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Angemeldet: 27.11.2018 Beiträge: 63
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Verfasst am: 10.12.2018, 03:59 Titel:
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist |
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The Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres will try to turn things around when they meet on Saturday at Staples Center.The Kings (2-4-1) have been outscored 16-4 while losing their past three games http://www.officiallightningprostore.com/authentic-adidas-mikhail-sergachev-jersey , most recently giving up four unanswered goals in the third period of a 7-2 loss to the visiting New York Islanders on Thursday night.Buffalo (3-4-0) has lost its past two games by a combined score of 9-2. The Sabres gave up three straight goals in the third period of a 5-2 loss at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.Article continues below ...“Our execution from the top of the circles to the red line, we’re forcing things there,” Sabres coach Phil Housley told reporters after the loss to San Jose. “We’ve just got to keep it more simple, especially on the road here, when you’re down by one or two, because there’s an opportunity to still come back in the game.”A main issue for the Kings and Sabres has been their lack of efficiency on the power play.Buffalo and the Calgary Flames had the most power-play opportunities of any teams in the NHL (29) through Thursday, but the Sabres have scored just four power-play goalsThe Kings did not score with the man-advantage on their first 22 power plays — the longest stretch of any NHL team this season — before scoring twice in the loss on Thursday.The power play woes took a back seat to the third-period play of the Kings on Thursday.They had cut the deficit to 3-2 on a 5-on-3 goal by Jeff Carter at 2:54 of the third period, and still had an extra attacker on the ice less than a minute later when the Islanders scored a shorthanded goal, opening the gates on a four-goal barrage over eight minutes.“I think we’ve got some soul searching to do,” Los Angeles defenseman Alec Martinez said. “What happened there at the end was unacceptable. It’s not one guy in particular. It’s all of us. We’ve got to figure some things out.”Kings coach John Stevens seemed to single out goalkeepers Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell.Quick was playing his first game since missing the previous five with a lower-body injury. He allowed six goals on 29 shots before Campbell replaced him and gave up a goal on the first shot he faced.“The problem is, your goalies have got to keep playing,” Stevens said. “Those guys try to give you a chance to win every night Nikita Kucherov Jersey , and they can’t stop playing. It’s disappointing.”The Kings are hoping to have Anze Kopitar back in the lineup. He was a late scratch on Thursday because of an illness. Kopitar was the team’s leading point scorer in 10 of the past 11 seasons.Los Angeles has also been without veteran forward, Dustin Brown, the team’s second-leading point scorer last season who broke a broken finger in the final preseason game. LAS VEGAS (AP) Gerard Gallant took time out from preparing for the Stanley Cup finals to watch a Little League game this week, something that might be surprising to those who think there is little in Las Vegas besides showgirls, craps tables and nightclubs.There is a real city beyond the Las Vegas Strip, though, and that isn’t a surprise to the Vegas Golden Knights coach or the rest of a team that has embraced a city that has eagerly embraced them back.They play here, and they also live here. Turns out hockey works in the desert – even for real hockey guys.”It’s been, for all of us, one of the neatest experiences of our lifetime,” general manager George McPhee said. ”Maybe the neatest, most unique experience. Las Vegas has been a wonderful place to live and work.”The love affair between a city and its new team wasn’t totally unexpected. Las Vegas was Ondrej Palat Jersey , after all, a town starved for major league sports.But no one could have expected a hockey team would also help a city deal with its grief after a gunman killed 58 people on the Las Vegas strip just days before the team’s home opener.They’ve done that and more, thrilling a town that’s hard to impress on a remarkable run to the finals in their first year of existence.”We knew we couldn’t heal everyone,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”But we wanted to give (the city) something to cheer for, to be proud of their team.”They call themselves the ”Golden Misfits” because they all ended up in Las Vegas after being discarded by other teams. Even Gallant was unceremoniously dumped from his last job, kicked off the team bus after being fired by the Florida Panthers.They came to this gambling city wanting to be wanted again. And a city that waited 112 years for a major sports franchise to call its own responded with open arms.The games are all sellouts, of course. But the practices have also become events to see and be seen, with hundreds of fans crowding the team’s practice rink in the planned community of Summerlin where most players live.And everywhere people wear Golden Knights hats and shirts and talk about strange things like icing and forechecking.”I see it every day of practice when you got 800 people watching our practices,” Gallant said. ”It’s definitely not one on one with people, but you see the fan support that we get is unbelievable. They love our players, they love our team, and they love what’s going on Ryan Callahan Jersey , and I know our players appreciate the things they do for us.”One of those players showed that Thursday night at another Little League game. Alex Tuch was watching the son of an assistant coach play, but a lot of other people at the ballpark were watching him.As word spread that a Golden Knights player was in the stands, kids of all ages surrounded Tuch, who graciously obliged one picture request after another.For some, the bond between city and team started developing when billionaire Bill Foley plunked down $500 million and Las Vegas was awarded an expansion franchise. For others, it began when Foley announced the team would be called the Golden Knights and started selling season tickets.For many, though, it came when Deryk Engelland – a Las Vegas resident for more than a decade – stood on the ice before the first home game with hardly a dry eye in the crowd. It was nine days after the massacre of fans at a country music concert just down the street from the T-Mobile Arena where the Knights play, and emotions were raw.England’s speech was short, his message poignant.”I know how special this city is,” he told the crowd. ”To the families and friends of the victims, know we will do everything we can to help you and our city heal.”We are Vegas Strong.”Engelland http://www.officiallightningprostore.com/authentic-adidas-ryan-mcdonagh-jersey , a defenseman, had scored only 22 goals in eight years in the NHL prior to that game. But he scored one that night and, for a brief moment at least, gave a grieving city something to cheer about.And it was Engelland who was chosen on a team with no captains to accept the trophy for winning the Western Conference finals from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.”After Oct. 1, those first games … you want to play for the city, the people that were affected by it,” Engelland said. ”To make this run, it’s awesome for us, but it all comes back to the city and the people affected by that.”In a city that values winners, it helps that the team McPhee put together is a big winner. That was unexpected by most in hockey, who figured the Knights would finish last in their division like most expansion teams do, even though the NHL made sure they had a lot of good players to choose from.Now they’re playing for one of the great trophies in sports: the Stanley Cup.”It’s been fun to watch Womens Steven Stamkos Jersey ,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. ”Nobody could’ve anticipated it. Our goal was that they be playing meaningful games in March and April, and if they were lucky, they might make the playoffs. Whoever could have predicted that they’d be on this run?”Not many, and that includes the bookies on the Las Vegas Strip. They made the Knights as much as a 500-1 underdog to win the Stanley Cup, and will likely lose several million dollars if it actually happens.It just might, and they don’t seem to care.The bookies live here, too. And they want to see the Stanley Cup paraded down the Las Vegas Strip.—-AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP stringer W.G. Ramirez contributed to this report.—-Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg |
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