FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Pete Carroll swore he was not thinking about Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night, you know, the one he handed to the New England Patriots as sure as Roger Goodell handed them the Vince Lombardi Trophy. He said he was not rewinding the past, only living for the moment, all that blah, blah, blah.And then the 65-year-old coach of the Seattle Seahawks left his postgame microphone inside Gillette Stadium and skipped toward his locker room hollering and whooping in a liberating way, betraying the words spoken to a roomful of reporters. Sometimes Carroll acts this way as the NFLs answer to the late, great Dick Clark -- the worlds oldest teenager. But this was different. Carroll wanted this one badly, even if its part of his job description to never, ever admit it.The NBC cameras caught him acting out on the sidelines, and these regular-season scenes in November reminded me of a regular-season NBA night in January in 1995, when Pat Riley, coach of the Knicks, downplayed his first game in Houston since his team blew a 3-2 Finals lead there the previous June. To punctuate a crucial made basket in that Knicks victory in January, Riley let out a primal scream the likes I hadnt heard from him before or since. This was the sound of a coach who had allowed his guard, John Starks, to shoot 2 for 18 in Game 7 the previous June and had been having a hard time forgiving himself for it.Two years ago in the Arizona desert, Carroll made a much bigger mistake on the goal line. He needed to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch in the closing seconds to win his second straight Super Bowl title, and instead he ordered his quarterback, Russell Wilson, to throw a slant pass to Ricardo Lockette. Lynch had run for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns that season, and Wilson had run for 849 yards and six touchdowns. Pressured by Belichicks stunning decision to let the clock bleed away precious seconds, Carroll decided he wanted to get the ball to Lockette, who managed 11 catches all year. An undrafted New England rookie out of West Alabama named Malcolm Butler beat the receiver to it.Theres really nobody to blame but me, Carroll said that night.He has had to live with it ever since, just like Riley had to live with leaving in Starks in 94, and Grady Little had to live with leaving in Pedro Martinez in 2003. Carroll has done a good job of it, at least publicly. It sure seems he has taken the hit like a man.Only this return match with the Patriots was a wonderful opportunity to vent, to flex his considerable coaching muscles, and to let loose a scream or three from his toes. Pete Carroll wasnt just the coach who made the worst call in Super Bowl history to gift wrap Bill Belichick his fourth championship ring. He was also the coach fired by Robert Kraft after the 1999 season so Kraft could steal Belichick from the Jets.In the leadup to this game, you could hear the hurt in Carrolls voice. He said hed planned on having control in New England but that it didnt really work out that way, the way I hoped, until I went back to USC and when I got a chance to be in charge again. He pointed out that he was a smash hit at USC -- except with NCAA investigators -- when he had the power over his program that Kraft didnt give him in Foxborough. He pointed out that Kraft did give Belichick the chance to take that thing over and run it and do it exactly the way a football guy sees it, and the rest has been a great history and a great success story.So Carroll had so much invested in his first game back since Kraft fired him all those years ago. It was a wonderful back-and-forth football game, too, not unlike the epic Super Bowl encounter between these two teams. Tom Brady opened with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that culminated in the first LeGarrette Blounts three scores, and the Seahawks started to work the problem from there.Wilson ended up outplaying his legendary counterpart, throwing three touchdown passes to Bradys none, but the night came down to -- what else? -- a questionable decision by Carroll and a goal-line stand. First, the questionable call. After his team took a 31-24 lead on a beautiful Wilson throw to Doug Baldwin with four minutes and change to play, Carroll decided to attempt a two-point conversion rather than the safer kick that wouldve forced the Patriots to score eight points to tie.Why would they go for two here? Belichick was caught asking into his headset.We wanted to see if we could put it out of reach, Carroll explained, and make it a two-score deal. It was an unnecessary gamble, and one that predictably failed. New England drove the ball down the field and to the Seattle 1 with only seconds to play. Everyone in the building had a flashback. Some 2,700 miles from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Patriots and the Seahawks and Belichick and Carroll would battle again over a very small piece of real estate.The most recognizable Pats fan in the house Sunday night, Mark Wahlberg, recalled before the game that he was in Krafts suite for the Super Bowl. He described the chaotic endgame scene of security officials entering the suite and preparing to escort the winning owner and family and friends down to the field for the coronation before Jermaine Kearse made his absurd catch in the same building where David Tyree made his to beat New England in Super Bowl XLII.It was sheer devastation, Wahlberg told ESPN.com as he was promoting Tuesdays debut of his USA Network show, Shooter, for which he serves as executive producer. We saw [Kearse] bobble it and we thought he dropped it and we were all cheering, and then we saw the replay on the Jumbotron. ... But we went from crying tears of sadness to tears of joy after the Butler interception. It was one of the craziest rides Ive ever been on.Wahlberg says he keeps a picture on his phone of Carroll working a drive-thru window and reaching out to deliver an order to a customer. Should I just hand this to you, the mocking Internet caption reads, or step back five yards and throw it for no reason.The Patriots didnt throw it until fourth down, after Blount and Brady failed to barrel it in. Brady threw a fade pass to Rob Gronkowski, who was tangled up with Kam Chancellor, and the presiding official made a good no-call. When it was over, Carroll said the Patriots had worked on that very play with Chancellor and a tall practice squad receiver, Marcus Lucas, in the weeks final practice. Just as Butler had worked on jumping the slant before the Super Bowl.It was a big moment in practice, Carroll said of Chancellors victory over Lucas.It was a much bigger moment in the game. Belichick gave a warm hug to Carroll on the field, and then raved about Seattles program the way he has done in the past. Carroll called Brady and Belichick the best of all time, and spoke of how much the Patriots had going for them entering this game: their relatively good health, the fact that they were coming off a bye week, the fact that they werent traveling across the country, the fact that they werent coming off a short week (Seattle played Monday night), and the fact that they never, ever lose at home.It cant get any better than that, Carroll said.In the winners locker room, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman fielded a question about the Super Bowl and decided the similar finish in Gillette Stadium was more ironic than anything. He said he thought the Seahawks might see the Patriots again this season, in February. He said that potential rematch would do far more for his coachs legacy than Sunday nights.Its not going to eliminate the criticism [of Carroll], Sherman said of the victory. This game is not even close to the significance of the Super Bowl. I think he gets that its a different year and hes kind of moved past it as much as you can.As far as making good on his worst night as an NFL coach, Pete Carroll still as a long way to go. But he did gain ground Sunday night.?He did pick up a good 10 or 15 yards on the ghost that will haunt him from here to his next championship parade. Fake China Jerseys . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Cheap Jerseys From China . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. http://www.jerseyscheapcustom.com/ . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Fake Jerseys 2020 . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Cheap Fake Jerseys Free Shipping . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City.The Senators and Blackhawks are moving to Round Two after blowout wins while the Penguins take the series lead over the Islanders. Scott Cullen has stats and notes from Thursdays NHL action. SENS SEND CANADIENS INTO SUMMEREven though they were at home, the Montreal Canadiens were fighting an uphill battle in Game Five. With strong goaltending and timely scoring, the Ottawa Senators took a 6-1 decision, winning the series four games to one. Coming into the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens were facing a tough task if the Ottawa Senators continued to get the kind of goaltending that they had received all season. As it turned out, Craig Anderson was every bit as good as his league-leading performance in the regular season. After stopping 33 of 34 shots in the Game Five clincher, Anderson had a .950 save percentage in the series. As usual, the Senators got contributions throughout their lineup in Game Five. Cory Conacher potted two goals and linemates Matt Kassian and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists. Erik Condra led the way with a goal and two assists. For the series, the offensively-challenged Sens seemed to do just fine. Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson led the way with six points in five games while Pageau, Kyle Turris and Marc Methot each had a point per game. Down three games to one, the Canadiens were left to mount a series comeback, starting in Game Five, with Peter Budaj in goal after Carey Price suffered a leg injury late in Game Four. It was the first career playoff start for the 30-year-old and he struggled, stopping just 23 of 29 shots. On a night when the Canadiens had a bunch of early chances, but couldnt solve Anderson, they most definitely couldnt afford a subpar goaltending performance in their own net, so the lopsided result came with a sense of inevitability when it appeared that Budaj wasnt going to be matching Anderson, his former teammate in Colorado. Defenceman P.K. Subban was Montreals most dangerous player in the series and he and Tomas Plekanec tied for the team lead with four points in the series. Playing with a separated shoulder, LW Max Pacioretty was held off the scoresheet, David Desharnais and Andrei Markov managed one point apiece. Rookie RW Brendan Gallagher was a team-worst minus-7, yet also led the Habs with 22 shots on goal in five games. Its not as though Montreal didnt have their chances, they outshot the Senators by an average margin of 5.2 shots per game, but couldnt come close to matching the Senators goaltending. Its been a strong suit for Ottawa all year and it made the series more lopsided than the territorial play between the teams would suggest. PENGUINS PULL AHEAD OF ISLANDERSReturning home with the series tied at two, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned to Tomas Vokoun in net, replacing Marc-Andre Fleury, and Vokoun responded with a 31-save shutout in Pittsburghs 4-0 win. Vokoun wasnt the only insert into the Pittsburgh lineup. RW Tyler Kennedy played his first game of the playoffs and scored the first goal of the game. Sidney Crosby and and Kris Letang led the Penguins attack with a goal and an assist each; Crosbys goal a highlight effort, splitting the Islanders defence before finding tthe back of the net with a snapshot.dddddddddddd Islanders C John Tavares had a team-high six shots, but was also 5-for-18 (27.8%) on faceoffs. Penguins C Joe Vitale was 9-for-10 on draws. Even though Game Five was a healthy margin of victory for the Penguins, the Islanders still have a chance to extend the series. For all the skill that the Penguins have, the Islanders have been carrying their share of the play. The challenge facing them now, however, is that they need to try to get justly rewarded when they carry the play. It happened when Marc-Andre Fleury was tending the Penguins net; it hasnt yet happened with Vokoun between the pipes. BLACKHAWKS BOUNCE WILDThe Chicago Blackhawks made short work of the Minnesota Wild, coasting to a 5-1 win in Game Five and taking the series four games to one. Marian Hossa led the Blackhawks with two goals and an assist. Marcus Kruger brought the complementary offence with a goal and an assist, while Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith each had a pair of assists. Wild LW Zach Parise was held without a shot for the first time since November 6, 2009; he spent the night matched up against the defence tandem of Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson, along with the Blackhawks top line of Toews, Hossa and rookie Brandon Saad. Those five Blackhawks were dominant possession-wise, leaving few opportunities for Minnesotas top line of Parise, Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle. While Toews two assists in Game Five were his first points of the series, Chicagos other big guns produced. Patrick Sharp had five goals and an assist in five games, Hossa had six points, Keith had five and Patrick Kane had five points in the five-game series. Scoring was much more difficult for the Wild. Veteran C Matt Cullen had three assists in five games to lead the Wild in scoring. Parise had one assist (and was minus-7), Mikko Koivu had no points (and was minus-6), an injured Jason Pominville only played two games; its asking a lot for the Minnesota supporting cast to pick up the slack when the top guys arent producing at all. Ryan Suter played 31:37 per game, but didnt record a point and was minus-5. He spent much of the series trying to cover both of Chicagos scoring lines, a tall order. If the Wild were going to have any shot at upsetting the Blackhawks, they needed Chicagos goaltending to get shaky, but it didnt happen. Corey Crawford allowed seven goals on 139 shots in five games, leaving him with a 1.40 goals against average and .950 save percentage. Tough to beat a team that gets that kind of goaltending. Josh Harding had a difficult job, filling in for an injured Niklas Backstrom right from the start of the series, but he played well. His .911 save percentage was respectable, but the Wild were always going to need more than respectable performances if they were going to overachieve. In the end, the result of the Chicago-Minnesota series was as expected. A Stanley Cup favourite taking care of business against a team that barely squeaked into the postseason. 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. ' ' '