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RALEIGH http://www.starsshoponline.com/authentic-devin-shore-jersey , N.C. (AP) Jordan Weal was shocked by his goalie’s impressive save in the final minute of overtime. He regained his composure just in time to score the winner.Weal’s goal with 3.1 seconds left in the extra period lifted the Philadelphia Flyers over the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Tuesday night moments after Brian Elliott deflected a shot with the knob of his stick.”My jaw dropped on that save. It was unbelievable,” Weal said. ”Just weathered the storm, and that’s 3-on-3 – if you can weather the storm at one end, that’s when the fast break happens.”Wayne Simmonds also scored to help the Flyers snap a four-game losing streak and earn two important points in the crowded Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference races. Philadelphia leapfrogged Columbus and the New York Islanders with 59 points, while Carolina is one point behind those two teams with 57.Elias Lindholm scored a power-play goal for the Hurricanes, who have lost three in a row to fall to 2-3 on an eight-game homestand. They have been held to a single goal in each of the three losses.”It’s tough to win when you score only one goal,” Lindholm said, adding that goalie Cam Ward ”has been playing unbelievably for us. Too bad we can’t help him with a win and score more goals for him.”Elliott, making his first start since missing four games with a lower-body injury, stopped 27 shots for the Flyers, who had gone 0-3-1 in a four-game stretch that followed a run of eight wins in nine games.”It was big because we’d been playing some good hockey and dominating for periods of time, and today I think we had a good 60-minute effort,” Weal said. ”It all came together, and it’s a huge two points.”Ward made 28 saves for Carolina, which had a great chance to win it late in OT when Elliott made his knob-of-the-stick save on Jordan Staal’s shot into a seemingly open net and Claude Giroux laid out to block Jeff Skinner’s follow-up attempt.”The guys just really laying out, doing whatever they have to do to get the win … that’s great to see,” defenseman Andrew MacDonald said.Weal then ended it by snapping a shot from the circle past Ward.Carolina’s defeat came two days after a 3-1 loss to San Jose that was punctuated by coach Bill Peters calling out his players for their ”disappointing effort” and promising lineup changes. The only changes to the active roster: Forward Phil Di Giuseppe and defenseman Klas Dahlbeck were in, and forward Marcus Kruger and defenseman Haydn Fleury were scratched.Peters expressed satisfaction that his team responded with desperation in this one.”I thought it was real good,” he said. ”I thought it was a very competitive game. Very, very competitive. I was obviously happy with the effort. Not in love with the end result.”NOTES: This was the first meeting of the season between the division rivals, who will play three times in the final five weeks. … Lindholm’s goal was his first in eight games.UP NEXTFlyers: Play host to Montreal on Thursday night.Hurricanes: Continue their eight-game homestand Friday night against Vancouver.— ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) The Edmonton Oilers have been reduced to playing spoiler in the playoff race. It’s a role they seem to be relishing, creating plenty of drama along the way.Ryan Strome scored twice and the Oilers recovered to beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-5 in a shootout Sunday after giving up two goals in the final 21 seconds of regulation.After nearly allowing Los Angeles to overcome a two-goal deficit in the final 18 seconds of a 4-3 win Saturday, the Oilers found themselves playing extra hockey Sunday when Rickard Rakell scored with 20.9 seconds remaining in the third period to make it 5-4 and then tied it with 6.3 seconds to play. He beat Al Montoya with a wrist shot from the slot after Derek Grant won the faceoff against Leon Draisaitl.Following a wide-open overtime in which both teams had plenty of chances to win, Draisaitl and Connor McDavid scored in the shootout for Edmonton and Montoya stopped shots by Ryan Getzlaf and Ondrej Kase after Rakell made his.”When you’re not really in the hunt anymore you’ve got to find ways to keep yourself motivated and we’ve definitely been able to do that,” said McDavid Womens Esa Lindell Jersey , who had three assists. ”I think our last two games have been two of the best that we’ve played in a long time and it’s good to see.”Draisaitl scored in his third straight game for the Oilers, who have won three in a row and four of five. Montoya made 41 saves, and Anton Slepyshev and Iiro Pakarinen also scored. Michael Cammalleri had two assists, giving him 12 in his last 12 games.Rakell had his first career hat trick and Getzlaf added a goal and two assists for the Ducks, who have earned at least one point in six consecutive home games. Adam Henrique scored a power-play goal, and Ryan Miller stopped 37 shots.The Oilers haven’t had much go right this season. They made two trades over the weekend and appear poised to move Patrick Maroon before Monday’s deadline after the forward was held out for the third straight game. Despite the turmoil, they are also delivering some of their best performances right now.”It shows character in the room,” Montoya said. ”The core is committed to this team and they help and lead the way.”Strome, who had his fifth career multi-goal game, put the Oilers ahead 3-2 at 7:02 of the second period. Hampus Lindholm nearly broke up Draisaitl’s centering pass during a 3-on-2 rush, but Strome was still able to reach back and score. He added his fifth goal in five games by scoring 2:31 into the third for a 4-2 lead.Getzlaf’s long shot redirected off the back of Yohann Auvitu to cut the lead to 4-3 with six minutes to play, but Pakarinen scored 1:40 later to restore a two-goal margin.While the Oilers were surging this weekend, the Ducks went on a downward trend. They took only one of a possible four points against Edmonton and Arizona, the bottom two teams in the Pacific Division, and were sluggish from the start Sunday. Getzlaf made a poor pass at the blue line right to Cammalleri in the neutral zone, and he fed Draisaitl for a shot between Miller’s legs to put the Oilers up 1-0 after 13 seconds.”We played good for four or five games in a row and then this weekend we just kind of were a little bit flat. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just the reality of it. So, proud of the way we came back, got a point, and we’ve got to build off that and get ready for the push here,” said Getzlaf, who made amends by helping set up Rakell’s goal at 1:46 to tie it at 1.By rallying for one point, Anaheim moved into third place in the Pacific Division with 74 points. The Ducks are one point ahead of Calgary, which dropped to the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.”We pulled our goaltender and scored two goals,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. ”You don’t know what that point is going to mean at the end of the year.”NOTES: Oilers forward Zack Kassian did not return after being clipped by Kase midway through the first period. … Slepyshev scored for the second straight game. … The Oilers acquired forward Pontus Aberg from Nashville in a three-team trade. They sent C Mark Letestu to Columbus as part of the deal.UP NEXTOilers: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.Ducks: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.—

MONTREAL (AP) Even with the Montreal Canadiens eliminated from postseason contention John Hayden Jersey , Brendan Gallagher keeps competing hard every single night.Gallagher scored twice, including his 30th goal of the season, and Carey Price snapped a seven-game losing streak as Montreal defeated the skidding Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on Monday.”Those 30 goals are well deserved,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said about Gallagher. ”It’s an example of what hard work and perseverance and commitment and dedication is all about. He never complains about anything. He goes about and does his job. That’s what you expect from your leaders.”With the two goals, Gallagher pushed his total to 49 points this season. His previous career high was 47.”It’s nice,” the feisty winger said about reaching the 30-goal plateau. ”You want to contribute and you want to score. It’s also nice to get it out of the way and stop talking about myself and get back to finishing hard and finishing the right way.”Paul Byron and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal in a matchup of Original Six franchises who will miss the playoffs. Price made 26 saves for his first win since Feb. 4. He had been 0-5-2 since then.”We have five games remaining and we want to finish the right way game after game and really push each other to carry this over into next year,” Gallagher said.Gustav Nyquist and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Detroit, and Jared Coreau stopped 27 shots in his fifth game of the season. He is 0-4-0.Both the Canadiens and Red Wings will take part in the draft lottery this spring. Montreal is 26th in the overall NHL standings, three points ahead of 27th-place Detroit.The Red Wings have won just once in their last 14 games (1-12-1).”We’ve been real good through the stretch,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. ”We’ve played really good hockey. We’ve deserved better results. No chance is that good enough tonight. We have to be way better.”Our attention to detail, not good enough. Our intensity, not good enough. Winning puck battles, doing all the little things it takes, just too many guys not going.”Gallagher scored his first of the game and team-leading 29th of the season at 4:27 of the second period to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead. The forward threw the puck on net from the corner of the ice and it bounced off Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser’s skate and in.The Edmonton native, who has scored in three consecutive games, got his 30th at 9:32 when he tipped a shot by Mike Reilly on net. The puck went off Coreau’s skate and landed in the crease before the goalie accidentally knocked it in himself.”Those are the ones I’m used to scoring,” said Gallagher, who also had two blocked shots. ”It’s always good when the guys don’t really know that you scored the goals. But any way you can score is obviously nice.”The 5-foot-9 forward came within inches of his first career hat trick. With 4:26 remaining, Jeff Petry’s shot from the blue line trickled past Coreau. Gallagher came close to knocking it in, but Galchenyuk got his stick on it first to make it 4-2.”I don’t think there’s a guy who works harder in this locker room,” Petry said about Gallagher. ”He’s one of the guys who’s consistently going to those tough areas and he’s getting rewarded for it.”Bertuzzi got one back for Detroit at 13:41 of the second when he squeezed a loose puck between Price’s pads.The teams traded goals in the first period.Nyquist got the first at 4:41 with a hard one-timer before Byron responded, on the power play, with a backhand off the post and in at 18:11 for his 19th.NOTES: Detroit recalled 21-year-old defenseman Joe Hicketts from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League. … Several Canadian Olympians were honored in a pregame ceremony, including medalists Kim Boutin, Charles Hamelin, Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Mikael Kingsbury.UP NEXTRed Wings: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.Canadiens: Play at Pittsburgh on Saturday night.— WASHINGTON (AP) A salary-cap squeeze threatened to slam the Washington Capitals‘ Stanley Cup window shut. Instead, it busted it wide open.When the dollars didn’t add up to be able to keep a handful of key contributors to back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams, the Capitals went bargain hunting to sign bought-out winger Devante Smith-Pelly, who general manager Brian MacLellan termed a ”project.” Up against the cap at the trade deadline, they acquired lightly used defenseman Michal Kempny from Chicago.”Some of the best acquisitions are ones that are under the radar, ones that fit almost seamlessly,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”Some of the best deals that we’ve made are those ones that, even myself I’m like, `Hmm, that’s a little bit of an upgrade, not a big one.’ And they ended up being the biggest upgrades because they’re not sexy names.”Kempny said ”probably nobody knew my name when I came here or played in Chicago,” and Smith-Pelly had his name on the back of three other NHL teams’ jerseys before this season. Now they’re key pieces for a team one win from the Stanley Cup after the Capitals hit on exactly the kind of moves every championship contender is looking to make.All it cost was a one-year deal at the league minimum to sign Smith-Pelly after he was bought out by the Devils Authentic Jonathan Toews Jersey , and a third-round pick to get Kempny from the Blackhawks. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Braden Holtby have led Washington to this point, up 3-1 on the Vegas Golden Knights with the chance to raise the Cup after Game 5 on Thursday night. But they wouldn’t be here without the contributions of Smith-Pelly and Kempny.After a seven-goal regular season, Smith-Pelly has six goals in the playoffs, including potential series daggers in Games 3 and 4 of the final. This isn’t exactly where the 25-year-old thought he’d be just under a year ago when he found out a minute before the buyout deadline that the Devils were cutting him.”You only get so many chances to stick,” said Smith-Pelly, a 2010 second-round pick who bounced from Anaheim to Montreal to New Jersey, never putting up more than 17 points in a season. ”I knew that this could be my last one, so I kind of took the buyout personally and listened to what the coaching staff had to say and what they wanted, and just went out there and did it.”Smith-Pelly wasn’t even guaranteed a roster spot when he signed. He developed into a teammate on and off the ice that helped propel the Capitals to another division title despite losing forwards Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson and Daniel Winnik, and defensemen Nate Schmidt, Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk last summer. He was the Capitals’ Masterton Trophy nominee for perseverance and dedication to hockey after taking an incident of racist ”basketball, basketball, basketball” taunts and turning it into a positive when he facilitated money be donated to Fort Dupont Ice Arena in Washington.”What happened was obviously pretty negative,” Smith-Pelly said. ”But for the people of Chicago to feel that they needed to donate money and for me to give it to Fort Dupont I thought turned a pretty bad thing into something that could change many kids’ lives in that area.”Smith-Pelly always seems to find the positive. He brushed off a puck to the face at the morning skate Monday and scored a back-breaking goal that night.Kempny has done the same. Stepping on a puck during pregame warmups led to a spill and stitches across the bridge of his nose, but the 27-year-old missed no time. He then pumped in a Game 4 goal that helped put the Capitals on the verge of winning the Cup.It’s the latest impact Kempny has made on his new team after fitting in as a top-four defenseman alongside John Carlson.”He played big minutes against top players, be it the (Evgeni) Malkins and the (Sidney) Crosbys, and he’s done a really good job,” Trotz said.” He’s just one of those players that is effective – efficient, effective, gets it done. You’re not going to see a lot of offense. He’s got some great looks, though. You talk about a guy who’s developing maybe from more of a stay-at-home type of defenseman to a guy who recognizes opportunity.”This is the opportunity Kempny had been waiting for after being a third-pairing defenseman with the Blackhawks, and sometimes a healthy scratch. Coach Joel Quenneville wasn’t a fan, so the Capitals made a deal arguably more meaningful than Evander Kane to San Jose, Paul Stastny to Winnipeg, or Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay.”Adding Kempny helped a lot,” MacLellan said. ”I think we had him projected right. He’s a good skater, a good puck mover. I know he was not always in the lineup in Chicago, but he was our No. 1 target going into the trade deadline.”Carlson watched video of Kempny’s games to get an understanding of his new defense partner. Kempny had to regain his confidence after feeling like the ”last warm body on the bench.””When you are not playing, you can’t be a better player. It’s impossible,” Kempny said. ”I never played in Chicago against top lines. I didn’t know if I could play against them or not. But I got a chance here, so I proved to myself that I can play against top lines.”The Capitals have shown they can play against and beat anyone, with Smith-Pelly and Kempny proving to be perfect pieces for a team eying a championship.”Everything’s worked out very well,” Smith-Pelly said. ”If we end up winning, that would be the cherry on top.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals—

WINNIPEG Authentic Mikael Backlund Jersey , Manitoba (AP) Brandon Tanev will have to watch video of himself celebrating his first NHL career hat trick because he can’t remember what he did.The second-year fourth-line forward scored his third goal of the game early in the third period, and Patrik Laine got the deciding score of the shootout to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.”I kind of blacked out and didn’t really know what I was doing,” Tanev said of the moment when hats started raining down on the ice from the crowd at Bell MTS Place. ”It was just a great feeling.”Laine deked and his shot in the fourth round of the tiebreaker trickled under Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin. Mark Scheifele also scored in the shootout for Winnipeg and Bruins rookie Ryan Donato beat Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.The victory capped a perfect six-game homestand for the Jets.”You’re so happy for him” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said of Tanev. ”That line doesn’t really have a glamourous job. They’re supposed to go out there and basically just shut down the other team’s best players, play heavy on them. They’ve done just an outstanding job of it all year, especially when they’ve been healthy.”I’m sure he’s going to remember this for a long time. That was as excited as I’ve seen our bench all year.”Defenseman Joe Morrow had his first goal for Winnipeg since being acquired from Montreal last month, and sixth of the season. Adam Lowry had two assists.Donato, Danton Heinen, David Pastrnak and Torey Krug had goals for the Bruins, who scored three power-play goals. Krug added one assist and Brad Marchand had two.”It’s tough to play in this building,” Pastrnak said. ”It’s a hell of a point for us. We had chances to get two, but at the same time we could have zero.”Hellebuyck made 28 saves to pick up his 40th win for the Jets. It was also their seventh straight victory at home.Khudobin also stopped 28 shots as Boston ended a four-game road trip 2-0-2 and pulled one point behind Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and Winnipeg scored twice to take a 3-1 lead into the third. The second period ended with Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey being handed a major for boarding the Bruins’ Matt Grzelcyk.Boston scored two power-play goals by the 3:36 mark of the third.”You see a guy that’s played an important role for our team since guys have gone down take a heavy hit there, you want to step up for him,” Krug said of Grzelcyk. ”We don’t back down from anyone so it kind of lit a fire into our team and our group.”Tanev, a Toronto native, then scored his third of the game with an unassisted short-handed goal at 4:29 to take a 4-3 lead. Krug tied the game 4-4 at 8:06 with another power-play goal through traffic after Scheifele was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking Krug.Winnipeg outshot Boston 4-3 in overtime, with Hellebuyck getting a piece of Marchand’s breakaway shot in the waning seconds.”It was kind of a weird game,” Wheeler said. ”And then we had to kill (penalties) seemingly all night. The guys out on the kill lost their juice a little bit. You’ve just got to battle. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again, but you never know.”We might have to go through that sometime this spring, and you’ve got to find a way to go through it.”Tanev began the game’s scoring when he banged at the puck from the side of the net until it went across the goal line at 5:33 of the first period. A Boston challenge was unsuccessful.Scheifele’s turnover in the defensive zone led to Donato putting a backhand shot past Hellebuyck with 53 seconds left in the first. The unassisted goal was Donato’s third score and fifth point in his fifth NHL game.Winnipeg scored two straight in the second, with Tanev firing a low shot by Khudobin just 16 seconds into the period. Scheifele then set up Morrow’s 3-1 goal at 6:25 for the 3-1 lead.The Jets challenged Heinen’s goal at 1:45 of the third for offside, but it stood. Winnipeg was then dinged for delay of game for the challenge and Pastrnak scored at 3:36.NOTES: Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler had an assist, giving him 600 career points. It extended the captain’s point streak to seven games, with two goals and eight assists.UP NEXTBruins: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday night.Jets: At Chicago on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game trip. TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs won this one for their city.Frederik Andersen stopped 32 shots to lead the Maple Leafs to a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday night, forcing a decisive Game 7 in the first-round series.The victory came hours after 10 people were killed when a van drove onto a sidewalk in Toronto’s north end and struck multiple pedestrians. Most of the players woke from their pregame naps to learn of the incident at 1:30 p.m. that also injured 15 people.”We’re sending all our love,” said Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, who scored the tiebreaking goal and added an assist. ”This is a big win for us after an emotional day.”There was a moment of silence for the victims and their families prior the opening faceoff at Air Canada Centre.”Very tragic event,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said.William Nylander and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Toronto. Nikita Zaitsev added two assists Mike Smith Jersey , and Plekanec also had one. The Maple Leafs, who trailed the series 3-1 before winning two straight, were behind 1-0 early in the second period of this one.Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins, and Tuukka Rask – pulled in Game 5 at home, finished with 27 saves.Game 7 is Wednesday night in Boston with the winner advancing to face Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference semifinals..Scoreless after an end-to-end first period, the Bruins grabbed a 1-0 lead 1:02 into the second when David Krejci won a faceoff after an icing against Auston Matthews right to DeBrusk, beat Andersen between his arm and body.Toronto responded just 35 seconds later when Nylander buried a rebound of Jake Gardiner shot from the point for his first goal of the playoffs.The Leafs appeared to go ahead at 3:04 when Zach Hyman beat Rask with a no-look backhand as he fell to the ice. The Bruins challenged the play for goalie interference, and replays showed the forward knocked the stick out of Rask’s hands as he cruised through the crease just before scoring.Boston appeared to control the play after that as Toronto could barely get out of its own zone or complete a clean breakout. Andersen – who recorded 42 stops in a 4-3 victory in Game 5 on Saturday – made great saves off Rick Nash, Marchand and Patrice Bergeron to keep things even.”Just enjoying the moment,” Andersen said of the turnaround in his play. ”Being in a do-or-die position, I think we all embrace that as a team.”The Maple Leafs, however, wend ahead with 6:35 left in the period when Marner was quickest to a loose puck in the slot and beat Rask with a backhand to the far post after Marchand couldn’t clear.Toronto killed off its first penalty early in the third, and was then left fuming when David Backes elbowed Andersen in the mask, but was only assessed an offsetting roughing minor when Roman Polak came to his goalie’s defence.The Leafs couldn’t connect on their third power play moments later, and Andersen stoned Sean Kuraly with under 10 minutes to go.Rask then robbed Nylander off a great feed from Auston Matthews.The Bruins went back to the power play with under six minutes left, but the best chance came when Rask stopped Kasperi Kapanen on a 2-on-1 that turned into a breakaway before stoning Krejci on a one-time shot that brought the towel-waving crowd to its feet.Rask followed that up by stopping Matthews on another 2-on-1 off a pass from Plekanec before Plekanec sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:14 to play.”Give them credit, they protected their house,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said.Both goalies were on their game in the first as the clubs combined for 27 shots on goal, including 17 from Boston.Andersen made a nice stop on Nash less than two minutes in after a Maple Leafs turnover before Rask, who allowed four goals on 13 shots before getting pulled in Game 5, fought off Zaitsev’s point shot.Marchand came close when his shot off another turnover struck the inside of Andersen’s pad and bounced out the other side.Rask held the fort on the game’s first power play, and Andersen followed up with his second incredible stick save of the series when he swatted a Backes attempt from in tight with Nash lurking.NOTES: The Maple Leafs fell behind the Bruins 3-1 the last time the clubs met in the playoffs back in 2013 before tying the series 3-3 with back-to-back 2-1 victories. Toronto then became the first team in NHL history to blow a three-goal lead in the third period of a Game 7 as the Bruins stormed back from a 4-1 deficit and won 5-4 in overtime. … Coming into these playoffs, teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series hold an all-time record of 270-28 – good for a success rate of 90.6 per cent. … The Maple Leafs have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-seven series 15 times, with their only victory coming in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final when they stormed back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Detroit Red Wings.

SPORTS BETTINGATLANTIC CITY Gabriel Landeskog Jersey Kids , N.J. (AP) The prospect of legal sports betting throughout the United States has prompted a flurry of deals among gambling and technology firms who want a foothold in the billion-dollar industry.Casinos, race tracks, daily fantasy sports companies and others are itching to offer bets in person and online after the Supreme Court ruled Monday that states could begin allowing wagers. That’s led companies all over the world to seek ways to team up.Some casinos need mobile apps or someone to set lines and run sports books that operate much differently than slot machines and table games. Many tech firms, daily fantasy sports companies and others need gambling licenses and experience with significant regulation. Other companies that handle data security and payment processing are also joining the fray.The industry is preparing for most of the betting to happen on smartphones, just like in Europe. That would also be new for most U.S. states, as internet gambling has been limited to just three states in recent years.NEW YORK (AP) – The NCAA is opening a door for states with legalized sports gambling to host NCAA championship events and officials in Nevada are already set to get in the game as soon as they can.The governing body for college sports announced a ”temporary” lifting of a ban that prevented events like college basketball’s NCAA Tournament from being hosted in states that accept wagers on single games. The move comes three days after the Supreme Court overturned a federal law that barred most states from allowing gambling on professional and college sporting events.NCAA President Mark Emmert said the board of governors will consider permanently revising its policy at future meetings. But the NCAA said it will not change its rules that prohibit gambling on sports by athletes and all athletic department employees, including coaches.Emmert also is calling for federal regulations of sports gambling, joining the NFL, NBA and other leagues.NHLWASHINGTON (AP) – The Tampa Bay Lightning won Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final despite going the equivalent of more than a period without a shot on goal.They won despite falling behind about 4 1/2 minutes into the game.They won despite being called for three penalties – one right after the other – late in the first period, allowing Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Washington Capitals’ prolific power play to get all that time to operate.And they did it, mainly, thanks to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 36 saves and kept things close until Alex Killorn scored the tiebreaker with about 8 minutes left, lifting Tampa Bay to a 4-2 victory and evening the series at two games apiece.NBAMILWAUKEE (AP) – The Milwaukee Bucks officially announced the hiring of Mike Budenholzer as their new coach.A person familiar with the search had told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Milwaukee Bucks had reached an agreement with Budenholzer, the former Atlanta Hawks coach. The Bucks made the official announcement a day later.”The tremendously supportive fans in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin are waiting and ready,” Budenholzer said in a statement released by the team. ”Now it’s up to us to put all the pieces together, and I can’t wait to get started.”Budenholzer replaces Joe Prunty, the former assistant who went 21-16 in the regular season after replacing the fired Jason Kidd in late January. The Bucks lost to Boston in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.GOLFDALLAS (AP) – Marc Leishman shot a 10-under 61 on the new links-style Trinity Forest course to take the first-round lead in the AT&T Byron Nelson.Jordan Spieth was eight shots back in his hometown event, which returned to Dallas after 35 years at the TPC Four Seasons in suburban Irving. Defending champion Billy Horschel shot 68.Leishman opened with an eagle, started the back nine with three straight birdies and reached 9 under with another eagle at the 14th.The 34-year-old Australian, a three-time PGA Tour winner, had chances to go lower but settled for a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th for the lowest round of his PGA Tour career. He was a stroke shy of the Nelson record.J.J. Spaun and Texan Jimmy Walker shot 64.BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Miguel Angel Jimenez matched the course record with an 8-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the Regions Tradition, the first of the PGA Tour Champions’ five major championships.Jimenez birdied the first four holes and broke the front-nine record at 6-under 30 at Greystone Golf & Country Club. The Spaniard took the outright lead with a short birdie putt on No. 13 after a rain delay of 1 hour, 17 minutes.Jimenez tied the course record set by Kenny Perry in the first round in 2016 and matched by Bernhard Langer in the final round a year ago. Jimenez also opened with a 64 in the Chubb Classic before finishing ninth.Gene Sauers http://www.avalancheshoponline.com/authentic-j.t.-compher-jersey , Wes Short Jr., Jerry Kelly and Joe Durant were second at 66.Two-time defending champion Langer closed with a birdie for a 70.WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) – Annie Park turned a blistering stretch on the back nine into a mistake-free 6-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead on a crowded leaderboard at the Kingsmill Championship.Jessica Korda, Azahara Munoz, In Gee Chun and Jaye Marie Green also shot 65. Park, Korda and Munoz played morning rounds in mild conditions, while Chun and Green played in rain that is expected to also be a factor Friday and Saturday on the resort’s already-soggy River Course.TENNISROME (AP) – Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal methodically wore down Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-1to reach the Italian Open’s last eight and gain revenge over the Canadian teenager.Four-time Rome winner Novak Djokovic reached his first quarterfinal of the year with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Alberto Ramos-Vinolas. Djokovic next faces Kei Nishikori, who rolled past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-2.Nadal is attempting to win the top spot back this week. He’ll replace Roger Federer if he wins an eighth Rome title. Nadal, who hasn’t won the Italian Open since 2013, next faces Fabio Fognini, who beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-4.Defending champion Alexander Zverev, ninth-seeded David Goffin, fourth-seeded Marin Cilic and Pablo Pablo Carreno Busta also advanced.In the women’s tournament, Simona Halep’s hold on the No. 1 ranking received a boost when American Madison Keys withdrew from their last-16 match due to a rib injury. Halep now needs to progress further than No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki to stay in top spot.Wozniacki beat 15th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 and next faces Anett Kontaveit, who ousted 1999 champion Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6 (3) for her second win over the American in two weeks. Former No. 1 Angelique Kerber, seventh-seeded Caroline Garcia, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko and three-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova also advanced. DETROIT (AP) Out of the playoffs and sinking fast with one win in 14 games a week ago Youth Matt Nieto Jersey , the Detroit Red Wings could have embraced tanking to bolster their chances in the NHL draft lottery.Instead, they launched a winning streak.Jimmy Howard stopped 31 shots for his first shutout of the season as the Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Saturday for their third straight win.Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou scored to help Detroit gets its longest winning streak since a season-high four-game stretch Dec. 29 to Jan. 5.”We have a job to do every night and every day, and we’ve got a lot of young guys in here,” Larkin said. ”Every day is an audition and guys are trying to earn whatever it might be, whether it is more ice time next year,whatever.”Your position on this team and in this league has to be earned every day.”Howard’s best save was a sliding left pad stop on a second-period breakaway by Ottawa forward Ryan Dzingel.”It feels good,” Howard said after his 24th career shutout. ”It took 59 games, unreal, but at the same time the guys in front of me did a really great job, allowing me to see the puck.”Mike Condon finished with 25 saves for the Senators, who were blanked for the ninth time this season.”I can’t comment on the offense, because if that’s the case then all the offensive guys could comment on the goaltending,” Condon said. ”That’s a slippery slope.”Everyone’s working their hardest. Everyone’s trying to get a couple in there.”After a scoreless opening period, Detroit got on the board at 4:10 of the second. Taking advantage of a bad pinch by Senators defenseman Christian Wolanin, Anthony Mantha fed a pass across to Larkin on a 2-on-1 break, and Larkin flipped the puck in as Condon lunged desperately across his goal crease. It was Larkin’s fifth goal in the last seven games. He scored nine times in the first 72 games.”That was a horrible play on my part,” Wolanin said. ”It cost us the first goal and eventually the game winner.”Athanasiou increased the margin to 2-0 at 4:29 of the third. Using Evgeni Svechnikov as a screen, Athanasiou fired a high shot past Condon.NOTES: Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson remained one point away from reaching 60 for the sixth time in his career. … The Senators, who play three of their final four games away from home, fell to 11-22-5 on the road – one win more than Montreal for the fewest in the NHL. Last season, the Senators won 22 games away from home, fifth-best in the league. … The Red Wings improved to 17-6-2 in their last 25 games against Ottawa. That includes five straight wins by Detroit at home. Ottawa’s last road victory in in the series was a 3-1 decision on Oct. 30, 2015. … Henrik Zetterberg remained one point from breaking a tie with Sergei Fedorov (954) for fifth on the Red Wings’ all-time scoring list.UP NEXTSenators: Host Winnipeg on Monday night in their final home game of the season.Red Wings: At Columbus on Tuesday night.

ANAHEIM Womens Niklas Hjalmarsson Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Although Troy Terry is only five games into his NHL career, he was already something of a shootout legend even before he arrived in Anaheim.When he got his first shootout opportunity for the Ducks on Monday night, Terry broke out the same skills he employed to win two enormous shootouts in the world junior championships last year.Terry sent the crowd home happy — with plenty of help from John Gibson, of course.Terry scored the only goal in the shootout, Gibson made 19 saves and the Ducks celebrated the home opener of their 25th anniversary season with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.Jakob Silfverberg scored the tying goal with 11:31 to play, and Hampus Lindholm also scored as the Ducks improved to 3-0-0 for the first time since their 2006-07 Stanley Cup championship season.Terry scored through Jimmy Howard’s legs in his fifth NHL game, and Gibson stopped all three Red Wings shooters.Terry famously scored three times for the U.S. junior team against Russia in a semifinal shootout in Montreal in January 2017. He put the puck past Howard with pretty much the same five-hole shot he used three times on Ilya Samsonov in that reputation-making win.“There’s so much pressure now whenever I jump over the wall to take those,” Terry said. “I’ve kind of been known for scoring five-hole, so I figured I’d try it again. Luckily it worked. … It’s the weirdest thing. My brain just goes to one thing.”Terry also scored the only shootout goal in the championship game against Canada to win the world juniors, but he claims no special expertise in shootout skills. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle disagreed, sending out the rookie as his second shooter.“He’s made it pretty easy (to choose him), because he’s been able to score,” Carlyle said. “It was a natural.”Tyler Bertuzzi and Darren Helm scored and Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who are winless in their first three games. Detroit couldn’t hold two leads in a game between two young rosters getting NHL experience on the fly.“I think we’re just going to stay the course,” forward Gustav Nyquist said. “We have liked the way we played, especially the first two games. Today we could be a little better with the puck, but overall we are going to be fine in here if we keep competing the way we are.”Exactly 25 years to the day after the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim debuted at Honda Center against the Red Wings, the teams met again in the Ducks’ home opener. Detroit spoiled the Mighty Ducks’ debut on Oct. 8, 1993, with a 7-2 victory.After starting this season with two road victories despite an injury-depleted roster http://www.officialoilers.com/authentic-adidas-connor-mcdavid-jersey , Anaheim finally opened its anniversary season at Honda Center, the Ducks’ home for their entire existence — and much better known to hockey fans as the Pond.But captain Ryan Getzlaf, NHL MVP Corey Perry, Selke Trophy winner Ryan Kesler and goal-scoring forwards Patrick Eaves and Ondrej Kase all missed the home opener due to injury, while power forward Nick Ritchie is still a contract holdout.“They are finding ways to win right now without their big guys in the lineup,” Howard said of the Ducks.Six rookies were in the Ducks’ starting lineup, underlining Anaheim’s commitment to use its ample young talent this season.“We put them in situations historically they would play in lower levels,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. “This is the best league in the world. They were in there and survived, so hopefully they feel good about themselves.”The Ducks held a brief pregame ceremony in the first chapter of a season-long celebration of the history of an expansion franchise named after a kids’ movie as part of the Walt Disney Company’s venture into team sports in the 1990s. Owners Henry and Susan Samueli dropped the ceremonial first puck alongside Michael Eisner, the former Disney chairman who guided the franchise into existence.NOTES: Isac Lundestrom, an 18-year-old Swedish center, made his NHL debut for the Ducks. He is the third-youngest player and youngest forward to make his debut with Anaheim. … D Joe Hicketts returned to the Red Wings’ lineup after Trevor Daley injured himself in Los Angeles on Sunday night. … The healthy Ducks wore the team’s 1993 eggplant-and-jade jerseys during pregame warmups, and they played in their new third jerseys using similar colors and the club’s original logo with a duck-bill goalie mask and crossed hockey sticks.UP NEXTRed Wings: Host Toronto on Thursday.Ducks: Host Arizona on Wednesday. EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Juuse Saros and the Nashville Predators found a way to shut down Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.Saros made 31 saves in the shutout and the Predators ran their winning streak to five games with a 3-0 victory over the Oilers on Saturday night.“We knew before the game they had lots of talent so we had to be solid in the defensive zone,” said Saros, who is unbeaten in four game this season and got the call with Pekke Rinne out with an injury. “I think we were that today and our penalty kill was really great, too.”P.K. Subban, Viktor Arvidsson and Roman Josi scored for the Predators, who are a perfect 4-0-0 on the road and have won seven of eight games this season. Mattias Ekholm had a pair of assists.“People talk about our ability to jump in the rush and generate offence, but we take pride in trying to make it as easy as we can on our goaltenders Milan Lucic Jersey Kids ,” Subban said. “It’s tough to play against us when we’re moving our feet getting back to pucks.”The Oilers had a three-game winning streak halted.“I don’t think we were as sharp as the last few games before,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “We were clicking and created a lot more chances than we did today. We are still a work in progress. We need to create a little more than we did tonight.”There was no scoring in the first period, with Nashville getting seven shots on Oilers starter Cam Talbot and Edmonton putting four on Saros.Nashville broke the deadlock with 6:46 remaining in the second on a short-handed goal. Subban broke up ice on a 2-on-1 after an Edmonton giveaway and took the shot himself, scoring his second of the season.The Predators made it 2-0 about 90 seconds later after a nice passing play set up Arvidsson, who slipped a wrist shot past Talbot.Josi put the game away in the final minute with an empty-net goal.Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette did the entire postgame interview while wearing a full bull mask, something he had promised his team he would do if the Preds swept both of their games against Alberta teams over the last couple days.“It was going to be a tough trip, so we threw it out to the players and they got to choose the back end of the challenge, so we’re honoring the deal,” he said.“Good on him to hold up his end of the bet,” Subban chuckled.NOTES: It was the first of three games between the teams this season, with the Predators coming into the contest with 12 straight wins over the Oilers. . With defenseman Matt Benning (undisclosed injury) and forward Ty Rattie (upper body) both getting injured in their last game, Jason Garrison was reinserted on the blue line, while Alex Chiasson made his Oilers debut up front. … Predators goalie Pekka Rinne also suffered an injury in his team’s game on Friday, prompting the call up of Miroslav Svoboda to serve as Saros’ backup. … Recently retired former Nashville forward Jordin Tootoo was saluted for his contributions to Indigenous hockey. Hailing from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Tootoo was the first Inuk player in the history of the NHL, playing the bulk of his 13 seasons with the Predators.UP NEXTNashville: Home against San Jose on Tuesday.Edmonton: Host Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) In a game that didn’t feel much like the postseason Zdeno Chara Jersey , the Washington Capitals gave future playoff opponents fair warning about how they handle tight games.Outshot by a team eliminated from contention, Washington stayed close before tying it late and beating the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday night. Braden Holtby stopped 35 of 37 shots, Lars Eller forced overtime and Evgeny Kuznetsov won it to push the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals closer to their fourth consecutive playoff appearance.Even if it wasn’t the kind of showing the Capitals would like to have come playoff time, Eller’s goal with 1:50 left and Kuznetsov’s 38 seconds into overtime showed what they could do when it matters.”I think we play better when it’s close,” Holtby said. ”With our skill, I think it forces us to turn things on late in the game and I think guys take that as a challenge. That’s I think a reason why you can see us bring it to a next level to try and force the other team into feeling a bit of panic and open up space.”There was little panic in the Rangers, who were playing their first game with no playoff implications since 2004, and they turned that looseness into a 37-33 shot advantage. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves and Kevin Hayes and Ryan Spooner scored, but New York lamented a defensive miscue on Eller’s goal that let the game slip away.”So frustrating,” Lundqvist said after his first game with no hope of playoffs in his NHL career. ”When you’re tied up that late after playing so hard and doing so many good things, it doesn’t matter where you are in the standings, you want to win games and sit in here and feel good about a win. They came back and got it. It bothers me.”After the Capitals came back and got two valuable points, they can clinch with help around the league or by picking up a point Friday at home against Carolina. There are lower expectations on Washington this year after back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies and second-round exits, but Holtby said making the playoffs was a goal at the start of the season.It’s within reach now.”It’s the first step on the way,” Eller said. ”We want to win our division and go into the playoffs on a high note.”Holtby looks like he could be heading into the playoffs on a high note after almost two months of struggles and a minor lower-body injury. He would have liked to stop Spooner’s third-period goal on a shot that beat him clean, but with a question of whether Holtby or Philipp Grubauer will start, it helped that the 2016 Vezina Trophy winner finally looks like his normal self again.”I felt comfortable,” Holtby said. ”It’s something I’m not used to – not playing much. The stamina and such was a little different than I was used to, but it felt good to go out there and just get to work and play in a high-intensity game.”There are many more high-intensity games to come for the Capitals, who can soon exhale about making the playoffs and prepare for the next step.”The NHL how it is, it doesn’t really matter where you are in the standings,” Holtby said. ”The guys should be proud. We should be proud we’re in a position like that.”NOTES: Rangers assistant Lindy Ruff missed the game after hitting his head on the ice at practice Thursday. Coach Alain Vigneault said Ruff was hospitalized and diagnosed with a concussion but was in good spirits and expected to be back with the team in a few days. … F Shane Gersich, a 2014 fifth-round pick who signed with Washington last week after his season at North Dakota ended, made his NHL debut. … Pheonix Copley backed up Holtby because Grubauer felt a ”tweak” in the Capitals’ game at the Rangers on Tuesday, according to coach Barry Trotz.UP NEXTRangers: Return home to face the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.Capitals: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.— Ed Olczyk takes one look at the white-out-wearing crowds of Jets fans packing Winnipeg’s arena and surrounding streets and is reassured about what he always knew of the Canadian prairie city, even during its bleakest days.Winnipeg was a hockey-mad town deserving of an NHL team some 22 years ago, when Olczyk played in what became the franchise’s final game before relocating to Arizona. Very little has changed with ”Jets 2.0,” launched when the Thrashers left Atlanta for the Manitoba capital in 2011.”It made me nauseous to know what was going to happen,” the NHLer-turned-broadcaster said, recalling the uncertainty after the Jets were eliminated following a 4-1 loss to Detroit in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on April 26, 1996. Jets players and fans lingered long after the final horn sounded in the former Winnipeg Arena, where the oversized portrait of Queen Elizabeth II hung prominently from the rafters.”But I always knew that Winnipeg was an NHL city even though they didn’t have a team there,” Olczyk added. ”It’s just incredible to see. The white outs bring back a lot of memories. And I couldn’t be happier.”The NHL is, indeed, back in ”The `Peg.” And the Jets are better than ever in preparing for Game 7 of their second-round playoff series at Nashville on Thursday night.No matter the outcome, the Jets are already enjoying the deepest playoff run of any Winnipeg-based NHL team. This marks just the third time Winnipeg has advanced to the second round in 13 postseason appearances. The previous two times, the Jets were swept in four games by Edmonton in both 1985 and `87.As for the current franchise’s 18-year history, the team was swept in its two previous playoff appearances before opening this postseason with its first victory, a 3-2 decision over Minnesota.The only real hockey success Winnipeg enjoyed was when the Jets won three Avco Cups as members of the defunct World Hockey Association before joining the NHL after the league folded in 1979.Suddenly, these Jets have captured the imaginations of all Manitobans Authentic Benoit Pouliot Jersey , and many Canadians as well. They stand as nation’s last team with a shot to end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought dating to 1993, when Montreal won the title.The Jets are wowed by their fans’ support.”I don’t know if they can yell any louder,” coach Paul Maurice said.Even Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took notice from Denmark, where he’s representing Canada at the world championships.”It looks like a crazy atmosphere,” Nugent-Hopkins said. ”Even during the regular season it’s pretty fun and loud and intense. So I can only imagine that right now in the playoffs.”The white out in Winnipeg first became a playoff staple in 1987, and has reached new levels this spring, with estimated crowds of 20,000 gathering to watch games outside the arena.”I’ve never experienced this level of excitement for our team or confidence in our city,” Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said. ”My 10-year-old son is sleeping with his hockey stick.”The excitement is evident in Bowman’s Twitter account, which features the mayor wearing a Jets jersey, and pictures and videos of fans in makeup, putting on makeup and dancing in the streets.This is as far removed as anyone expected after the Jets left in 1996 at a time when the Winnipeg’s economy and population base were also dropping.”It was a kick in the gut,” Bowman said. ”It was demoralizing and a lot of people were questioning the city’s future because we were losing people to other cities.”The Jets’ on-ice success mirrors the city’s rebound. With a population of 750,000, Winnipeg now ranks as Canada’s seventh-largest city and features one of the nation’s fastest growing economies.”I think that’s one of the really nice parts about this playoff run. It’s allowing Winnipeggers to take stock in where we were in the `90s and compare it to where we are now,” Bowman said. ”People are feeling good about the city, and their confidence and swagger is growing.”Despite the city’s size and 145-year history, Winnipeg is often overlooked in the national media because of how far it’s removed from major centers such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.To some, Winnipeg is best known for its black flies and mosquitoes in the spring and summer, and frigid winters, made notable in the Neil Young and Randy Bachman song, ”Prairie Town,” which includes the lyric ”Portage and Main, 50 below,” in reference to the city’s main intersection.Perhaps the Jets’ success can begin changing perceptions.”It’s an opportunity for us to show North Americans what’s going on in Winnipeg,” Bowman said.Even former Thrashers fans in Atlanta are on board. Bud Ellis overcame the frustration of losing the Thrashers by continuing to root for the Jets in Winnipeg. He couldn’t begrudge Jets fans in knowing they once lost their team.”I am so happy for the people there, the way they embrace that team,” Ellis said. ”In a way, they’ve kind of taken care of my team and they’ve let me stay along for the ride and welcomed me in.”He’s even getting some nods of approval in Atlanta for wearing a combination of Thrashers and Jets gear.”If you’re tied to Atlanta and you somehow find some success, people will at least start paying attention,” Ellis said. ”Even if they’re 1,850 miles away.”—AP Sports Writers Charles Odum in Atlanta, Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn., and Associated Press writer Karel Janicek in Herning, Denmark, contributed to this report.—

MONTREAL (AP) Canadian world junior championship coach Dominique Ducharme has made the jump to the NHL as an assistant with the Montreal Canadiens.The Canadiens dropped assistant coaches Jean-Jacques Daigneault and Dan Lacroix and hired Ducharme away from the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Friday.The club also gave a contract extension to goaltending coach Stephane Waite Authentic Marcus Johansson Jersey , who has been with the team for five years.The moves are part of an offseason shakeup by a Canadiens team that missed the playoffs for a second time in three years. On April 17, the club fired Sylvain Lefebvre, coach of their American Hockey League team, the Laval Rocket, which also missed the playoffs. Lefebvre has yet to be replaced.Ducharme, 45, has built an impressive resume in junior hockey and may be seen as a potential future replacement for Canadiens head coach Claude Julien.Ducharme coached 10 years in the QMJHL with Halifax and Drummondville. In 2013, he took a Mooseheads team that included future Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and Canadiens winger Jonathan Drouin to a Memorial Cup title, as well as winning the QMJHL coach of the year award. He moved to Drummondville in 2016 to be closer to his family.Ducharme coached Canada twice at the world juniors, winning silver in 2017 and gold in 2018. PITTSBURGH (AP) A cathartic celebration 20 years in the making began with a poke of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s stick. It built as the puck that Kuznetsov tapped away from Sidney Crosby made its way to Washington Capitals teammate Alexander Ovechkin.It neared its crescendo as Ovechkin flipped it back to Kuznetsov, who at this point had split two Penguins and was streaking toward the Pittsburgh net. And it culminated jubilantly and unexpectedly in the corner moments later, with the puck in the net and Kuznetsov’s teammates mobbing him after he ended two decades of frustration with a flick of the Russian’s wrist.The ghosts of past playoff failures, many of them at the hands of the Penguins, were gone. Dispatched over the course of six games of grit and guile, the last a 2-1 overtime win in Game 6 on Monday night that gave Washington a 4-2 series victory and a spot in the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay.”It’s pretty emotional,” Kuznetsov said after his seventh goal of the playoffs 5:27 into overtime pushed the Capitals into the NHL’s final four for just the third time in franchise history. ”I don’t really have a word for it.”Maybe because there aren’t many that can accurately describe the anguish Washington has felt during much of the Ovechkin Era, one filled with postseason failure after postseason failure, many of them coming with the team on the precipice of a breakthrough.Only this time they didn’t crumble. Even with Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson and Andre Burakovsky out. Even with a handful of rookies – including Australian Nate Walker – thrust into the lineup. Even on the road against a two-time defending champion with a special knack for torment.”Again, it doesn’t matter what happened (before),” Ovechkin said. ”We have to stick together. We knew it was there we just had to battle and we just had to fight through it.”Alex Chiasson scored Washington’s only goal of regulation Michael Grabner Jersey , a shot from the right circle that gave the Capitals the lead in the second period. Braden Holtby, benched at the start of the playoffs, stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced and received a dash of luck when Pittsburgh’s Tom Kuhnhackl hit the far post early in the extra period.The puck flitted away harmlessly. Play continued. And a few minutes later Kuznetsov’s goal joined Dale Hunter’s overtime Game 7 winner vs. Philadelphia in the first round in 1988 and Joe Juneau’s poke by Dominik Hasek vs. Buffalo in the Eastern Conference finals in 1998 in franchise lore.”I’m not expecting myself to score game winner in that situation,” Kuznetsov said.Maybe because it’s what the Penguins always seem to do instead. Pittsburgh won nine of its 10 previous playoff meetings with Washington, including taut second-round triumphs in 2016 and 2017 on their way to becoming the first team in nearly 20 years to win consecutive Stanley Cups.A bid for a three-peat came to an abrupt end after another sluggish start. Kris Letang scored for the Penguins and Murray finished with 28 saves but couldn’t close his legs fast enough to stop Kuznetsov’s flick.”You look at the last couple of games, it’s a one-shot difference,” Crosby said. ”You need to get those big plays. Unfortunately couldn’t do it.”Washington spent the series saying its forgettable playoff history littered with squandered leads and blown opportunities – particularly against the Penguins – is not a factor. That this time is different. That this team is different. Twice the Capitals rallied in the third period to stun Pittsburgh, including a four-goal outburst in Game 5 that brought them to the brink of their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 20 years.That last step, however, has always been tricky. Four times previously since 2008 the Capitals won three games in the second round only to come up short in Game 7. This time, a Game 7 wasn’t even necessary.”It’s almost embarrassing that it’s taken this long for us to get past it,” Washington owner Ted Leonsis said. ”But the Penguins are an unbelievable franchise. It’s an unbelievable team.”One that came up just short for the first time since Mike Sullivan took over in December 2015. The Penguins had been 4-0 in elimination games under Sullivan but had trouble getting much going as Washington cut off shooting lanes and created havoc in the neutral zone, leading to 15 Pittsburgh turnovers, the last on Kuznetsov’s poke away from a rushing Crosby that began the series-deciding sequence.The victory wasn’t just a measure of redemption for Ovechkin but for Trotz, who has won over 750 games in the regular season but never made it to a conference final. He has now. So has his team, one that knows as giddy as they felt in the middle of a quiet PPG Paints Arena, much work remains to be done.”We beat the Pittsburgh Penguins today and they’re a hell of a hockey team and we’re only halfway,” Trotz said. ”We haven’t done anything yet. It’s a good feeling getting by the Penguins because there’s a lot of skeletons in the closet. It’s a start.”NOTES: Crosby’s assist pushed his career playoff total to 185, tied with Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman for 10th most all-time. … Walker’s assist was the first ever in the playoffs by an Australian when he set up Chiasson’s score.—

CALGARY http://www.officialsabres.com/authentic-adidas-jack-eichel-jersey , Alberta (AP) After a blip in Vancouver, the Boston Bruins got right back to business.Brad Marchand scored his 22nd goal 3:36 into overtime to give Boston a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday, less than 48 hours after the Bruins lost 6-1 to the Canucks.”We ran into a hot goalie in Vancouver. Their goalie played great tonight, but we were resilient,” Marchand said. ”We were much better in the defensive zone and had a better game overall.”Article continues below ...David Pastrnak also scored for Boston (36-13-8), which moved within one point of Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. The Bruins, who are 12-1-2 in their last 15 road games, have two games in hand on the Lightning.Boston has lost only three times in regulation in the last 28 games (21-3-4).”It starts at the top with leadership, and just having that constant belief we can do it, we can get the job done regardless of who we’re playing against,” Riley Nash said.After TJ Brodie’s turnover deep in the Flames end, Nash’s pass sprung Marchand on a breakaway and he made no mistake, slipping the puck through the pads of rookie goaltender David Rittich for the ninth overtime goal of his career.”(Nash) made a phenomenal defensive play,” Marchand said. ”I knew that they had three guys low and I just tried to get out of the zone. He made a great play to get it up.”Brodie accepted the blame.”Tonight was on me,” the Calgary defenseman said. ”I tried to pass to Johnny (Gaudreau). I could have passed it to (Sean Monahan), I could have shot it. It’s one of those things that looking back now, I definitely could have done something different.”Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames (30-21-9), who fell to 1-3-4 in their last eight home games. They began the day one point out of third place in the Pacific Division.”It’s like any slump – the harder you try, the more you grip the stick, the worse it is,” Brodie said. ”It’s not like we’ve been playing bad at home. We’ve gotten chances. It’s just one of those things where a bounce here and there Richard Panik Jersey , we could be talking about the same record as the road.”With the teams meeting for the second time in six days, Calgary was territorially outplayed by a wide margin in the first period but Rittich kept the Flames in it.Calgary tied it 1-all at 5:28 of the second, scoring on the power play. Monahan’s shot was stopped by Tuukka Rask, but as the puck lied at the feet of Zdeno Chara in the crease, Tkachuk knocked in his 22nd goal.Rittich was starting his fourth game in a row, with veteran Mike Smith (lower body) still sidelined. Rittich was pulled Saturday night after giving up four goals on 15 shots.”Huge bounce-back for Rittich,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. ”That team is a hard team to beat. You look across the league, not many teams are beating them. You can’t really beat them without goaltending and we got it tonight and it gave us a chance.”The 25-year-old Czech goalie was especially sharp in keeping the score even at 1.A minute after Calgary tied it, Rittich slid across the crease to get a glove on Marchand’s backhand out of midair after he was set up by Patrice Bergeron.Late in the second, Rittich stabbed out his glove to rob Ryan Spooner on a breakaway. In the third, the goalie stared down Pastrnak on a breakaway and acrobatically got the toe of his left pad on a dangerous chance.Rittich finished with 30 stops but fell to 6-3-3.”It’s frustrating,” said Tkachuk, who has 14 goals in his last 22 games. ”They’re a really good team. Didn’t give us many chances at all. The ones that we did get, we’ve got to capitalize.”Rask also was coming off a shortened outing in his previous start, pulled after giving up four goals on eight shots in the first period against Vancouver.This time, he made 28 saves to improve to 24-10-4.Boston struck first at 5:59 when Michael Frolik coughed up the puck along the sideboards in his own end and Pastrnak pounced on it, quickly firing a shot past Rittich on his blocker side.NOTES: Flames D Travis Hamonic played in his 500th career game. … Calgary LW Morgan Klimchuk, drafted in 2013, made his NHL debut on a line with C Matt Stajan and RW Curtis Lazar. Every player selected in the first round of that draft has now played an NHL game. … The Bruins improved to 9-1-3 in their last 13 games against Calgary. … Boston is 23-1-5 when scoring first.UP NEXTBruins: Tuesday night at Edmonton.Flames: Wednesday night at Vegas.— WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Edmonton Oilers are giving new meaning to the term “road warriors.”After opening the season in Sweden against New Jersey before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to play the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers — not to mention finishing their pre-season with a game in Germany — the Oilers will wrap up their longest road trip in franchise history, distance-wise Tyson Barrie Jersey , with a tilt against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. Prior to flying into town on Tuesday morning, the Oilers have flown a total of nearly 11,000 miles.Even though they defeated the Rangers 2-1 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, the Oilers have scored just five goals thus far this season and captain Connor McDavid, who has led the league in points each of the past two seasons, has figured in on all of them. Article continues below ...“We’ve only scored five goals in three games. When offence isn’t there, you need to check. I thought we did a great job finally getting a win in a tough building,” McDavid said. “It wasn’t the prettiest way to win a game but we needed to win a game.”The Jets, meanwhile, are hoping to avoid their giveaway-prone performance against Carolina on Sunday night, a game that they managed to win 3-1 despite leaving backup goalie Laurent Brossoit high and dry for extended periods and being outshot 18-6 in the first period and 43-25 overall. It was Brossoit’s first win as a member of the Jets after spending parts of four seasons with the Oilers. (He won’t get the chance to start against his old mates as coach Paul Maurice has given the crease to Connor Hellebuyck.)The good news for the Jets was their No. 2 line may be starting to get on track. Center Bryan Little scored the winner with his first of the season with just a couple of minutes left on the clock on Sunday while his right winger, Patrik Laine, scored his second of the campaign on the power play to open the scoring.Jets captain Blake Wheeler said there was no panic in the Jets dressing room after the second period of the still-scoreless game.“There was no coming to Jesus speech, we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel,” he told The Winnipeg Sun. “There’s an element of patience and being positive five games into the season that you know you just stay with it and find a way to get two points. (Monday) we’ll try to get better (in practice). Hopefully, the next game will be quicker.”The Jets will have one less player in the press box after forward Marko Dano, who was acquired a couple of years ago from Chicago in exchange for captain Andrew Ladd, was picked up on waivers by Colorado on Monday morning. The first round pick in 2013 hadn’t played for the Jets this season. He scored 10 goals over parts of three seasons for the Jets.

TORONTO (AP) One little tweak to Toronto’s lines is paying off in a big way for the Maple Leafs.Nazem Kadri had three goals and two assists Womens Carter Hutton Jersey , Frederik Andersen made a career-high 54 saves and surging Toronto beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Wednesday night.The line of Kadri, Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner combined for five goals and five assists. Since the trio was formed on Jan. 24 against Chicago, Kadri has seven goals and eight assists, Marner has seven goals and five assists, and Marleau has three goals and four assists.Article continues below ...”My linemates contributed just as much as I did,” Kadri said. ”They found me, I just tried to get open, and the puck seemed to find me tonight.”The production far exceeds what Kadri and Marleau managed with Leo Komarov, their regular linemate for a large chunk of the season.”I’m not sure,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said when asked about the change in the lineup. ”I used them together, Kadri and Marner, last year and they were no good together. That’s the beauty of having more players. You move them around and once in a while you get lucky.”Andersen also turned in a solid performance as the Maple Leafs closed out a perfect five-game homestand. It was the first time in franchise history that the team swept a homestand of five games or more.”I had a clean view of most of the shots Colton Parayko Jersey , and I think that was the key to withstand all of that,” Andersen said.The Blue Jackets recorded 50 or more shots for the third straight game, making them the first team to accomplish the feat in the post-expansion era (since 1967-68). Nick Foligno had two goals and an assist, and Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves.Toronto played much of the game without defenseman Jake Gardiner, who departed with a lower-body injury after one period.”I’m not exactly sure how it happened. He’s got some kind of spasm or something like that,” Babcock said.The Maple Leafs had a 4-2 lead before Jack Johnson beat Andersen with a slap shot from the left circle that went off the post and into the net at 14:35 of the second. It was Johnson’s third goal of the season.Toronto then put it away with two in the third. Kadri got his 21st of the season at 11:21, and Marleau added an empty-netter with 1:47 left.”I like the way we played,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. ”Problem tonight for us is we couldn’t finish.”The Maple Leafs opened the scoring when Dominic Moore finished a 2-on-1 with his fifth goal at 4:38 of the first. With David Savard taking away the passing lane to Kasperi Kapanen, Moore used a backhanded shot to beat Korpisalo.Kadri cut around Korpisalo before using a screen to make it 2-0 at 7:36, but the Blue Jackets pulled within one when Foligno received a centering pass from Alexander Wennberg and fired a backhander by Andersen with 1:39 left.Foligno scored his 13th goal early in the second. He received a pass from Wennberg on a 2-on-1 and beat Andersen at 2:25.But Kadri’s one-timer made it 3-2 at 8:03 and he set up Marner’s one-timer at 10:17.NOTES: Toronto D Travis Dermott had two assists. … Columbus was 0 for 2 on the power play, and Toronto went 0 for 3 with the man advantage.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Host Philadelphia on Friday night.Maple Leafs: Visits Pittsburgh on Saturday night. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jakub Voracek rebounded quickly from an embarrassing loss.Voracek had two goals and three assists and Scott Laughton also scored twice in Philadelphia’s 7-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Wednesday http://www.stlouisbluesteamshops.com/authentic-dmitrij-jaskin-jersey , a night after an 8-2 loss to San Jose in the Flyers‘ home opener.“It was a tough start at home for us, but we scored seven and I think we played a pretty good hockey game,” Voracek said. “We just have to take it to the home ice now.”Sean Couturier, Robert Hagg and Claude Giroux also scored, and Calvin Pickard stopped 31 shots.Brady Tkachuk scored his first NHL goal and finished with two goals and an assist for Ottawa.“(My mother’s) birthday is (Thursday), so it’s a nice little pre-gift for her because as of right now I don’t have a gift for her yet,” said Tkachuk, the No. 4 pick in the June draft. “Maybe try to send flowers overnight, but it’s kind of my gift for her.”Maxime Lajoie also had two goals and an assist for the Senators, who were playing the first of a five-game homestand.Craig Anderson made 38 saves, but the Flyers victimized him with four goals through two periods before they pulled away in the third.Philadelphia took the lead for good with 4:15 remaining in the second period when Thomas Chabot missed an opportunity to clear the puck down low and Laughton beat Anderson off a backhand.The game took a nasty edge in the second that continued in the third.Playing his second career game, the 19-year-old Tkachuk endeared himself to fans with his scoring touch Youth Jaden Schwartz Jersey , but also showed his propensity to mix things up when he took a double minor for roughing early in the final frame.The Flyers didn’t score on the ensuing power play, but Hagg picked up his second of the season shortly thereafter.Giroux scored his first goal of the season late in the period on a power play to make it 6-3.Tkachuk, making his home debut with the Senators, got his first goal when he redirected a shot by Chris Tierney off his skate on the power play midway through the first period. He became the fastest Tkachuk to score in the NHL. It took his father Keith five games, and brother Matthew, who plays for Calgary, scored in his fourth outing.The Flyers tied it on the power play as Voracek, at the side of the net, redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s one-timer.Tkachuk picked up his second of the night early in the second period as he carried the puck in and beat Pickard shortside, but less than two minutes later Couturier grabbed a rebound and backhanded it past Anderson to tie it 2-2.The Flyers took the lead on Voracek’s second of the night as he showed great patience before beating Anderson through the five-hole. The Senators managed to tie it when Lajoie fired a rebound past Pickard.NOTESOttawa C Paul Carey and D Ben Harpur were healthy scratches.UP NEXTFlyers: Return home to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.Senators: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

OTTAWA — Injuries have hit the Ottawa Senators. Hard.In the wake of Thursday’s 7-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers Juuse Saros Jersey , the Senators learned they will be without top scoring winger Ryan Dzingel (lower body), impressive rookie winger Alex Formenton (concussion) and minutes-eating defenseman Cody Ceci (upper body) for Saturday’s afternoon game at Canadian Tire Centre against the Los Angeles Kings.All are expected to return for an Oct. 20 meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.Article continues below ...“There are a lot of fallen soldiers around here, but that’s the way it goes,” winger Mikkel Boedker said Friday. “We’ve got to have a next-man-up mentality.”While the Senators (1-2-1) have dropped two in a row, they’ll be facing a Kings team (2-1-1) that spoiled the Montreal Canadiens home opener on Thursday.Goalie Jack Campbell, a first-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2010 who has just 10 games of NHL experience, made 40 saves in the Kings’ 3-0 shutout of the Canadiens. Campbell has allowed four goals in three games, suggesting the Kings will be OK while star goalie Jonathan Quick is out “week-to-week” with a lower body injury.“Jack’s got ability, but he’s got a really good attitude and he’s got a great work ethic,” Kings coach John Stevens told LA Kings Insider. “He’s been all ears trying to get better. If you work that hard, you’re going to get better, and I think he’s really worked hard at his game to be ready for an opportunity like this.”Center Jeff Carter led the offense in Montreal with a goal and two assists, while center Adrian Kempe scored his first goal since Feb. 7.Kings defensemen Dion Phaneuf and center Nate Thompson will make their returns to Ottawa after being traded by the rebuilding Senators to Los Angeles last season.Phaneuf also had plenty of praise for Campbell.“He’s calm in there, mature,” Phaneuf said, per NHL.com. “I’m really happy for him because he works extremely hard. Things you might not see in practice … he really competes, he’s on every puck. For him to get a shutout, it’s well deserved. He won the hockey game for us.”While Campbell is expected to start in goal for the Kings, Craig Anderson will be tending the pipes at the other end. The 37-year old Anderson allowed six goals in his last outing and, through three games, has a .895 save percentage and a 4.35 goals-against average — neither of which is acceptable.Senators coach Guy Boucher, however, blames the problems in Thursday’s loss to the odd man rushes his team gave up.“The minute we lose the puck, our reload has to be smarter, better, so we can avoid at least the rush goals that we’ve been giving Kyle Turris Jersey ,” said Boucher. “It wasn’t about the D-zone last game. It was more about the rush situation we didn’t sort out well. We didn’t have the right numbers the minute we lost the puck. If we improve that, we give ourselves a chance.”While the Senators recalled winger Nick Paul and defenseman Christian Jaros, Boucher would only confirm that defenseman Ben Harpur will be making his season debut. The Senators could go with an 11-forward, seven-defenseman alignment. WASHINGTON — After years of carrying the weight of unfulfilled expectations on their shoulders, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals traded it in for the weight of the actual Stanley Cup, which they paraded around the Las Vegas ice after a 4-3 win in Game 5 of the finals in June.On Wednesday night, the Capitals will raise a banner to the Capital One Arena rafters and begin their title defense against the Boston Bruins.While their roster is mostly unchanged, new coach Todd Reirden will make his debut. After four years as Barry Trotz’s top assistant, Reirden ascended when Trotz stepped down and ultimately took the New York Islanders’ top job.Article continues below ...Ovechkin, who recently turned 33, scored 87 points (49 goals) in the regular season and added 27 points (15 goals) in 24 postseason games as he finally put to rest questions about his ability to lead a team to the Cup.“It looks like he’s in the best mode ever,” center Nicklas Backstrom told the Washington Post. “He’s just laughing all the time, which is great. He’s going to carry this over, I think.”Washington will likely open without top-line winger Tom Wilson, who was ejected from Sunday’s preseason finale against the St. Louis Blues for an illegal check on Oskar Sundqvist, who lay motionless before being helped from the ice. Wilson was slated for an in-person hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Wednesday.Wilson’s absence combined with several injuries led the Capitals to claim forward Dmitrij Jaskin off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Jaskin, 25, totaled six goals and 11 assists in 76 games last season.“We like the player,” general manager Brian MacLellan told the Washington Post. “We think the player has some upside and with the possible suspension of Tom we’re adding a big body that can make some plays and go to the net and has a similar skill set as Tom.”Washington has won 12 straight regular-season games in four seasons against Boston.After starting 6-7-4 last season, the Bruins soared to a 50-20-12 record, good for second place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. They defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round but fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.The Bruins’ success was a bit ahead of schedule as they boast one of the youngest rosters in the league.Boston will be missing a key player in the opener as well. Defenseman Torey Krug injured his left ankle in the final preseason game. He’s in a walking boot and will be evaluated in three weeks. Krug had 59 points (14 goals, 45 assists) in 76 games last season.“It’s a big loss,” center Patrice Bergeron told the Boston Herald. “He’s a huge part of our defense, power play as well. He’s the quarterback up there. We’re going to miss him. That being said, it’s an opportunity for someone else to step up and be good for us.”