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MONTREAL - So close and yet so far. That was how defenceman Josh Gorges felt after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 loss in Game 6 to the Rangers in New York on Thursday night. It was a second trip to the Eastern Conference final for Gorges, who was there in 2010 when the Canadiens lost to Philadelphia after upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds. His disappointment at bowing out again without reaching the Stanley Cup final was evident. "This harder to accept because I can see the window of opportunity closing bit by bit," said the 29-year-old Gorges. "The older you get, the more you realize how difficult it is. We were so close." At the start of the season, it was widely felt the Canadiens would be among the group of teams having to battle for the final playoff spots, but an 11-3-1 spurt down the stretch saw them finish with 100 points, good for fourth in the conference. Then they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of playoffs and upset their biggest rival, the first-place Boston Bruins, in a heated, seven-game conference semifinal before bowing out to the Rangers. More than one player noted when the playoff run was over that the team has a bright future, although coach Michel Therrien didnt want to think about next year so soon after a bitter defeat. "Its really tough talking about the entire season, because I know its like when you get close to achieving a goal, it hurts," he said. "It hurts more when youre close. "There are 29 teams this year that are going to be disappointed, and one team is going to be enjoying their season while winning the Stanley Cup. That is the purpose. But I look at the season and we made some big progress this year. Im proud of this hockey team. We battled hard through the regular season and we battled hard in the playoffs." The players are to have their exit interviews on Saturday and general manager Marc Bergevin will review the season with the media on Monday morning. There are likely to be changes. Bergevins priority will no doubt be signing star defenceman P.K. Subban to what could be a major multi-year contract. The 25-year-old who won the Norris Trophy in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and who leads the team in ice time is due to become a restricted free agent on July 1. Negotiations may be difficult, with Subban likely to end up among the leagues highest-paid players, even if a rival team doesnt make him an offer. Other potential RFAs are centre Lars Eller, who had a disappointing regular season but was second on the team in playoff scoring, late-season pickup and playoff surprise Dale Weise and forward Ryan White, who didnt see any playoff action. He must also decide whether to try to keep unrestricted free agents Andrei Markov, Brian Gionta, Thomas Vanek, Mike Weaver, Francis Bouillon, Douglas Murray and George Parros. Markov, a mainstay on the defence since 2000, is 35 and, while he is still a skilled and heady playmaker, has become slower on his skates. Its somewhat the same for Gionta, the 35-year-old captain whose points production is on the wane. Vanek has said repeatedly he will test the free agent market and Bergevin will need to decide whether to bid for him. Weaver, another late-season acquisition, is 36 but Bergevin may make the third-pair defenceman an offer because of his solid post-season play. He earned $1.1 million this season. Bouillons history with Therrien goes back to junior hockey, but the stocky defenceman is 38 and may have reached the end of his career. It would be surprising if the painfully slow Murray and little-used enforcer Parros were back. Decisions on defence will be influenced by young blue-liners who may be ready to be full-time NHL players, including Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi and Greg Pateryn, who had 15 goals for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Bergevin will also need to sort out his goaltending. When Carey Price was injured in the opening game of the conference final, Therrien turned to third-stringer Dustin Tokarski over back-up Peter Budaj. Tokarski played brilliantly and looks to have taken over the back-up job, but Budaj has a year left on a contract that pays $1.4 million. Players signed long-term include Price, Gorges, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty. The easy one will be signing a new deal with Therrien, whose two-year contract is up. Bergevin has already hinted that he will keep the 50-year-old coach. --- With files from Canadian Press sports reporter Bill Beacon. Authentic New Orleans Saint Jerseys .Y. - Peyton Manning made his fifth MVP award a family affair. Cheap New Orleans Saint Gear . Jose Bautista homered for the fifth straight game in the sixth inning, following a two-out solo homer by Melky Cabrera. Edwin Encarnacion led off the seventh with a homer to tie the game 3-3 and, with two out in the seventh, Munenori Kawasaki came through with the two-out single to score pinch-runner Steve Tolleson with what proved to be the winning run. http://www.cheapsaints.com/ . Azarenka needed exactly one hour in a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Austrian Yvonne Meusburger to start the night session at Laver Arena. Sharapova had a much easier time earlier in the day with cooler conditions and took full advantage in 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, while Radwanska had to rally for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Cheap New Orleans Saint Jerseys Online . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television. Stitched New Orleans Saint Jerseys . The Kings paraded the Stanley Cup through downtown Los Angeles on Monday to celebrate their second NHL title in three seasons.DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki gave the Mavericks a boost in his return to the lineup, while the short-handed Grizzlies lost another starter to injury. Nowitzki scored 20 points after missing a game with a stomach virus and Dallas defeated Memphis 105-88 on Wednesday night. The Mavericks (15-10) have won two straight to equal their season high of five games over .500. Memphis (10-15) has lost five in a row and seven of eight. Nowitzki added six rebounds, five assists, two steals and one blocked shot. He scored four points during a 10-2 run after the Grizzlies cut a 16-point deficit to four in the third quarter. "I didnt feel great Monday in practice," the 16-year veteran said. "We didnt have a game for another two days, so by Tuesday I was a lot better and today I felt fine. I used the break to get healthy." Mavericks teammate Monta Ellis, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half to help squelch a Memphis rally, said Nowitzki didnt look as if he hadnt played a game in a week. "Even when he came back to practice, he didnt look like that. Hes been in the league so long that he knows how to take care of his body," Ellis said. Jose Calderon, in his first season with Dallas, scored 12 points, including two 3-pointer in the second quarter. He said he was "amazed" by Nowitzki. "He makes everything look so easy. I was amazed how the guys guarding him kept jumping, and he just waited and knocked down the shot," Calderon said. While the Mavericks got their star forward back, Memphis was without three injured starters. Tayshaun Prince missed his first game this season because of a sore left knee, and the Grizzlies already were without point guard Mike Conley and centre Marc Gasol. They dressed only 10 players for the game. Tony Allen led the Grizzlies with 16 points and matched a career high with 11 rebounds -- 10 on the offensive end. But he left in the fourth quarter because of a cut on his pinkie that required three stitches. "Im going to try to play (Saturday at New York)," Allen said. "I dont want to sit out and do all that behind-the-scenes treatment." Grizzlies coach David Joerger thought playing short-handed might have caught up to his team when it lost the momentum of a third-quarter rally that reduced Dallas lead from 65-49 to 66-62. "We got an offensive rebound when we were down six and had a turnover. I should have probably called a timeout at that point. Then we miss a layup, they score and I do call a timeout wheen we are down 10," Joerger said.dddddddddddd Memphis eight offensive rebounds in the third helped the Grizzlies go on a 13-1 run that cut their deficit to 66-62. Zach Randolph scored 10 points during that stretch and finished with 14. Dallas built the lead back up to 78-66 entering the fourth quarter. Memphis got no closer than 11 during the final 12 minutes. Vince Carter had 14 points for the Mavericks and Shawn Marion 10. Samuel Dalembert, who didnt play in Dallas previous game, came off the bench in the second half to score eight points, grab seven rebounds and block two shots in 13 minutes. He also slowed down Randolph. "I liked the lift that Sam gave us off the bench," Nowitzki said. "He was phenomenal using his wing span to slow down Zach, and getting blocks and rebounds." Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was able to change defensive tactics once he inserted Dalembert. "They were making a run. Randolph had gotten involved a little bit. Wed been double-teaming and fronting, and that opens up other things. We had Sam play it straight up. He was able to guard, his length was a factor, he rebounded, he blocked shots," Carlisle said. The Grizzlies shot only 17 for 47 (36 per cent) in the first half. "We held them to 40 per cent shooting (for the game). Any time we do that we put ourselves in position to win games," Nowitzki said. The Mavericks led by as many as 15 before finishing the first half with a 52-39 advantage. Three players did the damage in the second quarter, combining for all but two of Dallas points. Nowitzki and Calderon each scored eight, and Carter had seven. Nowitzki led the first-half scoring with 14 points, followed by Calderons 10. Allen also had 10, along with seven of Memphis 12 offensive rebounds in the half. "I thought Tony Allen really played a great game. When you get 10 offensive rebounds from the shooting guard position, that is working," Joerger said. NOTES: Conley (24 points), Gasol (23) and Prince (three) combined for 50 points in the previous meeting, a 111-99 Dallas victory on Nov. 2. Allen was scoreless in that game. ... Mike Miller started in Princes place and scored eight points. Conley (bruised left thigh) missed his second game in a row, and Gasol (sprained MCL in left knee) was out for the 12th consecutive game. The Grizzlies are 3-9 since Gasol was injured. ... Carlisle also missed the teams previous game Saturday because of a gastrointestinal illness. ... Dallas is 54-18 against Memphis. 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