DETROIT -- Max Scherzer could have probably pitched one more inning after breezing through the first eight. Detroits powerful offence made that unnecessary. Scherzer allowed two hits and struck out seven, and the Tigers backed their star right-hander with three early homers in an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. With a big lead and Scherzers pitch count in triple digits, manager Brad Ausmus decided to go to the bullpen for the ninth inning, instead of sending his starter back to the mound for three more outs. "I had it in me to be able to do it, and I had an extra day (of rest) coming up this next time," Scherzer said. "But given the context of the game, it wasnt the right decision for me to go back out there. Its an 8-1 game. Ive got my work in." Scherzer retired 23 of the last 24 hitters he faced, and Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez and Torii Hunter all homered as part of a five-run first inning for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who have won 12 of 14. Tampa Bays five-game winning streak came to an end. Detroit leads second-place Kansas City by five games. Scherzer (10-3) allowed a first-inning sacrifice fly by Evan Longoria, but that was the first of 10 straight hitters retired by the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner. After allowing a single in the fourth, Scherzer retired another 13 in a row before he was pulled with a pitch count of 106. There would be no talking the manager into another inning. Ausmus met Scherzer in the dugout and shook his hand. "He was done. I was just confirming to him that he was done," Ausmus said. "It didnt really matter what he said. That was going to be the end for him. There was no reason to send him back out at that point." Erik Bedard (4-6) allowed six runs and eight hits with two walks in two innings. Miguel Cabrera had two doubles, a single, a walk and four runs for Detroit. The Rays are still at the bottom of the AL East, and the improved starting pitching that fueled their recent run was nowhere to be seen Thursday. After a leadoff single by Austin Jackson in the first, Kinsler homered to put the Tigers ahead. Cabreras walk was followed by Martinezs 21st home run. Hunter added a solo shot with one out to make it 5-1. It was Martinezs first game back after he missed three with soreness in his side. Cabrera doubled in the second and scored on J.D. Martinezs single. He also scored on a single by Hunter in the fourth. Scherzer, coming off a 13-strikeout performance against Houston in his previous start, fanned seven with a walk, and the Detroit defence played well behind him. Nick Castellanos made a diving catch in the third when Desmond Jennings hit a line drive to the third basemans left. Then Detroit shortstop Eugenio Suarez jumped high in the air to snag a liner by Ben Zobrist. The first seven spots of Tampa Bays batting order, listed by position, went CF-SS-LF-3B-1B-DH-RF -- or 8-6-7-5-3-0-9. Rays manager Joe Maddon called it a "Tommy Tutone lineup" before the game, in reference to that bands early-80s hit "867-5309/Jenny." Maddon may have scored points with pop music fans of a certain age, but he couldnt have enjoyed watching his hitters scuffle against Scherzer. James Loneys single in the fourth was the only baserunner the Rays managed after the first inning. "We had some good at-bats," Maddon said. "I thought we played well today, but we just got ourselves in a hole, and that let him be more aggressive." Scherzer has only one complete game in his career -- a shutout of the Chicago White Sox less than a month ago. NOTES: The Tigers sent substitute Don Kelly to the on-deck circle in the fourth instead of Castellanos. Ausmus said Castellanos was in the bathroom, and Detroit wanted someone in the on-deck circle if there was a play at the plate -- to signal to the runner whether to slide. ... Scherzer has reached 10 wins every year since the Tigers traded for him before the 2010 season. ... Detroit LHP Drew Smyly (4-7) faces Tampa Bay RHP Alex Cobb (3-6) on Friday night. Darryl Sittler Jersey . Cleveland released the troubled wide receiver on Wednesday, an expected ending after Bess was arrested in January for assaulting a law enforcement officer at an airport and other bizarre behaviour. Zach Hyman Jersey . The first of the three games will be played in Week 4, when the Oakland Raiders will take on the Miami Dolphins on Sept. http://www.officialmapleleafsfanstore.co...e-leafs-jersey/. -- Jimmie Johnson has a sixth NASCAR championship in hand and two legends within reach. Kasperi Kapanen Jersey . The international synchronized skating competition takes place from January 31 - February 1, 2014, and features 39 teams from 10 countries, in senior, junior, and novice. Auston Matthews Jersey . It took five games, but the Celtics finally helped Stevens earn his first NBA victory. "Im going to celebrate for a whole 12 minutes, and then Im going to start watching Orlando and trying to figure them out," the first-year Celtics coach said after Boston beat the Utah Jazz, one of the leagues other winless teams, 97-87 on Wednesday night.NEW YORK -- The goals got uglier as the game wore on, fitting for a playoff contest that was no thing of beauty. But when the dust had settled, and the last puck had bounced in off a Montreal body, the Canadiens were back in the Eastern Conference final against the New York Rangers. Alex Galchenyuks goal 72 seconds into overtime Thursday gave Montreal a 3-2 win on hostile ground, helping the Canadiens get one foot out of their playoff hole. Montreal trails New York two games to one with Game 4 set for Sunday back at Madison Square Garden. Young goalie Dustin Tokarski made 35 saves to keep Montreal in the game, bouncing back from a 3-1 loss in his playoff debut in Game 2 in place of the injured Carey Price. "Dustin Tokarski was phenomenal tonight. Hes a battler, and most important thing, hes a winner," said Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien. "Without Tokarskis performance, probably the result would have been different," he added. Tokarski has a glittering resume outside of the NHL, having won the Calder Cup, the Memorial Cup, world junior championship and even minor hockeys Telus Cup. The native of Humboldt, Sask. was as composed after the game as he was during it, pressed up against a wall and standing on a box while surrounded by a phalanx of media. He was unfazed by the attention, despite having just a dozen NHL games under his belt. "Fun, awesome," he said when asked what his life has been like since taking over the Montreal goal. "I got a few Twitter followers so that was kind of cool." His count was 10,000-plus as of Thursday night. The game was no masterpiece. The officials missed some blatant thuggery and New Yorks Daniel Carcillo may have jostled his way to a suspension after an altercation with a linesman. Tokarskis play wasnt always pretty either but it was effective. He gave up rebounds but the Montreal defence cleaned them up. He clearly grew in confidence as the game wore on, keeping his team in it. "Its been the story all year for us. We find ways (to win), we never quit. Even when people are doubting us," said Montreal forward Daniel Briere, whose late third period goal was cancelled out by an even later one by Chris Kreider that forced the OT. "We dig deep and somehow find a way to come back. Its happened many many times this year. And once again ... We kept telling ourselves we owe Tokarski a win for the way he kept us in, we have to somehow find a way to go get it." In overtime, Henrik Lundqvist made the initial save off Tomas Plekanec but the puck bounced in off the upper torso of an onrushing Galchenyuk. It was a frantic finale to a game that saw three goals in the final four minutes 14 seconds of play. Brieres goal with 3:02 remaining had looked to be the Montreal winner. But with Lundqvist on the New York bench, Kreider tipped in a Dan Girardi shot from an extremely tight angle with 29 seconds left to force overtime. The puck needed help to go in, defecting off the right skate of Canadiens defenceman Alexei Emelin on the way in. Brieres go-ahead goal was equally fortuitous. Lundqvist made a fine stop on a Thomas Vanek shot from in-close. But the puck went to Briere who tucked it back around the post and off the trailing leg of Ryan McDonagh. Tokarski came up big for the Canadiens, keeping the visitors in a game where New York held the upper hand for long periods. Given the ramifications of a third straight Montreal loss, it was a tremendously timely performance. "Its a big win for him. Its a big win for us," said Montreal defenceman P.K. Subban. "This is a huge confidence-booster for our team," he added, Andrei Markov also scored for Montreal, which was outshot 36-33 during regulation time. Carl Hagelin opened the scoring for New York, which had won its five previous playoff games. Emotions ran high from the opening puck drop and former Ranger Brandon Prust applied a match to the fuse just three minutes in when he laid out New York forward Derek Stepan with an elbow/shoulder to the head at the New York blue-line. The officials, watching the play develop ahead, apparently did not see the blow which left Stepan face down on the ice and sent him briefly to the locker-room.dddddddddddd "They missed it," said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. The unpenalized Prust hit led to some frontier justice with Prust and Derek Dorsett fighting after Carcillo took a run at the feisty Hab at 5:51. Carcillo had to be held back as the fight went on, prompting a game misconduct for jostling linesman Scott Driscoll. The league looks poorly on such behaviour and Carcillo could face a lengthy suspension. "Well, he cant do that, obviously, what he did there, but well let the league handle that," Vigneault said. "I believe if a penalty would have been called on Prust, that probably wouldnt have happened, but theres nothing we can do about it." The amped-up crowd starting chanting "These refs suck" and enjoyed what they undoubtedly saw as karma when a Rangers shot nicked one of the referees on the ensuing power play. New York came out fast and led 1-0 after a dominant 20 minutes. But the Canadiens pushed back in the second to tie it up. "For the most part I thought we played a good game. We had some real good looks," said Vigneault. "We had opportunities to take the lead in the game and we didnt. Give credit to (Montreal), their team played hard, their goaltender played well." Montreal had little right to be on even terms going into the third. But thanks to Tokarski the Canadiens were, setting the stage for a tense finale. "We weathered the storm," said Therrien. "I felt our team played with more confidence as the game went on." Dale Weise was almost the hero for the Canadiens with five minute remaining, when an errant clearance went right to him in front of Lundqvist. But the Swedish star goalie stopped his blast from point-blank range. Tokarski stopped 27 of 30 shots in Game 2 -- his 11th NHL game and first playoff outing. And he was busy from the get-go Thursday, keeping the Habs in it with a string of saves. There was less action at the other end although Lundqvists 25-shot night was challenging at times. Coming into Game 3, Lundqvist had saved 162 of 168 shots during the Rangers five-game playoff win streak. And he stopped 60 of the 63 shots he faced in the first two games in Montreal, won 7-2 and 3-1 by the Rangers. Therrien shuffled his lines, moving winger Brian Gionta up to the second line, Weise to the third and dropping the mercurial Vanek to the fourth. Vanek came into the game with no points, one shot, two penalty minutes and a minus-3 in the first two games of the series. The Rangers outshot Montreal 14-4 in the first period, firing pucks from all angles and using their speed to good effect. The Canadiens were lucky not to be down by more when the dust settled, with Tokarski getting the job done one way or another. New Yorks early onslaught came despite winning just seven of 22 faceoffs in the period. The home breakthrough came on the Rangers 12th shot, courtesy of a two-on-one after a Subban shot hit Hagelin and created a two-on-one. Hagelin and Martin St. Louis advanced on defenceman Josh Gorges with Hagelin delaying his pass until the last moment before feeding St. Louis for a one-timer. A sliding Georges, who was virtually on top of Tokarski, somehow stopped the puck but it bounced into the air and Hagelin knocked it in from mid-air at 15:18. Montreal struck back at 3:20 of the second period after a seeing-eye pass across the New York zone from Max Pacioretty found Markov creeping in from the point and the defenceman beat Lundqvist with a low shot. Tokarski made big saves before and after the scoring play to keep the Habs in it. He stopped St. Louis on the doorstep, somehow getting his pad and glove up to stop the Ranger sniper. The shots were 13-9 in favour of New York in the period. NOTES -- Sting, Michael J. Fox, Susan Sarandon and Catherine Keener were among the celebrities in the crowd ... The game came one year to the day that Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was fired by the Vancouver Canucks. Cheap Celtics JerseysWholesale Nets JerseysCheap Knicks JerseysCheap Stitched 76ers JerseysRaptors Jerseys ChinaCheap Bulls JerseysWholesale Cavaliers JerseysPistons Jerseys ChinaPacers Jerseys ChinaCheap Bucks Jerseys OnlineWholesale Hawks JerseysCheap Hornets JerseysWholesale Heat JerseysCheap Magic Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Wizards JerseysNuggets Jerseys ChinaTimberwolves Jerseys ChinaCheap Thunder Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Blazers JerseysWholesale Jazz JerseysCheap Warriors Jerseys For SaleCheap Clippers JerseysLakers Jerseys ChinaWholesale Suns JerseysCheap Kings Jerseys AuthenticCheap Mavericks JerseysRockets Jerseys ChinaCheap Grizzlies JerseysWholesale Pelicans JerseysSpurs Jerseys China ' ' '