Anleitungen » The hottest team in the NHL is now

RALEIGH Braydon Coburn Jersey , N.C. (AP) — The hottest team in the NHL is now in playoff position.Petr Mrazek stopped 33 shots in his third shutout of the season and the Carolina Hurricanes moved into a wild-card playoff spot with a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.Justin Williams and Brock McGinn scored less than four minutes apart in the first period and Mrazek did the rest, turning aside shot after shot. Micheal Ferland added a power-play goal in the third period.The Hurricanes improved to 16-5-1 in their last 22 games, the most wins and points in the NHL in that span. With Pittsburgh’s loss to Calgary earlier Saturday, Carolina moved into the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.“I think everybody’s got their eye on that,” McGinn said. “We want to be in the playoffs. Every period and every game is so crucial for us right now and I think we’re doing a good job of showing that.”The Hurricanes are in a playoff spot for the first time this season. They own the NHL’s longest playoff drought at nine seasons.“We don’t talk about it, but everyone knows where we’re at,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.Anton Khudobin made 24 saves for the Dallas. The Stars were shut out for the second straight game, after losing 6-0 to Tampa Bay on Thursday.Carolina started fast and never looked back. After generating a breakaway and a slew of odd-man rushes in the opening minutes, Sebastian Aho fed Williams on a two-on-one to open the scoring 3:48 in.Just 3:22 later, McGinn made it 2-0 when he got behind two defenders and scored on a backhand shot off a pass from Justin Faulk from the blue line.“It’s difficult for us to come from behind. It’s been proven all year,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “Anytime we fall behind it’s not a good situation for us. It was an opportunity for our big line to step up and unfortunately they got scored against twice in the first period.”Dallas progressively took control of the possession and began peppering the Hurricanes net, but Mrazek made highlight-reel save after highlight-reel save, turning away the Stars’ scoring chances. After one particularly impressive sequence in which he spread out on the ice to rob Andrew Cogliano of an open net off a rebound, Mrazek banged his chest and pumped his fist as play went on.“I was very fired up at the end of the first period after that save,” Mrazek said. “You try and feel it every night but sometimes you have bad bounces early. I felt like this was my game from the start.”After another stellar save in the second period on Jason Dickinson’s tip-in in front of the net, the crowd began chanting Mrazek’s name.Dallas outshot Carolina 33-27, but Mrazek rendered the differential moot.“He was amazing,” McGinn said. “He kept us in there that whole game. He made some unbelievable saves. We really feed off that and it gives our team a lot of energy.”NOTES: Williams J.T. Miller Jersey , Aho and Nino Neiderreiter extended their point streaks to four games for Carolina. … Ferland played his 300th career game. … Stars F Blake Comeau (upper body injury) was scratched for the second straight game. He is day-to-day. … Dallas had been shut out just three times all season, before the back-to-back shutouts.UP NEXTStars: Host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.Hurricanes: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Stanley Cup championship banner rose to the rafters at the home of the Washington Capitals for the first time, and everyone in attendance Wednesday night got to relive the sheer excitement of it all.Alex Ovechkin and the other players, who craned their necks to see the video montages of last season on the overhead scoreboard — and couldn’t help but smile. Coaches, too, including new head man Todd Reirden. Not to mention the owner and the GM and the assistant equipment manager and anyone else on staff.And, importantly, the 18,506 fans, decked out in their jerseys — most of them in the team’s main color, red, so many with Ovechkin’s No. 8. They sang along to “We Are the Champions!” in full throat and shook their team-distributed glow sticks during a half-hour ceremony before Washington opened the regular season by beating the Boston Bruins 7-0 behind a pair of goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov and one apiece from Ovechkin, Oshie, Nic Dowd, John Carlson and Lars Eller.“Gave me chills. I was just looking up and I was hearing the crowd sing that song,” center Nicklas Backstrom said, then added with a laugh: “I want to experience that again.”Those fans roared at any mention of “champions.” Or any clip of Ovechkin. Or, especially Womens Charlie McAvoy Jersey , when there were glimpses of “The Save” by Braden Holtby in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, and Eller’s Cup-winning goal in Game 5, and Ovechkin kissing the trophy for the first time back on June 7. One thing missing from the festivities: any mention or image of Barry Trotz, the coach who led the team to the trophy then left in a contract dispute, replaced by promoted assistant Reirden.Each burst of cheers sounded as if the games from months ago were being played all over again.“When you’re part of something like that,” said Oshie, who scored 24 seconds into the game, “how can you not be excited to get going and try to do it again?”The banner signifying the NHL championship was revealed toward the end of the festivities, slowly lifted to the ceiling, its rise paused long enough for the players to gather on the ice in front of it for photos, the Stanley Cup itself resting nearby on the ice.There already were five red banners hanging from the rafters to signify some sort of accomplishment by the Capitals: Three represent a total of 11 division titles, one marks the team’s pair of Eastern Conference titles, and the last celebrates a trio of Presidents’ Trophy triumphs.None, of course, is quite as significant as the piece of material hoisted on this night.“Kind of a historic moment for us. I’ve always said it’s nice to be a part of it; it’s nice to be in this organization,” Ovechkin said after the game. “Tonight, we had so many emotions, so much fun out there Authentic Louis Domingue Jersey , and you can see how we played.”Drafted No. 1 overall in 2004, Ovechkin has scored more than 600 goals and won three league MVP awards as one of hockey’s most prominent (gap-toothed) faces. He also became Washington’s captain along the way and, therefore, the first player in franchise history to get to grab the Stanley Cup.He carried it again Wednesday, bringing it onto the ice and taking a half-lap around the rink — serenaded by “Ovi! Ovi!” — as the last player introduced. The Capitals won their title on the road at Las Vegas, so this was chance for the Cup to be shown off at home.That famous silver chalice, etched for the first time with the Capitals’ names, made a trek around the nation’s capital throughout Wednesday. Not only did the Capitals put an end to their own futility, they also earned the first championship for any of the city’s teams in the four North American major professional sports leagues since the NFL’s Redskins won the Super Bowl in 1992.“They made it OK to believe,” said ceremony emcee John Walton, the Capitals’ radio voice.“Let’s go, Caps!” rang out in the stands as the banner’s rise concluded.That chant shifted to “Back-to-back!” when the ceremony ended with Ovechkin skating the Cup off the ice. After giving it a parting kiss, he placed it in its black carrying case, the celebration over, the title defense soon off to quite a start.