in the opening quarter and took a 25-21 lead into the second.

VANCOUVER - A better effort produced the same the result for the Vancouver Canucks. Martin St. Louis scored his first goal with the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves Tuesday as New York defeated Vancouver 3-1. It was another frustrating night for the Canucks, who are all but assured of missing the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Coming off a demoralizing 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, the Vancouver players showed the fight they have been preaching in the locker-room, but were unable to translate that effort into a result on the scoreboard. "I thought we should have won this game but it doesnt matter right now," said Canucks forward Daniel Sedin. "We are where we are because weve been on the wrong side of these kind of games throughout the season." Where the Canucks are is 10th in the Western Conference, six points back of the final wild-card berth with just five games left on their schedule. While the team has not been mathematically eliminated, the website sportsclubstats.com currently pegs Vancouvers chances of making the playoffs at zero. "Its always difficult. You battle all year to play in the playoffs and work to get a chance to play in the playoffs. Thats what its all about," said Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows. "When youre on the outside looking in youve got to keep playing and be a pro and work for each other." Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot had the other goals for New York (43-30-4), which has won seven of its last eight games and sits comfortably in an Eastern Conference playoff spot. Ryan Kesler replied for Vancouver (34-32-11), while Eddie Lack finished with 28 saves. "I think good teams find a way to win and right now were not finding that way," said Kesler. "Im not saying that were not a good team, were just not getting the job done." The game marked the regular-season return of Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault to Rogers Arena. Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven seasons, winning six division titles and leading the Canucks to within a victory of the 2011 Stanley Cup. The Canucks fired Vigneault last summer after the clubs first-round playoff exit and replaced him with John Tortorella after the latter was axed by the Rangers. The flip flop of coaches has worked out much better for New York, with Vancouver limping towards an uncertain off-season. The Rangers led 2-1 after two periods and St. Louis, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Lightning, put the game out of reach while killing a penalty at 10:15 of the third. Vancouver defenceman Yannick Weber dove trying to keep the puck in at New Yorks blue-line but failed to do so, allowing Rick Nash and St. Louis to race the other way on a 2-on-1. Nash fed a perfect pass to St. Louis, who ripped his 30th of the season and first in 15 games since joining the Rangers. "I love to score goals, everyone loves to score goals, and 15 games plus the two prior to coming here, thats as long a drought as I have had in a while," said St. Louis. "There is a lot of things playing against you a little bit with a new team and new environment, but you try to stay the course, play the right way and find that fine line of anticipating and not cheating. "I feel like I am getting more comfortable finding that line." Vigneault said the commitment to defence shown by star players like St. Louis and Nash allows him to put them on a penalty kill that has 10 short-handed goals this season, and three in the last two games. "Those guys are willing to do that it takes to kill penalties, which is get in lanes and block shots and have good sticks and its paid off," said Vigneault. The Canucks trailed 2-0 after the first period but showed fight in the second for the embattled Tortorella, with Kesler cutting the Rangers lead in half at 6:21. Sedin grabbed the puck off an offensive zone faceoff and found Kesler in the slot, who snapped his 24th of the season through a surprised Lundqvist. "I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought we played better through the game than the other night (against Anaheim)," said Tortorella. "I thought our team played hard. We dont score. They score three, we score one." The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 4:59 of the first when Carcillo banged home his fourth of the season on a play that had the Canucks fuming. Lack appeared to have the puck covered but Rangers forward Brian Boyle jarred it loose moments before the goal. "I felt like I had it under my glove and then I get a pitchfork and I lost it and they scored," said Lack. "(The ref) said that he was going to look at it after." New York stretched the lead to 2-0 at 14:43 on the power play. Lack made a great blocker save on Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, but the puck bounced to Derick Brassard, who in turn fed a wide open Pouliot for his 13th. "No whining. We lost. Were losing," said Tortorella. "Weve just got to keep on trying to get better." NOTES: Burrows was assessed a five-minute penalty for elbowing on Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh late in the third period. McDonagh appeared to be in some discomfort as he left the ice, but Vigneault did not provide an update after the game. ... New York set a franchise record with its 25th road victory of the season. ... The Rangers and Canucks played during the pre-season at Rogers Arena in September. The Canucks honoured Vigneault on the videoboard during that game, but did not pay tribute to their former coach on Tuesday. Adidas Ultra Boost Cheap Sale .cas NHL Play of the Year showdown continues today with a man whos spent most of his career on highlight reels and a goalie actually "reaching back" for a save. Cheap Adidas Ultra Boost . - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to meet with Richie Incognito to determine if one of the central figures in the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal can help their struggling offensive line. http://www.cheapultraboost.net/ .C. - Blair Jones scored the eventual winner in the third period as the Abbotsford Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Oil Barons 3-2 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Adidas Ultra Boost Sale . Jonathan Crompton led the team to a 40-9 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win. Adidas Ultra Boost Online Sale . - Ronda Rousey realizes shes finishing up one of the biggest years for any fighter in the young history of mixed martial arts at UFC 168, and the UFCs bantamweight champion intends to go out on top.Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Mo Williams poured in 37 of his career- high 52 points in the second half to fuel the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 110-101 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Williams, who scored 16 points in the third quarter and 21 in the fourth, broke the franchise record for points previously held by Corey Brewer and Kevin Love. He also set the opponent scoring record at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Williams effort helped the Wolves snap a 15-game losing streak overall and 10-game skid on the road. Minnesota hadnt won since Dec. 10 at home against the Portland Trail Blazers, and hadnt tasted victory on the road since Nov. 28 against the Lakers. Mo was unbelievable, Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. He trusted guys. Other guys made shots. I thought that we played with a good sense of urgency and we played all 48 minutes. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points, Thaddeus Young had 11 and Gorgui Dieng contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win. C.J. Miles paced Indiana with 22 points and C.J. Watson deposited 17 points for the Pacers, who have dropped two straight and three of their last four. Robbie Hummel followed a Williams triple with one of his own early in the fourth to help the Wolves cut their deficit to 81-80, then Williams tied the game minutes later with three straight free throws. Williams tied the game again later in the fourth moments before Wiggins three-point play gave Minnesota its first lead since the second quarter. He was in a ridiculous zone, Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Williams. Sometimes players get iinto ridiculous zones.dddddddddddd Williams continued to put on a show and lead the struggling Wolves. His contested 3-pointer in front of David West pushed the margin to 102-96 with 1:19 remaining prior to Youngs running layup that kept the visitors in front the rest of the way. Indiana led by as many as nine on a couple of occasions in the third. Wests jumper with 40 seconds to go gave the hosts a 73-64 lead, but Williams canned a 3-pointer at the other end to keep the Timberwolves close. Williams strong third quarter helped the visitors close to within 75-69 entering the fourth. Minnesota limited the Pacers to 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) shooting in the opening quarter and took a 25-21 lead into the second. Rodney Stuckey then scored seven points for Indiana as part of a 15-4 run over the first 4:36 of the quarter. The Pacers maintained their edge with a 57 percent shooting clip in the second and held a 52-46 advantage at the half. Game Notes Roy Hibbert was called for a Flagrant-2 foul and subsequently ejected in the third quarter after pulling Dieng to the ground on layup attempt under the basket ... Williams previous career high was 44 while with Cleveland (Feb. 11, 2009 vs. Phoenix) ... Amare Stoudemire scored 49 for Phoenix in a win over the Pacers on Nov. 5, 2008 to set the previous mark in Indiana ... The Pacers had their five-game home winning streak snapped to Minnesota ... T-wolves Shabazz Muhammad missed the game with an abdominal strain ... The Wolves improved to 2-28 when trailing after three quarters. ' ' '