Braden Holtby?s stupendous as well as highest record of 44 save gave a 2-1 win devastating Capitals despite the two victories apiece by Boston Bruins in the Quarterfinal series of the Eastern Conference of the NHL. Holtby?s 1.60 goals and .953 save percent are on the top among goalies. There have been at least three starts in the current NHL season?s playoffs.

The forward of the team Brooks Laich who named Holtby as ?a stud? commented ?If you have a goal tender in the team who smothers each thing that is hurled towards him, it is extremely soothing and de-stressing for all other team members?. This comment came right after the win in Game 4.

He added ?Even if we have to miss a shot, we have the assurance that Holtby will cover it. When there is a goal tender as dependable as him who is in the best form and at top performance it helps the team to settle in a jiffy. He acted like a leader tonight.?

Defenseman Karl Alzner commented ?Though he makes things look easy it requires extreme concentration to make every good glove slave and when he drops the puck and has to lean on the post.? According to Alzner it must be very difficult for a player while an ace goalie makes it look like a cake walk.

The suave 44 save that made all the difference in the all important Game 4 were the best by any rookie in the regulation playoff gaming since Dryden of the team Montreal Canadiens. Ken Dryden saved 46 shots in the 4-2 victory opposite to Boston on 16th April in 1971.

Holtby though a soft spoken and tender nature young kid in the NHL circle, he is also extremely confident and seems to remain unfazed by the magnanimous stage and all the bright lights on the well known Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This young kid entered the post season with only 16 games of playoff experience under his belt at Western Hockey League and AHL put together. His early success in the NHL playoff has taken everyone by surprise and the experts take note of this rising star.

Braden is not the first generation hockey star. His father also played with Saskatoon Blades. Braden played for the same team and went on to make 82-75-15 since 2006 to 2009. His current team The Capitals selected Braden in no.93, at round number four of the NHL draft of 2008.

Ray Easterling, the former player of the Atlanta Falcons has passed away.  He had been a pillar of his team?s defence during the 1970s. He had charged the NFL for mishandling of injuries related to concussion. The cause of his death is being reported as suicide. His age was 62 at the time of death.

A police captain from Richmond, Yvonne Crowder has said to FoxSports that Easterling most likely died of a gunshot wound, which was self inflicted.

?As per our investigation reports, we think it to be a case of suicide,? said Crowder.

Easterling served the Falcons during the period spanning 1972 ? 1979, leading the team?s top-notch defence and set the record at NFL for the lowest points allowed in a particular season.

?He had been a wonderful father and an equally great husband. He did everything with great determination,? says Mary Ann Easterling, his wife.

After calling it a day to his NFL career, Easterling had started suffering the consequences of the number of bruising hits accumulated through years. ?Depression as well as insomnia affected him, and his mental capacity and ability to focus went on declining. He was unable to organize his thoughts and communicate with people,? she said.

?It was very sad to see him falling ill day by day for the last 20 years,? she said.

Easterling was recruited in 1972 by the Falcons and he played for seven years with them. He went on to become part of the team that established a record for 26 interceptions in 1977. His defence allowed the team to set a record at NFL allowing only 129 points in that season.

He returned to Richmond after his playing career ended. There he showed signs of brain damage, said his friends and wife.

?He was thinking in a wrong way. We understood it 20 years ago,? Greg Brezina said who was a Falcons teammate and friend. ?He started talking about something and concluded with a completely different thing, not knowing why he did it.?

Easterling formed part of seven players who had sued the NFL. They did it in Philadelphia on August and claimed that NFL was not treating players properly for concussion. They also said, ?For decades NFL had been hiding facts about the link between football and brain injuries.? A first-class lawsuit had been filed.

His wife vowed to continue fighting the lawsuit despite her husband?s death, and is willing to request the league to set up a fund for players who suffer same injuries as her husband.

Ryan Braun baseball player tested positive for the intake of synthetic test turns violent and kicks an individual. The person against whom Ryan Braun turned violent was not even half of his size. The baseball player took little time in turning violent against the concerned individual who collected his samples. Braun is free and clear from a fifty game suspension. Major League baseball holds the opinion that Braun rightly deserved the penalty imposed on him. Braun opined that he learnt a lot about the collection process. He gave skeptical view about the entire working process and was suspicious about the actuality of the report of his positive test as well.

Braun suggests that the collector operated in a suspicious manner. Braun was all the more skeptical about the verity of the report as the collector spent two nights in his own house with the urine samples of Ryan Braun. Baseball player Braun made an open announcement that he was unaware as to how the drug testing system truly works. Dino Laurenzi Jr. stated that he followed more or less the same techniques he normally does with hundreds of other samples. He also gave a detailed explanation about the sealing procedure that took place at the Miller Park. Dino Laurenzi Jr. vowed that Braun certified the sealing process with his own signature as well. Laurenzi Jr. suggests that he followed the same procedure he did with more than six hundred collections since the early 2005.

He also opined that though the primary intention was to take sealed bottles yet on that night there was none for the concerned pick-up. Hence, he has no other option but to take the samples to his home. Comprehensive drug testing authority made it clear that it was the sole responsibility of the concerned collectors to safeguard the bottles if in the case FedEx was unable to transfer the samples to the laboratories. He said that on numerous other occasions it was necessary for him to store samples at his home as well.

Hence, the authenticity regarding the truth of the test was baseless. Laurenzi claims that the samples of well-known baseball player never left his custody and the results of the report were genuine as well. MLB claims that there was no argument with baseball player Ryan Braun and the concerned players union regarding the authenticity of the reports. Hence, Ryan Braun must serve fifty-game suspension.