Pirate Galaxy » period only to be stopped by Crawford. A frus

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Chad Knaus will act as if this shot at a record-tying seventh championship is just another race, and that he has barely thought of what it means for his place in the record books with Jimmie Johnson.Knaus has already led Johnson to a record five straight titles, six overall, and is now aiming to be the first crew chief in history to win seven NASCAR titles with the same driver. Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman won eight, but not with one driver.Knaus will downplay this until the bitter end -- even if he hoists the championship trophy with Johnson on Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.I guess I really dont know what I want my legacy to be, Knaus said Wednesday. I guess just to be remembered as a real racer, I guess, more than anything. I was a grass-roots racer from the Midwest who got an opportunity ... (and) was able to work my way up methodically. For people just to remember that I started out as a racer and ended as a racer is probably my biggest goal.Johnson will face defending series champion Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards on Sunday, with the highest-finishing driver winning the championship.If its Johnson, he will tie Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers with seven titles. But hell have it done it with a team that Knaus built from the bottom, and the No. 48 team would be the first to win seven titles with the same driver, crew chief and sponsor.Knaus admits that distinction would make it even more phenomenal.Its been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie, Lowes and Hendrick Motorsports throughout this portion of my career, he said. Being able to represent this company and our associates the way that we have has been a lot of fun. To Jimmie personally, obviously he is by far one of my best friends, and to be able to have seen him grow and mature into the driver and the family man that he is has been awesome. Its been a great ride.BACK-TO-BACKKyle Busch hand-picked Adam Stevens to be his crew chief when Joe Gibbs Racing made personnel changes after the 2014 season.The two had clicked working together in the Xfinity Series, and Busch felt Stevens could be the one to lead him to a championship. They succeeded last year, rallying from a deep hole after Busch missed a third of the season with injuries suffered at Daytona. Now they are back in the finale trying to become the first repeat winners since Johnson reeled off five consecutive titles.Stevens said he and Busch have not focused on the back-to-back opportunity.We havent talked about that specifically, but the chances to win a championship in this sport arent going to come every year, he said. When you get that chance, you want to make sure that youve turned over every stone and taken every turn that you can to try to make it happen.You know, back-to-back, or once every 10 years, or however often you can find yourself in this opportunity with a shot to win is colossal.OUTSIDERS VIEWDave Rogers has worked for Joe Gibbs Racing for 18 years. During that time, he watched Bobby Labonte win a championship, and was a team member on Tony Stewarts crew when Stewart won two titles. A crew chief change at JGR moved him off of Kyle Buschs team last year and Busch went on to win the title.Now Rogers is finally in the championship hunt on his own, with Carl Edwards, and hes ready to lead a team to a title he can call his own.Theres lots of experiences, successes and failures that prepare you for this, Rogers said. Theres a handful of championships that Ive witnessed. This is obviously the first time that Ive gone to Homestead personally as a crew chief prepared to race for the championship, but theres a winning pedigree here at JGR and everyones open notebook policy has prepared me well for this weekend.Rogers didnt make it to the finale as crew chief for Busch or Denny Hamlin. Edwards lost the 2011 championship to Stewart on a tie-breaker. They both feel like past experience has them prepared for Sunday.Weve both been in situations where weve come up short, and we know what its like to lose, Rogers said. Now we want to go down there and try to figure out how to win it. I know Carl was disappointed last year that he fell short. The 11 (Hamlin team) was disappointed last year that we fell short, but now were teamed up together, our first year together, were going down there with the option to win it, and were just excited about it.LESSONS LEARNEDJoey Logano and Todd Gordon thought they were ready to win a championship when they raced for a title in 2014.Then one bad pit stop ended their chances. With that experience behind them, Gordon believes they have the mental toughness to win the title.I think in 2014, that was when we went through this the first time. Not knowing what to do or what to expect or how it was going to flow out, the championship race, race weekend, he said. This time around ... I think its matters as usual.I feel a lot of calm from his feedback and what hes saying and what hes doing and the mannerisms. Hes all (about) just making this another race, and I think in a great position. Cheap Shoes Free Shipping . 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The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner.BOSTON - They are still two wins away from their destination, but the Boston Bruins are gathering steam. Daniel Paille and Patrice Bergeron scored second-period goals and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves Monday as the hard-charging Bruins blanked the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup final. The Bruins were full value for their second straight win, coming out hard and crashing Chicago to erase memories of a sluggish first period in Game 2. Boston seemed bigger, faster and meaner on this night. Even anthem singer Rene Rancourt seemed up for it, adding a few more degrees of difficulties to his litany of pre-game fist pumps and facial contortions. The TD Garden crowd of 17,565, Bostons 163rd straight sellout, ate it up. History has Boston at the front of the NHL championship bus now. Teams winning Game 3 after splitting first two games of the final have gone on to win 21 of 25 times since the best-of-seven format began in 1939. The Bruins improved to 4-0 in Game 3s this post-season while the Blackhawks fell to 0-4. Boston isnt celebrating quite yet, however. "Its nice to get a win," said captain Zdeno Chara, who mixed it up with Bryan Bickell as the clock wound down. "Were up 2-1. Weve got to get ready for the next one." "Weve still got a few more games to go," added Tyler Seguin. Paille, the overtime hero of Game 2, opened the scoring for Boston as the Bruins reshaped third line of Paille, Chris Kelly and Seguin paid dividends again. The trio accounted for both Boston goals in the Bruins overtime victory in Game 2. Bergeron then scored on the power play, with Paille and Kelly drawing the penalties that led to the goal. The Bruins forward was a one-man machine, with six shots in the first two periods alone. He also dominated faceoffs, winning 19 of 22 in the first 40 minutes. The other Bruins did the little things too. Blocking shots. Winning faceoffs. Shrugging off Blackhawks like annoying little brothers. When the situation called for it, they just dumped the puck somewhere safe and regrouped. The Bruins outshot Chicago 35-28 as Rask earned his third shutout of the playoffs. It marked just the second time in 2013 that the Blackhawks had been shut out. "Tonight I thought we made it rather easy on (Rask) as far as traffic and finding and seeing pucks," said Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. "I think we got to be better at going to the net in non-puck areas." The Blackhawks will get a chance to do just that in Game 4, which goes Wednesday in Boston. There was drama before the game as Chicago co-scoring leader Marian Hossa was a late scratch, replaced by Ben Smith after being injured in the warmup. That meant shelving a marquee player on a $7.9-million contract for a $550,000 forward who had played once this season. "Marian Hossa out of the lineup after something apparently happened in warm-ups," tweeted the Hawks. Quenneville later clarified that the injury had nothing to do with the warmup. Hossa has an upper-body injury, was a game-time decision and is listed day to day. "Were hopeful hell be ready for the next game," he said. Still, it was a take-no-prisoners warmup. Boston coach Claude Julien said Chara suffered a small cut during warmup after losing an edge. Bruins defenceman Dennis Seidenberg said later the ice was poor as hot, humid weather and a visit by the Rolling Stones last week probably didnt help matters. Quenneville pointed to faceoffs and the power as the difference-makers. Boston won 40 of 56 faceoffs and Chicago went 0 for 5 with the man-advantage. The Hawks have not scored a power-play goal in their last 20 chances dating to Game 2 of the Western Conference final. The Bruins, meanwhile, have killed off 27 straight penalties. Quenneville, who had eaarlier decided to replace Brandon Bollig with Viktor Stalberg, shook up his lines like a frustrated Scrabble player.dddddddddddd Captain Jonathan Toews surprisingly started with Marcus Kruger and Michael Frolik, while Smith opened with Dave Bolland and Patrick Sharp. But it was the Bruins, outshot 19-4 in the first period of Game 2, who came out in high gear. They had seven shots on Corey Crawford within the first five minutes. And whenever Toews came over the boards, he found the giant shadow of Chara waiting. Crawford, who would finish with 33 saves on the night, stopped Bergeron from in close. At the other end, the imperious Rask handled a blast from Duncan Keith. Bostons Brad Marchand had a glorious chance on a breakaway on the penalty kill late in the period after somehow coralling a long Chara clearance. But he lost control of the puck just in front of Crawford and, showing his frustration, smashed his stick to pieces as he returned to the bench. Boston killed off a pair of penalties in the first period. It was hard to say whether it was because the Bruins penalty killing was so good or the Hawks power play so bad. Chicago clawed its way back as the first period wore on and managed 10 shots to Bostons 11 by the time it was over. The Bruins controlled the faceoff circle, however, wining 17 of 22 in the first period. Boston opened the second with another offensive burst and grabbed the lead. Paille was rewarded for some hard work at 2:13 in the Chicago end, lifting Bollands stick to steal the puck and rifling a wrist shot past Crawford, who seconds earlier had stopped Seguin. It was Pailles fourth goal of the playoffs. Prior to Game 3, the Blackhawks had only surrendered four power-play goals in 63 short-handed situations. The Paille-Kelly-Seguin line now has seven points in the past two games with three goals and four assists. When Chicago did get an opportunity, Rask was there. The big Finn stopped Patrick Kane cold after a Hawks defenceman found him cruising in alone. Chicago had to kill off a brief 5-on-3 opportunity late in the second and Bergeron ripped a low shot in from the doorstep at 14:05 just seconds after Bolland, the first Hawk to escape the penalty box, tried to get back into the play. Bergerons seventh of the post-season capped a nifty passing play. Jaromir Jagrs sweet assist on the play moved the 41-year-old in sole possession of fifth place in all-time post-season scoring with 197 points (78 goals, 119 assists). Bolland, for cross-checking, and Niklas Hjalmarsson, tripping, went off for hauling down Kelly and Paille, respectively, as they drove at the goal. Like a hockey homage, Seguin almost recreated the Bergeron goal on another power play later in the period only to be stopped by Crawford. A frustrated Seguin put his stick between his teeth when the play ended as he pondered what might have been. The Bruins held a 26-18 edge in shots after 40 minutes. Boston, blunting the Chicago attack with whatever was needed, killed off two more penalties in the third to further frustrate the Hawks. The Bruins, meanwhile, almost made it 3-0 late in the game during another Bolland penalty. Chicagos Bickell hit post in dying seconds as the Blackhawks pressed to get on the board but couldnt find a way past Rask. Notes: It was Chicagos first visit to TD Garden since March 29, 2010, when the Bruins won 3-0. ... The first two games of the series lasted some 186 minutes, leaving both teams with one win and five goals ... Chicago started Viktor Stalberg in place of Brandon Bollig ... Tickets for Game 3 ranged from $325 to a corner balcony seat to $7,500 for a 12th-row centre-ice loge seat on StubHub earlier Monday ... The Bruins won all three of their home games in the 2010-11 final, outscoring the Canucks 17-3. ' ' '