MONTREAL – The New York Rangers took a commanding 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final with a 3-1 over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 on Monday at the Bell Centre. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stood tall with 41 saves between the pipes, but it was defenceman Ryan McDonagh who got the first star of the game as he had a goal and an assist and now has two goals and four assists for six points in two games. With a big series lead and a chance of wrapping up the series back at Madison Square Garden, the young blueliner was surprisingly low-key considering his performance in Games 1 and 2. "Just everybody else around me," he answered when asked what the key to his recent offensive success has been. "You cant have that success without your teammates doing what they need to do and getting you the puck in certain situations. "It was great fore-checking on my goal and simple play by Dom [Domenic Moore] to find me. You play like that and good things will happen. It was great passing by Richie [Brad Richards] on the power play and then just simple plays by everyone. Everybodys really contributing and its showing on the scoreboard." McDonagh now has nine points in 16 games in the playoffs, but six of those have come in the last two. "I was just trying to be a little bit simpler out of my zone," said McDonagh, who - as Montreal fans know all too well now - was drafted 12th overall by the Canadiens at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. "If I have a second or two to make a direct pass, make it. But I was just looking for stick blades too much at times and its tight checking in the playoffs so you want to make sure that youre not giving forwards an opportunity to grind you in your own zone. So the simple plays will work a lot in the playoffs and Ive been able to make good reads and thats helped me." McDonaghs teammates have noticed the changes as well and are happy the hard work is paying off for their teammate. "The last bunch of games hes been getting better and better," said blueliner Marc Staal. "Obviously, we need that offence from the back end and hes really providing it right now. But its also the little things hes doing. "He works so hard on his defensive game and is so hard on his stick out there. Hers smart in his own zone and that cause us to have a lot of offense from it and obviously on the powerplay thats huge too. That hard work is paying off." Head coach Alain Vigneault echoed Staals assessment and credited McDonaghs defensive game - which in turn has led to more offence. "Both go hand in hand," he explained. "Like when Ryans gap is good and, obviously, hes got tough matchups because hes always playing against the other teams best line. "When his gap is good and hes battling hard in his one-on-ones, usually the offensive part of his game is there, and its been very good the last two games." James Murphy is a freelance reporter who also writes for NHL.com, the Boston Herald and XNsports.com. He covered the Boston Bruins/NHL for last 11 seasons writing for ESPNBoston.com, ESPN.com, NHL.com, NESN.com, the Boston Metro, Insidehockey.com and Le Hockey Magazine. Murphy also currently hosts the radio show "Murphys Hockey Law" heard Saturdays 9-11 AM ET on Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio and 4-6 PM ET on Websportsmedia.com. In addition to that, he is a regular guest TSN 690 in Montreal and Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio as well as a hockey analyst on CTV Montreal. Air Max 200 Australia . A day after FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said three stadiums would not be ready in time for the Dec. 31 deadline, Brazilian officials said they actually plan to deliver all six remaining venues after that date. 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Nike Air Max Tailwind Australia . - In about six minutes, the Memphis Grizzlies had allowed their 23-point lead to be cut to seven.The Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota Wild both took advantage of home-ice. Notes on P.K. Subban, Dale Weise, Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund, Ilya Bryzgalov and more. HABS HOME COOKING Returning home for Game Three of their series against the Boston Bruins, the Montreal Canadiens delivered their best game of the series and took a 4-2 decision, gaining a 2-1 lead in the series. As he has been throughout the postseason, Canadiens D P.K. Subban was front-and-centre for the Habs. He had a goal and an assist, giving him 11 points (3 G, 8 A) in seven games this playoff. He has 27 points in 33 career playoff games and his 0.82 points per game in the playoffs is the best among defencemen to have played at least 30 playoff games since 2000. Subban also played a game-high 27:50, bumping his postseason average to 27:34 per game, most among Eastern Conference skaters still alive in the second round. Montreal got a goal and an assist from Dale Weise, giving him four points in seven playoff games and five goals in 24 (regular season plus playoff games) since he was acquired by Montreal. Lars Eller also contributed a goal and an assist, notching the empty-netter, giving him eight points in seven playoff games to lead Montreals forwards; quite a change in fortune for a player that had six points in his last 35 games of the regular season. Habs veteran defence pairing of Mike Weaver and Douglas Murray was dominated possession-wise, both on for less than 32% of 5-on-5 shot attempts but, to be at least a little bit fair, they also started nearly all of their shifts in the defensive zone. Rookie LW Michael Bournival, skating mostly with Tomas Plekanec and Thomas Vanek as the Canadiens shuffled lines, was the only Hab on for better than 60% of shot attempts for. Patrice Bergeron scored Bostons first goal and had another strong all-around game, generating a game-high 10 shot attempts. Montreals leaders in shot attempts were left wingers Rene Bourque and Max Pacioretty, with seven apiece. For a big rivalry game, the Canadiens took a very disciplined approach -- each team had just one power play -- and it removed some of the emotion from the proceedings, which worked for the Habs. They raced out to a 3-0 lead and, this time, held on to win. With another game in Montreal, suddenly there is some pressure on the favoured Bruins. WILD BACK IN THE SERIES The first couple period of Game Three between the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild were snooze-worthy, with the two teams combining for 25 shots on goal in a scoreless affair.dddddddddddd The Wild, though jumped on the Blackhawks with a couple of goals early in the third period, tacked on a couple more late and skated away with a 4-0 win, cutting the Blackhawks lead in the series to 2-1. Rookie Erik Haula scored the first goal for Minnesota, giving him five points (2 G, 3 A) in 10 playoff games. Haula scored 15 points in 46 games this season, but finished the year with seven points in the last seven games as he filled the second-line centre role for an injured Mikael Granlund. Speaking of Granlund, the second-year centre scored a pair goals, including the empty-netter. He missed time late in the year due to injury, but Granlund had 22 points in his last 24 regular season games and now has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in 10 playoff games. Wild G Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all 19 shots he faced for the shutout. It was Bryzgalovs first playoff shutout since 2006, but he still has an abysmal .860 save percentage in six playoff games this year. Unable to generate offence, the Blackhawks tried shuffling lines part way through the game, putting Patrick Kane with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, while Marian Hossa skated with Bryan Bickell and Ben Smith, but to no avail; they couldnt beat Bryz. Blackhawks D Nick Leddy, a Minnesota native, was scratched, for Sheldon Brookbank. An interesting choice for coach Joel Quenneville, considering that Leddy has the teams best possession numbers in the playoffs. When a team like the Wild comes into a series as prohibitive underdogs, one way to reduce the advantage of a more skilled club is to reduce the number of shots and hope that increases the role that randomness can play in the proceedings. So far, the Blackhawks are averaging 21.0 shots per game (the Wild at 23.0) through three games, which is decidedly lower than the 33.1 shots per game that the Blackhawks averaged during the regular season and its probably the way it has to be if the Wild are going to build on their Game Three win. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '