Jobangebote » The smiling side of a handshake line

ARLINGTON Custom Los Angeles Kings Jerseys , Va. (AP) at the end of the second round was a brand-new experience for Alex Ovechkin and Barry Trotz.Ovechkin received a message of good luck and a pat on the chest from Sidney Crosby, while Trotz got to enjoy a happy moment with longtime coaching friend Jacques Martin. Ovechkin acknowledged he’d been in that position a lot of times – though never as the one moving on to the third round.Until now.The Washington Capitals reaching the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1998 is perhaps most special to the superstar captain and his coach who had never made it out of the second round before. No coach in NHL history had been behind the bench for more games than Trotz and no active player had been in as many playoff games as Ovechkin without reaching the conference finals.”There is a kinship there, there’s no question,” Trotz said. ”I’ve been at this for a while and it’s so hard to move forward sometimes. It’s always thrown in your face everywhere your turn. I know it’s thrown in Ovi’s face everywhere he turns, and he’s a great player in this league. … I knew the frustration because you’re so close and you just can’t get it, and you just got to stay with it.”After 51 playoff games together, Ovechkin and Trotz will take part in their first East final starting Friday night in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. Now that they’ve gotten over a hump that defined their respective careers, Ovechkin, Trotz and the Capitals are in unfamiliar territory.”It’s something new for us and cool,” Ovechkin said Wednesday, less than 48 hours after Washington eliminated the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. ”Right now it’s just satisfaction we beat the Stanley Cup champions finally and we move forward and now we’re going to play against a very good team, against very good goaltending and solid players over there.”The Atlantic Division-champion Lightning present a formidable challenge, but the Capitals had to overcome something altogether different after losing in the first or second round in all nine playoff appearances that have come during the Ovechkin era dating to 2008. Beating the rival Penguins in overtime in a Game 6 on the road made the breakthrough even more emotional.”We should be proud of that www.officialwild.com ,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ”It’s a big achievement. But I think we’ve got to be greedy. We’ve got to want more because this is a heck of a run. I don’t know if there is a group out there that knows how hard it is to get to this point.”The Capitals are at this point with Ovechkin on top of his game with eight goals and seven assists, his best playoff output since 2009. And they’re here in large part because of Trotz, a well-respected, 19-year NHL coach who does not have a contract for next season.”I had a summer which was very enlightening to me, and I just look at everything way differently than I ever have,” Trotz said. ”I just recognized that I can only control what I can control, and the other stuff I can’t.”Trotz can’t control upper-body injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky or a three-game suspension handed out to winger Tom Wilson, only the decisions he makes in replacing them. So far, Trotz has pushed the right buttons, like putting Braden Holtby back in net in Game 2 of the first round and promoting Jakub Vrana to the top line in Game 5 against Pittsburgh.His players know Trotz is in control as he and the Capitals advance further into the spring than they have in 20 years.”He wants to win a Cup,” forward Chandler Stephenson said. ”He doesn’t want to make it past the second round. It’s obviously a little accomplishment, a little confidence-boost. But we’re not done yet. We’re only halfway.”—AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed.— LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury is finally having fun this season.Fleury, a 15-year veteran Minnesota Wild T-Shirts Authentic , stopped 33 shots to earn his league-leading fifth shutout of the season as Vegas defeated the San Jose Sharks 6-0 Saturday night.It was the second shutout in as many nights for Fleury and marked the first time in his career that he recorded back-to-back shutouts since the 2014-15 season, when he blanked Calgary (Feb. 4) and Edmonton (Feb. 6).“It’s good to get two games in two nights against division rivals and games that mean a lot right now as we’re trying to climb back in the standings,” said Fleury, who stopped 29 shots on Friday against Calgary. “It’s fun, two games at home, get a couple wins — it’s nice.”It was the 53rd shutout of Fleury’s career, and moved him into a tie for 23rd all-time with Nashville’s Pekka Rinne.The Sharks came into the game having scored 75 goals this season, tied for sixth in the league. But San Jose couldn’t find the back of the net.The Golden Knights, who started the week near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, have won three straight and are now tied for third with Anaheim in the Pacific Division, both with 25 points.“We’re playing with a lot of pace right now, and that seems to frustrate teams,” said Reilly Smith Minnesota Wild Hoodies Authentic , who registered two assists and is now riding a five-game point streak (1 goal, 7 assists). “I don’t think we’re really running around doing anything special, but I think it’s just frustration’s growing on other teams because we’re loading quickly and making it tough on them.”Max Pacioretty scored twice and William Karlsson, Colin Miller, William Carrier and Alex Tuch also scored for Vegas.“You obviously want to contribute, but most important thing is the wins,” said Pacioretty, who has at least one point in four of his last five games. “When we were losing from lack of scoring and the puck wasn’t going in for me, you obviously take that on your shoulders. But nights like tonight it’s definitely a group effort.”San Jose netminder Aaron Dell, who registered shutouts in his previous two starts, made 30 saves in the loss.“We weren’t good tonight,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. “Two of our last three games were shutouts, we’re 4-1-1 in our last home games Minnesota Wild Hats Authentic , so you know what, we had a bad night. It happens.”Karlsson got the Golden Knights on the board moments after the puck drop, scoring the fastest goal in franchise history, just 14 seconds into the game. Miller, who also had an assist, ripped a slap shot from the circle to make it 2-0 shortly thereafter.Pacioretty scored the team’s next two goals, later in the period. The four goals in the first period were the most in any period by the Golden Knights this season.Carrier got the lone goal in the second period when he backhanded the puck just under Dell’s pads to make it 5-0, and Tuch continued his impressive season with his seventh goal of the season in the third period.“We played our game tonight, it was great,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “We played a real good hockey team over there and we played the type of game that we’re used to playing. It was a fast game, it was a quick game, but we were real competitive tonight.”NOTES: Vegas is 4-1-0 since D Nate Schmidt returned from a 20-game suspension. … Vegas D Nick Holden is one game shy of his 400th career game. … San Jose is now 1-6-0 when its opponents score first. … The Sharks are outshooting opponents 842-686 and have outshot their opponent in 18 of 24 games. … Vegas was 3-0-1 against the Sharks last season and eliminated them from the second round of the playoffs.UP NEXTSharks: Continue a five-game road trip in Buffalo on Tuesday.Golden Knights: Visit Chicago on Tuesday.