LAS VEGAS (AP) The Vegas Golden Knights chose to celebrate a monumental moment for the franchise by thinking back to how its inaugural season began – hoping the new hockey team could bring smiles to a city reeling from tragedy.Shortly after Vegas became the first expansion team to clinch a playoff berth with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night
Nico Hischier Jersey , the mantra in the locker room was the same as the one adopted shortly before the team’s home opener:”Vegas Strong.”Team owner Bill Foley, veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and leading scorer William Karlsson were among those who thought back Monday to the Oct. 1 mass shooting that killed 58 and injured hundreds more on the Las Vegas Strip.”It was a disaster that night, it was a terrible massacre, we changed our initial opening night ceremonies, I thought we really connected with the town – I’m so proud of the whole team,” Foley said. ”From then on, it was pretty unbelievable. We got off to that fast start. We’ve survived a lot of challenges this year, besides being an expansion team who nobody picked to do anything.”No expansion team had ever made the playoffs since the league expanded for the 1967-68 season.”It doesn’t bring anybody back or we don’t heal anybody,” Fleury said. ”But I hope that we’ve changed people’s mind a bit and get them to come here and have a good time at T-Mobile (Arena) and be proud of their hometown team.”Alex Tuch, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore and Karlsson each scored, while Fleury improved to 28-11-4 after stopping 28 shots.It was also the 200th career victory for coach Gerard Gallant.”I’m really happy about making the playoffs, the 200th win doesn’t mean a whole lot,” Gallant said. ”We always go back to our first home game. It wasn’t about our team winning, it wasn’t about nothing – it was about the first responders and the tragedy that happened the week before that.”It was a tough way to start our season, but I think the guys and everybody supported it well. They all came out and played an unbelievable game that first night and I just think it carried over.”The Golden Knights host San Jose on Saturday and are six points in front of the Sharks in the Pacific Division. San Jose beat Chicago in overtime earlier Monday.Erik Johnson scored for the Avalanche and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.Colorado is 11-7-3 against the Pacific Division and dropped to 7-3-3 in March. The Avalanche are still riding a 9-3-3 streak but had a three-game road winning streak snapped.The Avalanche are fourth in the Central Division but dropped to the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, just behind Los Angeles, which beat Calgary.”I’m not going to talk about a first-round (playoff) matchup, we gotta get there first,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. ”I would have liked to add another point or two tonight, but we weren’t able to get it done.”Tuch was in the right spot on Vegas’ first power play to punch home a loose puck and give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. Colorado tied it when Johnson was there to fire in a rebound.Vegas went back up 2-1 when Marchessault beat Varlamov with a slick wrist shot. Vegas has scored with a man advantage in 20 of its last 31 games. Since Jan. 21, the Golden Knights lead the league with a power-play percentage of 30.4.The Golden Knights wasted no time in extending their lead in the third period
Dan Hamhuis Jersey Womens , when Erik Haula fed a streaking Theodore, who put one past Varlamov at the 1:31 mark.Karlsson closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal, his 40th of the season.”It feels pretty incredible, it’s good to clinch it at home ice,” Karlsson said. ”It’s been a fun ride, obviously winning helps it. We had a great start and that set us off for the rest of the year. I think the whole city came together, the fans have been great, and they’ve helped us a lot. They fired us up and it was momentum all the way.”NOTES: The Avalanche had three players skate in milestone games, as Landeskog played in his 500th game, Tyson Barrie played in his 400th, and Gabriel Bourque notched his 300th. … Vegas’ James Neal is now three games shy of his 700th. … Marchessault became the 10th player in NHL history to record 70 points while playing for a team in its inaugural season. … The 18,326 in attendance was the third-largest crowd of the season.UP NEXTColorado: Returns home to host Philadelphia on Wednesday night.Vegas: Hosts Arizona on Wednesday night.— LAS VEGAS (AP) Welcome to Impossible.Those words have been projected onto the ice in big, bold letters at T-Mobile Arena before each game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, the Vegas Golden Knights are turning impossible into possible.The stunningly successful expansion squad is headed to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday to win the Western Conference final series in five games.”I remember eight months ago, when we won against Dallas (in the season opener), we had that unbelievable feeling,” Vegas center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. ”Doesn’t feel like we’re satisfied. It’s a good feeling when you know the guys are excited for the next one.”The Golden Knights are the third franchise in NHL history to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season, joining the Toronto Arenas in 1918 in the league’s early days, and St. Louis Blues in 1968, when all six expansion teams were in the same division and one of them had to make the final round.Vegas will play either Tampa Bay or Washington on hockey’s biggest stage. The Lightning lead the Eastern Conference final 3-2, but the Capitals host Game 6 on Monday night.”Either way, we’re not going to be favorites
Youth Pavel Zacha Jersey ,” said Jonathan Marchessault, who leads Vegas with 18 points in the postseason. ”That’s been the case all year. Tampa has been the best team all year. Washington, (they’re) playing great hockey right now. Either way, we’re not going to be favorites, and that’s fine with us. We went all year like that and we’re going to keep going.”Hence, ”The Golden Misfits” tag.Nobody could have scripted Vegas, a 500-1 long shot at the start of the season, making the playoffs – let alone earning a shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup.But the Golden Knights, who finished fifth in the league during the regular season, just knocked off the No. 2 team in the regular season in Winnipeg, which in the conference semifinals knocked off the No. 1 team in the regular season, Nashville.Vegas clinched all three of its Western Conference series on the road, becoming the seventh team in NHL history to accomplish such a feat.”Everybody on this team has something to prove,” said Winnipeg native Ryan Reaves, who scored the winning goal Sunday in his hometown. ”We call ourselves `The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”Just as they have all season, they are living in the moment.Vegas, which had just two players under contract at this time last year, heads into the final round with a 12-3 playoff record after outscoring its Western Conference opponents 42-27.It’s a credit to coach Gerard Gallant’s philosophy of having a well-conditioned, confident group of forwards who work well together, focus on short effective shifts, and exude confidence on the ice – all while, as he reiterates it daily
Authentic Taylor Hall Jersey , playing 200 feet of hockey.And while the Golden Knights haven’t necessarily been a high-scoring threat, scoring just three or fewer goals in 12 of their 15 playoff games, their defensemen have played exceptional to this point. Vegas has allowed the least amount of goals in the playoffs, among teams that have played 10 games. It was a stifling and disruptive defense that helped propel the Golden Knights past the Jets on Sunday, with their sixth win in eight road games during the postseason.”Everybody’s stepping up at different times during the season,” said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has 12 wins, four shutouts, a .947 save percentage and 1.68 goals against average. ”That’s a big reason why we’ve been playing consistently.”The key cog in Vegas’ engine has been Fleury, whose remarkable play has translated into a career-best postseason. He has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of 15 playoff games, and is heading to the Stanley Cup final for a third consecutive year. And whether he admits it or not, the 14-year veteran still bears the scars of being left exposed by Pittsburgh last summer after spending the first 13 years of his career with the Penguins.Gallant, who remained coy about his team’s aspirations during the regular season, made it clear the Golden Knights haven’t reached their goal.”It’s been an awesome ride so far,” said Gallant, who some might also consider a ”misfit” after Florida fired him following a road game at Carolina last season, then left him and his luggage on the curb outside PNC Arena. ”We’re going to the Stanley Cup Final, but again, this isn’t what we want. We want to win.”It’s great to win tonight and it’s great to be the (conference) champions,” Gallant added, ”but that’s not what we’re here for.”Even as impossible as that all seemed just a few months ago.—
