Links » some life. Thanks to luck -- and Lundqvist. "

LOS ANGELES -- After getting knocked down in their playoff opener, Blake Griffin and the Clippers answered with a dominant performance in shutting down the Warriors as soon as the game began. Griffin scored a career playoff-high 35 points without a foul and Los Angeles led all the way in a 138-98 rout Monday night to even their first-round series at a game apiece. "We were really aggressive on our defence," Griffin said. "When you play more aggressive you stay out of foul trouble." Chris Paul added 12 points and 10 assists for the Clippers, who started the game on a 14-4 run and kept on going, maintaining a sizeable double-digit lead through the final three quarters. They finished with franchise records for points and largest victory margin in a playoff game. "When we play with that force and thrust, its hard to defend us," Paul said. Game 3 is Thursday at Oakland. All the foul trouble that plagued Griffin and Paul in the Clippers four-point loss in Game 1 belonged to the Warriors this time. Stephen Curry scored 20 of his 24 points in the third quarter, when the Warriors never got closer than 25 points, while he played with four fouls. Klay Thompson finished with seven points -- 15 under his average -- and four fouls. Andre Iguodala, who fouled out of Game 1, and Jermaine ONeal had four points and three fouls each. The Clippers defence forced 26 turnovers, and offensively they had their way -- getting out in transition, attacking the rim and throwing lobs that led to dunks. "We were awful," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "They disrupted us with their intensity. That was a desperate basketball team we played against." Los Angeles shot 57 per cent, made 12 of 25 3-pointers, hit 32 of 35 free throws for a playoff-record 91 per cent and owned a 25-13 edge in fastbreak points. "We really kept the game simple. When a guy had an open shot, he took it. When he didnt, he passed," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "Its very difficult to guard when the ball moves as quickly as it did." The Clippers lead grew to a 37-point bulge early in the fourth on a 3-pointer by Matt Barnes, their only starter who played albeit briefly in the final period. He finished with 13 points. Danny Granger had 15 points before fouling out. DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and nine rebounds. The teams with a history of bad blood between them jawed in the fourth, when Clippers Hedo Turkoglu and Glen Davis got into it with Marreese Speights of the Warriors. Davis and Speights were called for double technicals. The Warriors frustration boiled over with 42 seconds left when Jordan Crawford was called for a flagrant-1 for shoving Darren Collison who was bringing the ball upcourt. Griffin had 21 points in 20 minutes of the first half, one minute more than he played in the Clippers loss on Saturday. He fouled out of that game, when Paul was also in foul trouble and made several mistakes in the closing minutes after the Clippers rallied to tie the game late. "Blake took it when he had it, moved it when he didnt," Rivers said. "He stayed on the attack, which is what we wanted. Great mental toughness by Blake. He was phenomenal." The Clippers got off to a 14-4 start, similar to their 12-1 start of two days ago. This time, though, the referees whistles were blowing at the Warriors. Thompson, ONeal and Iguodala all had three each by halftime, when they trailed 67-41. "We came out with a sense of urgency, but nothing was clicking," Curry said. "They just outplayed us from start to finish." Golden State had 33 fouls to 22 for the Clippers. The Clippers outscored Golden State by 11 points in the opening quarter and by 15 in the second. Curry got double-teamed for the second straight game, and he struggled offensively, making just one basket and two free throws in the first half. The Clippers second unit grew the lead from 11 points to 21 in the second, helped by consecutive 3-pointers from Jamal Crawford, Turkoglu and Granger. The starters came back in and had just four baskets the rest of the quarter while hitting 9 of 11 free throws to stretch the lead at the break. "They came in and didnt miss a beat," Griffin said about the reserves. "They came in and turned up the pressure." Thompson got whistled for his fourth foul barely a minute into the third. David Lee, who had a double-double in Game 1, had 11 points. NOTES: Curry got a technical in the third quarter for tossing his mouth piece. "The score had a lot to do with it," he said. ... Rivers and ONeal were called for technical fouls in the second quarter. "We were born on the same day. Two Libras, two stubborn fools," Rivers said. "Me and him are very close, but not during the game." ... Jordan finished third in voting for the leagues defensive player of the year. He was third in the league in blocked shots, averaging 2.48. "Its a great step forward for DeAndre," Rivers said. ... Longtime Clippers TV announcer Ralph Lawler turned 76 Monday. ... Former Clipper Chauncey Billups was on hand, along with Billy Crystal. Joe Theismann Youth Jersey . Winnipeg trailed by five points in the final minute when quarterback Drew Willy completed a 13-play, 75-yard drive with Feoli-Gudinos 18-yard touchdown catch on third down to lift the Bombers to a 34-33 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night. Dexter Manley Redskins Jersey . The Raptors had an early deadline Sunday, a dreaded afternoon game, and they left the bulk of their work until the last minute, as theyve done so many times before. http://www.redskinsrookiestore.com/Redskins-Alex-Smith-Jersey/ . The result was a game-winning, power-play goal. Chiasson snapped a third-period tie and lifted the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory on Monday night. John Riggins Jersey . The 34-year-old averaged 10.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 82 games played in 2013-14 with the Utah Jazz. Jefferson has averaged 14.5 points, 4. Charles Mann Youth Jersey .com) - The Toronto Blue Jays will look to snap a three-game skid Friday night when they continue their road trip in the opener of a three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.NEW YORK -- Even the King at his best needed some help to keep the Kings from lifting the Stanley Cup at Madison Square Garden. Henrik Lundqvist got that in the form of season-saving plays by Anton Stralman and Derek Stepan on the goal-line and did the rest himself, willing the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory in Game 4 of the Cup final Wednesday night to stave off elimination and forced a Game 5 back in Los Angeles. "When you play this game, you have to battle, but then you have to rely on your teammates," Lundqvist said. "Sometimes you have to rely on some luck. Tonight we had it a couple times." Lundqvist finished with 40 saves on 41 shots to extend his streak of home elimination-game wins to eight. Along the way he kept the Kings at bay with the kind of performance that his teammates have come to expect. "It was pretty self-explanatory out there," defenceman Dan Girardi said. "He was the King tonight for us, making huge saves when he had to." The most memorable saves, though, came from Stralman in the first period and Stepan with just over a minute left in the third. Midway through the first period with the Rangers up 1-0 on a deflection goal by Benoit Pouliot, Kings defenceman Alec Martinez thought he had scored. Instead, Stralman batted the puck off the goal-line after first lifting Jeff Carters stick out of the way. "I just saw the puck and all I tried to do basically was get the stick out, and obviously the puck as well," Stralman said. "Its one of those things, you need a little luck to kind of succeed with." Luck, some quick reflexes and enough wherewithal not to knock the puck in while trying to avoid what couldve been a disastrous goal against for the Rangers. "A lot of times you start panicking and you end up whacking it in your own net, and we did a good job of being calm when it was sitting there, and getting it back underneath Hank for a whistle," Rangers defenceman Marc Staal said. "If they get that one, they have that momentum, and we were able to make a stand long enough that they didnt." The one-goal lead that stood up thanks to Stralman became two, New Yorks fifth of that kind in this Cup final, when Martin St. Louis scored 6:27 into the second. A bad bounce in a series full of them for the Rangers led to Kings captain Dustin Brown scoring just two minutes 19 seconds later. The knob of Girardis stick appeared to break, springing Brown for the breakaway goal at 8:46. After the Rangers blew two-goal leads in each of Games 1 and 2, Lundqvist couldnt help but think, "Here we go again." From that point on, the Rangers just tried to hang on. They were outshot 27-6 from the point St. Louis scored to make it 2-0 until the clock hit zeros at the end of the third. "Youre trying to tell your players not to play on their heels, keep managing the puck, lets make plays," relieved coach Alain Vigneault said. "They came at us real hard. Fortunately we were able to stand tall, bend not break. When we did bend a little bit more, our goaltender made some big saves." Then Stepan saved the hockey season with 1:11 left in the third. Again Martinez put the puck on net for a scoring chance that probably should have gone in, and after Tanner Pearson deflected it under Lundqvist it rolled slowly through the crease until it stopped centimetres from the line. It was the snow that stopped the puck there. And while Vigneault joked, "Thank God for soft ice now and then," Lundqvist had an explanation for what felt like a miracle on 33rd Street. "Its probably the product of moving a lot," said Lundqvist, who made 15 third-period saves while New York managed just one shot. "I stay deep in the net, so theres a lot of snow there." Lundqvist was yelling at Wes McCauley to blow his whistle, but the referee whos considered one of, if not the best, in the NHL had perfect positioning and saw the puck the entire time. "Then I realized it was behind me for a couple seconds," Lundqvist said.dddddddddddd "I actually apologized. But he was cool about it." Stepan was even cooler under that pressure. Knowing full well he couldnt cover the puck with his hand, lest a penalty shot be awarded, the Rangers centre used his glove to sweep it under Lundqvist just as Stralman did earlier with his stick. "Those are the big plays we need at certain moments to keep the momentum or shift the momentum," Stepan said. "Obviously, I just dont want it to go in the net. I was just trying to do whatever I can to stop it." Stepan used the word of the night to describe that play: lucky. Drew Doughty probably had a different reaction when he looked up to the video screen to see what happened. "There were two like that tonight," Doughty said. "That was the difference in the game." For days the Rangers expressed confidence in their own play at the same time as they lamented not getting breaks in this series. Bounces cost them in overtime in Los Angeles and even in the 3-0 loss in Game 3. This time it was Pearson saying that the Kings were "that close. If we put those in or tap those in, its a whole different hockey game." Instead, it was the Rangers eighth straight victory when facing elimination at home. And it was the kind of win that had Vigneault hoping it was just the start of more. "We got a few bounces," Vigneault said. "You need those. Maybe the luck is changing a little bit." But this wasnt just luck. It was Lundqvist. The 32-year-old entered the night with a 0.98 goals-against average and .967 save percentage in the previous seven elimination possibilities at the Garden. Theres just something about these situations that brings out the best in Lundqvist. "When everything is on the line, you just have to challenge yourself the right way, I guess, as a team and personally," he said. "You have to go out there and leave everything out there and be extremely focused. One mistake and the season is over. Youre definitely aware of that." Lundqvist didnt make mistakes and in the process at least delayed the Kings party until Friday, when Game 5 takes place at Staples Center. Had Los Angeles finished off the sweep, it wouldve marked the second Cup in franchise history on the two-year anniversary of the first. "It is an opportunity lost," Brown said. It was actually an opportunity Lundqvist yearned to take away from the Kings. No team had been swept in the Cup final since the 1998 Washington Capitals, and it wouldve been the first time a visiting team celebrated this championship at the Garden since 1972. "We didnt want to see the Cup coming out on our home ice tonight," Lundqvist said. "Yeah, just the thought of it makes me feel sick." Instead of feeling sick, the Rangers feel alive. Theyre facing the same three games to one series deficit they came back from two rounds ago against the Pittsburgh Penguins and have some life. Thanks to luck -- and Lundqvist. "Hes a great goalie and a big part of our success," St. Louis said. "For us, we believe in him. Hes a big reason why were here." NOTES -- Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick made 17 saves on 19 shots, beaten on a double deflection on Pouliots goal and then a shot from in close on St. Louis. Quick stopped all 32 shots he faced in the Game 3 shutout. ... Brad Richards played just 13:20, including 9:22 at even strength, as he was demoted to the fourth line. ... Dan Carcillo was a healthy scratch for the Rangers despite being eligible to return from a six-game suspension for shoving an official during the Eastern Conference final. ... Kings defenceman Robyn Regehr, who has been out more than five weeks with an undisclosed injury, was scratched again as coach Darryl Sutter went with the same lineup from the first three games of the series. ... New Knicks coach Derek Fisher, who played in Los Angeles with the Lakers, was in attendance, wearing orange and blue. ' ' '