Gästebuch » LAS VEGAS (AP) The Washington

Capitals have waited nearly 44 years to raise the Stanley Cup for the first time.Their only remaining obstacles are some desert-dwelling misfits who refuse to wait for anything.The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are just four wins away from an astounding championship when they host Alex Ovechkin’s long-striving Caps on Monday night to open a thoroughly improbable Stanley Cup Final.Even the players from the NHL’s last two teams standing seemed a bit surprised by their achievements when they gathered Sunday in balmy 84-degree Nevada weather.”Who would have thunk it?” asked Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt Mark Giordano Jersey , who played the previous four seasons for the Capitals. ”The Stanley Cup Final that was never meant to be, right?”Indeed, a first-time NHL champ will be crowned next month after a Final between two teams that arrived at hockey’s ultimate destination from very different directions. While the Caps finally climbed over the hump in the Eastern Conference, the Golden Knights have been bulldozing every logical obstacle in their path since October.”We’ve been able to do some things in the playoffs, but we never got to that last stage until now,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. ”And everybody knows what Vegas did in the first year is very special. We’re both hungry. This is going to be a beast of a series.”The Golden Knights have exceeded every expectation by utilizing a rich expansion draft and multiple clever coaching moves to create a team that dominated the Pacific Division and then rampaged through the Western Conference playoffs. Their story still carries a ring of impossibility, but they’re close to adding a real ring to every hand in the dressing room full of self-described ”Golden Misfits,” as their T-shirts say.The Capitals have repeatedly fallen short of their postseason goals during Ovechkin’s career, including a heartbreaking shutout loss to Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 7 of the second round against Pittsburgh last spring. After falling to Fleury’s champion Penguins in the past two postseasons, the Caps revamped their roster with youth and finally overcame years of playoff disappointment to reach their first Final in two decades. Of course, Fleury is in the way again – in goal for the Golden Knights.Neither team was the favorite to get this far. Neither team is ready to stop now.While Capitals coach Barry Trotz skated his now-customary hot lap before practice at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights had their usual standing room-only crowd for practice at their training complex in suburban Summerlin.Their grip on this sports-hungry town was already strong, and the 24-hour gambling mecca will come to a standstill this week during the Cup games in the arena behind the New York New York hotel-casino and its 150-foot Statue of Liberty, which has been wearing a Golden Knights jersey since April.Speaking of larger-than-life figures in hockey sweaters, this series showcases two major talents who can cement a legacy.Ovechkin is a formidable scorer and competitor, but he has never won an Olympic medal with Russia or a Stanley Cup ring with the Caps. He’s keeping a sense of humor about this momentous trip: With a straight face Sunday, Ovechkin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had called him to wish him luck Youth Matthew Tkachuk Jersey , before adding: ”I’m just joking.””We want to be here,” Ovechkin said. ”We work so hard all year. I don’t think nobody believes in us, and nobody believes in Vegas, and we’re right now in the Stanley Cup Finals, and we fight for a Cup. Come enjoy this moment.”Fleury already has three Stanley Cup rings, but he has added another incredible act to his career with tenacious play for the Golden Knights, whose inexperienced pros have leaned on him to get through tough nights.”I think it’s weird seeing that team here, being in the Cup the first year,” said Brooks Orpik, the only Washington player with a ring. ”Obviously, I’m not surprised (Fleury) is here. Without him, they weren’t beating us last year. He singlehandedly won a couple of games for (Pittsburgh) when we totally outplayed them.”Here are more things to know about the ice hockey event in the Mojave:COACHING CROWNThe winning coach also will raise the Stanley Cup for the first time in a fitting peak to two careers built on resilience. The 55-year-old Trotz never played in the NHL, but his 19th season as an NHL coach is ending in his first Cup Final. Gerard Gallant was a solid NHL forward for Detroit, but the 54-year-old bench boss had never even won a playoff round as an NHL coach before this spring.(TURN)OVER KNIGHTSSeveral Capitals pointed out the importance of minimizing turnovers against the Golden Knights, whose counterattacking acumen and team speed cause problems. ”They’re a very fast team and when you turn pucks over, they’re like a shark smelling blood in the water,” Oshie said. ”They all stop on a dime and want to take it the other way. That’s how they get a lot of their offense.”CAPTAIN CHARGEOvechkin could become the first Russian captain to raise the Stanley Cup. If the Knights win Michael Frolik Jersey , they don’t have a captain to raise the Cup first. Gallant and GM George McPhee decided to rely on a six-man leadership council instead. ”I think that’s the best decision we ever made,” Gallant said. ”Sure, there’s guys who could have been captain in our group, but it was their first year – and we really didn’t think we’d be grabbing the (Western Conference) trophy the other night in Winnipeg.”SCHMIDT’S REUNIONThe Golden Knights’ matchups against the teams that let them go in the expansion draft have been a consistently entertaining feature of this season. For the grand finale, Schmidt is at center stage against the Caps, who left him unprotected and then tried to reacquire him from Vegas. Schmidt led the Golden Knights in ice time and surpassed his previous career highs with five goals and 31 assists. He is logging nearly 25 minutes per playoff game.THE HOTNESSSummer heat hasn’t quite settled onto Las Vegas yet, but the upcoming week looks like a scorcher. The temperature on the Strip should hit 100 degrees on Wednesday before Game 2.—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals LOS ANGELES (AP) Kings coach John Stevens decided to put ”That 70’s Line” on hiatus for a night.Instead, having forwards Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson play with center Adrian Kempe gave Los Angeles‘ chances of making the postseason a much-needed reboot.Toffoli and Pearson scored, Kempe had two assists and the Kings moved back into playoff position with a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.Stevens shuffled his lines coming off a 7-2 loss to St. Louis on Saturday, getting the response he was looking for from Los Angeles’ three emerging stars on offense.”I was really happy for the Kempe line tonight,” Stevens said. ”We talked to that line just how much we needed them to play like they did earlier in the year. It could really balance out our attack, and I thought they did tonight.”Jonathan Quick made 35 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and Anze Kopitar also scored for the Kings, who jumped into third place in the Pacific Division with their fifth victory in seven games. Los Angeles is one point ahead of Anaheim in the division standings.Anders Nilsson made 30 saves for the Canucks, who were shut out for the second consecutive game. Vancouver has scored three goals during a four-game losing streak.Toffoli gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 1:57 into the second period with his 22nd of the season. Jake Muzzin made a long pass from deep in the Kings own zone to the red line that sprung Toffoli on a breakaway, which he finished with a wrist shot over a kneeling Nilsson.”Ty on a breakaway there, he’s not going to miss those too often,” Pearson said.Muzzin had an assist for the second straight game Authentic Mikael Backlund Jersey , leaving him one short of matching his career high of 31 in the 2015-16 season.Kempe had the secondary assist, ending his six-game point drought.Kopitar made it 2-0 at 14:54. His centering pass deflected off Troy Stecher’s stick and went fluttering in over Nilsson. It was Kopitar’s first goal during his four-game point streak, to go along with four assists.Derek Forbort and Drew Doughty had assists on Kopitar’s 28th goal.Pearson put the Kings ahead 3-0 with his 13th goal at 10:53 of the third, waiting out Nilsson until the goalie was on his knees and had left an open net. It was Pearson’s third goal in five games following a stretch of 15 without one.Pearson said he wanted to be patient and let Nilsson run himself out of position to make a play. It was also a sequence that reflected the back-to-basics approach the Kings employed after matching their season high in goals allowed against the Blues.”Obviously, the last game wasn’t what we wanted,” Pearson said. ”It’s good to get the win here and in a good way, too. We had a good, solid defensive game, and when we’re that way we create a lot of stuff going the other way.”For the floundering Canucks, who are 4-12-3 in their last 19 games, coach Travis Green hopes his team can try to focus on little victories instead of its disappearing offense. Green pointed to the three power plays created against the Kings after being limited to one opportunity with the man advantage in each of the previous four games.”It’s going to weigh on them,” Green said about the lack of goals. ”Wasn’t too long ago where we were scoring and sprinkling them around a little bit. Again, you play a game, you reset and you get back at it.”NOTES: The Kings are 7-4-1 in the first game of a back-to-back set. … The Canucks are 3-6-0 in the second game of a back-to-back.UP NEXTCanucks: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.Kings: At the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.—