emain the highest-ranked, at seven, three spots ahead of the Montr

MONTREAL - So close and yet so far. Air Force 1 Red Fake . That was how defenceman Josh Gorges felt after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 loss in Game 6 to the Rangers in New York on Thursday night. It was a second trip to the Eastern Conference final for Gorges, who was there in 2010 when the Canadiens lost to Philadelphia after upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds. His disappointment at bowing out again without reaching the Stanley Cup final was evident. "This harder to accept because I can see the window of opportunity closing bit by bit," said the 29-year-old Gorges. "The older you get, the more you realize how difficult it is. We were so close." At the start of the season, it was widely felt the Canadiens would be among the group of teams having to battle for the final playoff spots, but an 11-3-1 spurt down the stretch saw them finish with 100 points, good for fourth in the conference. Then they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of playoffs and upset their biggest rival, the first-place Boston Bruins, in a heated, seven-game conference semifinal before bowing out to the Rangers. More than one player noted when the playoff run was over that the team has a bright future, although coach Michel Therrien didnt want to think about next year so soon after a bitter defeat. "Its really tough talking about the entire season, because I know its like when you get close to achieving a goal, it hurts," he said. "It hurts more when youre close. "There are 29 teams this year that are going to be disappointed, and one team is going to be enjoying their season while winning the Stanley Cup. That is the purpose. But I look at the season and we made some big progress this year. Im proud of this hockey team. We battled hard through the regular season and we battled hard in the playoffs." The players are to have their exit interviews on Saturday and general manager Marc Bergevin will review the season with the media on Monday morning. There are likely to be changes. Bergevins priority will no doubt be signing star defenceman P.K. Subban to what could be a major multi-year contract. The 25-year-old who won the Norris Trophy in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and who leads the team in ice time is due to become a restricted free agent on July 1. Negotiations may be difficult, with Subban likely to end up among the leagues highest-paid players, even if a rival team doesnt make him an offer. Other potential RFAs are centre Lars Eller, who had a disappointing regular season but was second on the team in playoff scoring, late-season pickup and playoff surprise Dale Weise and forward Ryan White, who didnt see any playoff action. He must also decide whether to try to keep unrestricted free agents Andrei Markov, Brian Gionta, Thomas Vanek, Mike Weaver, Francis Bouillon, Douglas Murray and George Parros. Markov, a mainstay on the defence since 2000, is 35 and, while he is still a skilled and heady playmaker, has become slower on his skates. Its somewhat the same for Gionta, the 35-year-old captain whose points production is on the wane. Vanek has said repeatedly he will test the free agent market and Bergevin will need to decide whether to bid for him. Weaver, another late-season acquisition, is 36 but Bergevin may make the third-pair defenceman an offer because of his solid post-season play. He earned $1.1 million this season. Bouillons history with Therrien goes back to junior hockey, but the stocky defenceman is 38 and may have reached the end of his career. It would be surprising if the painfully slow Murray and little-used enforcer Parros were back. Decisions on defence will be influenced by young blue-liners who may be ready to be full-time NHL players, including Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi and Greg Pateryn, who had 15 goals for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Bergevin will also need to sort out his goaltending. When Carey Price was injured in the opening game of the conference final, Therrien turned to third-stringer Dustin Tokarski over back-up Peter Budaj. Tokarski played brilliantly and looks to have taken over the back-up job, but Budaj has a year left on a contract that pays $1.4 million. Players signed long-term include Price, Gorges, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty. The easy one will be signing a new deal with Therrien, whose two-year contract is up. Bergevin has already hinted that he will keep the 50-year-old coach. --- With files from Canadian Press sports reporter Bill Beacon. Air Force 1 Cheap Outlet . The Toronto Blue Jays star won his second consecutive Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive performer in the AL on Monday after votes by fans and a panel of Hall of Famers were tallied. Air Force 1 Black Cheap .com) - Jeff Teague had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 90-85 on Saturday night. http://www.airforce1storesale.com/ . -- Tony Finau won the Stonebrae Classic on Sunday for his first Web.The St. Louis Blues have returned to the top spot in the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings, just ahead of the rising Anaheim Ducks and last weeks No. 1, Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues outscored opponents by 20 goals during a recent seven-game winning streak (halted Friday by Vancouver) and are expecting a return from their best player this season, left winger Alexander Steen, who has been sidelined by a concussion. With goaltender Ben Bishop slated to return from injury, the Tampa Bay Lightning vault up from 21 to 12, their highest ranking since early November (in a related story, Steven Stamkos was injured November 11). 8-2-1 in their past 11 games, the New York Rangers have been climbing after a slow start, and are up to 14 from 18 last week, matching their preseason ranking as their highest for the season. Seven wins in 10 games has helped lift the Columbus Blue Jackets, from 24 to 17 this week, who have also had their lineup bolstered recently by goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and right winger Nathan Horton cooming back from injury. Air Force 1 White Fake. Heading the other way, the Dallas Stars have dropped six straight games and fell from 12 to 18, while the Nashville Predators, with one win in the past seven games, are down from 15 to 22. The Toronto Maple Leafs got thumped but good, outscored 21-7 in a four-game span prior to Sundays shootout win, and dropped from 16 to 23, while the Winnipeg Jets were outscored 24-14 during a five-game losing streak that cost head coach Claude Noel his job and knocked the Jets down from 14 to 24 in the rankings. Among other Canadian teams, the Vancouver Canucks remain the highest-ranked, at seven, three spots ahead of the Montreal Canadiens, who are down one spot to 10. The Ottawa Senators are up one, from 17 to 16, same goes for the Edmonton Oilers, from 28 to 27, and the Calgary Flames are crashing, down from 27 to 29. 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. ' ' '