russia on Saturday. Vapormax Off White 2019 . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Air Vapormax Nz .J. -- Tom Coughlin doesnt have many options at halfback for the winless New York Giants. MONTREAL -- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg still have the fastest car on the track, but the competition may not be quite so far behind at the Canadian Grand Prix. Practice day on Friday saw Fernando Alonso bring his Ferrari around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the fastest time in the morning practice, only to see the Hamilton and Rosberg dominate the afternoon session in their Mercedes AMGs. "The Ferraris looked quite close today and the rest of the field seemed closer in general, but hopefully not too close," said Hamilton. "Its very hard to overtake here, so pole position is important. "Nico looked very quick as well, so I have my work cut out for sure. Well find out everyones pace in qualifying (Saturday) afternoon, so lets wait and see what happens." Hamilton thrives on the tightly-cornered 4,361-kilometre circuit, and the superior power of this years Mercedes engine makes the Briton and his German-Finnish teammate Rosberg heavy favourites to stretch their winning run to start the Formula One season to seven races. Hamilton is a three-time winner in Montreal, and will be gunning for his fourth pole position in qualifying. Rosberg is looking for a second pole and a second win in a row after a victory at Monaco two weeks ago. "It felt pretty good out there, but weve still got improvements to make and there is more to come from the set-up and balance," said Hamilton. "Were not quite where we want to be yet." Hamilton posted a quickest lap of one minute 16.118 seconds, just ahead of Rosberg at 1:16.293. Defending champion Sebastian Vettels Red Bull car was third at 1:16.573 followed by the two Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen in 1:16.573 and Alonso in 1:16.701. "Im still a tenth off the quickest time so Ill work hard with our engineers to find that extra pace," said Rosberg. "Its a unique track here, and its very difficult to hit the curbs just right." The Mercedes team has been all-but unbeatable since the switch to more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines this season. They have won every race, with Hamilton taking four and Rosberg two, and have finished one-two in the last five. There has been more competition between the teammates than with the rest of the grid so far, but perhaps the tracks peculiarities, and its lurking dangers, will make a race of it on Sunday. The circuit features long straightaways leading into sharp turns. There are chicanes, including one near the home stretch that has sent many top drivers into the concrete barrier known as the Wall of Champions. "It is a short lap here, which closes up the field anyway, but it feels like Ferrari might be pushing us harder this weekend," said Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff. "We will need to get every detail right to deliver our potential in the race, so theres plenty of work still ahead of us.dddddddddddd" Alonso caused a mild surprise by beating the Mercedes in the morning practice session, but Rosberg topped the Spaniards time of 1:17.238 early in the afternoon runs. When the Mercedes drivers switched to supersoft tires 30 minutes into the afternoon, they were too quick for the field. The two-time world champion Spaniard, a winner in Canada in 2006, is a distant third in drivers standings behind the two Mercedes but it is still early in the 19-race season. He said this week his car is improving, even if the gap with Mercedes will be very difficult to close. "Its going to be tough," said Alonso. "There are updates coming to the car that weve been working on for some weeks. "All these hopes, we need to see it on the track. Its one of the shorter circuits, so we expect the times to be really close. So we need to find perfection. One or two tenths can be six or seven positions. We need to be in the front of those cars." The large crowd that turned out on a cool, overcast day got its first earful of the new F1 engines, which no longer have the high-pitched whine that was the sports signature sound for years. Instead, its a much quieter rumble. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion and a native of Iberville, Que., has no problem with the sound. "The problem with the engine isnt the volume," said Villeneuve. "Its good. "You can bring your kids and you know that you wont blow their eardums. Thats a good thing. You can have a phone conversation. The problem you can feel that theres no power. Theres no grunt. If you look at the turbos in the 1980s, the volume wasnt really louder, but you could tell the drivers were fighting with a wild animal. Thats not the case now." A dicey moment came 27 minutes in when Adrian Sutil had to take a short cut over a curb to avoid crashing into Kevin Magnussens slow-moving McLaren. Stewards investigated the incident and decided it did not warrant a penalty. However, Red Bulls Daniel Riccardo was given a reprimand for passing Pastor Maldonados Lotus in "a manner potentially dangerous to others" in pit lane. It was the Aussies first reprimand of the season. Jules Bianchi of Marussia hit a wall hard and sustained heavy damage in the morning practice but the French driver felt he would be will be OK afternoon. But after three laps his Ferrari-powered car stayed in the garage most of the afternoon. Caterham had 22-year-old American Alexander Rossi in Kamui Kobayashis car for the first practice, although the Japanese driver took over in the afternoon session. Rossi, a GP2 driver being groomed for F1, was last in the 22-car field at 1:21.757, just behind teammate Marcus Ericsson. Rossi will also drive in practice at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas in November. ' ' '