Crazyrebel(l)s ist umgezogen! » That means better play from Jonathan Quick

LAS VEGAS (AP) After his first two games with the Vegas Golden Knights in late February http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-j.t.-compher-jersey , there weren’t many fans who were happy with Ryan Reaves.He arrived from Pittsburgh and immediately made his presence known with six penalty minutes in a home-and-home series against Los Angeles, both losses. The Vegas faithful thought team chemistry was ruined.”Ruin the whole team, yeah?” Reaves joked Tuesday as Vegas prepared for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against Washington. ”I apologize to Vegas.”Vegas wasn’t the only one he apologized to. Reaves immediately went to coach Gerard Gallant after those Kings games to acknowledge that while he didn’t necessarily agree with the penalties, he also would not be taking silly penalties and disrupt what Gallant and general manager George McPhee worked hard to build.”He was up front, and he took responsibility, but I said, `Just play your game, that’s why we got you, to play your game and work hard’ and he’s been excellent ever since,” Gallant said Tuesday. ”He doesn’t take penalties, he really doesn’t.”Reaves believes it’s been his on-ice intelligence and hockey IQ that has made him an effective teammate over nine seasons in St. Louis Youth Matt Nieto Jersey , Pittsburgh and now Vegas, where he’s since become a crowd favorite.”My fights have gone down every year,” Reaves said. ”I only had six this year and all within the first two or three months (with Pittsburgh). I think there’s always going to be physical play in this league, and as long as I can keep up and and be able to catch guys and do it in a way that’s not hurting the team, then yeah, I think I got a spot here.”Especially after scoring what may have been the biggest goals in franchise history.In Game 5 of the Western Conference Final in his hometown of Winnipeg, Reaves scored the game-winning goal that sent the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final. And in Game 1 against the Capitals on Monday, he scored the game-tying goal before linemate Tomas Nosek put the game-winner past Braden Holtby in a 6-4 victory that gave Vegas a 1-0 series lead.”Playoff hockey you have to be a little smarter, you got to be a little faster, everything is kind of magnified,” Reaves said. ”I think at this time of the year the details have to be there for sure.”Since Reaves was re-inserted into the lineup midway through the second round of the playoffs Mikko Rantanen Jersey , the fourth line has clicked more often than not.Shedding his overly aggressive tactics, Reaves has adapted to playing Vegas’ simple north-south game, while learning how to make the right decisions and build chemistry with Nosek and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The trio is proving it can be just as important as the Golden Knights’ top line of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith, and that has become extremely dangerous for teams to defend.”I think we just try to outwork whoever we’re playing against,” Bellemare said. ”It won’t maybe work this well every night, but we get the payoff from hard work. Sometimes we can’t explain why suddenly everything clicks. But we are at the right spot at the right time and it worked for my wingers and me. Maybe your fourth line won’t change the game every single game, but when they do it sure helps.”And while Nosek’s two goals in Game 1 against the Capitals extended his point streak to three games, he said it doesn’t matter who scores or tallies points, because it’s never been about individuals on the Golden Knights.”That’s what we’ve done the whole year, 20 guys on the ice and off the ice Nathan MacKinnon Jersey ,” Nosek said ”We support each other. On our (line), we just try to create some chaos in front of the net, go hard to the net and get some forecheck going, that’s how we roll, and it was good last night. It doesn’t matter who scored the goals either way, we are a team and victory is the most important thing.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals With two games in two days, the surging San Jose Sharks are looking for a strong finish heading into the NHL’s Christmas break.They start on Saturday afternoon with a matchup against the league-worst Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center.San Jose opened a four-game homestand with a 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, a blip on what’s been a pretty strong stretch of hockey in recent weeks.Article continues below ...“This might have been our best game in the last six games and it was the one we lost,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had a good effort. Some unfortunate bounces.” After losing a season-high four in row between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, the Sharks have won seven of nine. DeBoer told the San Jose Mercury News on Friday that the team talked about what they wanted to accomplish before the league goes on hiatus for three days.“We had a goal 10 days to two weeks ago and we talked about our last seven games heading into the break,” he said. “We’ve won four out of the five since we started talking about it Authentic Alexander Wennberg Jersey , so we want to finish this off.”Following this game, San Jose (19-12-5) faces another Pacific Division opponent when the Arizona Coyotes visit on Sunday. The Sharks are 5-2-1 against division foes this season.Erik Karlsson said following the win over the Jets that San Jose expects to be among the league’s elite, but there needs to be a full-time effort in each game.“Today, we showed it in bits and pieces. … You can’t make small mistakes early in the game, it’s going to come back and cost you,” said the Sharks defenseman, who’s riding an eight-game assists streak.After putting up 98 points last season, Los Angeles (12-20-3) is at the bottom of the league and has the fewest goals scored with 78. Coming up on the halfway point, no player on the club has cracked double digits in goals. Dustin Brown has a team-high nine after scoring 28 last season, while Anze Kopitar has eight after a career-best 35 in 2017-18.The key to any sort of success this season, according to Drew Doughty Los Angeles Kings T-Shirts Womens , is shutting down the opposition.“The defensive style we play, that’s how we’ve got to win hockey games. That’s the bottom line. The only way this team is going to win hockey games is if we’re giving up max two goals a night,” the defenseman said after the Kings snapped a four-game winning streak with a 4-1 stunner over Winnipeg on Tuesday.That means better play from Jonathan Quick. He’s three wins shy of 300, but 0-4-1 with a 3.63 goals-against average on the road this season.Los Angeles has won four straight on the road and is 11-3-0 overall when allowing two goals or less in 2018-19.In the only previous meeting this season, Kevin Labanc scored in overtime to lift the Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Kings on Oct. 5 at Staples Center. San Jose and Los Angeles have split the last four meetings in Northern California and only one team in one game scored more than two goals.The Kings are expected to have Ilya Kovalchuk back in the lineup, according to Fox Sports West. The No. 1 overall pick in 2001 missed 10 games after ankle surgery.Kovalchuk returned to the league on a three-year deal in July, five years after leaving for the KHL. The 35-year-old winger has five goals and nine assists in 25 games this season.