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FLORHAM PARK http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/khalil-mack-jersey , N.J. (AP) — Obum Gwacham wanted to catch footballs from the time he started playing the sport.

Now, the New York Jets linebacker is chasing after the guys who are throwing them.

“You can also catch the ball on defense, too,” Gwacham said with a big smile. “So if I’m able to do that, I would not be mad at all.”

Gwacham — oh-BOOM GWAH-chum — enters the team’s final preseason game Thursday night at Philadelphia hoping to make an impression on Todd Bowles. He’s among several sitting squarely on the roster bubble, but has flashed the type of speed and athleticism that make him an intriguing player.

“They want to see an outside linebacker that can power rush, that can speed rush and can do all those things,” Gwacham said. “They know that I can do that.”

The 27-year-old Gwacham has two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit, along with a special teams tackle in the preseason. He’s facing tough competition at the outside linebacker position, with Brandon Copeland, Frankie Luvu, Dylan Donahue, Lorenzo Mauldin and David Bass all jockeying for spots behind projected starters Jordan Jenkins and Josh Martin.

Gwacham is also still learning the nuances of playing defense after spending most of his college career at Oregon State as a wide receiver. He didn’t play defense regularly until his senior season.

“I’ve been trying to work on getting tackles’ hands off me as soon as I can, so I can turn that edge faster and get to the quarterback,” he said. “I just want to get around the edge as fast as I can.”

Gwacham is certainly used to finding different paths to achieve his goals.

He was born in Onitsha, Nigeria, and spent his early years in a high-rise in Lagos, where his mother Caroline owned a jewelry store. She and her husband Edwin raised five children — two boys, including Obum, and three girls — while trying to provide them a solid life.

“I remember school, and I had to be trilingual,” Gwacham recalled. “I had to know English, French and Igbo. My sister is planning to get married in Nigeria next year. She sent out some pictures of our old house and a lot of memories came back. I remember our auntie cooking for us when my mom was working and I remember us acting a fool in the house when I was younger.”

Gwacham — whose name means “Son of God” — was just 7 when his family packed up and headed to the United States with hopes for a brighter future.

They had won a visa lottery, which allowed them to emigrate to the U.S. The family lived with relatives in southern California before settling in their own place in Chino Hills. Sports became a bonding activity.

Gwacham played soccer and learned about football, basketball and track from his older cousins and siblings. By the time he got to high school, he was already an outstanding athlete. And Le'Raven Clark Jersey , his mom finally allowed him to play football.

“I felt as though I was a little different from the other kids,” Gwacham said. “I was a little bit taller, a little bit faster than them.”

He played wide receiver and cornerback at Ayala High School. The 6-foot-5 Gwacham also excelled in track, where he ranked among California’s best athletes in the high jump, triple jump and long jump.

That’s how he first drew the attention of Joe Seumalo, then the defensive line coach at Oregon State.

“The thing that always intrigued me about Obum was his 6-foot-10 high jump,” said Seumalo, now the D-line coach at San Jose State. “I knew that validated the fact that he was explosive, a very freakish athlete. When we recruited him, I was able to get on the table and convince people that, yeah, this kid is raw, but he was 6-5, 220.”

Gwacham visited Oregon State’s campus in Corvallis and fell in love with the school. He joined the football and track teams, and continued to impress with his athleticism in both sports.

“I was probably the heaviest high jumper because at the time, I was about 225, 230, and going up against guys who were 160, 170 or so,” said a smiling Gwacham, now listed at 246.

In football, Gwacham insisted on playing wide receiver, despite Seumalo urging the youngster to play defense.

He was buried on the depth chart, though, behind the likes of Brandin Cooks and Richard Mullaney and saw little action. Gwacham played frequently on special teams, though.

Entering his senior season in 2014 Nick Kwiatkoski Jersey , he finally agreed to take Seumalo’s advice and switched to defensive end.

“I told him, ‘Boom, I just need you to run. I need you to run by or through somebody. And, you just need to go,'” Seumalo said. “And, that’s what he did.”

Gwacham finished tied for third on the team with four sacks and had 27 tackles as a top backup. It was also enough to get him an invitation to the NFL combine.

He was drafted in the sixth round by Seattle in 2015, and claimed by New Orleans off waivers later that season. Gwacham had 2½ sacks for the Saints in nine games as a rookie, but was hurt most of the 2016 season.

He was among New Orleans’ final cuts last September and was signed to Arizona’s practice squad, from where he was plucked by the Jets last October.

Gwacham had two tackles on defense and two on special teams in five games with New York. Now, he hopes to stick by catching quarterbacks.

“Once you’re in the NFL, you’ve got to find a way to stand out from everyone else,” Gwacham said. “It helps to be a little bit explosive. If I’m able to get a good turn off the edge and I feel the quarterback about to throw, I can try to anticipate and jump and swat the ball. Wha The Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights were favored to win their second-round matchups.

After losses Saturday, the Lightning and Golden Knights will be happy just to reclaim home-ice advantage.

Hours after Boston beat Tampa Bay 6-2 to take a 1-0 series lead Saturday, the Sharks handed Vegas its first postseason loss in six games with a 4-3 double-overtime victory.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper and Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said it was their teams’ worst performances of the postseason.

”I didn’t like the game we played, that was the main thing,” Gallant said Sunday before he and the Golden Knights left for San Jose. ”Not just losing in overtime, but I didn’t like the game that we played the first 40 minutes.”

And while the Lightning enjoyed six days off after eliminating New Jersey in five games, it was Boston that looked sharper after winning an emotional Game 7 at home against Toronto three nights prior.

Cooper put the Lightning through an intense, high-tempo practice Sunday in hopes of setting the tone for a more spirited performance in Game 2, after his team played with less intensity than in any of its first-round games against New Jersey.

”The purpose of our practice was to put us in the best position to be ready to play (Monday night),” Cooper said. ”Often times a lot of things in your game you develop in practice. We had a week off. We did some good things, but our game was not at a playoff level like the other team that had just played in a Game 7, and that’s what we have to bring (Monday night) or it’s going to be a long series for us.”

Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand (one goal, three assists) David Pastrnak (four assists) and Patrice Bergeron (two goals, one assist) combined for 11 points Sam Huff Jersey , a huge contrast from Tampa Bay’s top line of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller, which went scoreless in Game 1.

”With every round, you have to elevate your game, your intensity, everything, and we didn’t,” Cooper said. ”We took a step back. A really good team showed us what happens when you do that.”

Much of the same can be said for Vegas, which looked nothing like the team that opened its second-round series with a 7-0 shellacking of San Jose. Instead of the team that looked crisp with every pass, and sharp with every shot on goal, the Golden Knights were undisciplined and sloppy through the first 40 minutes.

”We got a little too confident after Game 1, we came out a little slow in Game 2 and we just have to fix that and focus on a good start for Game 3,” Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said. ”We can’t take those kinds of penalties. When you’re in the box for a good portion of the night it’s not going to go good. It kind of bit us in the ass.”

The Golden Knights, who surpassed its season-high 13 penalties in minutes with 22 PIM, found themselves in the box more than San Jose, 11-6.

Vegas is used to rolling four lines and three pairs of defensemen. Saturday the schematics changed with them spending more than a period in the penalty box collectively. And while Gallant admitted he didn’t like some of the calls against his team, or some of what he felt were missed calls, he also said his players brought a lot of it on themselves.

”I thought we had a couple of opportunities for power plays, we didn’t get them,” Gallant said. ”I don’t want our guys in the penalty box, I don’t want my top guys in the penalty box wrestling. (David) Perron took six minutes in penalties last night, (Jonathan) Marchessault’s sitting in there for roughing. You play hard, you get penalties – that’s fine. You don’t waste your time with after-the-whistle activities.”

BOUNCE BACK STRONG

Tampa Bay and Vegas have shown resiliency after a setback, as the Lightning are 19-8 following a loss, while the Golden Knights are 20-10-1.

”We know they’re going to come back faster and harder than they did, and they played a really good game (Saturday) Terrance Williams Jersey ,” Marchand said of the Lightning. ”They came out fast, they came hard and it was tough to weather that storm early on. So, we can expect more of that.”

San Jose’s Brent Burns, who had two goals on Saturday, said the Sharks fixed what they needed to for Game 2, but the win meant nothing more than tying the series and it’s now just a best-of-five, not seven, against a Vegas team that will be looking for revenge.

”It’s just one game,” Burns said. ”Obviously we had to win it, but it’s one game, so.”

FLURRY ON FLEURY

After allowing just three goals through the first five games, Vegas netminder Marc-Andre Fleury allowed three in the second period alone on Saturday. His shutout in Game 1 was his third of the postseason, but the Sharks peppered him throughout Game 2, outshooting the Golden Knights, 47-29.

The 14-year veteran said the lack of discipline, and even his own mistakes, are nothing to dwell on if the Golden Knights want to steal back home-ice advantage.

”We have a good bunch of guys, we’ve been through a lot together this year,” Fleury said Sunday. ”You win 7-0 or you lose like last night, you always got to start fresh every night. I think we’ve been doing that, for the first round and the first game of San Jose. Every game is a new start, you got to start from scratch and try to win that one.”

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AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.