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MONTREAL -- Its Brad Richards turn to be the old hand, tutoring his young New York Rangers teammates on what its like to win a Stanley Cup. It wasnt like that in 2004, when Richards and teammate Martin St. Louis won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. "This whole playoffs its been fun to do that," the 34-year-old Richards said Tuesday. "When I was in Tampa, Marty also, we didnt really have a clue what we were doing. "We were first time through it, leaning on other people, older people, asking them all the questions. Its fun to try to gather the group and talk about things. This group has come together so much and they ask a lot of questions. They make fun of us a lot for doing that, too, but its fun to try to help out that way." The Rangers are two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup final after taking the opening two games of the NHL Eastern Conference final from the Canadiens in Montreal. They swamped the flat-footed Canadiens 7-2 in the series opener on Monday afternoon, but then needed a 40-save effort from goalie Henrik Lundqvist to pull out a 3-1 win in a major Montreal push-back on Monday night. Game 3 is set for Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. In 2004, the Canadiens came back to beat Boston in the opening round but then were swept by the Lightning. This year, Montreal is again coming off a Game 7 win over the Bruins and is in danger of losing in four straight to the Rangers. That has Richards, a P.E.I. native who played junior hockey in Quebec with the 2000 Memorial Cup champion Rimouski Oceanic, and Montreal native St. Louis at 6-0 in career playoff games against the Canadiens. Their message to teammates who havent won a Cup is to not let the opportunity slip away. "Weve been to the conference final twice in three years, thats very rare," said Richards. "Look at teams around the league that you think are going to have chances to win Cups every year and it just doesnt happen. "Its very tough. I havent been back to a final since 04. I just try to hammer that stuff home." And despite taking the first two games on enemy ice, the conference final is far from over even if Montreals star goalie Carey Price is out with a suspected right knee injury for the rest of the series. The Canadiens had the puck most of the first period on Monday but came out of it down 2-1 due to an unlucky bounce on a shot from the red-hot Ryan McDonagh and blast on the rush from Rick Nash that was perhaps third-string goalie Dustin Tokarskis only big mistake. Montreal will no doubt come out hard again in Game 3. "Im sure they have more," said Richards. "And you dont always roll the dice that your goalies going to stop all those shots. "They could come with less and score two goals. You just never know. But youve got to give yourself an opportunity and thats by holding onto pucks and getting it down the other end. We did that in Game 1, but in Game 2... youre playing with fire is what Im trying to say." Montreal coach Michel Therrien said his team is confident it can still win the series if it gives up fewer odd-man rushes and keeps up the fast-paced game it brought on Monday night. "I believe that we will turn it around," said Therrien. "Yes, the first game was tough for us emotionally and physically. "We didnt get much time between Game 7 (against Boston) and Game 1 (against the Rangers), and it was an afternoon game. It shows in the result. But I thought we regrouped really well. We were a team that played with a lot of energy, that was pushing the pace, and we played a solid game." Therrien spoke to the media on a conference call while his players took what he said was a much-needed day off. They will practice on Tuesday before flying to New York. "The only thing that were going to focus on is to make sure weve got another solid game in New York," he said. "You get one win and after that, the momentum can change really quickly in the playoffs." There is also the chance of fatigue setting in on the Rangers, whose first two rounds went seven games each. Therrien touched off a debate by giving Tokarski his first NHL playoff start over regular backup Peter Budaj, who let in three goals on eight shots after subbing for Price in the third period of the series opener. It seemed like a hunch. The 24-year-old Tokarski, who has played only 10 NHL regular season games over five years with Tampa Bay and Montreal, has a history of winning championships at the junior and AHL levels, while Budaj has a career 0-2-0 NHL playoff record. It appeared Therrien will stick with Tokarski, at least for Game 3. He said Tokarski played well and wasnt the reason they lost. He also liked what he saw of Alex Galchenyuk, who missed the final two games of the regular season and the first 12 playoff games with a knee problem. The gifted forward taken third overall in the 2012 draft skated on left wing on the second line with Tomas Plekanec and Thomas Vanek. "For a guy that hadnt played for six weeks, I thought he did well," said Therrien. "Especially because this is not regular season pace, this is a playoff pace. "I thought Alex was capable, made some plays. The more the series goes on, the more were going to see Alex get better and better." It should be a happy homecoming for Rangers sniper Nash, who was without a goal in the playoffs and endured some booing in New York before the team got to Montreal. Then he scored in each of the first two games. "Ive tried to stay positive through this whole thing," said Nash. "The teams winning, and thats all I care about. "But I want to do what I can to help the team win, and its frustrating when you cant help offensively and youre supposed to." After Game 2, coach Alain Vigneault said he had an inkling that Montreal would start Tokarski, who he referred to as "that gentleman." Asked if he had another inkling for Game 3, Vigneault said: "I do, but Im not willing to share it with you." Anaheim Ducks Jerseys .The Los Angeles Lakers star passed Michael Jordan for third on the NBAs career scoring list Sunday night in a 100-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Teemu Selanne Jersey .Y. - Peyton Manning made his fifth MVP award a family affair. http://www.authenticduckspro.com/Andrew-cogliano-ducks-jersey/ .Y. - Sven Andrighetto scored once and set up two more as the Hamilton Bulldogs hung on to defeat the host Adirondack Flames 5-3 on Tuesday in American Hockey League action. Cam Fowler Jersey . Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come. Corey Perry Jersey .com) - Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 12 points in the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats 70-55 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide.The St. Louis Blues brought in the premier unrestricted free agent centre, and did it without breaking the bank. Numbers Game looks at the Blues signing of Paul Stastny. The Blues Get: C Paul Stastny. Stastny, 28, has been a strong two-way centre, capable of putting up points and, more recently, taking on tougher assignments while remaining productive. Since arriving in the league in 2006-2007, Stastny has 458 points in 538 games, which ranks 34th. While his possession stats havent been dominant, it needs to be considered that they have been accrued in Colorado, where theyve been strong in relative terms, and hes among a select group of forwards to face quality opposition and start more of his shifts in the defensive zone, yet still have strong relative possession stats. Joining St. Louis is a terrific situation for Stastny too. The Blues had a contending team last season that could have used an offensive boost and Stastny ought to provide that and with last years top line -- Alex Steen, David Backes and T.J. Oshie -- capable of handling a lot of heavy lifting (tough matchups, defensive zone starts), Stastny should be freed up for more of an offensive role than the all-around responsibility he had with Colorado. Also working in Stastnys favour is that by moving to a team with much better puck possession stats, there will be more opportunity for Stastny to play in the offensive zone and if he ends up with rising young wingers Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko (or fellow U.S. Olympian T.J. Oshie), it would be easy enough to forecast that line being very productive. Theres also some shuffling to do among Blues forwards, as they have signed C Jori Lehtera and that could mean Patrik Berglund and David Backes shifting to wings, leaving Vladimir Sobotka and Maxim Lapierre in the third and fourth-line spots.dddddddddddd The team that Stastny is leaving, the Colorado Avalanche, will have their hands full trying to match their 2013-2014 regular season success, but the team does at least have options down the middle, with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon more than suitable on the top two lines, and they have Ryan OReilly (who shifted to wing last season) available if needed. Losing Stastny means tougher minutes for those guys, but the Avalanche at least have the personnel to withstand a loss at centre. The ideal part of this deal for St. Louis is that they didnt have to get into an outrageous deal in order to acquire the player who was clearly the best free agent centre on the market. Stastny wanted to go to St. Louis and was willing to take a shorter term than he might have made elsewhere. Signed for four years and $28-million, Stastny gets a raise on what he was making in Colorado, joins the team with which his father, Peter, finished his career and its not an unreasonable price for what Paul Stastny provides. If Stastny can thrive in an offensive role, hell give the Blues a legitimate chance to get into the discussion with the best teams in the Western Conference and thats all that can be asked from a contending team when they dip into the free agent pool. 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. ' ' '