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Carter Hutton ought to be feeling pressure to perform well when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday evening at Staples Center.Hutton is set to make his seventh start in goal for the Sabres and he has been subpar in his past three outings.Meanwhile Cam Atkinson Jersey Kids , backup goalie Linus Ullmark made 20 saves in a 5-1 victory at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon. Ullmark had 36 saves in his other start this season, a 3-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 13.Article continues below ...Hutton is 0-3-0 in his past three appearances, allowing 13 goals on 96 shots for an .865 save percentage.Buffalo (4-4-0) hasn’t provided much cushion for Hutton either, scoring one goal in each of his past three starts.The Sabres adjusted their lines and that seemed to make a difference against the Kings.Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville moved onto the top line with center Jack Eichel and Skinner had his fifth career hat trick in the win.Pominville added a goal and two assists to become the third player from the 2001 NHL Draft class with 700 points. He had just one assist in the first seven games. “I thought the line played pretty well,” Skinner told MSG Network after the game. “I thought (Pominville and Eichel) did a great job working down low. I think a majority of our offense was created off the cycle.”Skinner had one of his hat tricks in Anaheim while a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. He scored three goals in a 5-1 victory on Dec. 11, 2015.Sutton has made four career appearances against Anaheim, owning a 1-2-1 record, 3.00 goals-against average and .888 save percentage.The Ducks (5-2-1) are expected to start goalie Ryan Miller after John Gibson played Saturday night in a 3-1 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights.Miller played for Buffalo from 2002 to 2014 and remains the franchise leader in several career categories, including games played by a goalie (540), minutes (33,661) and wins (284).Miller made his only other start this season on Sunday at the St. Louis Blues, saving 29 of 31 shots in the 3-2 victory.The Ducks have been known as a physically intimidating team in the past. They’ve had to take a step back as they infuse younger players into the lineup http://www.bluejacketsshoponline.com/authentic-david-savard-jersey , but Skinner said the Sabres will be ready if Anaheim wants to play that style.Kyle Okposo and Zach Bogosian stood up to the Kings on Saturday.“We have sort of that mentality that we’re all going to stick up for one another, which is a nice feeling,” Skinner said.The first goal has been huge in games involving the Sabres this season. The team that has taken a 1-0 lead has led the rest of the way in all eight games.The Ducks plan to retire the jersey of Paul Kariya before the game. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Injuries left the Avalanche playing their backup to the backup goaltender while needing a victory to stave off elimination.The goalie nicknamed the ”Hamburglar” came through.Andrew Hammond made a career-high 44 saves for his first postseason victory, and Colorado rallied to beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Friday night and sent the first-round series back to Denver for Game 6.”Obviously, it was a lot of fun,” said Hammond, who was mobbed in the locker room. ”We’re excited to have another game. We didn’t want this to be the last one of the season, and I think to a man, we all did whatever we could to make sure that wasn’t the case.”This is the third time the Avalanche had trailed 3-1 in a series since moving to Colorado. They lost the first two but have a chance Sunday to push the defending Western Conference champs to a seventh game after rallying with two goals in the final 4:11.They also became the first to win a playoff game in regulation when trailing in the final 5:00 of the third since Chicago won at Boston in Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.Gabriel Landeskog started the rally with his goal into an empty net with Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne caught outside the crease with his own teammate Ryan Ellis in his lap. Then Sven Andrighetto gave the Avs the lead off a rebound of a shot by J.T. Compher with 1:28 left that stunned a sold-out Nashville crowd that had expected to celebrate advancing to the second round.”We’ve got a series again going home, and it’s going to be exciting,” Landeskog said. ”As we talked about before tonight Anthony Duclair Jersey Womens , just to win one. We don’t have to win three in one night.”This was not only Hammond’s first playoff victory, it was his first postseason start since April 17, 2015, with Ottawa and just the third of his career. He started only one game during the regular season after being traded to Colorado in November.”You never know when you’re going to get a second chance,” Hammond said. ”I’ve played two games basically since the start of January – at times it felt as though that day would never come again when you’re going to play again. You keep battling in practice, you stick to the process, when you get your chance, you’re ready.”Colorado coach Jared Bednar said he loved Hammond’s demeanor since learning he would be starting.”He’s waited a long time this year for this opportunity, and he’s making the most of it,” Bednar said.The series winner will face Winnipeg in the second round.Nick Bonino scored for Nashville.This game was scoreless until Bonino’s goal with 9:42 left, a big change for a series that had been the highest-scoring of the first round averaging 7.25 goals per game coming into Game 5.The Predators peppered Hammond, and the only time Nashville beat him was when Mattias Ekholm’s shot bounced off his left pad and went in off Bonino’s right skate. The official on the spot immediately waved it off. Officials huddled Womens Josh Anderson Jersey , then reviewed the play.During the review, fans sang ”Let It Be” while holding up their cellphones with the flash on. Referee Kevin Pollock announced the call on the ice had been overturned , starting a long-awaited celebration.The lead didn’t last long as the Avs rallied.”It’s not like we didn’t have opportunities,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. ”They did a pretty good job in front of him. We had lots of looks, lots of opportunities. We couldn’t get in.”The Avalanche came into the postseason with goalie Semyon Varlamov and defenseman Erik Johnson sidelined by knee injuries, then defenseman Samuel Girard missed three games with his own upper-body injury before Jonathan Bernier, Varlamov’s backup, suffered his own lower-body injury. That pushed the Hamburglar into the net.The Predators started and ended the second period on the power play but couldn’t beat Hammond. Their best scoring chance came with a 4-on-2, but Hammond stopped Roman Josi’s shot and then handled Calle Jarnkrok’s attempt off the rebound at 12:36. Hammond also made a big pad save on Ellis’ slap shot and then stopped another Josi shot late in the period.NOTES: The Avalanche snapped a seven-game skid in Nashville with the win. They ended a 12-game skid to the Preds overall in Game 3. … Nashville had been perfect last postseason with a chance to clinch a series on its own ice, winning all three series to reach the Stanley Cup Final. … Predators forward Ryan Hartman sat out his suspension for a hit on Carl Soderberg in Game 4.UP NEXTGame 6 in Denver on Sunday night.—

NEW YORK (AP) — Brady Skjei used overtime to redeem an earlier mistake and give Rangers coach David Quinn his first NHL victory.Skjei buried a wrist shot 37 seconds into overtime to lift New York over the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Thursday night.“With three-on-three and his skating he’s going to be a threat http://www.losangelesramsteamonline.com/aaron-donald-jersey ,” Quinn said of Skjei. “It was a heck of a goal, that’s for sure.”Marcus Sorensen beat Skjei on his way to a short-handed goal for San Jose in the first period. Sorenson worked around Skjei with a nifty move and snapped a shot past Henrik Lundqvist’s glove at 4:31.That had Skjei looking to make amends.“You want to play with urgency all the time,” Skjei said. “We knew we needed to get one here quick. We did. Now we are ready to move on to Saturday.”New York’s Brendan Smith tied it at 2 with 2:39 remaining in the third with a one-timer from the slot. Pavel Buchnevich set it up with a backhand pass from behind the net.Aaron Dell made 24 saves and Brent Burns had two assists for the Sharks. Joonas Donskoi also scored in San Jose’s third stop of a four-game trip.Lundqvist stopped 41 shots and Brett Howden also scored for the Rangers.“I don’t know if we deserve it, but sometimes you just have to find a way,” Lundqvist said. “I think that sometimes more important than playing well.”Howden had a highlight-reel goal to even the score at 1 at 13:52 of the opening period when he put the puck between his legs and then Dell’s legs. The rookie moved up the depth chart prior to the game and skated alongside Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello. New York acquired Howden from the Tampa Bay Lightning at last year’s trade deadline as part of a package for defenseman Ryan McDonagh.“He’s impressed me since the first time I met him when training camp started,” Quinn said of the rookie. “I am not surprised by what he’s doing and how much confidence he’s gained from game to game. There’s no nonsense to his game in addition to having great skill. That’s a big component to having success at this level.”Burns helped the Sharks take a 2-1 lead at 4:59 of the second when he cleared the puck from his own end, setting up an odd-man rush. Antti Suomela delivered a perfect cross-ice pass to set up a tap-in for Donskoi.“I think it is pretty clear that we played a good hockey game,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We didn’t give them much and I thought we created a lot. You have to tip your hat to Lundqvist, great goalie and that was a great effort by him to keep them in it through forty minutes.”Quinn became the second coach in Rangers history to join the franchise with NCAA experience, along with Herb Brooks. In Brooks’ inaugural 1981 season Authentic Todd Gurley Jersey , it took the Rangers four games to capture their first victory.“We didn’t play our best hockey tonight, that’s for sure,” Quinn said. “We know we have got a lot of steps to go. Knowing that we could win, getting that first win under our belt is huge, and we’re ready to keep going from here.”NOTES: New York Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk was scratched for the first time in his young NHL career. … Fredrik Claesson made his season debut for the Rangers. . The Rangers have earned at least one point in seven of their last nine meetings against San Jose, dating back to Oct. 19, 2014. . With career win 432, Lundqvist is now five wins away from tying Hockey Hall of Famer Jacques Plante for seventh place on the NHL’s all-time wins listUp Next:Rangers: Host the Oilers on Saturday.Sharks: Visit the Devils on Sunday. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Nikita Kucherov reached a personal milestone and helped the Tampa Bay Lightning move closer to clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference.Kucherov became the second player in the NHL to reach 100 points this season, and the Lightning took a two-point lead in the Atlantic Division by beating the Buffalo Sabres 7-5 Friday night.Kucherov scored in the first period and got his 100th point assisting on Dan Girardi’s goal 1:04 into the second that gave Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead.”It’s something special Todd Gurley Jersey Elite ,” Kucherov said. ”I’ll definitely remember it the rest of my life.”Edmonton’s Connor McDavid tops the league with 106 points. According to the NHL, this is the first season since 2009-10 with multiple 100-point players.The Lightning got two goals from Anthony Cirelli, while Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman also scored. Alex Killorn had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.Tampa Bay can wrap up the division title and the best record in the East with a win in its season finale Saturday night at Carolina, or a loss by second-place Boston in either of its final two games.”Is there anything else that needs to be said?” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”Win a hockey game, win the division.”The Lightning played their second consecutive game without center Steven Stamkos (lower-body injury), who is expected to be back for the playoffs.Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander each got his first NHL goal for the last-place Sabres. The Elias Sports Bureau says it was first time two Buffalo players got their first goals in the same game since May 3, 1995, when Curtis Brown and Wayne Primeau accomplished the feat.Jason Pominville, Jordan Nolan and Kyle Okposo also scored for Buffalo http://www.losangelesramsteamonline.com/todd-gurley-ii-jersey , and Chad Johnson had 27 saves.”We made too many mistakes,” Mittelstadt said.After Girardi scored, Buffalo got goals from Pominville, Nolan and Okposo, during a power play, to go ahead 5-4 after the second period.The Lightning rallied on third-period goals 47 seconds apart by Cirelli (6:15) and Point (7:02) in taking a 6-5 advantage. Hedman added an empty-netter.”We didn’t play well in the second and came back in the third, and played the right way,” Kucherov said.Sabres center Jack Eichel called the blown lead ”frustrating.””I thought, maybe, we got a little passive Authentic Cooper Kupp Jersey ,” Eichel said.The teams combined for five goals in the opening 9:40 of the game. Gourde, who put Tampa Bay up 3-2, set team records for goals (25) and points (64) by a rookie.Cirelli and Kucherov also had first-period goals for the Lightning, while Mittelstadt, on the power play, and Nylander scored the Buffalo goals.NOTES: Gourde’s goal was his first in 14 games. … This was the 22nd time in 81 games that Buffalo (16-1-5) led after two periods.UP NEXTSabres: Close out the regular season Saturday night at Florida.Lightning: Will look to extend their franchise-record breaking road win total to 26 against the Hurricanes.

Players take note: Referees aren’t swallowing their whistles so far in the 2018 NHL playoffs.Penalties are up more than 17 percent over the same time a year ago and are playing a substantial role in several series. Through 19 games in the first round Vegas Golden Knights Hoodies Authentic , there have been nearly 10 penalties per game. Last year, there was an average of eight penalties called through 20 games.”The penalties that have been called in the series so far is an indication of how the referees are calling the game,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said Monday. ”They’re calling it as they see it. I think discipline is of the utmost importance.”While the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions haven’t been perfect in that regard against Philadelphia, they haven’t been derailed by a lack of discipline. Around the rest of the NHL, penalties and the ensuing power-play goals are making a big difference: There have been 38 power-play goals through Sunday’s games compared with just 21 in 2017.The NHL wants officials to call playoffs at the same standard as the regular season, which is happening with penalties actually going up from the first period through the third. Each of the 10 pairings of referees working the playoffs has at least one who has worked the Cup Final, so the hope is having that experience helps maintain consistency.The Washington Capitals blew two-goal leads in back-to-back overtime losses on home ice to Columbus because of ill-advised penalties and go into Game 3 on the road (7:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, NBCSN) knowing it’s a problem that needs immediate fixing.”We need to be a little smarter,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. ”We need to play with better discipline – especially when we have the lead twice. … It’s obviously going to hurt you in the playoffs. That’s the way it is. It’s just fact.”Nine of the 14 regulation goals in the Washington-Columbus series have come on the power play. The Blue Jackets, who surged into the playoffs by not taking a lot of penalties to tax one of the worst special teams units in the league, lead the playoffs in penalty minutes per game.Coach John Tortorella said the Blue Jackets ”have to cure that” because it’s too dangerous to keep taking so many penalties. His players know it even if they’re unsure of the standard.”We need to stay out of the box, but you never know what’s a call and what’s not anymore Vegas Golden Knights Hats Authentic ,” forward Cam Atkinson said. ”But that’s the game right now.”In the West, where Winnipeg leads Minnesota 2-1, the teams realize how tight things are being called.The Wild took five penalties in the first 31 minutes Sunday night and stymied the Jets’ power play in a 6-2 comeback win. The teams combined for 19 penalties – including some fights and misconducts – in the second game of their series.”We’ve just got to watch taking penalties,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”Both teams were really emotional at the beginning and you’ve got to worry about taking penalties and getting behind the eight ball.”It’s chippy between the Golden Knights and Kings, too, with Vegas up 3-0 going into Game 4 (10:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, NBCSN) in Los Angeles. All three games so far have been decided by a goal, L.A. defenseman Drew Doughty was suspended for an illegal check to the head of William Carrier and Kings coach John Stevens is none too happy about a missed call on Vegas forward Erik Haula for hitting Anze Kopitar in the face with the butt end of his stick Sunday night .”We get a guy suspended for making a hockey play, and he butt-ends one of the best players in the world in the face,” Stevens said. ”That’s an intent-to-injure play.”COMEBACK KINGS?Los Angeles is the most recent team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, doing so in 2014 against the San Jose Sharks on the way to winning the Stanley Cup. Stevens, who was an assistant four years ago Custom Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys , said his team has ”had some resilience all year,” and the tightness of the games against Vegas combined with the excellence of goaltender Jonathan Quick certainly makes an turnaround possible.INJURIESThe Jets lost Tyler Myers to a lower-body injury that coach Paul Maurice thought was avoidable, and the big defenseman’s status is uncertain going into Game 4 (8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, CNBC). Young Tucker Poolman could draw into the lineup in place of Myers if necessary.The Capitals won’t have forward Andre Burakovsky for at least Games 3 and 4 in Columbus because of an upper-body injury. Coach Barry Trotz said Burakovsky is going to ”miss some time” after being crunched into the boards by Boone Jenner in Game 2. Speedy winger Jakub Vrana, a surprise scratch for Washington on Sunday, goes back in for Burakovsky.WHO STARTS?Trotz said he has decided who will start in goal for the Capitals in Game 3 but hadn’t yet told Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer. After Grubauer allowed eight goals on 49 shots before being yanked at the second intermission of Game 2, the smart money is on Holtby, the 2016 Vezina Trophy winner.BARTON OUTLinesman Steve Barton, who was injured when he inadvertently clipped skates with Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson and had to be helped off the ice by trainers, dislocated his kneecap and tore a quadriceps muscle in his left leg. Barton will require surgery but didn’t tear ligaments in his knee, which doctors said is good news because they expect him to make a full recovery.— The Vegas Golden Knights are searching for answers heading into Sunday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators after left winger Max Pacioretty reportedly may have suffered a concussion in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.Pacioretty, an offseason trade acquisition from the Montreal Canadiens John Moore Jersey Womens , was in rhythm in recent games with members of Vegas’ second line — Alex Tuch and Erik Haula — before he was clocked by Tampa Bay defenseman Braydon Coburn in the first period.Pacioretty’s absence forced coach Gerard Gallant to make changes, which caused the Golden Knights (4-5-1) to be out of sync. They have lost consecutive games in their five-game homestand that ends against the Senators (4-4-1).Article continues below ...Ottawa is also trying to snap a two-game losing funk. The Senators started a three-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to Colorado on Friday. They conclude their trip on Tuesday at Arizona.The second line has been a concern for Gallant since the start of the season, including when another major acquisition, Paul Stastny, went down with an unspecified injury in the third game of the season. Stastny could reportedly be out up to three months.Tuch began the season on injured reserve, and his return last week seemed to enhance the second line with Pacioretty. If Pacioretty suffered a concussion, he must go under the NHL’s concussion protocol, which means he can miss a few games.“You hate to lose a player like Pacioretty in the hockey game, but that’s what coaching is all about. You’ve got to mix your lines up and see how it goes,” Gallant said. “A lot of guys played a few more minutes than they usually do.”Ottawa goes to Las Vegas coming off the loss at Colorado, a game in which former Avalanche forward Matt Duchene scored two goals in his first game against his former team.Duchene, acquired by the Senators from the Avalanche in a three-team transaction with the Nashville Predators on Nov. 5 Chris Wagner Jersey Womens , 2017, is one of 20 active NHL players to score at least one goal against all 31 teams. He was traded early in his ninth season with the Avalanche, who selected him in the first round (third pick overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft.“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, leaving here,” Duchene said after the loss to Colorado. “It was something I never wanted to do, it was something I felt I had to do. Sometimes that’s life and that’s the business. Just the signs in warmup and the people that were being so kind meant a lot to me. You touch the puck, you’re going to get booed. Avs fans are competitive and you kind of expect it.”Ottawa coach Guy Boucher is concerned about his team’s defense after allowing six Colorado goals.“It’s the exact same thing as the last game,” said Boucher, referring to the Boston Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Senators on Tuesday. “We didn’t defend well on the rush against their top players. We know that’s the quest that we have.“We have to grow fast enough to be able to defend against the top players. We see the weaknesses once we get to the third period. We get tired and some guys are lacking a little bit of experience.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) In a single nine-minute stretch of the third period John Klingberg Jersey , the Washington Capitals dramatically took the lead before the Vegas Golden Knights replied with two goals of their own. Washington’s Tom Wilson also flattened Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault with a blindside hit that could reverberate through the Stanley Cup Final.After 10 goals and a Final-record four lead changes overall in a fantastically entertaining opener, it’s tough to imagine what these unlikely opponents will do for an encore.But the upstart Golden Knights have spent their entire inaugural season speeding past all expectations, and their first Final game didn’t slow them down in the slightest.Tomas Nosek scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and the expansion Golden Knights surged past the Capitals for a 6-4 victory on Monday night.”We put fun ahead of everything, and you can tell,” said Ryan Reaves, who scored the Knights’ tying goal in the third period. ”Guys have are having fun and they’re smiling.”The Eastern Conference champion Capitals hadn’t given up this many goals in 29 games since March 18, but they hadn’t seen anything like this charmed run by the upstart Knights. With its sellout crowd of hometown fans at deafening volume all night, Vegas put its usual speed and relentlessness on full display while overcoming that third-period deficit to win the opener of a matchup between two franchises seeking their first Stanley Cup titles.Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in an occasionally shaky performance, but the three-time Stanley Cup winner’s new teammates carried the goalie who has so often carried them with a relentless outburst of offense.”We’re a good defensive group, but we weren’t tonight,” Marchessault said. ”They’re a team that’s very fast in the neutral zone, and we gave them too much respect with the puck. We need to be faster in the defensive zone. We’re going to fix that in our game.”The Game 1 winner has won the last six Cups and 61 of 78 overall.Braden Holtby stopped 28 shots for the Capitals, whose first Stanley Cup Final game in 20 years was a defensive nightmare. Washington still played a strong offensive game and had chances to win, but never slowed the Knights.”I think next game is going to be different, and all the nervousness, all the bad thing goes away in this game,” said captain Alex Ovechkin, who had an assist. ”We just have to forget about it and bounce back (in the) next one.”Wilson got credit for the goal that put the Caps up 4-3 early in the third period when Fleury back-heeled a loose puck into his own net, but Reaves evened it 91 seconds later for Vegas.Nosek then put the Knights ahead after Shea Theodore kept the puck in Washington’s zone Womens Mattias Janmark Jersey , sidestepped a defender and fired a beautiful cross-ice pass to the Czech forward, who buried a one-timer for his second goal of the playoffs.Colin Miller, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith scored early goals before Nosek added an empty-netter for the Knights, who are three wins away from one of the most improbable championships in recent North American team sports history. Just 342 days after the Knights selected the backbone of their first roster in the expansion draft, Vegas had another party on the Strip with its remarkable collection of castoffs.Brett Connolly, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson also scored for Washington, but its biggest stars didn’t match the Knights’ outburst. Along with Ovechkin’s quiet night, Evgeny Kuznetsov – who scored a whopping 24 points in the first three rounds – also had just one assist.The Golden Knights’ playoff pregame shows have been a celebration of Vegas showmanship, and their first Final game started with an extravaganza that included archers, a trebuchet and a spectacular light show.And then the Knights and Caps put on a high-energy production of their own with plenty of fireworks and drama.With none of the customary caution or high-pressure effects often shown by teams and players in their first game on the NHL’s biggest stage, Vegas and Washington jumped right into an up-tempo thriller. Vegas had outscored its opponents 10-0 in the first period at home during the playoffs, but the Caps got two goals.After Miller scored the Knights’ first goal on a power play and ended Holtby’s scoreless streak at nearly 167 minutes, Washington calmly surged ahead later in the first period with goals 42 seconds apart.The wild scoring continued in the third with an own-goal by Fleury, who lost track of a rebound and kicked it backward into his net.T-Mobile Arena was only quiet for a few seconds before the tying goal from Reaves, who cross-checked Carlson to the ice an instant before the puck unexpectedly bounced to him for an uncontested shot.Reaves didn’t score at all in his first 26 games after joining the Knights in a trade, but the rough-and-tumble forward broke through with the winning goal in the Western Conference finals clincher against Winnipeg.Wilson delivered his crushing open-ice hit moments later to Marchessault, who was shaken up on the play. The Golden Knights uniformly criticized it as a late hit, while the rambunctious Wilson defended himself.”I haven’t obviously slowed it down and looked at it, but I think he’d probably say he shouldn’t have admired his pass, and I’m just finishing my check Radek Faksa Jersey ,” Wilson said.”I think the league is going to take care of it,” Marchessault said. ”I never see him coming. Puck is away for a couple seconds for sure. But whatever. He’s a guy who plays hard, throws big hits out there.”NOTES: Vegas is aiming to be the first franchise in a major North American professional league to win a title in its first season since the 1950 Cleveland Browns, who entered the NFL as a fully formed team after four seasons in the AAFC. … Vegas D Deryk Engelland had two assists after going scoreless in the first 15 playoff games. … Vegas improved to 11-1 in the postseason when scoring first.—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals PHILADELPHIA (AP) Claude Giroux carried the Philadelphia Flyers into the playoffs.The Hart Trophy candidate might be the reason they get knocked out in the first round if he can’t become the force the Flyers need to have a chance against the Pittsburgh Penguins.Only six years ago, Giroux was dubbed ”best in the world” by former coach Peter Laviolette after he posted six goals and eight assists in six games and a rare playoff series win over the Penguins. Playing in a major market, Giroux was on his way toward NHL superstardom.Six years later, the Penguins have won two Stanley Cups, the Flyers haven’t advanced out of the first round and Giroux’s standing as one of the NHL’s best has wildly fluctuated: The 30-year-old followed two mediocre seasons with a career year this season, reaching personal highs in goals (34), assists (68) and points (102). He added a hat trick on the final day.His production has again vanished in the playoffs.The Flyers captain has no goals and one assist in three games – the Penguins hold a 2-1 series lead headed into Game 4 (7 p.m. EDT Wednesday, NBCSN) – in a postseason slump that dates to 2014. He again had no goals and one assist in six games against Washington in 2016 and scored two goals in seven games in 2014 against the New York Rangers. Giroux’s last playoff goal came on April 29, 2014.In the Game 3 loss to Pittsburgh, Giroux took four shots on goal and led the Flyers with 10 shot attempts – four on goal, one that was blocked and five that missed.”There’s a lot of hockey left to play here,” Giroux said. ”I have no doubt that we’re going to come out strong in Game 4.”Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds (who dropped from 31 goals in 2017 to 24 this season) are also scoreless for the Flyers.”Our team’s got to elevate our play overall,” coach Dave Hakstol said. ”There’s nothing drastic that needs to be done.”That didn’t stop Hakstol from mixing up his lines at practice Tuesday, when Sean Couturier was injured. There was no immediate word on his status.The Flyers have hit these rough patches before, losing 10 straight games over November and December before bouncing back to land in the postseason.”Our guys have been through similar situations,” Hakstol said. ”This one’s just a little bit more elevated.”The Penguins will play Game 4 without Patric Hornqvist, who has a goal and two assists in the series and is out with an undisclosed injury. He was on the top line with Sidney Crosby in Game 3 and was third in the league in power-play goals this season. Hornqvist was checked from behind into the boards by Philadelphia’s Andrew MacDonald in Game 3.CLOSE IT OUTOnly four NHL teams have taken a 3-0 series lead like San Jose has over Anaheim and lost a best-of-seven series. The Sharks just happen to be one of them Authentic Stephen Johns Jersey , having collapsed against the Los Angeles Kings four years ago in the first round. That’s one reason why the Sharks head into Game 4 at home against the Ducks (10:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Golf Channel) with a sense of urgency to close out this series.”Enough has happened in this room where I think we understand the challenges that still lie ahead of us,” captain Joe Pavelski said. ”We want a good start, we want to come out and put it on the line. We’re going to have to earn this next game for sure.”The Sharks have controlled the series, outscoring Anaheim 14-3 following an 8-1 victory in Game 3. Anaheim allowed four power-play goals as the Ducks lost their composure as well as the game.”I mean, we got to win a game,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said. ”Our focus has got to be to win that Game 4 and that’s all we can do.”SPIRITED PRACTICENashville turned up the intensity in practice Tuesday, complete with some light hitting and vigorous battles for the puck in front of goaltender Pekka Rinne.This is a reason for the stepped-up pace: Being outscored by a 5-0 margin by Colorado in the first period of the series.”Today was a perfect practice for that. It wasn’t about easing into practice,” said Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis, whose team leads the Avalanche 2-1 heading into Game 4 (10 p.m. EDT Wednesday, NBCSN). ”It was about going full speed into practice right away. We need that to translate into the game.”Colorado went through an optional practice and had defenseman Samuel Girard on the ice wearing a non-contact sweater. He has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.TRUST THE … PROGRESS?Tampa Bay holds a 2-1 series lead over New Jersey headed into Game 4 (7:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Golf Channel). But New Jersey’s 5-2 win over the Lightning on Monday was at least a sign that the Devils should trust the … progress?The Devils are owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the same company that also owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. Team owner Josh Harris attended the 76ers’ Game 2 loss in Philadelphia on Monday.Under Harris’ watch, his teams can orchestrate a turnaround. The 76ers, accompanied by the now-familiar ”Trust The Process” slogan, went from 10 wins two seasons ago to 53 and the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference this year while the Devils made a stunning run from the worst team in the East to the postseason in a year.All the Devils need is a catchphrase.

BUFFALO http://www.officialknightsproshop.com/authentic-adidas-oscar-dansk-jersey , N.Y. (AP) For the first time in nearly a decade, the Buffalo Sabres had the bounces to go their way against the Chicago Blackhawks.Nicholas Baptiste scored two goals in the third period to lead the Sabres to a 5-3 win over the Blackhawks on Saturday. It was Buffalo’s first win over the Blackhawks since December 2009, snapping a 12-game losing streak against Chicago.The game featured deflections and redirections for both teams, with three of Buffalo’s five goals a result of fortuitous bounces.”Definitely some lucky bounces, that’s for sure,” said Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly, who had a goal and an assist. ”A little luck of the Irish tonight.”Benoit Pouliot and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Sabres – who wore green St. Patrick’s Day jerseys during warmups – and Chad Johnson made 34 saves.Baptiste was an unlikely star, picking up the sixth and seventh goals of his career.The 22-year-old tied the game at 3-3 early in the third on a long shot through traffic. With 1:56 remaining, he picked up the game-winner on a deflection. Following a faceoff win in the Chicago end, Marco Scandella’s shot from the point was deflected by Baptiste in the slot to put the Sabres on top for good.”That’s been the focus of our team for the last little while – getting shots to the net and getting bodies to the net and scoring some ugly ones and we got a couple tonight,” Baptiste said. ”That’s what it takes to score goals in this league and to win in this league.”The Sabres got a significant lift from the returning Jack Eichel Authentic Oscar Lindberg Jersey , who was back in the lineup after missing 15 games because of an ankle injury. Eichel had one assist and five shots in 18:14.”It’s so nice to have him back,” O’Reilly said. ”The little things he does when he gets the puck, you feel like the whole building is like, `OK, what’s he going to do?’ The other team has to be so sharp when he’s out there and it makes us a more dangerous team.”Eichel briefly tweaked his ankle early in the third period, but said he was fine after the game.Jonathan Toews, Jordan Oesterle and Tomas Jurco scored for the Blackhawks, and Jean-Francois Berube made 27 saves.”A couple tips and just didn’t get the job done,” Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane said. ”It’s been a common theme here for a while. A lot of the games, it even seems we’re scoring the first goal and we can’t come up with anything. It’s kind of been that way all year.”Pouliot opened the scoring with 1:50 remaining in the first period. After Rasmus Ristolainen’s pass was deflected into the crease, Pouliot had an easy tap-in for his 13th goal of the season.Oesterle evened the score 8:15 into the second following a pretty passing sequence in the Sabres zone. After Toews led Patrick Kane with a drop pass Reilly Smith Jersey , Kane swung to his right before firing a pass to a wide-open Oesterle in front of the Buffalo net. Oesterle had an easy finish for his fifth goal of the season.O’Reilly made it 2-1 on the power play with 8:53 left in the second, poking in a rebound that fell behind Berube after Eichel’s shot hit the goalie’s shoulder and went high into the air.Chicago evened the score again with 5:45 left in the second when a rebound from Toews’ shot hit Ristolainen and went into the net. Jurco was given credit for the goal.Toews made it 3-2 on a terrific one-man effort 20 seconds into the third period. After his initial shot on a 2-on-1 was stopped, the Blackhawks captain sped to the crease and stole the rebound off Johnson’s stick. The puck flipped into the air, and Toews batted it in for his 20th goal of the season.Reinhart added an empty-net goal with 38.4 seconds left.NOTES: Buffalo native Emily Pfalzer was honored in a ceremonial opening faceoff before the game. Pfalzer was a member of the United States women’s hockey team at the 2018 Olympics, winning the gold medal in a shootout victory against Canada. Pfalzer was also captain of the Buffalo Beauts in the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015-16 and 2016-17. … Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons was injured midway through the first period and did not return. … Sabres starting goalie Robin Lehner was a healthy scratch.UP NEXTBlackhawks: Home against St. Louis on Sunday.Sabres: Host the Nashville Predators on Monday.— LOS ANGELES (AP) — The San Jose Sharks are looking like the Western Conference contenders that many are expecting this season.The Sharks used Kevin Labanc’s goal 2:53 into overtime to beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 Friday night.“The guys played like we needed to win this game and we found a way to do it,” San Jose coach Pete DeBoer said. “We lost our home opener and found a way to come into a tough building and I thought we played well.”San Jose was defeated by Anaheim 5-2 in its opener on Wednesday, but looked better in its second game. Meanwhile, the Kings struggled to put the puck into the net, which has been a theme of the past couple seasons. They were outshot 33-21 and came up empty in five power-play opportunities.“We were trying to rush plays in the first period. Once we got the first goal we kind of settled down and started making plays,” said Kings forward Anze Kopitar, who had a first-period goal.The Sharks took a 2-0 first-period lead before Los Angeles rallied and forced the overtime.Martin Jones made 19 saves as San Jose beat the Kings for the fourth time in its last five meetings.Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for Los Angeles Michael Ferland Jersey Womens , which dropped to 0-5 when the Sharks are the opening opponent.San Jose scored two goals on its first six shots in the first period. Timo Meier put the Sharks on the board at 9:42 of the first when he directed a Marc-Edward Vlasic shot near the blue line past Quick. Evander King followed four minutes later with a wrist shot after a turnover deep in the Kings’ end. It was his second goal of the season.Los Angeles rallied as Kopitar scored off a deflected shot late in the first period that cut the deficit in half. Tyler Toffoli grabbed a deflection off the end boards and fired it past Jones 37 seconds into the second, tying the score at 2-all.The game appeared to be headed to a shootout, but Logan Couture found Labanc rushing to the net and hit him with a perfect pass to beat Quick. Erik Karlsson, who San Jose acquired in a trade during the offseason, also got an assist, his first point with the Sharks.“It’s a pretty good feeling to start out a road trip with a win,” Labanc said. “The refs were not giving us the calls we wanted but we played our battle.”KOVALCHUK’S DEBUTIlya Kovalchuk made his Kings’ debut and saw 20 minutes of ice time.The 35-year old Russian, who was playing in his first NHL game since 2013 after five seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, was the right winger on Los Angeles’ top line with Kopitar centering and Alex Iafallo at left wing. Kovalchuk took two shots on goal.“We got to score on our chances. We had a few on our line and we didn’t score,” Kovalchuk said. “It was our first game and you know everybody is real nervous and the Sharks played their second game and you can tell they feel a little better. I think against Detroit it will be much better.”UP NEXTSharks: Continue their five-game road trip on Monday at the New York Islanders.Kings: Host Detroit on Sunday before going on the road for four straight.

SAN JOSE Colorado Avalanche Hoodies Womens , Calif. (AP) Having missed out on the biggest prize on the free-agent market, the San Jose Sharks are now content to wait and use their ample salary cap space to acquire a difference maker in a trade if one becomes available.The free agency period opened Sunday with star center John Tavares turning down an offer from San Jose to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.The Sharks also finalized a $64 million, eight-year extension with Logan Couture but saw their hopes of teaming him and Tavares as a formidable pair of top two centers thwarted.Wilson said he viewed Tavares as the only difference maker on the open market in free agency and didn’t feel like he missed out on getting another player while negotiating with Tavares.”It didn’t really get in the way of anything else we were looking at because our commitment was to take this swing at him, and we knew that if we didn’t get him and we couldn’t match up to his childhood dream of him going home, we understand that,” Wilson said. ”But we’re still positioned, just like we’ve always been historically to add players through trade.”The Sharks still have approximately $20 million in salary cap space, some of which will be used to re-sign Joe Thornton in a deal that should be completed quickly, according to Wilson. San Jose also needs to sign restricted free agent forwards Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney but will have money to acquire other players if they become available on the trade market.Wilson sees no reason to rush into any moves with a core in place that also includes high-scoring forwards Evander Kane and Joe Pavelski, defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, as well as goaltender Martin Jones.”As far as exploring other players, we looked at it. John was the one that we wanted to swing at,” Wilson said. ”We feel that we have a very good hockey team. I mean we had 100 points last year without Jumbo and actually without Kaner most of the year. We scored 252 goals. We’ve got a good hockey team, but I’ve always explored every opportunity to add players of this ilk to our team Colorado Avalanche Hats Womens , and that’s what we did. But do we feel like we lost out on anything? No, not really.”Keeping Couture was much easier than luring away Tavares since he never had any desire to leave the franchise he initially joined as a first-round pick in 2007.Couture was San Jose’s most dependable center last season, often matching up against the opponent’s top line and providing plenty of offense of his own from the second line. Couture had a career-high 34 goals last year and was a major part of the power play and penalty killing units.”Everyone loves playing in San Jose,” Couture said. ”I don’t just say that because I play there. You ask around the league and a lot of guys have heard all the great things about playing in San Jose and playing for the Sharks. I think that speaks volumes of why these big-name free agents have the Sharks on their list, because of the great things they hear about the organization, and there’s much about the Sharks that makes it very difficult to want to leave. So I’ve wanted to stay and I’m very happy.”The 29-year-old has 213 goals and 224 assists in 582 career games. He also has been a postseason standout, leading the NHL with 30 points in 2016 when he helped San Jose reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history before losing to Pittsburgh in six games.Couture has 34 goals and 47 assists in 96 career playoff games, ranking in the top 10 in the NHL in playoff goals and points since making his postseason debut in 2010.He feels the pieces are in place for more postseason runs, even without Tavares on board.”Our team’s goal is to win right now,” he said. ”It’s not to wait a few years. We want to go out. We want to win. Obviously the goal going into next year is to win the Stanley Cup. That’s many teams goal. I’m sure Doug has many things he has going on but obviously that’s not my job.— WASHINGTON (AP) Craig Smith scored twice and Ryan Johansen had the go-ahead goal late in the third period to help the Nashville Predators beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 Thursday night to clinch first place in the Central Division, the top seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the NHL.Even though it’ll be Pekka Rinne in net for the Predators when they open the playoffs next week, backup Juuse Saros stopped 28 of the 31 shots and captain Roman Josi scored on the power play to give them their first division title in 19 seasons of existence.Nashville has a franchise-record 52 victories and will open the playoffs against the second wild card in the West as it tries to return to the Stanley Cup Final. The Predators clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s top record when Boston lost to Florida 3-2 later Thursday. Nashville watched from the arena as the Panthers scored late in the third period to top the Bruins.Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice and Alex Ovechkin added his NHL-leading 47th goal of the season for the Metropolitan-champion Capitals, who have nothing left to play for and could still face any of a handful of teams in the first round. Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves and strengthened his case to be Washington’s Game 1 playoff starter over 2016 Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby.CANUCKS 4, COYOTES 3, OTVANCOUVER Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys , British Columbia (AP) – Daniel Sedin scored on a power play 2:33 into overtime with his brother Henrik Sedin earning an assist in their final home game before retiring after 17 seasons with Vancouver.The twins were mobbed by teammates after the goal. Fans were on their feet the minute the Sedins went over the boards after Arizona’s Richard Panik was called for hooking. The goal came when Henrik passed back to Daniel, who blasted a shot from the blue line.After the game, the two brothers slowly skated around the ice at Rogers Arena, waving at the fans.The brothers had combined for a goal earlier in the game, with Daniel scoring and Henrik assisting again.Christian Fischer, Derek Stepan and Dylan Strome scored for Arizona.Jake Virtanen and Brendan Leipsic got the other goals for the Canucks. Both teams will miss the playoffs.DEVILS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012.Patrick Maroon set up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood and the Devils ended a five-year postseason drought with the victory over Toronto.Keith Kinkaid, the mainstay in goal since the end of January, made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved the lead with a stop in close on Austin Matthews with just over seven minutes to play.New Jersey is 10-2-1 in its last 13 in going from the worst team in the Eastern Conference a year ago to one that will get a chance to start playing for the Stanley Cup next week. After it was over, the players went to center ice and saluted the fans who were standing for much of the final minute.William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Anderson was outstanding, making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael Grabner in the big second period.The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-3) for the Maple Leafs.KINGS 5, WILD 4, OTLOS ANGELES (AP) – Dustin Brown scored his fourth goal of the game 23 seconds into overtime and Los Angeles moved into third place in the Pacific Division.Brown scored on a sharp-angle shot from the left circle to put the Kings one point ahead of Anaheim in the division. He set a career high with his 61st point.Tobias Rieder also scored www.bluejacketsshoponline.com , and Daniel Brickley had an assist for his first point in his NHL debut. Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for the Kings’ fourth win in five games.Matt Dumba scored for the second straight game, and Nate Prosser had a short-handed goal for the Wild, who will play Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs. Ryan Murphy and Eric Staal each had a goal, and Alex Stalock made 23 saves.FLYERS 4, HURRICANES 3PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jakub Voracek scored with 5:45 left to lift Philadelphia past Carolina.Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov and Michael Raffl also scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers would have clinched a playoff spot if Boston beat Florida, but the Panthers topped the Bruins 3-2.The Flyers seemed in great shape when Giroux put them up 3-2 with 9:42 remaining behind a wrist shot that beat goalie Scott Darling. It extended the Flyers captain’s career-high totals to 31 goals and 98 points. The Hurricanes erased the lead when Brian Elliott let in his second soft goal of the game, this one Jordan Staal’s backhander from a sharp angle near the side boards with 6:19 left.Elliott returned after missing 25 games following core muscle surgery Feb. 13.Klas Dahlbeck and Sebastian Aho also scored for Carolina.PANTHERS 3, BRUINS 2SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jared McCann scored with 5:37 left and Roberto Luongo got the win in his 1,000th career game, helping Florida beat Boston to stay in playoff contention.The Panthers trail Philadelphia by four points for the final Eastern Conference wild card and have two games remaining, including a matchup Sunday night with Boston. Florida needs to win both games and have the Flyers lose to the New York Rangers in regulation Saturday.The 39-year-old Luongo became the third goalie to reach the 1,000-game mark, joining Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (1 Columbus Blue Jackets T-Shirts Womens ,266) and Patrick Roy (1,029). He stopped 26 shots Thursday.Aleksander Barkov scored his 100th career goal, and Frank Vatrano scored a goal against his former team for the Panthers. Danton Heinen and Ryan Donato scored for Boston.PENGUINS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4, OTCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Phil Kessel scored 1:06 into overtime for Pittsburgh, and Columbus earned a point to clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive season.Kessel scored for the left circle for his second goal of the game and 33rd of the season. Conor Sheary tied it at 12:16 in the third period.Patric Hornqvist and Kris Letang also scored, and Matt Murray had 26 saves for Pittsburgh. Zach Werenski, Matt Calvert, Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson scored for Columbus.JETS 2, FLAMES 1WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) – Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves to tie the record for victories in a season by an American goalie and Winnipeg beat Calgary for its fourth straight victory.Hellebuyck has 43 victories to match the mark set by former Pittsburgh star Tom Barrasso in 1992-93.Blake Wheeler scored his 23rd goal for his 90th point of the season, and Paul Stastny added a goal to help Winnipeg improve to 10-1-0 in its past 11 and 51-20-10 overall. Rookie Spencer Foo scored his first NHL goal in his third game for the Flames.SHARKS 4, AVALANCHE 2SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Logan Couture scored his NHL-leading 16th go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and San Jose improved its chances for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.Justin Braun Columbus Blue Jackets Hoodies Womens , Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks, who snapped a four-game losing streak and kept their one-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for second-place in the Pacific Division.Mikko Rantanen and Blake Comeau scored for the Avalanche, who missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the St. Louis Blues for a playoff spot.Martin Jones stopped 23 shots for the Sharks. Jonathan Bernier saved 32 for the Avalanche.ISLANDERS 2, RANGERS 1NEW YORK (AP) – Thomas Hickey and Anthony Beauvillier scored 2:32 apart in the second period and the New York Islanders kept up their recent mastery of the Rangers.Jaroslav Halak stopped 34 shots as the Islanders won for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings with the Rangers. They swept the four-game season series for the second time in the past three seasons, after never previously doing it since joining the NHL in 1972.The Islanders are also 6-0-0 at home against the Rangers since moving to Barclays Center in 2015.Kevin Hayes scored, and Ondrej Pavelec made 20 saves for the Rangers.OILERS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Connor McDavid had three assists to push his NHL-leading points total to 106 and help Edmonton beat Vegas.Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Benning, Mike Cammalleri and Ty Rattie scored for the Oilers. They snapped a five-game losing skid. Brayden McNabb, Brandon Pirri and Oscar Lindberg replied for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights. They had won three in a row.CANADIENS 4, RED WINGS 3DETROIT (AP) – Nicolas Deslauriers‘ second goal put Montreal ahead late in the second period and the Canadiens held on to beat Detroit.The Original Six teams are out of the playoff race, finishing up the season playing only for pride.Brendan Gallagher and Artturi Lehkonen also scored and Antti Niemi made 23 saves.Darren Helm, Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit.

WASHINGTON (AP) Make it 600 goals and counting for Alex Ovechkin Womens Jake DeBrusk Jersey , and give the Washington Capitals two more points for the tough playoff race in the Eastern Conference.Ovechkin scored twice in another historic performance and Evgeny Kuznetsov had the overtime winner as the Capitals returned to first place by beating the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Monday night.The 32-year-old Ovechkin scored during a 5-on-3 power play in the first period and then put back a rebound past Connor Hellebuyck for No. 600 in the second. The Russian winger became the 20th player and fourth-fastest in NHL history to the milestone and is on pace to lead the league in goals for the seventh time with 42 on the season.”Of course it’s special,” he said. ”You can see when I score the goal, everybody tried to find me, everybody tried to look at me. I knew if I’m gonna have another one, I’m gonna score.”Ovechkin continued a season-long trend of scoring a high volume of goals for the Capitals, who lost significant talent from back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams. He has roughly a fifth of Washington’s goals this season and needed to be on his game against Patrik Laine and Winnipeg.Laine entered with an 11-game point streak and scored his 41st goal of the season to make it 16 in his past 12. Nikolaj Ehlers also scored a 4-on-4 goal for Winnipeg, which got 40 saves from Connor Hellebuyck.But everyone was left in awe of the great Ovechkin, who could become the first player age 32 or older to lead the NHL in goals since Phil Esposito in 1974-75.”I’m sure one day we’ll look at it and get perspective on it,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said. ”But it’s all a part of this process and he’s not fazed by it. He said the other day 40’s good but 50’s nicer and he’s going to get 50 goals. You can just tell he’s very, very determined and he is a historic player.”Ovechkin joined Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull as the only players to score 600 in fewer than 1,000 games. He said his wife, Nastya, who just returned from a weeklong trip to Moscow, had a feeling he would accomplish the feat against the Jets.”Right now parents in Moscow and she makes it,” Ovechkin said. ”It’s kind of nice when someone from your family is in the stands.”Ovechkin got two lengthy standing ovations from the crowd that has been dazzled by his accomplishments since he made his debut in 2005. It was of little surprise he delivered in what was a showdown with another fellow 40-goal scorer in Laine, who idolized Ovechkin growing up.”I was pretty close watching it,” Laine said of Ovechkin’s goal 3:53 into the second period. ”I was in a good spot – just behind him. I was there when he made history, so I can maybe watch that someday and show that I was there getting the minus on the ice.”Kuznetsov got his 21st of the season on a breakaway 4:11 into overtime. He joked that Ovechkin scoring 600 was ”a free meal” for him and was thrilled to put a positive capper on the night for Washington.”I feel like my legs were 15 years old Patrice Bergeron Jersey ,” Kuznetsov said. ”I don’t have a good overtime the last 10 games probably. I just wanted to score that because I know that one point will make a huge difference at the end of the year.”NOTES: Capitals G Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots in his third consecutive start over No. 1 goaltender Braden Holtby, who is 1-5-2 with a 4.83 goals-against average and .854 save percentage in his past eight games. … Ds Christian Djoos and Madison Bowey and Fs Alex Chiasson and Travis Boyd were healthy scratches for Washington. … Jets G Steve Mason is out two to three weeks after a knee scope. C Mark Scheifele is expected to miss his fourth consecutive game Tuesday with an upper-body injury. D Dmitry Kulikov returned to Winnipeg with an upper-body injury, with coach Paul Maurice saying there would be a further update later this week.UP NEXTJets: Visit the Central Division-leading Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.Capitals: Visit the New York Islanders on Thursday in the first half of a home-and-home back-to-back.— Victor Hedman refused to go to sleep without a contract.A full year before he could become a free agent, the hulking No. 1 defenseman told his agent he wanted to sign a long-term extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning the first day he could. Hedman put pen to paper on an eight-year contract well before the sun went down.”It was never a doubt,” Hedman said that day. ”Staying in Tampa was the No. 1 priority.”Patrice Bergeron felt the same way when he signed his second, third and fourth contract with the Boston Bruins. Like Hedman, Bergeron wanted to stay with the organization that drafted and developed him for as long as possible while taking less money to surround himself with enough talent to win.Now each player is on the road to joining an exclusive and growing club of players who reach 1,000 games with one team. Over the past week, Chicago’s Brent Seabrook and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin became the 49th and 50th players in NHL history to play their first 1,000 regular-season games with the same organization, and that group will welcome many members in the next several years as franchise building blocks lock in to long-term deals.”You’re going to see it more often now,” Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik said. ”Just the way the CBA is and the way the bigger names probably don’t move around as much as they did in earlier years.”Next season alone, longtime Seabrook defensive partner Duncan Keith and Bergeron are expected to join the one for 1,000 group, with Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu and Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar in reach of the milestone before the end of 2018-19 if they stay healthy. San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joe Pavelski, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews aren’t far behind as this era of long-term stability produces a parade of silver-stick ceremonies for one-team foundation pieces.”If you’re playing 1,000 games in one organization, you have to be a certain level of player,” said agent Kent Hughes Matt Read Jersey Womens , who represents Bergeron. ”It’s really significant because you’re talking about a series of contracts and we’re in a cap world and in order for that to happen in a lot of cases, I think there needs to be a little bit of give and take on both sides.”In Ovechkin’s case, it was a $124 million, 13-year contract signed in early 2008 that then-NBA commissioner David Stern told Capitals owner Ted Leonsis he’d live to regret. The only regret now for Leonsis is not signing his face of the franchise for 15 years, and Ovechkin said if he could turn back time, he’d sign for 16 years.Ovechkin is an anomaly in today’s NHL, where contract lengths were capped at eight years in the last round of collective bargaining talks. Since that CBA went into effect in January 2013, 33 different players have signed eight-year contracts – 28 of whom re-upped with his original team.”It means a lot to any player to get off their career and say, `Well, look at this, I played 1,050 games with one team – my whole career, I’m one of the few,”’ said agent Peter Wallen, who counts one-team players Hedman, St. Louis forward Patrik Berglund and Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog among his clients. ”The only reason you will stay there for 1,000 games is that’s because you’re in the playoffs every year, you know your GM is giving you the opportunity to go deep in the playoffs and they want to win the Stanley Cup.”The other most-recent players to reach 1,000 games with one team – Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown Matt Hendricks Jersey Womens , Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg and New Jersey’s Patrik Elias – all lifted the Stanley Cup, while Daniel and Henrik Sedin went to the 2011 final and were part of a perennial contender in Vancouver. It’s a delicate balance for teams between paying stars their value and maintaining roster flexibility to contend for several years.”It’s difficult because you can’t let that key player go while he’s in the prime and you have to keep him content,” Hughes said. ”If the player doesn’t work with you, then it becomes more and more of a challenge to find a way to remain competitive.”Yet the one-team, 1,000-game players should keep piling up with the likes of the Flyers’ Claude Giroux, Devils’ Travis Zajac, Bruins’ David Krejci, Kings’ Drew Doughty and possibly the Islanders’ John Tavares – if he re-signs this summer – on pace to hit the mark. Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov could follow Ovechkin as the only players to get to 1,000 with the Capitals after none did it in the first 40-plus years of the franchise’s history.”Organizations want to build a core group maybe, and that’s maybe why it’s so common these days that more guys stick with one team,” Backstrom said. ”For me, personally, I like that, and obviously not move around. But sometimes you can’t control it, either. I feel like we’ve been fortunate here that we’ve been here a long time, so I’m happy about that.”—

NEWARK Authentic Baker Mayfield Jersey , N.J. (AP) — Kyle Palmieri scored his seventh goal in four games, Keith Kinkaid stopped 24 shots for his second shutout and the New Jersey Devils continued their perfect start, beating the Dallas Stars 3-0 on Tuesday night.Late pickup Jean-Sebastien Dea tallied for the third straight game and Blake Coleman added a goal as the Devils (4-0) remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team. The 4-0 start is their best since 1995-96.Palmieri also became the first player in NHL history to score his team’s opening goal in four consecutive games to begin a season, the league said.Anton Khudobin made 31 saves as Dallas lost for the second time in two nights. It marked the first time the Stars were shut out.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, SABRES 1LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 407th win to tie Glenn Hall for 10th place on the NHL list as Vegas beat Buffalo.Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and Fleury made 26 saves for the defending Western Conference champions. Cody Eakin and William Karlsson also had goals for the Golden Knights, who scored more than two for the first time in seven games this season.Vladimir Sobotka scored with 37 seconds left, spoiling Fleury’s bid for his 50th career shutout.Sabres goalie Carter Hutton stopped 25 shots.RANGERS 3, AVALANCHE 2, SONEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Shattenkirk scored the deciding goal in a shootout to lift the Rangers over the Avalanche.Mats Zuccarello scored for the Rangers in the first round of the tiebreaker, and Mikko Rantanen tied it in the second. Shattenkirk then beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in the third round Greg Joseph Jersey Elite , and Henrik Lundqvist denied Gabriel Landeskog to secure New York’s second win in six games this season (2-4-0).Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider scored in regulation for the Rangers, and Lundqvist stopped 31 shots through overtime. Zuccarello and Shattenkirk each had two assists.Nathan MacKinnon, who also had an assist, scored for Colorado to set the franchise record with a goal in each of the first six games to open a season. Tyson Jost also had a goal for the Avalanche. Varlamov, who came in 3-0-1 with a 1.75 goals-against average, made 41 saves.CANUCKS 3, PENGUINS 2, OTPITTSBURGH (AP) — Brock Boeser fired a wrist shot by Casey DeSmith’s stick and into the net 34 seconds into overtime to lift the Canucks to a victory over the Penguins.The Penguins tied it late in regulation when Carl Hagelin took a perfect pass from Phil Kessel and slipped it past Anders Nilsson with 3:14 to go.Vancouver, however, responded in the extra period.Boeser took the puck and drifted through center ice as the Canucks worked through a line change behind him. Rather than drop it off to a teammate http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/greg-joseph-jersey , he let one go just inside the right circle for his second goal of the season.Ben Hutton and Brandon Sutter also scored for the Canucks. Nilsson finished with 26 saves as Vancouver won its third straight. The Canucks played without 19-year-old rookie Elias Pettersson, who was diagnosed with a concussion after getting slammed to the ice in a game against Florida on Saturday.FLYERS 6, PANTHERS 5, SOPHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jordan Weal scored in the shootout to lift the Flyers over the Panthers.Weal had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Voracek also scored in the shootout for the Flyers. Philadelphia had to rally to earn two points after leading by three goals late in the second period.Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux each had two goals for the Flyers.Aleksander Barkov and Frank Vatrano scored two apiece for the Panthers (0-2-2), who remained one of two winless teams in the NHL. Evgenii Dadonov also scored and Keith Yandle had two assists.Voracek opened the scoring in the shootout by beating Michael Hutchinson with a forehand shot. Hutchinson was making his Panthers debut in place of Roberto Luongo (knee), who missed his third straight contest.Barkov, Florida’s second shooter, shot past Calvin Pickard with a backhander to even the score. After Hutchinson denied Giroux, Weal beat the goalie through the five-hole. The Flyers secured the win when Pickard stopped Vatrano.WILD 2 Authentic Greg Joseph Jersey , COYOTES 1ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Eric Staal and Mikael Grandlund scored and Devan Dubnyk stopped 27 of 28 shots to lead the Wild to a win over the Coyotes.Brendan Perlini scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots in his season debut for Arizona. Kuemper was making his first appearance against the franchise that drafted him in 2009. He spent parts of five seasons in Minnesota before leaving as a free agent in 2017.Staal scored the game-winner with 13:42 to play by converting after a mad scramble in front of the net. After Kuemper stopped Ryan Suter’s initial shot, Jason Zucker tapped it across the crease to Staal, who buried it for his second goal of the season.The Coyotes entered the night having scored just two goals in four games, including three shutout losses. But they opened the scoring midway through the first period when Perlini scored his first of the season on the power play.LIGHTNING 4, HURRICANES 2TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Johnson had three goals, Yanni Gourde scored on a power play to put Tampa Bay ahead in the third period and the Lightning beat the Hurricanes.Johnson scored in all three periods, completing the hat trick on an empty-netter with 1:56 remaining.After Carolina defenseman Calvin de Haan fanned on a clearing attempt, Gourde made it 3-2 on a pass from Ondrej Palat at 7:02 of the third.Lightning backup Louis Domingue stopped 38 shots in his first start of the season. He made strong saves on Sebastian Aho and Micheal Ferland soon after Gourde’s goal.Ferland and Martin Necas had goals Myles Garrett Jersey Elite , and Petr Mrazek turned aside 23 shots for the Hurricanes.Aho picked up an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to seven games (eight assists, 12 points), which is tied for third-longest in the history of the Carolina/Hartford franchise. Only Victor Rask (eight games, 2016-17) and Ron Francis (11 games, 1984-85) had longer runs.OILERS 5, JETS 4, OTWINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor McDavid had four points and Darnell Nurse scored his first goal of the season 1:25 into overtime as Edmonton overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Winnipeg.McDavid scored twice and added a pair of assists for the Oilers, who were down 4-1 to start the third period.Ty Rattie ignited the comeback when he scored 18 seconds into the third. McDavid got his second power-play goal of the game at 2:28, and Jesse Puljujarvi tied it at 13:39.Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl each had two assists for Edmonton. Cam Talbot stopped 29 shots in his 200th game with the Oilers.McDavid set an NHL record by scoring or assisting on his team’s first nine goals to start a season Authentic Myles Garrett Jersey , breaking Adam Oates’ record of seven with Detroit in 1986-87. McDavid has four goals and five assists in four games.Jets forward Adam Lowry had two goals during a three-minute span in the first period. Mark Scheifele and defenseman Ben Chiarot also scored. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves. NEW YORK (AP) Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty left during the third period of Friday night’s 6-3 win over the New York Islanders with a lower-body injury.Montreal announced Pacioretty’s diagnosis in the third period on its Twitter feed, saying the forward would not return to the game. Afterward, coach Claude Julien said Pacioretty would join the team for the remainder of its six-game trip.”He’s going to be re-evaluated as we go along,” Julien said. ”We were being cautious in the third period. This isn’t a time for us to be risky. So we’ll see what he’s like tomorrow.”The Canadiens play the Boston Bruins on Saturday.Pacioretty was the subject of trade rumors ahead of last Monday’s trade deadline, and he denied reports this week that he requested a deal to a new team.Pacioretty entered Friday with 17 goals and 20 assists in 63 games this season. The 29-year old has scored 30 or more goals five times in his career, all with the Canadiens. His career high is 37 in 2014-15.—

SAN JOSE Womens Johan Larsson Jersey , Calif. (AP) — There are easier ways to start a West Coast road trip than against the perennial Pacific Division power San Jose Sharks in their notoriously loud arena.That assignment was just fine with Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno.“A team that comes out so hard at you, so you have to be in that mindset,” he said.The Blue Jackets’ mindset was right on point Thursday night.Foligno scored twice, Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist and Columbus skated to a 4-1 victory over San Jose.“No matter what people say on the outside, we know better,” Foligno said. “Our identity is a hard-working, tenacious team, and then our skill takes over from there.”Sergei Bobrovsky made 44 saves as the Blue Jackets won for the third time in four games. Seth Jones also scored.“I felt like a part of the team and I did my thing,” Bobrovsky said. “I didn’t try to create too much and I didn’t need that. So I just focused on my things, played my game and just enjoyed Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey , had fun.”It was San Jose’s first regulation loss since Oct. 14 at New Jersey. The Sharks were 4-0-2 in their last six games since dropping three of four during a road trip.“We weren’t good enough to win the game,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were doing enough to hope to win. We have to do better.”The Sharks jumped in front on a power-play goal 11:50 into the first period. Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic assisted on Kevin Labanc’s second goal of the season.But that was it for San Jose against Bobrovsky, and Columbus tied it on Duclair’s fifth goal at 16:30 of the first. Ryan Murray and Alexander Wennberg had assists on the play.The Blue Jackets went ahead to stay when Jones scored on a give-and-go with Duclair 9:15 into the second. Lukas Sedlak also had an assist on Jones’ second goal of the season.Foligno added a breakaway goal with 1:20 left in the period. Foligno slipped a backhand inside the left post past Aaron Dell.Foligno also had an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.“We probably played our best game away from the puck,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.“We’ve done a lot of talking in meetings the last couple of days about, we’re not going to be a safe team, we don’t want to be a safe team, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play above the puck when we don’t have it. A lot of our offense comes from being above the puck and in transition we stop teams before they get to our blue line, because we have back pressure.”Dell made 23 saves.“It’s simple. We didn’t play well,” Couture said. “We didn’t pass well, we didn’t spend enough time in their end Kyle Okposo Jersey , we didn’t forecheck, we turned the puck over. Columbus played harder than us. They boxed out around the net. We didn’t do a good job of creating traffic around the net and when we did, that’s when we created chances. It was just few and far between.”NOTES: Blue Jackets C Brandon Dubinsky (oblique strain) participated in Thursday’s skate but hasn’t received medical clearance to play. The 32-year-old missed his 10th straight game but hopes to play on the team’s three-game West Coast trip. … Columbus failed to capitalize on its only power play. The Blue Jackets are 6 of 45 in that department (13.3 percent) on the season. … Sharks RW Timo Meier was back on the first line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski. Meier started the season on the top line. … Couture extended his point streak to eight games.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.Sharks: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. TORONTO (AP) Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock acknowledged his team didn’t play very well Thursday night, and his players know things could become much more difficult if they have to deal with another injury absence for Auston Matthews.Tyler Bozak scored the shootout winner in the first round and Toronto squeezed out a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders after Matthews left the game. He tipped in Jake Gardiner’s shot to tie it 3-all with 3:29 remaining in the third period, but exited with 1:06 to go in regulation favoring his right shoulder after being sandwiched by Adam Pelech and Cal Clutterbuck.Matthews did not return. The 20-year-old Toronto star missed six games in December with a concussion as the Maple Leafs went 2-4 without him. He sat out four games in November with an undisclosed upper-body injury.”Clearly he’s a big part of our team and going down the stretch we’re going to need him, so hopefully it’s not too bad,” teammate Nazem Kadri said.Babcock didn’t give much of an update and said the club would know more about Matthews’ status on Friday at practice.Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly had the other Maple Leafs goals, and Frederik Andersen made 32 saves. Toronto (38-20-5) has won eight straight at home for the first time since the 2006-07 season.”Obviously, we weren’t very good,” Babcock said. ”Anybody who watches us regularly knows that we weren’t that good. Saw it coming yesterday in practice http://www.officialsabres.com/authentic-adidas-rasmus-ristolainen-jersey , talked about it then and our preparation wasn’t good enough.”Bozak beat Jaroslav Halak high blocker side for his third game-deciding shootout goal of the season. Bozak is tied for the NHL lead in shootout winners.”He is unbelievable at it. I mean, he always talks and jokes about it, how good he was back in the day, and he still hasn’t lost that touch,” Marner said. ”He’s been great for us in that category, but I mean, I think we’ve got to stop going that route. Thankfully we have him or else we might be in trouble.”Ryan Pulock, Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle scored for the Islanders (29-26-7), and Halak turned aside 28 shots. New York, tied with Columbus for the second Eastern Conference wild card www.blackhawksshoponline.com , dropped to 4-6-2 since the All-Star break and 13-15-3 on the road this season.With his three points, Barzal has a team-leading 65 and a 14-point lead over Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL’s rookie scoring race.Barzal has eight games with three or more points this season, one shy of Bryan Trottier’s franchise rookie record.”It’s unfortunate we couldn’t score (in overtime). It’s unfortunate to lose that extra point,” Barzal said.”We weren’t shy to push the pace early. (Clutterbuck) and (Casey Cizikas) finishing checks early kind of set the tone for the rest of us. I thought we played a pretty good game.”Pulock opened the scoring at 8:39 of the first period, one-timing Thomas Hickey’s feed past Andersen, who appeared out of position on the play after Eberle bumped into him. Barzal picked up the secondary assist.The Islanders’ rookie then doubled New York’s lead, backhanding the rebound of Anthony Beauvillier’s shot past Andersen for his 13th goal at 11:48.Marner got the Maple Leafs on the board at 17:39. After picking up a feed from Kadri, he showed patience while waiting for Halak to make the first move and then beat the goaltender between the pads for his 15th of the season. The goal gave Marner 10 in his last 16 games.Moments after the Islanders hit the post twice, Rielly tied it at 2 after taking Connor Brown’s pass and beating Halak high on the glove side for his sixth of the season at 1:28 of the third.New York responded 99 seconds later as Eberle’s centering pass redirected off Nikita Zaitsev’s skate and past Andersen. Barzal got the primary assist on Eberle’s 21st of the season.NOTES: Kadri’s first-period assist was the 300th point of his NHL career. He became the 35th player in Maple Leafs history to reach 300 points with the club.UP NEXTIslanders: At the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.Maple Leafs: Conclude their three-game homestand against Boston on Saturday.—

DENVER (AP) Semyon Varlamov stopped everything – including a hard-crashing Chicago player late in the third period.Only Womens Jared McCann Jersey , the collision took its toll: sending the Colorado goaltender flying into the net and knocking him out of the game.Varlamov stopped 30 shots before leaving with an apparent injury, and the Avalanche continued their playoff push with a 5-0 victory over the Blackhawks on Friday night.Colorado coach Jared Bednar had no update on Varlamov’s status after the victory.Varlamov was cruising along until Blackhawks forward Tomas Jurco tumbled into his left pad with 6:25 remaining. Varlamov was looked at by trainers before Jonathan Bernier skated in to finish the game.Bernier, who stopped three shots, and Varlamov combined for the first team shutout in franchise history, according to the Avalanche.Losing Varlamov – who has a history of groin issues – would be a blow for an Avalanche squad that remains in contention a season after finishing with a league-worst 48 points.”Varly keeps us in it for a while and then we get our legs going,” Bednar said. ”We have to take care of our business. That’s all we can do.”Collin Delia stopped 31 shots for last-place Chicago. He made his NHL debut the night before, but left in the third due to cramps. That opened the door for Scott Foster, a 36-year-old accountant who made an emergency appearance and became an instant feel-good story.Delia was impressed by the speed of the Avalanche, whose scoring attack was led by Sven Andrighetto’s two goals . Tyson Barrie, Mikko Rantanen and Tyson Jost also scored.”Very skilled,” Delia said. ”It’s good for me to get in there and see that, see a dominant team like them Jonathan Huberdeau Jersey , how they move the puck.”Colorado converted each of its three power plays. Rantanen’s goal with the man advantage in the third came off a feed from Nathan MacKinnon, who now has 93 points. It’s the most by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic had 100 in 2006-07.Barrie gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead at 8:14 of the second period with a shot near the blue line. Barrie then saved a potential goal minutes later when he swatted away a puck that had trickled through the pads of Varlamov, who was back in net after missing a game with an illness.”It was probably my fault that the puck was even that close to the goal line,” Barrie said. ”So, it’s fortunate that I could get a stick on it a couple of times.”Andrighetto scored the game’s first goal on a power play late in the first period. He skated in, split two defensemen and lifted a shot over Delia for his first goal since Dec. 23 at Arizona. He has missed a total of 31 games this season with what’s been termed by the team as a lower-body injury.”Definitely a big win for us and we’ve got to keep that going,” Andrighetto said.Chicago called up goaltender J-F Berube on the heels of Foster’s appearance against Winnipeg on Thursday. Foster was summoned into action when starter Anton Forsberg was hurt during pregame and Delia, who was just recalled from the minors, went out with cramps.The NHL adjusted its rules last summer to mandate that teams have an emergency goalie present for all home games ready to fill in for either side. Foster, a former goaltender at Western Michigan University, stopped all seven shots.Foster made an immediate impression.”What are the chances that someone else ever gets to do that again?” Delia said. ”It was good for him and the boys really rallied around him.”NOTES: Blackhawks D Blake Hillman made his NHL debut. He recently signed a two-year deal with the team after playing down the road at the University of Denver. … Bernier is quickly mending after suffering a cut on his finger that became infected. ”It was pretty bad,” Bernier said. ”Lucky enough http://www.floridapanthersteamshops.com/authentic-keith-yandle-jersey , didn’t need surgery.” … Avalanche D Erik Johnson was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. … It was the Avalanche’s 27th home win, which is tied for second-most in franchise history.UP NEXTBlackhawks: At St. Louis on Wednesday.Avalanche: Start a three-game trip Sunday in Anaheim.— WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Not many people, if any, expected the Winnipeg Jets to have one of the NHL’s best teams this season.Vegas Golden Knights assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon was one of the few.The former owner, general manager and coach of the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings said he watched Winnipeg play 20 times last season, giving him a peek at what was to come.”It was pretty easy to see that it was going to happen,” McCrimmon said. ”This year, certainly it has.”The Jets earned 114 points during the regular season, trailing only Nashville.Winnipeg advanced in the playoffs for the first time since moving from Atlanta in 2011. The Jets lost only once to Minnesota in the first round, and eliminated the top-seeded Predators on the road in Game 7 of the second round.The Jets clearly looked like the better team in a 4-2 win Saturday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against Vegas, the darling of the NHL in its expansion season.Suddenly Womens Authentic Nick Bjugstad Jersey , Winnipeg might have the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup, especially if it wins Game 2 at home on Monday night.The Jets have a pair of fantastic lines up front along with two solid ones and a strong group of defenseman led by Dustin Byfuglien , and 24-year-old Connor Hellebuyck has been one of the best goaltenders this postseason.How has a franchise, which has largely been an afterthought in the league, gone from finishing fifth or worse in its division the previous three seasons to having one of the world’s best hockey teams?”They put on a clinic in drafting and developing,” McCrimmon said. ”Along with that, great patience and leadership from Mark Chipman as an owner.”What they did takes time.”Unlike other NHL teams, which fire general managers and coaches if they don’t quickly have success, the Jets have allowed general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to build a championship contender since hiring him in 2011 when they left Atlanta. He was just 20 games above .500 in his first five seasons as Winnipeg’s GM, and its only previous postseason appearance in 2015 lasted just four games against Anaheim.Coach Paul Maurice, likewise, was afforded the opportunity to lead the team for fourth-plus season this year. He made the most of it by helping the Jets go 52-20-10 during the regular season.But ultimately Roberto Luongo Jersey , it comes down to having talented, unselfish players, and the Jets have plenty.When Winnipeg had high draft picks, as it often did as a struggling team, it didn’t miss.Patrik Laine, a 20-year-old winger, was drafted second overall two years ago and is one of the league’s best young players. He had 70 points in the regular season and scored his fourth goal of the playoffs in Game 1.Mark Scheifele, selected No. 7 overall in 2011, leads all postseason scorers with 12 goals and has averaged more than a point per game the past two seasons. On the back end, defenseman Jacob Trouba has been exceptional in the playoffs as the franchise hoped he would be eventually after taking him No. 9 overall in 2012.The Jets have also hit on some late-round picks, including Hellebuyck, whom they took No. 130 overall six years ago.”Hit home run after home run in the draft http://www.floridapanthersteamshops.com/authentic-vincent-trocheck-jersey ,” captain Blake Wheeler said . ”A lot of our marquee players are guys we drafted and have taken huge steps in the last year or two to be impact players.”Winnipeg didn’t draft its best player, Wheeler, but the franchise acquired him from Boston in a trade while it was in Atlanta in 2011 and has built around him. That same year, the Thrashers took advantage of Chicago’s need to get rid of salaries by dealing for Byfuglien.And like the front office and coaching staff, it seems the players were patient about the process of slowly building a winner when the team moved to Canada.”We weren’t coming here expecting to blow the doors off right away,” Byfuglien said. ”We knew it was going to be a process of building and finding the right group of guys.”But when it looked like the Jets had a shot to contend this season, they were willing to give up a first-round pick to St. Louis just before the trade deadline to add veteran center Paul Stastny to chase the Stanley Cup. And now, they might just be the team to beat.”The story of Winnipeg and the Jets, for far too long, has been about being underdogs and underrated,” Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said. ”But not anymore.”—Follow Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage—