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VANCOUVER -- Playing the first NHL game in your hometown is a special experience. Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher gets to do it twice in three nights. The 21-year-old, who was born in Edmonton, had a goal and an assist in Thursdays 4-1 road victory over the Oilers. His second homecoming goes Saturday night in Vancouver when the Canadiens visit the Canucks. Gallaghers family moved from Edmonton to nearby Delta, B.C., when he was 12 after his father got a job as the Vancouver Giants strength and conditioning coach. The younger Gallagher, who later starred with the Western Hockey League club, said after Fridays practice at Rogers Arena that hes looking forward to the second half of this unique experience. "I grew up watching a lot of games at Rexall Place (in Edmonton)," he said. "To walk out of that tunnel last night was pretty cool and its going to be the same thing here. "When the schedule came out I definitely checked for it and now that its here its pretty exciting." Gallagher, who expects 10 to 15 family and friends to be in the stands Saturday and had even more supporters in the crowd in Edmonton, was drafted by Montreal in the fifth round in 2010 after being selected taken in the ninth round of the WHL draft by the Giants. "When I first step on the ice itll to be pretty cool," he said. "Theres going to be a lot of people watching that helped me get to this point and sacrificed a lot so you want to play well and show them how proud you are of what theyve done for you." The five-foot-nine, 180-pound Gallagher, in his second season with Montreal, plays a gritty style that has endeared him to his teammates. "Hes an in-your-face little rat -- one of those guys you want to beat up on the other team, but we love it on our side," joked Canadiens forward Brandon Prust. "He doesnt shy away from anybody. He goes to the net hard. Hes a guy that every team wants." Gallagher scored 136 goals and 280 points, both franchise records, in 244 career games with the Giants between 2008 and 2012, usually getting under the skin of opponents in the process. "From when I was a young boy I played the same way and did the same things. The only way I can be successful is playing that style of hockey," said Gallagher. "I know that if Im not doing that Im not a very good player." He had 10 goals and 10 assists in 36 games during the NHL lockout with the American Hockey Leagues Hamilton Bulldogs before being called up to the Canadiens once the season started. All he did in his first campaign with Montreal was score 15 goals and 13 assists to be named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the leagues top rookie. "Hes got an unbelievable work ethic. Hes very pesky around the net, very resilient. He gets knocked down (but) hes right back in your face," said Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. "Its that sort of determination that wed like to see from everybody on every given night, but thats just his makeup as a player. "Its no surprise to me hes had so much success so early in his career." Fans of both the Canucks and Oilers have wondered aloud how their teams missed out on what both see as a "local product," but Gallagher -- who almost always has a smile on his face -- is glad he found his way to Montreal. "When I got drafted it was a tremendous feeling to go to an organization like the Canadiens. I was thrilled," he said. "Since Ive gotten there theyve treated me so well that Im happy (with) the situation that Im in. "I wouldnt change it for anything." The Canadiens will be without captain Brian Gionta on Saturday. He returned to Montreal for family reasons. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . The Canadian tennis players first full season on the WTA Tour was a strong one. She has risen to No. 32 in the world rankings and will likely be seeded at the first Grand Slam event of the 2014 season. Wholesale Jerseys China . Thats exactly what happened. And they enjoyed every moment. Durant remained sizzling with 33 points, Serge Ibaka added 22 and the Thunder roared back from an abysmal start -- they trailed 22-4 early -- to embarrass the Miami Heat 112-95 on Wednesday night, erasing that big deficit out of the gate by outscoring the two-time defending champions by 43 points over a 33-minute span. http://www.wholesalejerseysnhl.com/. PAUL, Minn. NHL Jerseys From China . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. Wholesale Hockey Jerseys .com) - The Vancouver Canucks recovered from a fluke goal early last time out to knock off one of the top teams in the league.INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 8 Michigan ended 15 years of Big Ten tournament frustration Saturday. Theres still some work to do before it can really celebrate. After blowing a 12-point second-half lead against its most bitter rival, Michigan closed the game with a 7-1 run and survived a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds for its first tourney win over No. 24 Ohio State, 72-69. "We werent thinking about winning the Big Ten Conference championship, the tournament," Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas said. "We were thinking about just beating Ohio State. This is a rivalry game." For the Big Ten regular-season champs, it was a big moment. Michigan (25-7) hadnt won a semifinal game since 1998, when it won the inaugural tourney title only to vacate it because of NCAA rules violations. Since then, the Wolverines hadnt even won two straight games in the league tourney and had lost all six times it played the dreaded Buckeyes in Indianapolis or Chicago. Not this time. The top-seeded Wolverines started the game with an offensive flurry and ended it with a stout defensive stretch that ended with Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft losing control of the ball as he tried a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime. Instead, the Wolverines came up with the loose ball to eliminate the conferences defending tourney champion. Stauskas finished with 18 points. Ohio native Caris LeVert had 17 points and seven rebounds and Glenn Robinson III wound up with 11 points, including two free throws that gave Michigan the lead for good with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines won their seventh straight in large part because they were 12 of 23 on 3-pointers against the Big Tens top-rated 3-point defence and didnt allow a basket over the final four minutes. The only thing sweeter than beating the Buckeyes would be winning Sundays title game against No. 22 Michigan State. The Wolverines won both games against the third-seeded Spartans this season. Michigan State advanced with an 85-73 win over second-seeded Wisconsin in the second semifinal. "Those are the three best defensive teams in our league. Theyre just really difficult to score points on," coach John Beilein said, referring to thee Badgers, Buckeyes and Spartans.dddddddddddd. But getting to Sunday wasnt easy, either. Michigan blew a 13-point lead in Fridays quarterfinal victory, surviving a scare from ninth-seeded Illinois when Jordan Morgans layup rolled in with 7.9 seconds to go and Illinois guard Tracy Abrams missed a driving layup at the buzzer. It was more of the same Saturday. Michigan led by as much as 16 in the first half and 12 in the second and still needed another late miscue to seal the win. Ohio State (25-9) was led by LaQuinton Ross with 19 points and Shannon Scott with 18, nearly pulling off a second stunning comeback in two days. After digging out of an 18-point deficit to beat Nebraska in Fridays quarterfinals, the Buckeyes wound up losing for only the third time in 10 games. "I feel like as a team when our heads underwater, we start fighting more," Scott said. "We started doing that again today." Ohio State, which struggled to open both halves, just couldnt finish this one off. Michigan opened the game with three straight 3s and led 15-2 after its opening flurry. The Buckeyes clawed back late in the half, getting within 41-37. But Ohio State gave up three more 3s to open the second half, allowing the Spartans to push the lead to 54-42 with 16:02 left. Again the Buckeyes rallied, using a 10-2 spurt that ended with Sam Thompsons alley-oop dunk, giving Ohio State its first lead at 61-60. Thats when last years national runner-up buckled down defensively. Michigan cut the Ohio State lead to 68-67 on an 18-foot jumper from Stauskas and regained the lead when Robinson made the two free throws. The Buckeyes couldnt get anything to go over the final four minutes, missing five straight shots and three of four free throws before Craft said the ball slipped out of his hands at the end. "I feel so fortunate right now," Beilein said. "You look at so many of our games down the stretch here, theyve ended just like this and the ball keeps bouncing our way. You only can have that type of luck if you have guys like these guys sitting next to me. They make enough smart plays to keep you in the game, and some games the ball will just bounce your way." ' ' '