12-31-2019, 07:58 AM
The National Lacrosse League announced a new and expanded playoff format along with division realignment, both set to begin with the upcoming 2014 NLL season. The league will reduce the number of teams who qualify for the playoffs from eight to six teams, featuring the top three clubs in each divisions standings. The two regular season division champions will earn a first-round bye as top seeds. The second seed will host the third seed in their respective division for the single-game elimination Division Semifinal in the first round. New to the postseason format, the Division Finals and Championship both expand to a two-game series from the previous single-game elimination setup. The top seed from each division will play the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. Teams who win both games shall win the two-game series. In the event of a series split with both teams winning one game, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following the conclusion of the second contest to determine the winner of the playoff series. Coinciding with the new postseason format, the leagues divisions will realign this season as the Minnesota Swarm join the Buffalo Bandits, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock in the new five-team East Division. The four-team West Division will be comprised of the Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush and Vancouver Stealth. The new playoff format was made official when the league recently reached an accord with the Professional Lacrosse Players Association for a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement through the 2020 NLL season. The 2014 NLL regular season begins on Saturday, Dec. 28. Reilly Smith Jersey . Catch the action live on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Wild lead the Northwest Division and look to get back into the win column after having a season-high seven-game winning streak cut short with Tuesdays 2-1 loss at Winnipeg in the finale of a five-game road trip (4-1-0). Wholesale Golden Knights Jerseys . But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on their opponents. https://www.cheapgoldenknights.com/216n-...s.html.com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. Max Pacioretty Jersey . - Their offence is underperforming. Tomas Tatar Jersey . DArnaud hit one of three doubles for the Mets as they took a 4-0 lead in the first. Then the catchers seventh home run of the season broke the game open in the fifth. The 41-year-old Colon (10-8) retired the first 20 batters in his last outing Wednesday against Seattle, eventually allowing two runs on three hits in 7 1-3 innings in a 3-2 win.Goals have been tough to come by lately for the Pittsburgh Penguins, especially for star forward Evgeni Malkin. Malkin and the Pens offence will try to break out on Monday night as they play host to an Anaheim Ducks club hoping to avoid a winless road trip. The action can be seen live on TSN2 starting at 7:30 pm et/4:30 pm pt. The Penguins have lost four of their last five games, held to just a single goal in each setback. They looked to have broken out on Friday night with a 4-1 win over Nashville, but fell right back into the loss column the following night with a 4-1 setback to New Jersey. Chris Kunitz had a goal and Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals on 21 shots for Pittsburgh, which fell to 4-5-0 on the road compared to its 8-3-0 mark at home. "We had our fair amount of chances, especially early on, we had some pretty good looks and didnt score," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. "We have to find a way to bare down and get those goals." Crosby is tied for second in the league with 25 points, but has just one goal over his last 10 games. It has been worse for Malkin, who is mired in a career-worst 13-game drought without a goal. Malkin has a goal and four assists in six career meetings with the Ducks, who have lost the first three of their four-game road trip. That first two setbacks came in regulation before a 3-2 shootout defeat at the hands of Carolina on Friday. Corey Perry and Dustin Penner scored in regulation for Anaheim, while Viktor Fasth made 21 saves. "I think we played a rreally good game today," said Fasth, who had been out since Oct.dddddddddddd16 with a lower-body injury. "We basically just gave up 20 shots and had a lot of chances for us." Anaheim had gone 8-0-1 before its three-game slide and is 7-5-2 on the road this season. By comparison, the Ducks are 8-0-0 as the hosting club. Injuries and illness have plagued the Ducks as of late, but they saw encouraging events unfold Sunday. Forwards Matt Beleskey, Saku Koivu and Mathieu Perreault were all on the ice for practice, leaving the possibility of game action tonight for the trio. Perreault missed Fridays game with flu-like symptoms, while Beleskey has been limited to just two regular season games this season and none since Oct. 5 due to a broken thumb. Koivu has been out the past 10 games with a concussion suffered on Oct. 27. The Ducks have won their past two encounters with the Penguins, including a 2-1 victory in Pittsburgh on Feb. 15, 2012 in the most recent meeting. Anaheim snapped a four-game series road losing streak with the win, getting goals from Perry and Teemu Selanne as well as 25 saves by Jonas Hiller. Malkin went into that game having scored five goals with 10 points in his previous five games, but was held without a point. Hiller could get the start tonight and is 2-2-0 with a 3.02 goals against average in four career meetings with the Pens, while Fasth has never faced them. Fleury, who posted 27 saves in the most recent loss in this series, is 4-2-0 with a 2.52 GAA in six games against the Ducks. ' ' '