when Backlund scored to end

NEW YORK -- Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton said Sunday he wont contest a fine of more than $2,800 for squirting water from the bench at Montreal Canadiens defenceman P. NMD On Sale .K. Subban in the final minute of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. "I obviously got caught up in the moment," Thornton said on an offday at the TD Garden. "Im sorry that this silly incident kind of overshadowed how my teammates played and the great win and how good this series has been. "Theres definitely more important things that we can focus on." The Bruins were leading the Canadiens 4-2 in the final minutes Saturday night when Subban skated past the Boston bench with the puck. Thornton squirted water at the Montreal defenceman, hitting him in the face shield. Angered, Subban approached the bench and exchanged words with Thornton. He then went to complain to the referee. "Somebody sprayed water on my visor at the end of the game. I couldnt see out of half of it," Subban said after the game, acknowledging the incident, while annoying, did not affect the outcome. "I dont want it to be bulletin board material." Boston held on to win the game 4-2 and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Bruins need a victory Monday night in Montreal to eliminate the Canadiens and avoid a decisive seventh game in Boston on Wednesday. The fine of $2,820.52 is the maximum allowed under the leagues collective bargaining agreement with the union. The money goes to the players emergency assistance fund. Bruins coach Claude Julien said he didnt approve of Thorntons behaviour and let him know. "As a coach, you always want to support your players but theres certain things you cant support," Julien said Sunday. "I dont think I can support Shawn on those actions. "To me, I dont think we like seeing our players do that. Now whether he got caught up in the game or whatever, to me hes got to own up to it." At the Canadiens training centre in Brossard, Que., coach Michel Therrien seemed satisfied with the fine. "What are you going to do?" he said with a shrug. "Thats not something we appreciate, thats for sure." NMD For Sale .com) - The NFL is investigating whether the New England Patriots intentionally deflated balls during Sundays AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis. NMD Replica .com) - Klay Thompson is quickly proving he is worth every penny of his recently signed four-year contract extension. https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/ . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division. CALGARY -- Mark Giordano returned from a broken ankle Wednesday night and, just like they had been doing before he got injured, the Calgary Flames got right back to winning. In the captains first game back after missing 18 games, Giordano scored a goal and added an assist in the Flames 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. "For me, personally, to get back in, it was a great feeling," said Giordano, who proudly wore the Flames fire hat after the game, emblematic of being the teams choice of player of the game. "I felt pretty good. Your adrenaline gets going pretty quick and I really didnt feel my ankle at all tonight so thats a great sign." Giordanos goal was a big one, extending the Flames lead to 3-1 at 11:46 of the second period. On the power play, Giordanos shot from the blue-line changed direction off the stick of Antoine Vermette and eluded goaltender Thomas Greiss. "Scoring always feels great. Obviously, that one was a bit lucky, going off the stick, but it was a great feeling and I felt after that for the rest of the game, we played pretty solid," said Giordano, who has 11 points in nine games, just four back of his point total in 47 games last year. Giordano sustained the injury Oct. 21 in a win in Los Angeles. At the time, the Flames were 4-2-2. While he was absent, the club struggled going just 5-11-2. "Obviously its a big deal to get your captain back. Hes our leader on and off the ice," said Flames goaltender Karri Ramo. "Hes been around us the whole time hes been hurt and trying to help the team any way he can, so it was really good to see him out there." TJ Brodie, Mikael Backlund and Lee Stempniak also scored for Calgary (10-13-4). The Flames have won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 9 and 11 and won on home ice for just the second time in their last nine tries (2-5-2). Keith Yandle scored the lone goal for Phoenix (16-8-4), who had won 6-2 in Edmonton on Tuesday night. The Coyotes have split the opening two games of their four-game road trip, which continues Friday night in Vancouver. "Got unlucky with a goal at the end of the first period that probably gave them some momentum and we couldnt get it back," said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. "We had lots of pucks around the net, lots of opportunities, thats the way it goes sometimes." Trailing 1-0, the Flames got an important goal with eight seconds left in the first pperiod when Brodies shot deflected in off Phoenix defenceman David Schlemko for his career-high third goal. NMD China. "That one hit me twice, once in my foot, once in my rear-end and then it goes top shelf," Schlemko said. "Kind of an unlucky way to end the first period." The goal sent Calgary to the dressing room even despite being outshot 11-3. Building off that momentum, the Flames played a much better second period, taking the lead at 5:48 when Backlund scored to end an 18-game scoreless drought. "We came in here, we know we didnt have our best first, they sort of took it to us for the first half. But those late goals, they usually are momentum swings and we did a great job of carrying it over into the second," Giordano said. Up 3-1 heading to the third period, Calgary got insurance at 2:44 in the form of their league-leading sixth short-handed goal. Matt Stajan neatly set up Stempniak on a two-on-one. "I think we dominated that first period so kind of unlucky to come out tied 1-1 but at the same time, you have to come out in the second with a little more jump, we knew they were going to push back and weve got to do a better job there," said Yandle. The benefactor of all the offence was Ramo. Making his second consecutive start after stopping 21-of-22 shots to beat Los Angeles on the weekend, the 27-year-old Finn was excellent again with 29 saves to improve to 4-4-1. "It was a while that I didnt see a game but you just have to take it game by game and dont think about the situation too much and whats going to happen," Ramo said. "You just have to play the game and enjoy it." In the pivotal second period when Calgary bolted into the lead, Ramo had a pair of solid glove saves -- first denying Vermette, and in the final minute robbing Mikael Boedker. With Mike Smith getting the night off, Greiss made his fourth start. He had 14 saves to fall to 3-2-0. Notes: Giordano logged 20:28 in ice time and was credited with three blocked shots... Phoenix fell to 12-2-1 when they score first ... The Flames won by more than one goal for just the second time. They entered the night 1-9-0 in goals decided by two or more goals ... Calgary was coming off its fifth break of three or more days. Excluding the Olympic break, they have just two more breaks of that length the rest of the season ... Phoenixs Radim Vrbata saw his five-game points streak come to an end." ' ' '