Sunday, he threw five no-hit innings to beat the Nationals at home.Nu

TORONTO -- Sidney Crosby was at his best on one of hockeys biggest stages.Again.Crosby scored once and assisted on both of Brad Marchands goals, including the winner early the third period, to help Canada beat Russia 5-3 on Saturday night in the World Cup of Hockey semifinals.[Crosby] always comes up big in the big games, Marchand said.The Canadians will face the winner of Sundays Sweden-Team Europe game in the best-of-three finals that will start Tuesday night.Crosby opened the scoring at 7:40 into the game on a spectacular sequence, showing he has plenty of energy despite having a brief summer between winning the Stanley Cup and competing in the World Cup.It was short, but exciting, knowing we were coming here, he said.Crosby skated hard into a corner, forcing Alexey Marchenko to give up the puck earlier than he wanted. Dmitry Kulikov ended up with the puck in the left circle, but he didnt have it long because Crosby snatched it away.Crosby made the puck dance on both sides of his stick as he skated across the front of the crease, and as soon as Sergei Bobrovsky went down on his left hip, Crosby backhanded the puck into the net without a Russian player near him.I had a little bit more time than you typically get, Crosby said.Bobrovsky made 16 of his 42 saves in the first period, keeping the Russians in it.Thats why hes one of the best goalies in the world, teammate Alex Ovechkin said. He played unbelievable. When they score, its not his mistake. He gave us a chance.Nikita Kucherov made it 1-all midway through the first, and Evgeny Kuznetsov put Russia ahead 2-1 with 3:36 left in the second.Crosby, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time Stanley Cup champion, made a cross-crease pass to set up Marchand for his tying goal just 1:12 after Russia went ahead.In the dressing room after two periods, Babcock delivered a brief message.Theres no chance they can keep up if we keep doing what were doing, Canada coach Mike?Babcock recalled telling his team.The Russians, and perhaps any other team, may not have much of an opportunity to win against a Crosby-led team with some of the games biggest stars.With a chance to take a pivotal lead in the third, Crosby chose to give up the puck, not shoot it. He deftly dropped a pass to Marchand atop the left circle to assist on the game-winning goal 1:16 into the third.Corey Perry gave Canada a two-goal cushion at 5:48 of the third, and John Tavares made it 4-2 midway through the period.Carey Price made 31 saves for the Canadians. He made some momentum-stunting saves early in the first, but backchecking forwards and poke-checking defensemen made his job relatively easy for much of the night.Russia was not in a position to come back in a game in which it gave up more than twice as many shots as it put on the Price-protected net until pulling their goalie late to add an extra skater in a nothing-to-lose attempt to get back in the game. Artemi Panarin scored with 9 seconds left, making the score look slightly more respectable.The Russians were without one of their top players, Pavel Datsyuk, because of a lower-body injury.As usual in a matchup of NHL superstars, Crosby came out on top against Ovechkin.It looked as if it might end up that way even before the puck dropped.Both captains were called to center ice for a goodwill gesture, pairing them up with young boys on skates holding flags that represented each country.While Crosby put his arm around the youngster next to him, a stone-faced Ovechkin stood with his gloves at his side.Crosby helped the host Canadians crush the Ovechkin-led Russians 7-3 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Vancouver Games. Four years later, with a chance at redemption at the Winter Olympics in Russia, Ovechkin couldnt do enough to help his team get past the quarterfinals while Crosby and the Canadians earned gold again. Ovechkin is also left waiting and wondering if hell ever hoist the Stanley Cup.Given a chance to help his team and country get a desperately wanted win, Ovechkin didnt have a shot through two periods and finished with just two shots.Maybe he doesnt have enough of luck, Russian coach Oleg Znarok said through an interpreter. Nmd r2 Damen Schweiz . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Adidas Eqt Schweiz . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. http://www.nmdschweizkaufen.ch/gazelle-outlet.html . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Nmd Schweiz Outlet .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Lite Racer Schweiz . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. WASHINGTON -- Bryce Harper was pulled after the sixth inning and Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg suffered his second loss of the season as Washington fell 7-1 to the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.Harper played with a stiff neck, Nationals manager Dusty Baker revealed following the loss, which snapped Washingtons four-game winning streak.Ive been having it for a couple days now, Harper said of the neck stiffness. Its been bothering me. Tonight (Dusty) came up to me in the seventh inning and just gave me the night off. `Well get you out of there. Hopefully get some treatment on that and feel better (Sunday) or Tuesday. Well see where were at.The 2015 NL MVP looked awkward in all three of his at-bats. He struck out each time, lowering his batting average to .233.Anybody who has ever had a stiff neck, I mean, you know youre not yourself, Baker said. So, I took him out for precaution. Well see if its any better tomorrow.During his third inning at-bat against Giants starter Matt Cain (4-6), Harper needed a moment to regroup after fouling off a pitch, adjusting into a slight crouch. The Nationals trainer tended to the right fielder , but Harper remained in the game.It just didnt feel very good, Harper said. It got a little tense in there. I needed a break real quick. Our trainer got out there and gave me a second. Just definitely didnt feel right. Hopefully we can see what tomorrow has in store for us.As for what caused the issue, Harper could only shrug.I dont know, man. Maybe a pillow. I really have no idea, he explained.The primary cause of pain for Strasburg (15-2) was Eduardo Nunez. The third baseman got four hits, including two triples and a double off Strasburg.There was too much Nunez today. This was his day, Baker said.Brandon Belt homered, doubled and singled for the Giants.They must have eaten some line drives ffor lunch because there were line drives hit everywhere, Baker cracked.dddddddddddd.Strasburg was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors with 16 wins this season. Instead, he lasted only 4 2/3 innings in his shortest outing this year, giving up four runs and eight hits.Strasburg struck out eight but allowed two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. He threw 88 pitches overall.I feel like I was scuffling the whole game, the right-hander said. Yeah, I retired nine of the first 10, but I didnt really feel like I was executing and it just kind of caught up to me.Cain won his third straight start, pitching five shutout innings and scattering five hits. Last Sunday, he threw five no-hit innings to beat the Nationals at home.Nunez had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats, and was just 2 for 20 since being traded over by Minnesota in late July. The AL All-Star scored three runs.Buster Posey drove in two runs for the Giants, who had been struggling at the plate lately before getting 14 hits.SOLO JOBDanny Espinosa drove in the lone Washington run with an eighth-inning single.TRAINERS ROOMNationals: 1B Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised left wrist. The move is retroactive to Aug. 1, and OF Brian Goodwin was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse. Goodwin replaced Harper and made his major league debut, and had a flyout in his lone at-bat.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (10-6) tries to rebound after his worst start of the season last Tuesday when he gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings during a 13-8 loss at Philadelphia.Nationals: RHP Tanner Roark (11-6) has won five of his last six decisions, including his last two starts when he earned victories over Arizona and San Francisco. ' ' '