DieBruderschaft.com

After the Penguins paraded the Stanley Cup through the streets of Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby took it to his hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Evgeni Malkin to Moscow and Phil Kessel to a childrens hospital in Toronto as part of the summer-long celebration.If theres one thing champions in the NHL have learned, it is to savor those moments because history says they wont happen back-to-back. No team has repeated as Cup champion since the salary-cap era began in 2005, and the last back-to-back winners were the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998.Sorry, Penguins. And sorry to the San Jose Sharks, as no team in the past eight seasons has lost in the final and gotten back the next year.The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings are rested from an unusually short spring, the Tampa Bay Lightning boast the deepest team in the league and the Washington Capitals are virtually unchanged after dominating the regular season. All those things, plus playing into June, stack the odds against the Penguins raising the Cup again in 2017.Youre coming off such a high, its going to be tough to get to that (level) right away, Pittsburgh defenseman Trevor Daley said. How you become a great team in this league is you have the hunger every night. Teams that are proven winners are usually the great teams, the L.A.s and Chicagos. Pittsburgh is right up there now in that conversation. Were hungry to do it again.Because they have two top goalies in Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins are perhaps the best positioned team to repeat in recent history. That doesnt mean itll be easy.Online sportsbook Bovada set the Penguins and Blackhawks as co-Cup favorites with the Capitals, Lightning, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Sharks not far behind. It wouldnt be a surprise if any of those teams make it through a World Cup of Hockey-condensed regular season and a grueling division playoff format and get to celebrate in June.The parity in the league allows for a lot of teams to have the same goal and actually legitimately have a chance at it, said Washington winger Justin Williams, who won the Cup with Carolina in 2006 and Los Angeles in 2012 and 2014. Theres a handful of teams that have those aspirations and theyre real.Rather than parity, Commissioner Gary Bettman prefers the term competitive balance, which speaks not only to the lack of repeat champions and the death of NHL dynasties but the variance in playoff teams. Of the 30 teams, 24 have made the playoffs at least once over the past three seasons.Unless youre (cheering for) the team in the dynasty market, you could care less, Bettman said. All you care about is that your team is competitive.Competition isnt the problem. Its so high that playoff teams cant miss a beat or fear theyll drop out. The Florida Panthers look like a team just beginning a run of playoff appearances with young stars like Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov, but president of hockey operations Dale Tallon knows itll come down to breaks and injuries because its going to be a battle to return to the playoffs.Its a battle because the top teams havent lost much.The Penguins made a few tweaks and will be without Cup-winner Murray to start the season, but they can turn to 2009 winner Fleury and still lean heavily on Crosby, Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang. Elsewhere in the East, the Lightning re-signed Steven Stamkos, the Capitals are primed for another run with Alex Ovechkin and Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby, and the Montreal Canadiens should be back in contention with all-world goalie Carey Price healthy after missing most of last season with a knee injury.Chicago has cycled pieces in and out while winning the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015, but the core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith is as strong as ever. The Blackhawks would have liked to go deeper in last years playoffs, but not doing so could pay dividends this season as it has in the past.It might be good for the guys to have a longer offseason and come back hungry for the start of the season, defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said.Trading off years with the Boston Bruins 2011 championship mixed in, the Blackhawks and Kings know all too well about the Cup hangover that the Penguins will try to avoid. Peaking at playoff time and maintaining that level amid injuries and bounces takes a lot, plus the system is skewed against back-to-back champions.Its more hard than before when teams were really dominating and could spend so much on salaries and they can buy different players, said Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa, who lost in the final in 2008 with Pittsburgh and 2009 with Detroit before winning three times with Chicago. In this modern day, its extremely hard. ... Its really, really hard to repeat.---AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh and AP Hockey Writer Larry Lage in Toronto contributed to this report.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno Stitched NCAA Jerseys . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. http://www.cheapcollegejerseys.net/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Cheap College Jerseys . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Cheap Jerseys From China . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. NEW YORK -- Brandon Pirri is fitting in perfectly in his first season with the New York Rangers.Im glad were the ones who got him, Derek Stepan said after Pirri scored twice to help the Rangers beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Wednesday night. Thats for sure.Pirri has four goals and two assists in seven games. The left wing signed with the Rangers as a free agent after splitting last season with Florida and Anaheim.You guys can all see he can shoot the puck, Stepan said. Hes got a knack for the net. Its not easy to score goals in this league and he seems to be in those areas to score. Thats a difficult thing and, to me, thats a skill. If you have it, its special and its rare.Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey also scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots. The Rangers won their third straight game, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to improve to 5-2-0.David Pastrnak and Austin Czarnik scored for Boston. The Bruins have lost three straight to drop to 3-4-0.You know you sure are not happy with the outcome, Bruins coach Claude Julien said. We are here to win hockey games and not pat ourselves on the back when we think you deserve it.Zane McIntyre made 26 saves in his first NHL start. He was called up prior to Bostons 5-0 home loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night to back up Malcolm Subban due to injuries to Tuukka Risk and Anton Khudobin.Zane played unbelievable, Boston defenseman Torey Krug said. He made some big saves for us even when we were down 3-2, 4-2, 5-2. He kept going. He was still coming up with some big saves. It could have been a lot worse. Shame on us for not helping him out more.Down 2-0 after the first, the Rangers scored three times in the final 10:44 of the second.Nash began the comeback with a power-play goal at 9:16. He curled to the net before corralling a rebound of Stepans point shot and flipping it over McIntyre for his third of the season.Hayes tied it with 3:25 left in the second, banking a shot from behind the net off of McIntyres pants.Pirris power-play goal with 36 seconds left made it 3-2. He ripped a shot from the right circle that was in the net before McIntrye could get his glove up. New York finished the game 2 for 66 on the man advantage, while the Bruins were 0 for 1.ddddddddddddWe worked hard and we drew a lot of penalties, Pirri said. When you get that many (man advantage) opportunities you have to cash in. It brings a lot of momentum even if youre not scoring but youre generating chances. So thats what we focus on every time and then from there you let the skill take over.It was not all positive for the Rangers in the second, with Dan Girardi missing two shifts following a hit from Pastrnak, who was assessed a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head. Girardi leaped in the air to play a loose puck in the neutral zone and, as he came down, Pastrnak drove his shoulder into the upper body of the New York defenseman.Girardi said he didnt really see him coming until the last second, but noted the hit landed in the front of the face so it wasnt like a forehead or side of the head blow. He added he underwent concussion protocol.Pirri made it 4-2 2:23 into the third with his fourth of the season. Vesey scored on a tap-in 43 seconds later.The Bruins opened the scoring Pastrnaks fifth of the season 10 seconds into the game. The lead grew to 2-0 14:34 later when Czarnik scored his first goal in the NHL. Czarnik fired a shot from inside the blue line that New York defenseman Brady Skjei blocked, but Henrik Lundqvist appeared to lose track of the puck and it bounced across the goal line.We didnt start the way we wanted, New York coach Alain Vigneault said. We know.Game notes Prior to the game, the Bruins announced Czarnik had been called up from Providence of the AHL. Czarnik had a goal and two assists in two games with Providence this season. Czarnik, 23, did play in two NHL games earlier this season with the Bruins. ... Boston also announced RW David Backes had his olecranon bursa removed from his elbow on Monday.... New York lost fourth-line RW Josh Jooris for the game with a separated shoulder and is out indefinitely, Vigneault said after the game.UP NEXT:BRUINS: Play at Detroit Saturday night.RANGERS: Play at Carolina Friday night. ' ' '