rawford, whose return from missing much of the season last year with a concussion was expected to make a difference, only to see

SAN JOSE New York Islanders T-Shirts Authentic , Calif. (AP) Very little separated San Jose and Anaheim in the regular season, with the Ducks edging out the Sharks by one point for second place in the Pacific Division.Their first-round series wasn’t nearly as competitive.The Sharks rode their superior depth, potent power play and stellar goaltending from Martin Jones to the second sweep in franchise history, knocking out the Ducks with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.”We’re playing well going into the second round,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. ”Everybody is contributing if it’s offensively, blocking shots, taking a hit. Everybody is doing what they have to for us to win.”After jumping on Anaheim early to win the first two games on the road, the Sharks earned a lopsided win in Game 3 thanks to undisciplined play by the Ducks and then withstood a strong push to end the series in Game 4.Jones kept Anaheim at bay for long stretches in the second and third period before finally allowing a tying goal to Andrew Cogliano. San Jose then took 1:16 to answer and scored the eventual series-clincher when Vlasic’s point shot deflected off Tomas Hertl and into the net.”The response goal was huge New York Islanders Hoodies Authentic ,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”We were on our heels. They were pressing. It’s tough to play an elimination game when you get an opportunity to sweep a really good team like that.”The Sharks were in control for most of the series, outscoring the Ducks 16-4 in their most lopsided series in franchise history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.San Jose got as many goals from its fourth line in the series as Anaheim had from its entire team with Marcus Sorensen scoring his third of the series to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead in the first period of the clincher. Eric Fehr also had a goal from the fourth line in the series.”Every night they hopped over the boards with energy and grabbed momentum for us, drew penalties,” DeBoer said. ”They were fantastic, but I’ve said from Day 1 we need to be a four-line team if we’re going to have success. And I think the teams that are moving through are. I watched Vegas a little bit last night. They’re a four-line team.”The expansion Golden Knights are also the next team in the Sharks’ way. The two will meet in the second round starting sometime next week in just the second series in the past 22 years featuring teams coming off sweeps in the previous round.Vegas finished off the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night, part of a record-setting inaugural campaign that included a Pacific Division title in the regular season.The Sharks will likely need another strong defensive effort next round led by Jones. He was brilliant in the clincher, making several tough saves against Corey Perry. He also had a shutout in Game 1 and set a San Jose playoff record with 45 regulation saves in Game 3.He finished the series with a .970 save percentage New York Islanders Hats Authentic , helping the Sharks earn their second sweep in franchise history after also doing it in the first round against Vancouver in 2013.”Goaltending wins this time of the year,” forward Logan Couture said. ”He was fantastic. He made a lot of Grade A saves. He was our best penalty killer. They had some really good looks. Perry had a lot of chances that Joner made some big saves on.”By extending their season another round, the Sharks may be able to get star center Joe Thornton back in the lineup. Thornton has been out since injuring his right knee on Jan. 23. He has resumed skating and took part in warmups throughout the series but has said he doesn’t want to return until he knows he’s healthy enough to help the team and make it through what he hopes will be a run to the Stanley Cup Final.The Sharks have time now to figure that out.”That’s all hypothetical,” DeBoer said. ”That doesn’t even cross our desk. Those decisions will be something if he is healthy we’ll make then. Sometimes those things sort themselves out. I’m just really proud of our group, the resiliency, the composure.”— CHICAGO — If the Montreal Canadiens are to remain in contention for a postseason berth, they will have to rely on contributions throughout their lineup.Montreal will take a two-game winning streak into its game Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canadiens have discovered a measure of success of late after they stumbled through a five-game skid and hope to continue on the right path as they continue a three-game road trip.The Canadiens are coming off a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in which they got a goal from each of their four lines and used two goals from Paul Byron to capture both ends of the home-and-home series against Ottawa.Article continues below ...Montreal coach Claude Julien hopes that his team’s style of play along with the balanced scoring attack that has sparked the Canadiens during a four-game stretch in which Montreal is 3-0-1 continues Sunday at the United Center.But now Julien is looking for his team to take another step forward and find a way to play with more of a killer instinct.“We’ve talked about how we want to finish,” Julien told reporters after Thursday’s victory Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , according to the team’s official website. “Especially when you have the lead, it’s easy to kind of sit back and get comfortable and weve done that at times this season.“That’s an area we’re trying to improve on. I think in the last little while we’ve been better in the third (period) and we’ve kind of controlled the period — even though we’ve had the lead.”Keeping the scoring coming from all four lines will certainly help Montreal’s case for extended success.“When you’ve got four lines that can play the way we’ve been lately, that can play and push the pace and play in their end, forecheck, it certainly makes it hard for the other team,” Byron told reporters after Thursday’s victory.Chicago enters Sunday’s game on a six-game losing streak, the most recent of which came in a 4-3 setback on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights. While the Blackhawks’ front office hoped that the firing of coach Joel Quenneville might spark change, Jeremy Colliton has failed to change Chicago’s fortunes.Chicago will take an NHL-worst minus-30 goal differential into Sunday’s game and has struggled throughout the season to score www.officialhockeyrangersshop.com , which — coupled with the Blackhawks’ inability to contain opposing teams — has led to predictable results.Frustration has set in on a team that, until recently, had not been accustomed to losing and that is now finding difficulty finding ways to win.Of those fighting the frustration the hardest is goalie Corey Crawford, whose return from missing much of the season last year with a concussion was expected to make a difference, only to see the Blackhawks’ competitive issues continue.Chicago has lost its past three games by a total of four goals.“I don’t know how to deal with (losing),” Crawford told reporters Saturday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Be pissed off? Let it go and keep playing? I really don’t know. It’s not a good position to be in. It’s definitely frustrating.“I don’t know. Maybe our older guys, our core group New York Rangers T-Shirts Authentic , maybe we all need to play better to get us out of this. Maybe that’s the answer.”Colliton has told his players to keep pushing for change.“No one’s happy,” Colliton told reporters Saturday. “So you can’t expect guys not to show some frustration at times. What we need to do as a team is get right back at it.”