Freed from the weight of the world of being Stanley Cup favorites

Freed from the weight of the world of being Stanley Cup favorites Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , the Washington Capitals are playing like a team eager to prove something.Prove doubters wrong, prove their championship window hasn’t closed and, most notably, prove they can get over the playoff hump that has vexed them over the past decade. Led by top NHL goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals go into their first-round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets having won 12 of their final 15 games and feeling confident about this spring despite a series of early playoff exits.”I hope best hockey is going to be in the playoffs,” Ovechkin said Saturday night. ”I think the balance on our team right now is pretty good and pretty high. That’s very good thing to go into the playoffs because in playoffs you never know what’s going to happen. Maybe one shift can change the whole series. I think we’re ready for it.”Few expected the Capitals to win the Metropolitan Division again after losing Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, Nate Schmidt, Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk and Daniel Winnik from last year’s team that won the Presidents’ Trophy for the second consecutive season. Coach Barry Trotz and players miss no opportunity to bring up all the preseason predictions about them being a playoff bubble team.Of course, when they sat at 11-10-1 just before Thanksgiving, those lower expectations looked accurate. General manager Brian MacLellan insists he was never worried – and his team’s 38-16-6 record the rest of the way was the fourth best in the NHL in that time behind only Boston, Nashville and Winnipeg.The Capitals don’t have the playoff buzz of the Bruins, Predators, Jets, Tampa Bay Lightning or the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, but they have as good a chance as anyone of reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in the Ovechkin era.”We have a chance to go the distance,” MacLellan said. ”I don’t know that we’re as deep or as experienced as we were last year, but I think the whole league is a little less of that. There’s probably a couple teams that are a little deeper that might have a chance, theoretically, of going farther, but I think we’re in the mix with the high-end teams.”Everyone thought the Capitals were the highest of high-end teams in 2016 and 2017, and they lost to the eventual Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round each time. Williams has implied that favorite status didn’t suit the Capitals well, and Trotz said ”the crown is quite heavy” for a team expected to win.It showed.”I think there was some external pressure that creeped in the room,” veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik said. ”I think maybe as a veteran group, we probably don’t want to admit that it affected us. I think at times it definitely did.”Finishing in first place puts some pressure on the Capitals Womens Ryan Kesler Jersey , but it’s nothing like in years past. More than anything, there’s urgency to win with Ovechkin 32 and having three years remaining on his contract.”We all know what we’re playing for is to win a championship and I’m hoping we do it this year,” owner Ted Leonsis said. ”I’m hoping we do it within his contract time.”Columbus is a tough first-round matchup for the Capitals, but their play down the stretch makes a long playoff run possible if they get strong goaltending from Braden Holtby or Philipp Grubauer. From the net out, Washington looks like a contender thanks to the trade-deadline additions of defensemen Michal Kempny and Jakub Jerabek and the play of centers Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom.”We’re playing the right way a lot of the time,” Holtby said. ”It’s more where you’re at as a team and I think we’re continuing to build and push forward in the right direction. We have a lot of guys contributing right now. It’s a good sign.”Washington’s road to the elusive Cup could go through Pittsburgh and then Boston, Tampa Bay or Toronto. Perhaps the expectations being on those teams instead of the Capitals isn’t such a bad thing.”I think it’s a good thing because I think last two years we were on top of the league and we win Presidents’ Trophy,” Ovechkin said. ”Everybody thought we were going to be unstoppable in playoffs and we didn’t. … We’re going to do our thing and we’re going to have success.”— MONTREAL (AP) — Max Domi broke a tie with 21 seconds left and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first two NHL goals in the Montreal Canadiens‘ 6-4 victory over the Washington Capitals 6-4 on Thursday night.After Domi’s goal, Joel Armia added an empty-netter two seconds later for the fastest two goals in NHL history.Kotkaniemi tied it with his second of the night with 3:04 remaining. Surrounded by three Capitals players, the Finn got his stick on the puck and his shot trickled past Holtby. At 18 years and 118 days old, Kotkaniemi became the second-youngest goal scorer in franchise history.Domi gave the Canadiens the lead when Holtby fanned on his wrist shot.Brendan Gallagher also had two goals, and Carey Price stopped 27 shots for his fifth victory of the season to help the Canadiens improve to 7-3-2.Alex Ovechkin and Lars Eller each scored twice for the Capitals, and Braden Holtby made 38 saves.PREDATORS 4, LIGHTNING 1TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Pekka Rinne made 42 saves in his return after missing five games with an injury, and Nashville beat Tampa Bay.Rinne was hurt in the third period of a 5-3 win at Calgary on Oct. 19. He was stretching to try and stop the puck when teammate Kevin Fiala landed on top of the goalie in an awkward-looking collision.Kyle Turris, Roman Josi, Calle Jarnkrok and Miikka Salomaki scored, and Ryan Johansen had two nifty assists for the Predators. Slater Koekkoek scored for Tampa Bay.JETS 4, PANTHERS 2HELSINKI (AP) — Finnish star Patrik Laine had a hat trick and Winnipeg beat Florida in tbe Finnish capital.Laine scored in the second period and twice in the third, including an empty-netter. The teams will meet again Friday night.Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Jets. Keith Yandle and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Florida.ISLANDERS 3, PENGUINS 2, SONEW YORK (AP) — Josh Bailey scored a short-handed goal in the second period and then the only goal in a shootout to lift New York past Pittsburgh.Thomas Greiss made 29 saves as the Islanders swept a home-and-home set with the Penguins. New York also improved to 5-0-0 against Metropolitan Division rivals this season.Anders Lee also scored for New York. Dominik Simon and Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh.RED WINGS 4, DEVILS 3DETROIT (AP) — Justin Abdelkader scored a short-handed goal midway through the third period and Trevor Daley put the puck in an empty net for another short-handed score in the final minute, and Detroit beat New Jersey for its third straight victory.Michael Rasmussen amd Martin Frk also scored for Detroit. Marcus Johansson, Blake Coleman and Sami Vatanen scored for New Jersey.STARS 2 Ryan Miller Jersey , MAPLE LEAFS 1TORONTO (AP) — Bbackup goalie Anton Khudobin made 31 saves to help Dallas beat Toronto.Jamie Benn and Devin Shore scored, and Tyler Seguin added two assists. Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 17 saves.SENATORS 4, SABRES 2OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Craig Anderson made 21 of his 46 saves in the third period and Ottawa held off Buffalo in the first game of a home-and-home series.Ryan Dzingel, Dylan DeMelo, Colin White and Bobby Ryan, into an empty net, scored for the Senators. Thomas Chabot and Mark Stone each had two assists.Jason Pominville, playing in his 1,000th NHL game, and Jeff Skinner scored for the Sabres, and Carter Hutton made 28 saves.BLUES 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3ST. LOUIS (AP) — Oskar Sundqvist scored twice to lead St. Louis past Vegas.Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Bozak and Colton Parayko also scored, and Jake Allen stopped 31 shots. Alex Tuc, Erik Haula and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for Vegas.RANGERS 3, DUCKS 2, SOANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mats Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad scored in the shootout, Alexandar Georgiev made 22 saves and New York completed a four-game road swing with a victory over Anaheim.Brett Howden and Kevin Hayes scored in regulation for the Rangers, who went 2-2 on the trip while improving to 3-0 in shootouts. Georgiev denied both Ducks attempts in the tiebreaker.Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell scored for Anaheim, which is 0-5-2 in its last seven games. John Gibson made 28 saves.Rakell tied it with 25.3 seconds remaining in the third period after the Ducks pulled Gibson for an extra skater.FLYERS 5, KINGS 2LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oskar Lindblom had a goal and an assist as Philadelphia defeated Los Angeles.Ivan Provorov scored for the second straight game and the Flyers won consecutive games for the first time this season. Brian Elliott made 25 saves, and Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds each had a goal.Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter scored a power-play goal for the Kings http://www.coyotesproshop.com/authentic-alex-goligoski-jersey , who have lost seven of eight.Jack Campbell, who will be the starting goalie for three to six weeks as Jonathan Quick recovers from knee surgery, made 26 saves.BLUE JACKETS 4, SHARKS 1SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Nick Foligno scored twice and Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist in Columbus’ win over San Jose.Sergei Bobrovsky made 44 saves as the Blue Jackets won for the third time in four games. Seth Jones also scored.It was San Jose’s first regulation loss since Oct. 14 at New Jersey. The Sharks were 4-0-2 in their last six games since dropping three of four during a road trip.Kevin Labanc scored a power-play goal in the first period for San Jose.OILERS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Mikko Koskinen made 40 saves for his first NHL shutout, Drake Caggiula scored twice and Edmonton blanked Chicago.Jason Garrison and Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers (7-4-1), who have won four of five.Cam Ward made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (6-5-3), who have lost four straight.FLAMES 6, AVALANCHE 5CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mark Giordano had a goal and two assists, and Calgary scored five straight times in the third period to rally past Colorado.Giordano scored the go-ahead goal at 13:47 of the third when he took a pass from Mikael Backlund and snapped a shot over the blocker of goaltender Semyon Varlamov. Calgary was down 4-1 after two periods.Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, James Neal and Michael Frolik also scored for the Flames (8-5-1), who have won three straight. Matthew Tkachuk added three assists.It’s already the fourth time this season the Flames have come back to win when trailing after two periods.Colin Wilson, Vladislav Kamenev, Sheldon Dries, Carl Soderberg and Gabriel Landeskog scored for Colorado (7-4-2).Mike Smith got the win despite giving up five goals on 26 shots.Varlamov, who entered with a 1.62 goals-against average and .950 save percentage, made 31 saves. The five goals he allowed in the third period came on just 11 shots.