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Duncan Keith scored a power-play goal with 8.5 seconds left and the Chicago Blackhawks beat St. Louis 4-3 on Wednesday night to hurt the Blues‘ playoff hopes.

Andreas Martinsen Tyus Bowser Jersey , Blake Hillman and Alex DeBrincat also scored, and Jean-Francois Berube made 30 saves. The Blackhawks beat the Blues for the first time in three meetings this season.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn each had a goal and an assist for the Blues. They have lost four straight to fall a point behind idle Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Robert Bortuzzo also scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen made 22 saves.

DUCKS 3, WILD 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Ondrej Kase scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 3:56 to play, and Anaheim clinched its sixth consecutive playoff berth with a victory over Minnesota.

Kase secured his first 20-goal season by jumping on a long rebound of Josh Manson’s shot, and Andrew Cogliano added an empty-net goal with 2:13 left. Ryan Miller made 26 saves in his first start since March 9 for the Ducks, who have won eight of 10 in their usual late-season surge to the playoffs.

Nick Ritchie also scored, and Manson had two assists as the Ducks officially extended the NHL’s second-longest streak of consecutive postseason berths. Anaheim also leapfrogged archrival Los Angeles into third place in the Pacific Division, leading by one point with two games to play for both clubs.

Matt Dumba scored a power-play goal and Devan Dubnyk stopped 28 shots for the Wild, who took their fifth loss in seven games during what turned out to be a meaningless contest for the playoff-bound club.

SENATORS 4, SABRES 2

BUFFALO Vladimir Sobotka Jersey , N.Y. (AP) – Matt Duchene scored his team-leading 27th goal for Ottawa, helping assure Buffalo of finishing last in the NHL standings.

Max McCormick, Ryan Dzingel and Alexander Burrows, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Senators, and Craig Anderson stopped 32 shots.

Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo scored for the Sabres. Buffalo had already extended its franchise-worst playoff drought to a seventh season and will finish last for the third time in five years.

The quarterback merry-go-round in Minnesota has lost a lot of qualified riders over the past decade and more, and the Vikings made an unprecedented commitment this year to Kirk Cousins to make it stop.

Cousins, too, has experienced his share of unsettled situations over a career during which he has often fought skepticism toward his ability to be a premier player.

This season, for both parties, there's no question about who the starter will be. Cousins arrived less than five months ago, and he has yet to take a snap for the Vikings that counts. Still Authentic T. J. Oshie Jersey , they've already anointed him their team leader.

"At some point you have to be given a license to lead to lead. You have to be given permission to take charge, and when you're still having internal competition it's hard to do that," Cousins said. "I've been in those situations in the past."

Not only in Washington, where he played his first six years as a pro, but in the early part of his time in college at Michigan State.

"It was hard to really assert my personality in the locker room, because I didn't want to step on the toes of the other people," Cousins said.

"So that's something, when you know your role and it's been defined, you can then lead from a place of greater comfort and from that platform. I think that helps the overall dynamic."

With a fully guaranteed $84 million contract over the next three years, the Vikings will be steered by Cousins through at least 2020 even with a roster stacked with stars at several positions. If all goes well, the marriage would last until he decides to leave the game.

"If there's a quarterback competition, you don't have one Eric Ebron Jersey , OK?" offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said. "I've been at spots before where there is quarterback competition and you're worried, because neither guy is really stepping in front of the other one."

Daunte Culpepper, whose career was derailed in the 2005 season by a massive knee injury, was the last sustained starting quarterback for the Vikings.

None of the successors, as successful as they might have been, stayed longer than two years. Teddy Bridgewater was on his way to solving the problem, until he hurt his knee even worse than Culpepper.

Sam Bradford was an exceptional fill-in, but then he was hurt and replaced by Case Keenum. Despite his hand in helping the Vikings reach the NFC championship game, the front office and coaching staff were never fully committed to Keenum for the long term.

So now the offense has been turned over to Cousins, who has found himself the center of attention more quickly than he anticipated.

"I was surprised by how much my teammates gave me that license to lead quickly. I thought they were going to want to have me prove myself a little bit longer than maybe I had to," Cousins said. "They were very supportive and said, 'No Authentic Vladimir Tarasenko Jersey , man. It's your show. Let's go.'"

The first two days of training camp have been primarily for rookies and other players either relatively inexperienced or recovering from injuries, but Cousins has taken part along with all the other quarterbacks.

Running back Dalvin Cook has shed his knee brace, declaring himself fully past the ACL injury that ended his rookie season early. Cornerback and kickoff returner Mike Hughes is the first-round draft pick. Cousins, of course, has the biggest share of the spotlight, as he will for as long as he's putting on a purple jersey.

"We exude that confidence in Kirk," DeFilippo said. "I think he exudes that confidence in us, and we're really looking forward to him playing well this year and leading our football team."

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