Blackhawks in the final minute of Game 3

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LAS VEGAS -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew he probably didnt have enough fuel to finish. Being in Vegas, he decided to gamble anyway. And when Earnhardts tank went bust on the final lap, Brad Keselowski was right there to clean up. Keselowski surged ahead when Earnhardt ran out of fuel, claiming a dramatic victory Sunday in the NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Earnhardts Chevy sputtered and slowed out of the second turn, and Keselowski roared past him on the backstretch in his Penske Ford for the first weekend sweep in his career. Keselowski followed up Saturdays Nationwide Series victory with his first Las Vegas Cup win, doing it in exhilarating fashion against the friend and mentor who gave him his first big break in racing. "Thats what you live for as a driver, at least I do," Keselowski said. "Those moments where youre side by side, and you lay it all out on the racetrack and bring back the car with the tires smoking, engine smoking, and youre worn out inside because you gave it all you had. It was one of those races there at the end." Keselowski knew all about the fuel shortage faced by Earnhardt and Carl Edwards, who both made their final pit stops about 10 laps before him. So Keselowski decided to force the issue, getting around Edwards and pushing for the lead so Earnhardt would be forced to abandon his conservative, fuel-saving lines. "I felt like we could run him down," Keselowski said about the driver who put him in his first Nationwide ride. "He was going to have to burn fuel to keep me behind him. At that point, it was just a matter of whether a yellow (flag) came out or not, because it was just a ticking time bomb. It worked in our favour today." Earnhardt finished second and didnt regret it, secure in his overall position thanks to the new rules in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, which puts increased emphasis on wins. Still, Earnhardt and his Hendrick Motorsports ride were just a few ounces of fuel shy of earning their second victory in three races to start the season. When Earnhardt sat down for his post-race news conference in front of two cans of his sponsors energy drink, he picked up one can wistfully: "Thats all we needed, just 16 ounces." The Daytona 500 champion was disappointed, but not discouraged after his spectacular start to the NASCAR season. He also finished second last week at Phoenix. "We werent supposed to make it," Earnhardt said. "We were trying to save as much as we can and make it work, but we knew we were short. We wouldnt have finished second if we didnt have that strategy." Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, virtually assured himself of a spot in the Chase after missing it entirely last season. "Its just such a reliever for everyone on the team to get that win in early, and be able to enjoy the races and opportunities that we have instead of being stressed out about them," Keselowski said. "You know, I think if anything it actually lends itself to better racing." Earnhardt also praised NASCARs new Chase setup, which allowed him to take a fuel gamble in Vegas after winning already this season. Additional wins are worth bonus points in the Chase, while a second-place finish doesnt help his position much -- hence the motivation to go for broke on an empty tank. "I think the new format is definitely is showing it has tons of positives," Earnhardt said. "Its better as far as entertainment for our sport. It gives us freedom, and its nice to have that freedom to do the things that we did today, even though we knew our odds werent good. We really shouldnt have made it, and we didnt, but we got to try because of the new system." With his wife due to give birth at any minute, Paul Menard finished third in his Richard Childress Racing Chevy in front of Keselowskis teammate, pole-sitter Joey Logano. Edwards was fifth in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford, and Earnhardt teammate Jimmie Johnson came in sixth. The Las Vegas race is the first of 11 on 1.5-mile tracks, and NASCAR spent much of the off-season working on ways to improve the racing on these tracks with a new aerodynamics package and other improvements. The changes resulted in 23 drivers breaking the track speed record during qualifying, but the racing wasnt particularly thrilling until that final lap. Keselowski and Earnhardt are the only two drivers to finish in the top five in each of the seasons first three races, and they dueled down the stretch after Earnhardt passed him for the lead on a restart with 42 laps to go. Earnhardt had gone to the pits on the 211th lap and attempted to stick it out. Keselowski was in fine form after his third-place finish in Phoenix last week without crew chief Paul Wolfe, who had returned home for his childs birth. Keselowski also finished third at Daytona. Keselowski is the second driver to win both Vegas races in the same weekend, joining Jeff Burton in 2000. Justin Braun Jersey . This time, Tebow was in a groove the entire second half -- not just in the waning minutes -- and his teammates on defence were getting gobbled up. Joonas Donskoi Sharks Jersey . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. http://www.officialsharksnhlshop.com/brent-burns-jersey/ .One day after winning her record 63rd World Cup race, Vonn posted to her Facebook account Tuesday that she was happy Woods surprised her by coming to the race, and that she felt terrible that his tooth got knocked out. Joe Pavelski Jersey . A veteran of 16 NHL seasons, Prospals career was highlighted by him ranking fourth in points scored, third in assists and sixth in games played among all Czech Republic born players in NHL history. Justin Braun Sharks Jersey . Abduraimova had not won a tour-level match since 2009 but was a wild-card entry in Tashkent and broke her opponent twice in each set to reach the second round. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced easily by beating Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1, while No.ST. LOUIS -- Ryan Miller was supposed to be the piece the St. Louis Blues needed to make a deep playoff run and perhaps at long last win a first Stanley Cup. The highly-decorated goalie was among those falling fall short for a franchise smarting from another early exit, and he might not be back. The team scheduled availabilities for general manager Doug Armstrong, coach Ken Hitchcock and players for Tuesday. Hitchcock deflected questions about the 34-year-old Miller, wholl be an unrestricted free agent, after the Blues were eliminated Sunday in Chicago. The Blues could opt to go with prospect Jake Allen, called the franchise goalie of the future by Armstrong when the Miller deal was made. "I dont get into long-term stuff. Thats Dougs department," Hitchcock said. "He played good for us. Im sure theres some goals that hed like to have back, just like any goalie would. We win as a team and lose as a team." Asked how he played, Miller said: "Im going to sit down and think about that. Not good enough, I guess." The Blues were among the NHLs best before a six-game losing streak to end the regular season landed them with a tougher first-round draw. For the second straight year they were knocked out in four straight by the defending Stanley Cup champion after taking a 2-0 series lead. Last season, it was the Kings. This time, it was Chicago. It was small consolation that before the Blackhawks four-goal third period in Game 6, the difference was razor-thin. The first five games were decided by one goal, discounting an empty-netter by the Blackhawks in the final minute of Game 3. "Youve got to bring your game every night, every shift, every period," captain David Backes said Sunday. "I sound like a broken record here. Finding ways to win those close games, they did and we didnt." Miller was acquired from Buffalo on Feb. 28 along with forward Steve Ott in a deal that cost the Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart and a fiirst-round pick in 2015.dddddddddddd He made $6.25 million last season. "Ive just got to take things as they come right now," he said, adding, "I guess Im free to go to my sister-in-laws wedding." Miller would like to stay, but acknowledged he wasnt sure how the Blues "feel about me." He had a 2.70 goals-against average and .897 save percentage in the series. Hitchcock wasnt pinning the teams failure on the goalie. He noted the Blackhawks split the defence on the go-ahead goal and the Blues surrendered a breakaway on the third goal, which he called "a back-breaker." Just as important, they couldnt capitalize on scoring chances. St. Louis was 2 for 29 on the power play in the series. "Ill take more than my share of the blame," Backes said. "Im counted on to produce and I didnt produce. Ill think about that a lot this summer and drive the engine going into next year." Injuries factored into the early exit. Backes missed two games with stiffness in his neck after an illegal hit by Brent Seabrook, who was suspended for three games. T.J Oshie also wasnt quite himself coming off a blow to the head late in the regular season and Patrik Berglund was no factor coming off a shoulder injury, scoreless and minus-7 in four games. Vladimir Tarasenko was a breakout star early in the series and had four goals, one of them forcing overtime with 6.4 seconds to go in Game 3. But he was scoreless the last two games. The Blues defence got burned on an ill-timed change in the pivotal Game 5, leading to Jonathan Toews overtime winner. Barret Jackman was minus-5, Jaden Schwartz minus-4. Backes, Oshie, Ott and Roman Polak were all minus-3. "We all need to look in the mirror and assess how we did and we didnt do, and take that gut check," Backes said. "No offence to you guys," he added to reporters, "but these interviews are getting a little sickening to have in April and not in June." Wholesale NFL Jerseys cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '