Kings stun Blues on road to open Western Conference semis

Watch the throne: Kings goalie Jonathan Quick deflects a shot by the Blues' Andy McDonald on Saturday in St. Louis. Los Angeles won 3-1 to take a 1-0 lead in their playoff series. AP

ST. LOUIS — Goals from unexpected sources put the Los Angeles Kings in position for another road triumph. Jonathan Quick — no surprise there — made those scores stand up.

Matt Greene scored his first career playoff goal short-handed late in the second period and rookie Slava Voynov also got his first of the playoffs as the Kings beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in the opener of a Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night.

"It's definitely a great feeling to be able to chip in and help out a little bit," Greene said. "But we have a lot of work to do."

Quick, who shut out the Blues twice in the regular season, made 28 saves and is 5-1 in the postseason with a 1.55 goals-against average. He was at his best in the first period, charging from the crease to stuff a backhander by B.J. Crombeen and also stopped a wraparound attempt by Patrik Berglund.

"It was a great win," Quick said. "We get to enjoy it for five minutes and then focus on Monday."

Game 2 is Monday night in St. Louis.

The Blues could be without defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who didn't play in the third period after getting his head driven into the boards by Dwight King behind the St. Louis net on the penalty that led to the short-handed goal.

Coach Ken Hitchcock seemed to indicate Pietrangelo had concussion symptoms, but said he couldn't concern himself with that right now.

"I don't want to get into whether he's going to play or not play," Hitchcock said. "Everybody saw the hit. We all know what the injury is. If he's not in, then somebody else gets to jump up.

"I've got bigger issues than replacing Petro. We need much more commitment from our top players."

Dustin Penner added an empty-netter for the Kings, who were 3-0 on the road while taking down the President's Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks in five games in the first round. Los Angeles is the eighth seed in the conference but won the season series 3-1.

"No one gave us a good chance against Vancouver, I don't think," forward Dustin Brown said. "I doubt very few people are giving us a chance against the Blues. It's up to us."

NEW YORK — Chris Kreider is six games into his NHL career and days shy of his 21st birthday.

And yet the Stanley Cup playoffs are anything but overwhelming for the newest New York Rangers forward who has quickly become a hit on Broadway.

Kreider scored the go-ahead goal and then set up Brad Richards' insurance tally 90 seconds later in the third period to lift New York to a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Kreider, who earlier this month helped Boston College win the NCAA championship, scored the second goal of his NHL career — and these playoffs — and he did it at the perfect time to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead 7:00 into the third.

Both Kreider's goals have been playoff game-winners. He also had the deciding marker in New York's Game 6 victory at Ottawa when the Rangers played the first of two potential elimination games in the first round.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," Kreider said. "I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard. Whether or not the puck goes in, I'm just trying to play the same role I play every night and be consistent and be defensively reliable."

Kreider got into the Rangers lineup only because fellow rookie Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games when he elbowed Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson in Game 2.

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Red Wings too much for Blues in come-from-behind victory

DETROIT — When the Detroit Red Wings raised their game in the third period, the St. Louis Blues couldn't match it.

Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall scored 56 seconds apart in the final frame to give the Red Wings a 3-2 comeback win over the Blues on Tuesday night.

"We showed good determination in the third period," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We were down 2-0 to a good team that doesn't give up a lot of shots, a lot of opportunity. We worked our way back, had good goaltending."

Datsyuk added an assist, and Nicklas Lidstrom also scored for the Red Wings, who won their 11th consecutive home game. Ian White had two assists, and Jimmy Howard stopped 29 shots.

"We threw everything we had at them," Kronwall said. "We were fortunate to get a couple of those through at the end."

Detroit lost the first two meetings with the Blues this season in St. Louis.

Matt D'Agostini and Alexander Steen scored for the Blues, and Jason Arnott and Kevin Shattenkirk both had two assists. Brian Elliott made 29 saves.

"They dialed it up in the third and forced us into making mistakes," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Datsyuk tied the game at 2 with 8:41 left, deflecting White's shot out of the air off the rush for his 12th goal.

"A shot pass," Datsyuk said. "I just tried to put my stick on it."

Kronwall netted his eighth with a wrist shot from the left point with 7:45 remaining.

"Fil (Valtteri Filppula) made a great play, making their forwards come down on him so I could get some more room," Kronwall said. "Huds (Jiri Hudler) is doing a great job in front of the net and their goalie didn't see anything whatsoever, that's why the puck went in."

Kronwall was impressed by the way the Red Wings took the game to the Blues and gave the home fans something to celebrate.

"Tonight really was a sweet one. Just the fact that we came back, we knew we had a lot of momentum with the crowd in here," he said. "We did a good job in the third coming after them wave after wave. At the same time they sat back a little bit. We really took advantage of that."

Lightning 5, Flyers 1

In Tampa, Steven Stamkos had two goals, Mathieu Garon made 31 saves, and the Lightning beat Philadelphia.

The Lightning went ahead 2-1 on Stamkos' rebound backhand at 7:25 of the second.

After Steve Downie scored at 11:41, Stamkos tied for the NHL lead with his 22nd goal, making it 4-1 with 1:15 remaining in the second.

Penguins 4, Hurricanes 2

In Pittsburgh, James Neal had a goal and an assist, and the Penguins fired a barrage of shots at Carolina goalie Justin Peters before finally breaking him in a victory over the Hurricanes that stretched Pittsburgh's winning streak to four games.

Flames 2, Blue Jackets 1 (SO)

In Columbus, Jarome Iginla netted Calgary's only goal in regulation and then had the only score in the shootout to extend the Blue Jackets' losing streak to six games.

Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 3

In Sunrise, Florida, Kris Versteeg and Jason Garrison scored power-play goals to help the Panthers beat Toronto.

Erik Gundbranson, Bill Thomas, and Tomas Fleischmann also scored for Florida, and Brian Campbell had three assists.

Canadiens 6, Senators 2

In Ottawa, Michael Cammalleri, Tomas Plekanec, Louis Leblanc, P.K. Subban and Erik Cole each had a goal and an assist, and Montreal ended a five-game losing streak with a win over the Senators.

Jets 4, Avalanche 1

In Denver, Evander Kane scored two goals, Ondrej Pavelec made 32 saves, and Winnipeg handed Colorado its first home loss in a month.

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Blues' Terry to face charges

LONDON — England captain John Terry will be the first soccer player to face a court in Britain on a charge of racially abusing an opponent, the most serious step yet in a crackdown on racism in the sport.

Prosecutors made the decision to charge Terry on Wednesday after studying footage that was broadcast live around the world in October, showing Terry apparently hurling abuse at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match.

Terry has said his comments were taken out of context and vowed to fight the charges, after prosecutors declared the defender had constituted a "racially aggravated public order offense."

Just a day earlier, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, a Uruguay international, received an eight-match ban and ?40,000 ($62,000) fine from the F.A. for racially abusing a Manchester United player during another match in October.

Although Suarez's abusive conduct is yet to be investigated by the police, anti-racism campaigners are hailing the twin-pronged actions as evidence that new weapons are being deployed against racism in soccer.

"It's a very important point in the history of campaigning against racism in football," Kick It Out chairman Herman Ouseley said. "People who are very cynical — and a lot of black footballers have been right up until I think yesterday — think it's a waste of time (complaining about racism) because the campaign hasn't stopped these things from happening, it goes on, it's quiet, it's subtle and nothing ever gets done.

"It's quite important that (players) now feel a bit more confident that, although it has taken a while, due process with decisive action could well make a change."

Racial abuse in European soccer is nothing new, although most high-profile cases have involved abusive chants from supporters toward opposing players — not on-field incidents.

A wave of outrage was provoked by FIFA President Sepp Blatter last month when he downplayed the issue and suggested players involved in such spats should settle the issue with a handshake after the game.

"I think the problem has never gone away — it's just become more subtle and less obvious," said Ouseley, a member of the House of Lords. "I think there is an awareness that more has to be done."

The latest investigations in England come despite the country having made huge strides in largely eradicating the racial abuse of black players that blighted the game here in the 1970s and '80s.

Several black players in that era, including England and Liverpool winger John Barnes, faced racist abuse without the perpetuators being punished.

"It is easy for (the F.A.) to jump on the bandwagon now, but why didn't they do it in the '80s?" Barnes said. "That's what gripes me . . . now it's politically correct for them to get involved and make the right decision."

The F.A. has yet to issue a ruling on the Terry case, saying it will wait for the police investigation to be completed first. Police and prosecutors became involved after a member of the public made a complaint against the defender, having seen footage of his comments.

LONDON — Manchester United managed the rare feat this season of outshining Manchester City's goal-scoring prowess on Wednesday to keep the heat on its neighbor in the Premier League title race.

While City maintained its two-point lead over United with a 3-0 victory over Stoke, United routed Fulham 5-0 at Craven Cottage.

Such emphatic victories have been the norm for big-spending City this season, but for United it was the biggest in three months.

"It was very impressive, we've not scored as many as we'd like to but we'd been playing well," Giggs said. "The second part of the season we always kick on and put in performances and that's pleasing."

It was a tighter encounter at Aston Villa, with Arsenal relying on Yossi Benayoun's late goal to secure a 2-1 victory

Liverpool is two points behind Arsenal after a 0-0 draw at Wigan.

Newcastle contiued to fall with a 3-2 home loss to West Bromwich Albion extending the side's winless run to six games.

At Goodison Park, Leon Osman 's goal gave Everton, a 1-0 triumph over Swansea.

Sunderland overtook Queens Park Rangers just above the relegation zone after a 3-2 victory over QPR.

OSAKA — Gamba Osaka are set to appoint Brazilian Jose Carlos Serrao as their new manager for next season, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The 61-year-old possesses a wealth of coaching experience with clubs such as Sao Paulo in Brazil and Suwon Bluewings in South Korea.

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Blackpool, Blues down; Ancelotti out

LONDON — Blackpool and Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday, each missing a chance to remain in English soccer's top tier as Wigan scored late to avoid the same fate on the season's final day.

And two hours after the season ended, Carlo Ancelotti was fired as Chelsea manager's following a trophyless season, after he led the club to the Premier League and F.A. Cup titles in 2010. Ancelotti's replacement will be the seventh Chelsea manager since Roman Abramovich bought the club eight years ago.

"This season's performances have fallen short of expectations and the club feels the time is right to make this change ahead of next season's preparations," Chelsea said in a statement. "Chelsea's long-term football objectives and ambitions remain unchanged and we will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager."

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