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GLENDALE Youth Derek Stepan Jersey , Ariz. — of waiting until January or February to start making a playoff push.Perhaps that’s why they often take care of business, and in an emphatic way, well before that.The Arizona Coyotes, whose inability to reach the playoffs is in direct contrast to the Lightning’s frequent playoff success, know all too well how a season can get away from a team in October.Article continues below ...The Lightning, off to their usual strong start, will take a seven-game points streak into Gila River Arena to play the Coyotes on Saturday night. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Lightning, who won their third in a row by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point and J.T. Miller scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.“Our goaltender was there when we needed him and recorded a big win in a tough spot on the road,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He was in the zone again and was tracking pucks Womens Jason Demers Jersey , and our guys were good with letting him see pucks. You can get the shots, but if he can see them, he’ll usually stop them.”Victor Hedman, the Lightning’s star defenseman, sustained an undisclosed injury midway through the first period and didn’t return. He is not expected to play Saturday, but Cooper doesn’t think his injury will be long term.The Lightning are 7-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Nothing new there for a team that opened up 9-1-1 and 16-3-2 last season and was 5-1 to start the 2016-17 season. They’ve used good beginnings to help them reach the Eastern Conference finals two of the last three seasons.The Coyotes, however, aren’t the team they were at the start of the last two NHL seasons — and that’s encouraging to coach Rick Tocchet and his players.Arizona opened up 1-10-1 last season and never recovered. The season before that, the Coyotes lost five of their first six. This season, the Coyotes (4-5-0) have won two in a row — the first time in three Octobers they’ve done that — and three of four. Much of the reason for the Coyotes’ improvement is their goaltending, with both starter Antti Raanta (2-4 Paul Thompson Jersey Womens , 2.32 goals-against average) and backup Darcy Kuemper (2-1, 1.34) playing well to date.“We’ve gotten excellent goaltending, right from the start of the year, and it’s really helped us,” Tocchet said Friday. “We’re still giving up some Grade-A chances, and we’ll try to eliminate that, but the goalies have been really good. They’re giving us a chance to win every night.”Raanta sat out the last two games with flu-like symptoms, and Kuemper stepped in to make 62 saves on 64 shots as the Coyotes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, both by 4-1 scores.The Coyotes’ season quickly came apart last season when Raanta missed much of the first half of the season with three different injuries and Tocchet and general manager John Chayka couldn’t find a suitable backup. They tried Louis Domingue, Scott Wedgewood and Adin Hill without success, with Dominque going 0-6 with a 4.33 goals-against average and an .856 save percentage.But once Raanta was healthy during the second half of the season Troy Brouwer Jersey Womens , his 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage were the best in the NHL for goaltenders who played as much as he did. And Chayka not only picked up the reliable Kuemper in a late-season trade with the Los Angeles Kings, he signed Raanta and Kuemper to multi-year contracts.Coincidentally, Domingue landed with the Lightning despite his horrid statistics with Arizona, and he’ll start Saturday night against his former team.The Coyotes also appear to have solved their early-season scoring issues. They were shut out in three of their first four games, including their first two home games, but they’ve scored 15 goals in the past four games.“We didn’t score in the first few games, but we knew if we stuck with it the goals would come in bunches, and that’s kind of happened,” forward Brendan Perlini said.The Lightning and Coyotes split their two-game season series in 2017-18, with each team winning in the other’s building. SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Very little separated San Jose and Anaheim in the regular season http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-sven-andrighetto-jersey , with the Ducks edging out the Sharks by one point for second place in the Pacific Division.Their first-round series wasn’t nearly as competitive.The Sharks rode their superior depth, potent power play and stellar goaltending from Martin Jones to the second sweep in franchise history, knocking out the Ducks with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.”We’re playing well going into the second round,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. ”Everybody is contributing if it’s offensively, blocking shots, taking a hit. Everybody is doing what they have to for us to win.”After jumping on Anaheim early to win the first two games on the road, the Sharks earned a lopsided win in Game 3 thanks to undisciplined play by the Ducks and then withstood a strong push to end the series in Game 4.Jones kept Anaheim at bay for long stretches in the second and third period before finally allowing a tying goal to Andrew Cogliano. San Jose then took 1:16 to answer and scored the eventual series-clincher when Vlasic’s point shot deflected off Tomas Hertl and into the net.”The response goal was huge,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”We were on our heels. They were pressing. It’s tough to play an elimination game when you get an opportunity to sweep a really good team like that.”The Sharks were in control for most of the series, outscoring the Ducks 16-4 in their most lopsided series in franchise history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.San Jose got as many goals from its fourth line in the series as Anaheim had from its entire team with Marcus Sorensen scoring his third of the series to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead in the first period of the clincher. Eric Fehr also had a goal from the fourth line in the series.”Every night they hopped over the boards with energy and grabbed momentum for us, drew penalties http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-phillip-danault-jersey ,” DeBoer said. ”They were fantastic, but I’ve said from Day 1 we need to be a four-line team if we’re going to have success. And I think the teams that are moving through are. I watched Vegas a little bit last night. They’re a four-line team.”The expansion Golden Knights are also the next team in the Sharks’ way. The two will meet in the second round starting sometime next week in just the second series in the past 22 years featuring teams coming off sweeps in the previous round.Vegas finished off the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night, part of a record-setting inaugural campaign that included a Pacific Division title in the regular season.The Sharks will likely need another strong defensive effort next round led by Jones. He was brilliant in the clincher, making several tough saves against Corey Perry. He also had a shutout in Game 1 and set a San Jose playoff record with 45 regulation saves in Game 3.He finished the series with a .970 save percentage, helping the Sharks earn their second sweep in franchise history after also doing it in the first round against Vancouver in 2013.”Goaltending wins this time of the year,” forward Logan Couture said. ”He was fantastic. He made a lot of Grade A saves. He was our best penalty killer. They had some really good looks. Perry had a lot of chances that Joner made some big saves on.”By extending their season another round, the Sharks may be able to get star center Joe Thornton back in the lineup. Thornton has been out since injuring his right knee on Jan. 23. He has resumed skating and took part in warmups throughout the series but has said he doesn’t want to return until he knows he’s healthy enough to help the team and make it through what he hopes will be a run to the Stanley Cup Final.The Sharks have time now to figure that out.”That’s all hypothetical,” DeBoer said. ”That doesn’t even cross our desk. Those decisions will be something if he is healthy we’ll make then. Sometimes those things sort themselves out. I’m just really proud of our group, the resiliency, the composure.”—