All that tinkering paid off when the Chicago Blackhawks needed it the most.

Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw each had a timely power-play goal, and the Blackhawks avoided elimination with a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night in Game 5 of the second-round playoff series.

“I’ve been saying it over and over the last couple of days: Stay positive and stick with it and things have to turn your away eventually, and they did tonight,” Toews said.

The 21-year-old Shaw added his third career playoff goal in the third as the Blackhawks stopped the Red Wings’ three-game winning streak by creating chaos in front of Jimmy Howard, who had shut down Chicago’s attack while moving Detroit to the brink of the Western Conference finals.

With the sellout crowd chanting “Ho-ward! Ho-ward!” in an attempt to shake him, the standout goalie made 41 saves in another solid performance. But the Blackhawks created enough quality chances that he simply couldn’t stop all of them.

“We knew it. We knew we were going to have to weather the storm early against them and I thought we did that,” Howard said. “We got it going there, but they just kept coming and coming.”

Bryan Bickell scored the first goal of the game and Corey Crawford had 25 stops for Chicago, which managed only two goals during its first three-game losing streak of the season.

Daniel Cleary scored for the second straight game for Detroit, which will have another chance to close out the top-seeded Blackhawks in Game 6 on Monday night. That will be at home, too, where the Red Wings are 4-1 in this post-season.

“We weren’t good enough tonight as far as our plan we have to play to be successful,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “There was too much space and they were just freewheeling around having fun. It just goes to show you how hard it is to win and you’ve got to compete and do things right in order to be successful.”

Detroit trailed 1-0 before Cleary completed a strong rush during a 4-on-4 stretch in the second period, beating Crawford from a tough angle on the left side for his fourth goal of the post-season. Henrik Zetterberg set up the score by throwing the puck across the crease while Brendan Smith was streaking toward the net.

Back came Chicago, which responded with two of its best power plays in weeks. The Blackhawks had converted only three of their first 25 chances in the post-season, and coach Joel Quenneville tried all sorts of combinations in practice to no avail.

He finally got what he wanted in Game 5.

First, Shaw had a perfect tip on Duncan Keith’s slap shot to make it 2-1 at 13:08. Then Justin Abdelkader received his second penalty, this one for cross checking, and Toews wristed a shot off Howard’s facemask and into the upper right corner.

“Good things come from shooting the puck,” Shaw said. “There’s rebounds, there’s loose pucks, and we had all guys converging to the net and we just kept picking them up and hemmed them in there and tired them out and we were rewarded.”

It was Toews’ first playoff goal since April 21, 2012, at Phoenix, snapping a scoreless post-season drought of 10 games. It also came after he appeared frustrated while committing three penalties in the second period of Game 4.

The captain was mobbed by his teammates after he skated to the boards, and the crowd of 22,014 roared its approval.

“It is a relief. It’s a confidence builder,” Toews said. “You know the way you’re working is adding up to something. You want to keep that going now. If I keep shooting the puck there’s a good chance it’s going in. The goaltender has to make a stop.”

Chicago got off to a good start with a 4-1 victory in Game 1 of the series, but it had been all Detroit since that opening win. The Red Wings turned up the pressure on defence and Howard had an amazing 86 stops on 88 shots over three straight wins that pushed the Blackhawks to the edge of an early post-season exit.

Back at home after managing just one goal in a pair of losses in Detroit, the Blackhawks came out with a spirited opening period. Brent Seabrook, who played only 12 minutes in Game 4, and Bickell each delivered a huge hit in the opening minutes.

Bickell then plowed ahead to set up Chicago’s first goal since the third period of Game 3. Howard turned away Bickell’s first charge, but he skated around to the other side of the net and was right there to slam home on the rebound when Patrick Kane was denied.

Bickell pumped both his arms after he gave the Blackhawks their first lead in a week. It was the fourth goal of the season for physical forward, but his first since Game 4 of the first-round series against Minnesota.

The Red Wings then rushed down the ice, and Crawford turned away quality opportunities for Joakim Andersson and Gustav Nyquist. Crawford made 11 saves in the opening period.

“It’s hard to match that when their backs were against the wall,” Cleary said. “But we have to be ready to go like our backs are against the wall on Monday.”

NOTES: Chicago Blackhawks Charities donated their portion of the Split the Pot money from Game 5 to the OK Strong Disaster Relief Fund to benefit the victims of the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma.

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Former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos also stopped Mark Hunt on a spinning kick to the head with 42 seconds left in the third round at the MGM Grand Garden, likely setting up a third fight between Dos Santos and Velasquez in the near future.

Velasquez (12-1) made his first successful title defence in style, rocking Silva in the opening minute before connecting with a right hand to Silva’s chin and mercilessly punishing him on the ground.

“I want the best fights against the best guys, and this just comes with it,” Velasquez said, indicating the championship belt around his waist.

Dos Santos (16-2) is hungry for another title shot after dispatching the tenacious Hunt with a risky, acrobatic kick in the final minute of a fight he appeared to be winning.

“I want that so bad,” Dos Santos said. “Because, man, I really believe I can be the champion again, and I’ll do my best to get there.”

Earlier on the pay-per-view card, Brazilian light heavyweight Glover Teixeira needed only 2:38 to submit James Te Huna with a guillotine choke for his 19th consecutive win, and Nova Scotia’s T.J. Grant earned a likely lightweight title shot with a dynamic first-round stoppage of Gray Maynard.

Silva (18-5) was a heavy underdog in the UFC’s usual Memorial Day weekend show in its hometown. He earned this unlikely title shot with two upset victories in the past year since his first fight with Velasquez, who battered him in a bloody first-round stoppage victory a year ago in the same arena.

Although Velasquez didn’t get much of a chance to show off his comprehensive skills against Silva, he still proved why he might be the first UFC heavyweight champion to stick around for a while.

The heavyweight belt has been historically difficult to defend, with champions winning only about 50 per cent of their fights while lower-weight champions such as Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre have reigned uninterrupted for years. Velasquez lost his first defence to Dos Santos, who defended the belt just once before Velasquez took it back.

In UFC 160′s penultimate fight, Dos Santos and Hunt (9-8) largely stayed on their feet, trading huge shots and showing off admirable chins in a crowd-pleasing display of striking. Dos Santos knocked down Hunt with an overhand right in the first round, but the veteran knockout artist bounced right up and kept coming forward despite taking considerable punishment.

Dos Santos likely had a comfortable lead on the scorecards against his bloodied opponent, but he kept trying for a knockout — even by unusual means. Moments after Dos Santos stunned Hunt with a left hand, he spun and launched a wheel kick that caught Hunt squarely on the top of the head, sending him backward in a heap.

Dos Santos pounced and landed one big punch before the fight was stopped. The former champion said he had never tried a spinning kick like that in a fight.

“He’s very dangerous. I had to respect him,” Dos Santos said. “He’s dangerous, and a very nice guy, so I like people like him. This time, everything was right.”

Velasquez’s win was another impressive performance by the former Arizona State wrestler who won the heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Brock Lesnar in October 2010, becoming the first Mexican-American to hold a major heavyweight belt in boxing or MMA.

But Velasquez lost the belt 13 months later to Dos Santos, getting stopped 64 seconds into his first title defence. Velasquez never blamed an apparently significant knee injury for that loss to Dos Santos, but he returned to the cage determined to erase that memory.

His first fight back was against Silva, whose face was cut open by Velasquez’s elbows in the opening minute. Silva survived just over 3 1/2 minutes, but left a sickening amount of blood on the canvas by the time Velasquez finished.

Silva had two straight losses, yet he rebounded with improbable victories over Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem, the Dutch kickboxer widely expected to be Velasquez’s next challenger. Silva ruined those plans with a dramatic third-round stoppage in February after Overeem handily won the first two rounds.

Dos Santos hadn’t fought since Velasquez reclaimed the belt with a comprehensive beating at UFC 155 in the same MGM Grand Garden cage. The fight left Dos Santos with a badly injured jaw and a discolored, swollen face requiring a few months to heal.

Hunt was an unlikely choice to get to the brink of a heavyweight title shot, but the New Zealand-born, Australia-based slugger bounced back from six consecutive losses with four straight victories, including knockouts of Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve in his last two bouts.

Hunt nearly didn’t even make it to Las Vegas after getting into visa trouble while trying to leave Australia, apparently because of an old arrest.

Teixeira (21-2) hasn’t lost an MMA fight since March 2005, and he earned his fourth UFC victory by disposing of New Zealand’s Te Huna, an injury replacement for Ryan Bader. After Teixeira pulled guard and caught Te Huna in a guillotine for a quick submission, the Brazilian celebrated with Mike Tyson in the octagon.

“My job is to finish the fight, and I did it pretty well,” Teixeira said.

Grant pulled a mild upset with his first-round win over Maynard, a longtime title contender coming off an 11-month layoff. Grant knocked Maynard backward with a big right hand and never let up, chasing the stumbling Maynard around the cage until the fight was stopped just 2:07 in.

“I’ve been working that exact combo, and it was just beautiful,” Grant said. “I practiced that for like the last eight weeks straight, and it worked. … Gray is not a guy I wanted to go to the ground with, and I saw he didn’t move his feet too well, so I knew there were openings.”

Grant (21-5) has won five straight fights since moving to lightweight, and the Canadian’s latest victory should lead to a fight against lightweight champion Benson Henderson soon. Before the fight, UFC President Dana White said the winner would likely get a title shot.

Earlier, lightweight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone won every round in a bloody decision over K.J. Noons, the former Strikeforce fighter making his UFC debut. Cerrone earned his seventh win in nine UFC fights, but left with bloody cuts on his right eye and right elbow.

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Instead, the Bruins coach waited until after Tuukka Rask responded with 28 saves to help Boston beat New York 3-1 in Game 5 on Saturday and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

“That’s what I told Tuukka at the end of the game, ‘You can start laughing now,”‘ Julien said after the Bruins followed their seven-game series against Toronto by avoiding a nail-biter against the Rangers.

“We probably played with fire in the first round and almost got burnt,” Julien said. “We knew we couldn’t let our guard down (against New York). Because if we did, they would come right back at us.”

Gregory Campbell scored twice and recent call-up Torey Krug scored his fourth goal of the series for Boston, which will meet Pittsburgh for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Bruins reached the third round of the NHL playoffs for the second time since 1992.

The other was 2011, when the Bruins won the sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Tim Thomas was in goal then, and Rask’s playoff memories aren’t quite so fond. The 26-year-old Finn was the Bruins’ starter when they blew a 3-0 lead in the 2010 East semifinals against Philadelphia, giving up a 3-0 lead in Game 7 as the Flyers advanced.

Boston was up 3-0 in the second-round series against New York this year, with a 2-0 lead in Game 4 when Rask tripped on a rut in the crease and flailed at a slow-moving puck as it rolled over the line. The Rangers went on to win 4-3 in overtime, forcing the series back to Boston for a fifth game.

“We wanted to make sure we ended this series — for all the right reasons,” including rest for players who went to overtime in Game 7 against Toronto, Julien said. “It also gives Tuukka the opportunity to laugh about that goal.”

Rask made sure there wouldn’t be another collapse, stopping Ryan Callahan on a breakaway with just under 10 minutes to play. Callahan split the defence and went to his backhand, but Rask turned it away with the blocker on his right arm.

“As a goalie, you expect to make one or two big saves. And today it happened,” Rask said. “I didn’t feel bad about myself after Game 4; obviously, there was a little screw-up there with that goal. But I didn’t let that bother me, and I felt like I played a decent game after that.

“Coming in today, I just wanted to be rock solid back there, and give our team a chance to win the game.”

Campbell broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, then added an empty-netter with 51 seconds left to clinch it after Henrik Lundqvist was pulled for an extra skater.

Lundqvist made 29 saves and Dan Girardi scored for the Rangers, who lost to New Jersey in last year’s East finals.

“I expected more from us, and I hoped for more,” Lundqvist said. “Right now, it’s just an empty feeling, and disappointment. Some years you don’t really have a chance to go that far in the playoffs, you just battle hard. I think this year, we had a pretty good team, but there were a few games when we didn’t reach our top level. When you play a team like Boston, it’s going to be tough to beat them.”

The Rangers fell behind 3-0 in the series before winning Game 4 on Thursday night to avoid a sweep, thanks in part to two soft goals that caught Rask off-guard. They took an early lead on Saturday, but they could not send the series back to New York for a sixth game.

“I watched our team fight tonight to extend this series. We get it on a big guy’s stick with a chance to tie it,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “So it goes. They were the better team. They deserved to win.”

Girardi made it 1-0 on a power-play goal with 9:21 left in first, one-timing a pass from Mats Zucarello into the net. The Bruins scored a power-play goal of their own 3:48 into the second when Krug took a pass from Tyler Seguin and hit the top of the net.

Ten minutes later, Daniel Paille sent the puck to the net and it got caught up in traffic. Shawn Thornton knocked it to Campbell, who swept it in for the go-ahead goal.

The Rangers pulled Lundqvist with 1:15 left, but the Bruins quickly found the empty net on a slow-rolling shot by Campbell.

Notes: The Rangers had been 3-for-42 in the playoffs on the power play, but they scored on one for the second straight game … Krejci led all scorers in the playoffs (5G, 12A) entering Saturday’s game. … Bruins D Dennis Seidenberg, who was injured in the first minute of Game 7 in the first round, returned to the lineup. Dougie Hamilton was a scratch. … Rangers F Brad Richards, the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, was a scratch for the second straight game. … Rangers F Derek Stepan took a puck in the face in the first period and skated off but returned a short time later.

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The result

The day’s main talking points:

1. Bayern’s will to win: Bayern took one more step towards greatness, adding their fifth European crown to the Bundesliga title it won in record fashion earlier this season. Now all that stands in their way is Stuttgart in the final on the German Cup on June 1. If the Bavarian outfit can win that, it would cap off a treble-winning season that will go down as one of the greatest club campaigns in history. Don’t bet against Bayern from pulling it off. They’ve firmly established themselves as the new kings of world football, having rolled over Arsenal, Juventus, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in quick succession to win the Champions League. No doubt Bayern is loaded with talent and depth at every position on the field. But what put them over the top was their unmatched will to win. They only suffered one loss in the entire Bundesliga season, were only beaten twice in the entire Champions League campaign, and now look dead certain to win next week’s German Cup. Bayern, for all of its quality, has demonstrated a will to win far greater than any other club on the planet right now. We saw it in their historical destruction of Barcelona in the semifinals, and it was this virtue that allowed them to emerge victorious at Wembley. After notching the equalizer in the 68th minute, momentum shifted to Dortmund’s favour and it looked as though they had Bayern on the back foot. But Bayern did what it’s done so many times this season: find a way to win. That’ll be the legacy of this fantastic team.

2. Robben to the rescue: Arjen Robben is a player who tends to divide opinion among soccer fans, and Saturday’s final was no exception. This contest saw the very worst of the Dutchman – going down too easily under challenges, showing a lack of commitment, over reliance on his left foot, and a shameful reluctance to pass the ball and trying to do it all himself. Time and time again, he wasted quality scoring chances, including a handful of misses in the first half that were absolutely criminal. Robben’s worst transgression came in the 74th minute with the score tied. Thomas Müller latched onto the ball and rounded Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, with his shot looking destined for the back of the net. But Dortmund defender Neven Subotić slid to make a goal-line clearance with Robben bearing down on him. The Dutchman looked pretty lethargic on the play, and if he legged it out a bit more, he probably could have beat Subotić to the ball and tapped it in. However, we also saw the best of Robben and how the Dutchman caused plenty of problems for Dortmund’s defence. It was Robben who when he appeared to be running out of room near the byline managed to beat his marker and play a ball across to the back post Mario Mandžukić to tap in and give Bayern the lead after 60 minutes. And then, of course, there was the winning goal when Robben kept his composure as he rounded Weidenfeller and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net.

3. Goalkeeper’s dual: Realizing he wasn’t the star of the show, Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli didn’t call every little marginal foul and allowed the players to decide the contest. As a result, spectators were treated to an open game with both sides committed to paying attacking soccer. No surprise, then, that there were plenty of scoring chances over the 90 minutes, but instead of the scorers taking centre stage, it was the goalkeepers. The match quickly became a dual between the two acclaimed shot stoppers, with Dortmund’s Roman Weidenfeller and Bayern’s Manuel Neur making a series of outstanding saves. Neur, in particular, was outstanding early on, making no less than four saves in the opening 22 minutes to keep Bayern in the contest. Weidenfeller came up huge several times in the second half, keeping the game on a knife edge before he was beaten by Robben in the final minute of regulation. It was shame that it had to end that way for Weidenfeller, but really, he had no chance of stopping the Dutchman after he ran onto Franck Ribery’s back-heeled flick-on into the area.

Sportsnet’s play of the day

Six pack of facts

Dortmund was undefeated against Bayern in their previous six league games (four wins and two draws).

Bayern won its last five Champions League games (quarter-finals, semifinals and final) by an aggregate score of 13-1.

Bayern could become the first German team to win the Treble (league championship, domestic cup, and the Champions League or European Cup). Bayern meets Stuttgart in the German Cup final on June 1.

Only six teams have ever won a league, domestic cup and European Cup/Champions League treble: Celtic (1966-67), Ajax (1971-72), PSV Eindhoven (1987-88), Manchester United (1998-99), Barcelona (2008-09) and Inter Milan (2009-10)

Bayern now has five Champions League/European Cups, tied with Liverpool. Only AC Milan (seven) and Real Madrid (nine) have won it more often.

In the Bundesliga and Champions League this season, Bayern has won 39 of the 41 games they’ve led (with two draws).

Goal of the day

The game seemed destined for extra time when Arjen Robben decided the matter in the 89th minute. Franck Ribery caused some havoc down the left side before the ball broke into the box. Robben kept his composure as he beat Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller with a delicate finish, rolling the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Save of the day

With the game tied 1-1 and both sides pressing, Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller came up with stop of the match. David Alaba unleashed a fierce shot from the edge of the penalty area that seemed destined for the top corner, but Weidenfeller parried it away with both hands to keep the game tied.

Tweet of the day

Robben scored the winner, but he missed a fistful of chances in the first half, prompting this:

Bayern’s players get a lot of publicity for their Mrs but Robben’s misses are becoming more famous than any good looking WAGS.

— Kristian Jack (@KristianJack) May 25, 2013

Burning questions

Who will make way in Bayern Munich’s starting line-up next season when Mario Götze joins the Bavarian club from Borussia Dortmund during this summer’s transfer window?

Has Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, uncapped by Germany, done enough to earn a call up to the national team?

How will Pep Guardiola keep Bayern on top of the Bundesliga and Europe when he takes over the coaching reins this summer?

Is this the start of the process that sees Dortmund dismantled as Europe’s glamour clubs pick off Dortmund’s best players, much like it happened with Ajax after it won the 1995 Champions league final?

3 stars

1) Roman Weidenfeller: The 32-year old goalkeeper kept Dortmund in the game and came up with several sensational stops in the second half. If not for him, Bayern could have won 3-1.

2) Arjen Robben: He squandered plenty of chances, but he set up the goal by Mario Mandžukić that gave Bayern the lead, and then netted the winner that delivered the Bavarians their fifth title.

3) Manuel Neur: Not to be outdone by Weidenfeller, the Bayern shot stopper also made a handful of outstanding saves in a game especially early on, to prevent Dortmund from running away with it.

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“The loss can be solely hung around my neck for sure,” the right-handed knuckleball pitcher said after Toronto fell 6-5 to the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. “If I pitch better we win the game.”

J.J. Hardy and Danny Valencia each drove in two runs and Freddy Garcia (1-2) pitched five innings for the Orioles before a crowd of 35,915 at Rogers Centre.

Garcia allowed nine hits, including a home run by Emilio Bonifacio, and limited Toronto to three runs (two earned) to gain his first win in five starts this season.

It was the second win in a row for the Orioles (27-22) over the Blue Jays (20-29) and assured them of at least a split in the four-game series that ends Sunday.

Hardy hit a two-run single in the first, Valencia hit a two-run homer in the third and Adam Jones hit a solo homer in the seventh against Dickey (4-6) who allowed nine hits and six runs in 6 2/3 innings.

The Blue Jays trailed 3-1 after one inning and 5-2 after three.

“Early in the game cost him,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “You look at some of the games that he’s struggled, they put some runs up on the board early and then he finds his groove and it was the same way today.

“Of course, he gave up the solo home run late but, other than that, in the middle innings he was very good. We made a run at it, we just came up short.”

Dickey has yet to find the form that won him the National League Cy Young Award in 2012 when he was with the New York Mets. Injuries, including back spasms, have hampered him and he cannot throw his knuckleball as hard as he did last year.

“I’m kind of just punching the clock right now,” he said.

“I’m searching for it. I certainly haven’t felt like I did last year. There are some concrete reasons and there some reasons that I can iron out in the bullpen between starts.”

The roof was open on a sunny but chilly afternoon.

“It was not ideal conditions but it was okay,” Dickey said. “I’ve pitched just fine in conditions similar to today so that’s certainly not an excuse.”

Jose Bautista and Adam Lind each had three hits for the Blue Jays, who had 13 hits on the day and have 30 hits over their past two games, both losses.

“At least we put ourselves in that position to almost go ahead and get the lead but they had a pretty good pitcher out there,” Lind said. “Everybody one through nine did their job today for the most part. I guess we could have had a couple of more hits with runners in scoring position but that’s all you can ask is to have the guys on base.”

Jim Johnson picked up his 15th save of the season, ending a string of three successive blown save opportunities.

“Jimmy was going to pitch today,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “He had three days off. Once again Jim Johnson closing a one-run lead on the road in the American League East against a team as hot as anybody. That’s pretty impressive.”

The Orioles scored three runs in the first inning. After a walk to Nick Markakis, Chris Davis doubled in a run with two out and Hardy singled in a pair.

“If I could take the Markakis at-bat away in the first we probably win the game, it was a walk a four-pitch walk,” Dickey said. “It was just tough to get the feel early. I grew into it a little but by that time we had already given up three runs.”

The Blue Jays answered with one run in their half of the first. Melky Cabrera and Bautista singled, Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play and Lind singled in a run.

Bonifacio hit his second homer of the season with one out in the second to cut Baltimore’s lead to 3-2.

But Valencia restored the three-run lead in the third when his second homer of the series and of the season followed. Hardy’s two-out double.

Cabrera’s wall-crashing catch on Jones’ deep drive to left field ended the top of the fourth and kept the Blue Jays within three runs.

Garcia’s throwing error on a trickler along the first-base line by Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., gave the Blue Jays an unearned run in the fifth. It scored Bautista who singled with one out and took third on Lind’s two-out single.

Jones sent Dickey from the game with his ninth homer of the season, a long drive to left with two out in the seventh.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the eighth after Lawrie led off with a double against reliever Steve Johnson, pinch hitter Maicer Izturis walked with two out and Munenori Kawasaki singled in a run. Cabrera greeted reliever Darren O’Day with a single to cut the lead to 6-5. But Jim Johnson closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.

“We’ve got a team that can drive the ball out of the park,” Jones said. “We score in a lot of unique ways.”

Notes: The Blue Jays called up right-hander Thad Weber from triple-A Buffalo and left-hander Sean Nolin was returned to double-A New Hampshire on option after allowing six runs in 1 1/3 innings on Friday in his major-league debut, a 10-6 loss …Weber who was claimed off waivers from San Diego on May 19 will work out of the bullpen but could be a candidate to start next Wednesday. ….Right-hander Josh Johnson (triceps strain) threw 68 pitches with 38 strikes over four innings (one hit, one walk, no runs, three strikeouts), for Buffalo on Saturday, his second outing on medical rehabilitation assignment. He could have one more before he rejoins Toronto. ….Outfielder Rajai Davis (oblique strain) is hitting off a tee and is close to playing. … The Orioles put right-handed reliever Pedro Strop (lower back strain) on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday and recalled right-hander Steve Johnson from triple-A Norfolk and he replaced Garcia in the sixth inning on Saturday. … Markakis stretched his hit streak to 10 games with a single in the fourth. …Right-hander Chad Jenkins (1-0, 3.60 earned-run average) will start for Toronto against right-hander Miguel Gonzalez (2-2, 4.25 ERA) in Sunday’s series finale.

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Highlighted by an atrocious outing by the Detroit Red Wings’ newly stinkin’ rich goaltender, Jimmy Howard, here are the wild — and wildly soft — goals scored in the Western Conference games.

• The puck gets caught in a wandering Jimmy Howard’s skates and he obliviously puts it in his own net, giving The Calgary Flames’ Steve Begin one of two easy goals on the night. Begin had previously caught Howard misplaying the puck behind his goal and scored a gimme into a vacant cage:

Wow, saw Jimmy Howard’s last 2 GA last night. Did he go on a binge & spend ALL that contract money yesterday afternoon? Ugly performance.

— Greg Brady (@bradyfan590) April 18, 2013

• Johan Franzen beats Miikka Kiprusoff on an innocent-looking backhanded dump-in from centre ice:

Fluky & ugly goals going in all over the place in CGY/DET 3rd. A Franzen dump in bounces past Kiprusoff & DET down 3-2 w/under 2 to play

— Matt Brown (@mbrownSN590) April 18, 2013

• And a personal favourite. From close range, Anaheim’s David Steckel bats the puck off a defender’s stick and it flies skyward. No one knows where it is. It lofts over Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, lands in the crease and trickles over the line:

#AnaheimDucksGoooaaalll David Steckel’s shot goes about 10 feet in the air and drops BEHIND Bobrovsky and into the net! 2-1 #NHLDucks.

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) April 18, 2013

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On April 17, Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons wrote that “insiders” had informed him that Colangelo had been looking to let Casey go, but he had been denied the right to do so.

Later in the day, Simmons wrote that Colangelo sent him a text which read, “Your speculation about me trying to fire DC this year is absolutely false. Your ‘insiders’ are not accurate.”

The future of the Raptors remains up in the air as we enter the off-season.

Casey has one year remaining on his current contract while the Raptors have yet to announce a decision on whether they will pick up the option year on Colangelo’s contract.

Tom Anselmi, president and chief operating officer of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, told Simmons that the board will soon decide on Colangelo’s future and that either he or Colangelo’s successor will then have final say on Casey.

The dominoes are not expected to fall with the Raptors at any point soon as no board meetings are currently scheduled.

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The 37-year-old Scot spearheaded Britain’s surge to the forefront of world track cycling, winning his first Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and capturing three more in Beijing in 2008 and another two at his home games in London last year.

“I know I have done everything I can and it would be a mistake to go on,” Hoy said. “I have had my time in the sun. It’s time for other athletes to have their share.”

His haul of six golds is one more than British rowing great Steve Redgrave, who won five from 1984-2000. Hoy also won a silver medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Hoy, who won 11 world titles, decided against extending his career to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Glasgow in his native Scotland.

“Maybe it’s greedy but it would have been the ideal swansong,” Hoy said at a news conference at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

Hoy’s last race at the top level was his gold-medal ride in the keirin at the London Olympics when he held off Maximilian Levy of Germany in the home straight.

Hoy received a knighthood in 2008 and is known as Sir Chris.

“The impact that Sir Chris Hoy has had on our sport since he won his first gold medal in Athens in 2004 is unparalleled,” British Cycling president Brian Cookson said. “It goes without saying that not only is Chris an absolutely phenomenal athlete, but he is also an exceptional individual. The fact that he’s acquired six gold medals and is Britain’s most successful ever Olympian is testament to this.”

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