TORONTO - John Tortorellas time in Vancouver will be remembered more for trying to get into the Calgary Flames locker-room than what he got out of Canucks players. Mike Santorelli is the exception.While the Tortorella experiment lasted just a year and represented a low point for this group of Canucks, Santorelli more than any other player benefited from the fiery coachs trust and made the most of it.He definitely believed in me and gave me that chance, Santorelli said of Tortorella. For me, it worked out real well. I think our styles kind of match. It was a good fit for myself. I definitely owe him a lot.Santorelli owes Tortorella at least partial credit for revitalizing his career. A part-time NHL player with the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets out of the lockout, the 28-year-old jump-started his game under Tortorella.On a US$550,000, one-year contract, Santorelli was not expected to do too much for the Canucks. The Burnaby, B.C., native just happened to be a Tortorella kind of guy.He came into training camp and I think he was at the top of all the fitness testing, said David Booth, a teammate of Santorellis with the Canucks who also signed with the Leafs. I think that started Mike off on the right foot. And the way he works in practice is everything John looked at and likes.Santorelli wasnt just the sandpaper Tortorella wanted. He also brought an offensive spark, especially early with four goals, including two in overtime, in his first seven games.While making a big impact, Santorelli earned a bigger role.Hes a guy that came in and I didnt know a lot about and right off the bat impressed me, Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. He worked his way up from I dont even think making our team before training camp to being our second-line centre and making guys around him better.Tortorella and the Canucks seemed to be like oil and water. But things didnt fall apart until Santorelli was injured.Through the first 49 games, Santorelli was fourth on the Canucks in scoring with 28 points on 10 goals and 18 assists, trailing only Henrik and Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler. His right shoulder injury, a torn labrum that required surgery and ended his season, coincided with Vancouvers descent down the standings.Vancouvers first game without Santorelli was the night an enraged Tortorella tried to get to Flames coach Bob Hartley in the other locker-room, the incident that led to a 15-day suspension. Along with general manager Mike Gillis, Tortorella was fired at the completion of the Canucks first season out of the playoffs since 2008.Guys have different viewpoints on him, Booth said of Tortorella. He was hard. He thought I was weird and I thought he was weird.But Tortorella liked Santorelli, and the feeling was mutual.For me I thought he was fair, Santorelli said. When you made a mistake, he gave you the opportunity to explain why you did it, and he just corrected you.Booth referred to Santorelli as a coachs favourite wherever he goes. Torontos Randy Carlyle appreciates what Santorelli brings, but that took time and an adjustment.Carlyle said after reviewing training camp that Santorelli didnt look like he was going to be all that dynamic of a player. Then the coaching staff moved him from centre to wing and watched as he put up 18 points in the seasons first 25 games.Hes much more comfortable and his work ethic is very noticeable on the wing, Carlyle said. I think that has been enlightening to everybody that hes a much more dynamic player when he plays the wing vs. centre.On a $1.5-million, one-year deal, Santorelli came into camp with slightly higher expectations than he did in 2013 with the Canucks but was still among a host of forwards battling for bottom-six spots. He proved his value as an interchangeable part and has been in the lineup for every game so far.Canucks captain Henrik Sedin praised Santorelli for his work ethic, especially in the summer.He puts a lot of hours in and he wants to prepare, and that pays off, Sedin said. Hes so strong on the puck — he makes something out of nothing. You think the play is over, but he seems to find guys and hold onto the puck that extra second, which opens up a lot of things.Santorelli isnt at the forefront of the Leafs success through more than a quarter of the season, but he has been a nice role player in it.Bieksa is hardly surprised by the continued improvement of the even-keeled Santorelli.Hes one of those guys you dont really appreciate unless youre with him day-in and day-out, Bieksa said. Hes one of the most underrated players in the league.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter Air Max Plus Italia . -- Colin Kaepernick insists he just happened to pull on a pair of socks with dollar bill prints all over them Wednesday morning -- before he learned he had struck a new fortune with the San Francisco 49ers. Nike Air Max 270 Scontate . Toronto ended an 0-4-0 skid with Sundays shootout win over visiting New Jersey, but the club could have a difficult time making it two victories in a row tonight. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and 11 of the last 12 regular- season meetings against Boston overall and the Bruins have claimed six straight in Beantown. http://www.airmaxscarpescontate.it/scarp...uomo-saldi.html. First, Ivan Nova decided to have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Then Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games for using pine tar. Air Max 98 Saldi . Louis Blues and back into top spot of the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings. The Sharks had been ranked No. Vapormax Italia . -- The Seattle Seahawks and wide receiver Sidney Rice have agreed to terms on a deal.The Bruins bury the Red Wings, Pittsburgh controls play against Columbus, Colorados amazing comeback and the Kings stay alive; Scott Cullen has notes on Krug, Hamilton, Nyquist, Crosby, MacKinnon, Quick and more. BRUINS FINISH RED WINGS The Boston Bruins calmly dispatched the Detroit Red Wings, with a 4-2 win Saturday afternoon, wrapping up their first-round series in five games. While the series was short, it was relatively competitive but, in the end, the Bruins simply had too much. In Game Five, the Red Wings had a goal and an assist each from Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg -- and contributions from their superstars may have been their best chance for the upset -- but it wasnt enough. Boston got a goal and an assist from LW Milan Lucic and two assist from D Torey Krug on their way to the second round. The tough part for the Red Wings is that they couldnt get any production out of the young forwards that had played such vital roles this season. LW Tomas Tatar, C Riley Sheahan and RW Gustav Nyquist were held off the scoresheet in all five games and the tendency might be to think that these inexperienced forwards were overmatched in the moment, but they were Detroits best puck possession trio in the series, all three on for better than 58% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. Yet, there was ultimately some dissatisfaction from the Wings, who needed goals, not possession. In the series-deciding game, which Detroit trailed for 42 minutes, Nyquist played only 11:55, a threshold he surpassed in 44 of the previous 45 games. Detroits uphill battle was made steeper by the fact that G Jimmy Howard missed the last two games with a suspected concussion. Jonas Gustavsson actually played well, stopping 66 of 72 shots (.917), but its tough to upend the Bruins with a second-string goaltender. Datsyuk, playing on a bad knee, finished with five points in five games and was the only Red Wing with more than two points in the series. The Bruins emerged from the series, relatively easily, even though David Krejcis line struggled in possession terms. It certainly didnt hurt to have G Tuukka Rask at the top of his game, stopping 146 of 152 shots (.961) in the series. C Patrice Bergeron and Krug tied for the Bruins team lead with five points in the series. Lucic, RW Jarome Iginla and D Dougie Hamilton each had four points. That the Bruins young defencemen were able to contribute offensively proved to be a real advantage. The series win sets up Boston for a matchup with their rivals from Montreal. The top-seeded Bruins will be favoured, but the head-to-head matchups with the Canadiens have been tumultuous, dramatic affairs (well, forever, but also) in recent seasons, so it should be a fascinating battle. PENGUINS TAKE SERIES LEAD Perhaps feeling a little threatened, with the series tied 2-2, the Pittsburgh Penguins came out firing in Game Five and dominated play on their way to a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The margin could have been much if not for the play of Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 48 of the 50 shots he faced. As the Penguins made a concerted effort to play Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together on the top line, it turned out that Pittsburghs best possession numbers came from the second and third lines. Lee Stempniak, Brandon Sutter, Jussi Jokinen and Beau Bennett were each on the ice for more than 70% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Pittsburghs depth was also boosted by the presence of C Marcel Goc, who played 10:34 in his first game since suffering an ankle injury March 27. The possession domination for Pittsburgh, naturally, had a counter in Columbus, where Jack Skille, R.J. Umberger, Nick Foligno and Artem Anisimov were each below 30%. Penguins D Brooks Orpik missed the game with an undisclosed injury, giving Robert Bortuzzo an opportunity to play his first NHL playoff game and Bortuzzo didnt hhurt the Penguins in 13:36 of ice time.dddddddddddd While there has been criticism of Sidney Crosby for his play in this series, it needs to be said that his play is probably better than fine. After 11 individual shot attempts, and one assist, in Game Five, Crosby has five points and a in five games and has been on the ice for 60.1% of the shot attempts during 5-on-5 play. His LW, Chris Kunitz, had a goal and an assist, with seven shots on goal and six hits, in Game Five. This hasnt been an easy series for the Penguins, by any stretch, and theyre still trying to do it with the second-best goaltender in the series, but their skill advantage has been enough to give them the lead in the series. ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY Trailing 2-1 into the third period of Game Five, the Minnesota Wild scored twice in the first 6:25 of the third period to take the lead and appeared on their way to taking the game, before the Avalanche scored with 1:14 remaining to tie it, then finished matters 3:27 into overtime. In the end, the 4-3 overtime win gave the Avalanche a 3-2 series lead. The winning goal was authored by Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who finished the game with a goal and two assists, giving him a playoff-leading 10 points thus far. Hes three points away from Jaromir Jagrs scoring record for an 18-year-old rookie in the postseason. MacKinnon played 21:56 in Game Five, second among Colorado forwards, behind only Paul Stastny (22:38); MacKinnon, who averaged 17:21 of ice time per game during the regular season, has played more than 21 minutes in four of five games in the series. The sequence leading up to the game-tying goal was contentious. There was an apparent holding penalty that was ignored in Colorados defensive zone, with the net empty, and then the Avalanche appeared to be offside seconds before PA Parenteau buried the tying goal. This is what is known as "getting the breaks." Avalanche LW Cody McLeod scored a goal, but was obliterated at even-strength, on for two shot attempts for and 17 against (10.5%). With McLeod off the ice, the Avalanche had 56.2% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. For the Wild, LW Matt Moulson, C Mikko Koivu and D Marco Scandella were on the ice for at least two-thirds of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, though Scandella was unfortunate enough to get beaten by McKinnon on the winning goal. Its been a close series to this point, though the Wild have held the possession edge, and it shifts back to Minnesota for Game Six. Colorado may get a boost with C Matt Duchene nearing a return to the lineup. If Duchene is ready to go, that ought to help Colorados cause. KINGS KEEP ON KEEPING ON Facing elimination for the second time in the series, the Los Angeles Kings stormed into San Jose Saturday night and outplayed the Sharks from the get-go, building a 3-0 lead 22 seconds into the second period before chilling out and taking that lead to games end. The Kings had outshot the Sharks 19-6 by the time they had taken that 3-0 lead, chasing Sharks G Antti Niemi. Not only did the Sharks lose the game, but also lost D Marc-Edouard Vlasic was hurt (upper-body injury) on a run-in with Kings C Jarret Stoll. It cost Stoll two minutes for roughing, but Vlasic did not return. If hes not able to play in Game Six, thats a huge blow to the Sharks.. Kings RW Justin Williams had a game-high seven shots on goal (11 shot attempts), leading the Kings on ice for 73.1% of shot attempts. Kings G Jonathan Quick stopped all 30 shots sent in his direction, a decided improvement after some rough games earlier in the series. While the Kings are trying to make the unlikeliest of comebacks, from being down 3-0, if they manage to get good goaltending from Quick, maybe its possible. 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. ' ' '