Tortorella has beaten – and lost to – Washington

**elaine95** 23 окт 2018, 09:43

SAN JOSE http://www.officialpenguinsproshop.com/authentic-adidas-olli-maatta-jersey , Calif. (AP) Shortly after the San Jose Sharks were denied by the iron for the fourth time of the night, Marc-Andre Fleury rubbed the goal post to thank it for his good fortune.There’s something magical about the ride the expansion Vegas Golden Knights have been on all season and now it’s going all the way to the Western Conference Final.Fleury made 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the Golden Knights have made it to the NHL’s final four in their inaugural season after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 of their second-round series Sunday.”It was maybe a little bit of a shock, but I’m proud of our team, our organization, the way they did things here,” Fleury said. ”I’m proud to be where we are right now.”Fleury, who was part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh, is a main reason for the success. He allowed just three goals in a first-round sweep against Los Angeles, posted shutouts in Games 1 and 6 against the Sharks and was also spectacular in an overtime win in Game 3.He had plenty of help from a crew of castoffs who have come together in Vegas to form a team that has a legitimate shot at a championship. Vegas next will play either Winnipeg or Nashville in the Western Conference Final. The Jets lead that series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Monday night.”We deserve to be here,” coach Gerard Gallant said. ”We’re a good team, we play hard and we played well all season long. The two teams we played were very good hockey teams and we were very evenly matched with those teams.”Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring, Nate Schmidt added an insurance goal that was only detectable by replay and Cody Eakin sealed it with an empty-netter to help Vegas become just the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first season.The Toronto Arenas won the Stanley Cup in the first postseason in league history in 1918 and St. Louis won two rounds to win the all-expansion West Division in 1968.The Sharks had numerous opportunities all night but were thwarted by a couple of shots that hit the iron, some acrobatic saves from Fleury and other chances that trickled just wide. This marked the fourth straight postseason for the Sharks that ended with a loss on home ice.”It’s very disappointing, you get this far and lose, it’s disappointing,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said. ””It’s extra disappointing when you don’t play the way that you know that you’re capable of. … That’s something that’s very difficult to take.”The Golden Knights took control of this game with some good fortune in the second period. It started when usually reliable Marc-Edouard Vlasic turned the puck over in his own zone. Reilly Smith took control near the blue line and found Marchessault alone in front for a goal that trickled between Martin Jones‘ pads.The Golden Knights then added to the lead after an icing by Brent Burns led to an offensive zone faceoff. David Perron beat Tierney on the draw and Schmidt took a shot that appeared to deflect off the post and out.Play went on for 25 more seconds before the buzzer rang Womens Patric Hornqvist Jersey , with the situation room in Toronto calling for a video review. That quickly showed that the puck bounced off the post, off a piece equipment inside the net and out.Vegas then had a delayed celebration for the goal that made it 2-0.”I had no idea,” Schmidt said. ”I’d never seen something like that happen where they blew the play dead, but when I was skating back to the bench and all the guys were yelling, `It’s in.”’That was the type of bounce the Sharks didn’t get early in the game when they hit the post or crossbar three times in the opening period and then again in the third when they tried to cut into Vegas’ lead.They also had several other chances that either Fleury turned aside with acrobatic saves, trickled just wide or they were unable to get a clean shot, like a rebound Couture whiffed on from the slot in the first period with an open net.”It’s a fine line,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”I think we had a couple of those that didn’t go in. That’s hockey. But Vegas deserves to be moving on. They played great. They finished the chances when they needed to and got saves when they needed to.”NOTES: Jones made 30 saves. … Vegas F William Carrier was scratched with a lower-body injury and replaced by Ryan Reaves, who played his first game this postseason.— WASHINGTON (AP) Dmitry Orlov scoring on Sergei Bobrovsky is a popular clip at a bar in their hometown in southwestern Siberia.”They always show my goal to him,” Orlov said. ”My friends said that.”Orlov and Bobrovsky are good friends going back to their time growing up together and have played together on the Russian national team with Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Artemi Panarin. They’re split on opposite sides of a first-round series between Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Orlov’s Washington Capitals and Bobrovsky and Panarin’s Columbus Blue Jackets. Game 1 is Thursday night in Washington.”They’re good players, obviously, and we need to work (against) them,” Orlov said. ”Panarin have good skill so we need to not give him a lot of space and Bob we need to put more shots, more traffic on him. If we win Phil Kessel Jersey , it will be nice.”Perhaps not since the Detroit Red Wings’ Russian Five has a Stanley Cup playoff series had so many prominent players from Russia, with all eyes on those them as potential X-factors. It starts with Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender who aims to rebound from starting his NHL playoff career 3-10 with a 3.63 goals-against average and .887 save percentage.”He’s going to rise to the occasion,” Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. ”He has every time he’s been challenged. If I had to pick anybody in the league to go into the playoffs with it would be him, and I think he’s pretty confident about the team in front of him.”The team in front of Bobrovsky is led by Panarin, whose 82 points are 25 more than the second-closest Columbus player.”The Blue Jackets have added a guy like Panarin, I think he’s a little bit of that difference make, just like we have some difference makers,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. ”They can do some things that they maybe didn’t have in the past. He’s an exceptional player. We’ve got some exceptional players. Sometimes in those tight series, those exceptional players can be the difference.”Ovechkin has made a difference all year, leading the NHL with 49 goals and scoring 19.1 percent of the Capitals’ total over the course of the 82-game regular season. Kuznetsov caught fire late, recording 11 goals and 17 assists in the final 18 games of the regular season.”I would say he is mature, understands the game,” Ovechkin said of Kuznetsov. ”Everybody knew he would be a very good, solid player, a talent Sidney Crosby Jersey , and you can see how he plays right now.”Some things to watch when Columbus and Washington meet in the playoffs for the first time:GRUBAUER HOURBackup Philipp Grubauer got the nod to start Game 1 for the Capitals over 2016 Vezina winner and longtime No. 1 goaltender Braden Holtby. The 26-year-old German started a playoff game in place of Holtby in 2015 because of an illness, but he earned the starting job this time around by closing out the season 7-3-0 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. Holtby went into a slump in February and March, opening the door for Grubauer to seize the opportunity. But Trotz only named Grubauer his starter for Game 1 and said he’ll take the decision game by game.TORTORELLA TIMEBlue Jackets coach John Tortorella will face the Capitals in a playoff series for the sixth time after going 3-2 with the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. Tortorella has beaten – and lost to – Washington this time of year with less-talented teams than he has right now, particularly after the addition of winger Thomas Vanek and defenseman Ian Cole at the trade deadline made Columbus a high-scoring machine.”I think we’re playing some of our best hockey, both as a group and certainly the individuals,” Tortorella said. ”I think with them and the additions at the deadline, I think our group feels really good about itself.”ACTIVE DWashington’s John Carlson led all NHL defenseman with 68 points in the regular season and yet still might not be the best on the blue line in this series. Columbus has Norris Trophy dark horse Seth Jones, who along with Zack Werenski give the Blue Jackets some serious offense.SPECIAL TEAMSOne area the Capitals have a huge advantage is on the power play and penalty kill, where they’re ranked seventh and 15th in the league. The Blue Jackets are 15th on the power play and 26th on the penalty kill. Since the trade deadline, though, Columbus has scored on 25 percent of its power plays.—AP Sports Writer Mitch Stacy in Columbus, Ohio, contributed.—