Stars und Sternchen! » It was the first goal

LAS VEGAS (AP) Their story had been too good Patrice Bergeron Jersey , their season way too magical.Then the script was suddenly flipped. And the storybook ending the Vegas Golden Knights had desperately hoped for became a story of another kind for the Washington Capitals.Two goals in the third period gave the Caps their first Stanley Cup title, ending 43 years of futility and sending a surprisingly large contingent of red-clad Washington fans into a frenzy. They stood and cheered as the Caps passed the Stanley Cup around, enjoying a scene that up to now no Las Vegas tourist had ever imagined.A few minutes earlier, thousands of Knights fans were on their feet cheering for their team. The game was over, but ”Go Knights Go” reverberated through the arena on the Las Vegas Strip.Both teams had something to celebrate. But only Washington would be drinking out of the Stanley Cup.”When you get this close to the cup it’s hard,” Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”It doesn’t happen too often. It’s very disappointing.”An inaugural season like no other ended on a bittersweet note for an expansion team like no other. The first major sports team in this gambling city bucked the odds until the end, but in the end this was Washington’s championship to win.It was the Caps who won every playoff series coming from behind. It was the Caps who found a way to win in the third period when things seemed to be going the Knights way.”We got angry and mean,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. ”Even when they got an extra timeout when the clock broke our guys were like, we got this. There’s not a chance they will score.”It was the Knights, though, who bonded with a city and thrilled fans who before October began knew little more about hockey than it was the fastest game on ice.They played into June, this collection of Golden Misfits Matt Read Jersey Womens , something no one could have imagined for a team that barely had any players a year ago. The temperature outside was close to 100 degrees for Game 5 but hockey worked in the desert and it worked in a city where you don’t have to go far to place a bet on the team.And the bet is that this is a franchise that won’t have to wait 43 years to raise a Stanley Cup of its own.”We came up short but I’m sure in a few days we’ll come up with a lot of positives about the season,” defenseman Deryk Engelland said. ”Right now it’s the worst feeling ever. You never want to lose any game, but especially at this point.”A season that began somberly in the wake of the massacre of 58 people just down the street from the T-Mobile Arena ended 102 games later with a community continuing to heal and a team that far exceeded expectations on and off the ice.It was Engelland who stood before the crowd at the first home game and told them, ”We are Vegas strong,” a message that carried over on the ice. The Knights won their division, and were 12-3 in the playoffs coming into the Final, confounding the hockey experts at every turn.When they won the first game of the series it looked like the tale of an expansion team and its city would soar to new levels. But the Caps came back to win four straight, including the 4-3 win that capped off their own improbable run.”No one gave us a chance from the start,” said forward David Perron. ”I thought when I got picked in the draft that Vegas would be a fun place to be but the team wouldn’t do much. It’s been a great ride.”While the Capitals were enjoying a lengthy postgame celebration on the ice, the Knights filtered through a somber locker room, talking softly about great times and a painful ending. On the verge of doing something historic, they lost their way and the price to pay for it was another team passing the Cup around on their ice.”It was a phenomenal year and in a couple days we’ll think about that Matt Hendricks Jersey Womens ,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. ”Every day was fun for us.”A magical season, yes. But it also won’t be long before the reality sinks in that teams just don’t get to the Stanley Cup Final every year.All the Knights had to do was look at the team celebrating on the ice to understand that.—-Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Despite their power play struggles, the Predators found a way to take down their Central Division rival.Pekka Rinne made 29 saves to lead Nashville to a 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.“I’m just excited to play against these guys,” Rinne said. “I think that was a good indication of how it’s going to be for the rest of the season, pretty emotional and pretty physical games. There’s a lot of speed and a lot of skill on the ice.”The shutout was the 52nd of Rinne’s career. Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist and Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen also scored for Nashville, which improved its record on the young season to 3-1-0.“He had to make some tough saves along the way,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought he stayed really focused and really sharp through the whole game, despite the circumstances, really sharp from start to finish.”Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for the Jets, now 2-2-0.The Predators had the decided advantage in power plays in the game but came up empty in nine opportunities, including separate two-man advantages of 18 seconds and 1:35 in the second period. Winnipeg could not convert on either of their two power plays in the game.“There’s not much you can do in terms of personnel. you’ve got half your team gassed after two and half your team frozen on the bench Womens Torey Krug Jersey ,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We had half the group drinking hot chocolate on the bench just trying to stay warm.”The Central Division’s top two teams from a season ago met for the first time since the Jets ousted the then defending Western Conference champion Predators in a tough seven-game series in the second round of the playoffs.Hartman scored the game’s first goal at 3:02 of the second period.With the puck just inside the Nashville blue line, Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot sent an ill-advised cross-ice pass toward partner Dustin Byfuglien. Hartman stepped in front of the pass in stride and headed the other way. With a step on Byfuglien, Hartman shielded the big defenseman with his hip and beat Hellebuyck with a backhand on the stick side for the unassisted goal.“You know he’s going to try to get around to try and get a stick pick, so you kind of bait him to one side and wait for him to come over and bite,” Hartman said of his move on Byfuglien. “Then you move it to the other side. I was just trying to keep it away from him.”Rinne’s best saves came with the Predators short-handed. The first was at 14:17 of the second when he denied an Adam Lowry attempt from the low slot, one of just two shots the Jets put on Rinne in the middle frame. Late in the third, Rinne turned aside a Blake Wheeler shot on a breakaway.“You get to work on your PK,” Jets center Mark Scheifele said of the prolonged time the team spent short-handed. “We did a good job. We made some big plays and Bucky made a lot of big saves.”Josi doubled the Predators lead at 7:58 of the third with a slap shot from the high slot. It was the first goal of the season for Nashville’s captain.Johansen scored at 14:42 of the third with a nifty backhand tucked just underneath the crossbar from just outside the crease.Notes: The Predators have yet to score a power-play goal this season, going a combined 0-15 through four games. … Nashville D Ryan Ellis played his 400th career NHL game. … Predators D Mattias Ekholm was assessed the first fighting major of his NHL career. … The Jets have not allowed a power-play goal against in three of their four games played this season.UP NEXT:Jets: Host Carolina on Sunday.Predators: Host New York Islanders on Saturday.