The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is going out with a bang as for the fifth time in NHL history, three Games 7 will be played on the same day when the New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers, the Colorado Avalanche host the Minnesota Wild (Both games as part of a doubleheader on TSN2 and TSN GO beginning tonight at 7pm et/4pm pt) and the San Jose Sharks take on the Los Angeles Kings. Wayne Simmonds turned in his first career playoff hat trick, Steve Mason was spectacular, and the Flyers lived to fight tonight with a 5-2 throttling of New York that forced a Game 7 on Tuesday night. With their backs squarely to the wall, the Flyers responded with by far their best performance of the series, roaring out to a 4-0 lead through two periods and sending New Yorks star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to the bench after 40 minutes. Simmonds and Mason, who recorded 34 saves, set the tone for a season-saving result which gives Philadelphia a surge of momentum heading into Wednesdays winner-take-all showdown at Madison Square Garden, where the Flyers have prevailed just once in their last 11 visits. Claude Giroux added a goal and an assist for his first multi-point effort of these playoffs, while reserve defenseman Erik Gustafsson also lit the lamp in his series debut. Lundqvist stopped only 19 of 23 shots before being yanked, and the Rangers failed to match their rivals sense of urgency en route to a 12th straight loss in a playoff game they entered with a series lead. The Rangers are 5-0 at home in Games 7, the best record of any team that has played at least three home games. However, the Flyers are 9-6 all-time in Game 7s, the best record of any team that has played at least 10 games overall. This is also the second time the Flyers and Rangers have played a Game 7 against each other. In the 1974 semifinals, the Flyers beat the Rangers, 4-3. In Denver, the Wild and Avalanche will meet in a seventh and deciding game for the first time since 2003, when the Wild defeated the Avalanche - with then-starting netminder Patrick Roy in goal - in Game 7 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. In Game 6 on Monday, Zach Parises second goal of the game broke a tie with 6:29 remaining in the third period and the Wild beat the Avalanche 5-2 to even their first-round Western Conference playoff series. Parise had four points and the Wild survived a minute and 48 seconds against an extra skater after Roy pulled goaltender Semyon Varlamov early again - a strategy that has worked twice in the series. With a victory, the Wild will not only advance to Round 2, but will become the only active NHL, NBA or MLB team to go 3-0 all-time in Games 7. In San Jose, the Sharks are in danger of becoming the fourth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead en route to losing a playoff round when they take on the Kings. Only three teams have ever came back to win a series after dropping the first three games. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and 2010 Philadelphia Flyers are the only clubs to have pulled off the monumental comeback. Alex Stalock, who was in goal for the struggling Antti Niemi on Monday, stopped 26 shots in his first NHL playoff start - a 4-1 loss in Game 6. Niemi will get the call in goal for San Jose in Game 7. "In my mind, if it gets to Game 7, it doesnt matter how it gets there," Sharks forward Logan Couture said on Monday. "It gets there, and youre going for one game. We played all year for the home ice. Im sure our building is going to be loud. Weve got to turn this thing around and win that game." Evan Longoria Rays Jersey . Cabrera is hitting .218 with three homers and 16 RBI in 80 games this season. The Padres recalled second baseman Brooks Conrad from Triple-A El Paso to replace Cabrera on the roster. Andrew Kittredge Jersey . -- LeGarrette Blount made one last big splash into a soggy end zone. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/1836i-mi...ersey-rays.html. The former central defender calmly nodded it down and quietly went about celebrating a win with his staff. For a man who has had a lot on his shoulders this season, it was an appropriate moment. Cheap Rays Jerseys . Next week, hell try to add to the list. A Stanley Cup champion as a rookie, Seguin followed that up by becoming the youngest player to lead the Boston Bruins in scoring. Willy Adames Jersey . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday.Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the American support of the World Cup, the passivity of NHL GMs, the clubhouse issues of Bryce Harper, and the career of the retired Alex Kovalev. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star: My thumb is up to American soccer fans, who have been much maligned over the years. Americans dont like soccer, people say - the same people, of course, year after year. Too little scoring, too much diving, too many ties, blah blah blah. Americans, the laziest critics have said for years, are too good for soccer. That typically mindless braying resurfaced during this World Cup, but a funny thing happened: it was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of support, of enjoyment, of commitment to a U.S. team that didnt have the most talent, but that rewarded its fans with everything it had. TV ratings? Through the roof. Online support? Inescapable. Americans embraced soccer, and it was so much fun. If they cant accept the metric system, they can at least love this. Steve Simmons, Sun Media: My thumb is down to the passivity of NHL general managers, who are sometimes too polite for their own good. The GMs missed out on the opportunity to make an offer to restricted free agent PK Subban and now that Subban has filed for arbitration, his rights are protected by Montreal for the coming season. But if Im a GM, I would have made a monstrous offer to Subban, more than $10 million a year, and not just because he was the only game changing player available. I look at this two ways. If I throw huge money at Subban, I have a shot to get him - albeit its a long shot. And if Montreal matches, which is usually the way these things go, then Im meessing up their payroll.dddddddddddd Either way, I have nothing to lose. Even if the GMs dont agree. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: My thumb is down to Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, for more unwelcome Washington punditry. After missing 57 games following thumb surgery, the uber-talented 21-year-old returned this week full of enthusiasm and suggestions. He critiqued the batting order - he was hitting sixth - and, more tellingly, the personnel. Harper was in left field, not his preferred position of centre, implying that Denard Span, the Nats centre fielder, should have been on the bench. Great for clubhouse chemistry. In publicly slagging first-year manager Matt Williams lineup, the prodigy wasnt breaking one of baseballs murky unwritten rules. He was violating basic workplace etiquette. Everyone has bosses and co-workers, even Harper, the young and the restless. Dave Hodge, TSN: And my thumb is sideways - thats right sideways - to the hockey career of Alex Kovalev, who announced his retirement this week at age 41 after playing last season in Switzerland. Why is my thumb sideways? Well, because like a lot of people, I cant decide whether Kovalev had a great career or is one of the great underachievers in the sport of hockey. The term enigma is thrown around too loosely in sports, especially at Russian hockey players. But how else to describe a player would could appear to be the most talented of any in one game, and then invisible the next, a pattern that existed throughout his career. Fans and even Kovalevs teammates used to debate how hard he was trying on any given night. Which, more than anything he accomplished on the ice … seems destined to be what we remember about him most. ' ' '