Offtopic » Montreal Canadiens and captured the AHL’s Calder

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tyler Toffoli sent the Los Angeles Kings into their holiday break with a little extra hope for the New Year.Toffoli scored 1:40 into overtime to lift Los Angeles past the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Sunday night www.officialflyersproshop.com , marking the second straight night the Kings won in overtime after beating San Jose on Saturday.It was Los Angeles’ third straight win overall, while it collected a point for the fifth time in six games. Los Angeles is trying to climb out of last place in the Pacific Division.After Kings goalie Calvin Petersen made a series of spectacular saves to start overtime, Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt turned his back on a streaking Toffoli, who caught the Golden Knights on a shift change. He took Oscar Fantenberg’s stretch pass and beat Marc-Andre Fleury on a breakaway with a wrist shot.“I have no clue what their D-man was doing, but you know what, I’m not mad,” Toffoli said of Schmidt. “I’ve been getting some really good opportunities. Yeah, I wasn’t scoring but I thought my game was really in a good place. To score that, hopefully (we can) go on a little streak here and keep winning games, which is huge for us right now.”Michael Amadio, Alex Iafallo and Jeff Carter also scored for the Kings, and Petersen stopped 22 shots.After opening the season 4-8-1, Los Angeles fired coach John Stevens. Under interim coach Willie Desjardins, the Kings are 10-12-2 and eight points back of the second wild-card spot, albeit still in last place in the league with 31 points Philadelphia Flyers T-Shirts Authentic , tied with Chicago.The Kings were swept by Vegas in the opening round of last season’s playoffs but are 2-0-0 against the Golden Knights this season.“They had a tough series here last year in the playoffs and they wanted to find a way to win tonight,” Desjardins said. “Vegas has a good team, they play hard. It was nice for us to find a way to win though.”It also marked the second consecutive night Vegas fell in overtime after losing at home to Montreal.Fleury started for the second straight night and made 28 saves, facing 79 shots in the two games. The 15-year veteran, who swung and broke his stick on the side of the goal immediately after Toffoli scored, debunked the notion he may have been fatigued in playing on consecutive nights.“I felt decent actually, it wasn’t too bad,” Fleury said. “It’s a grind sometimes, but we’ve done it throughout the season, throughout this year, and that’s no reason for losing the game. It’s frustrating. I want to make a difference. I want to make those saves to give our team a chance to win games, and I haven’t.”Fleury leads all goalies with 34 games played and 2,019 minutes. The next closest goalie is Toronto’s Frederik Andersen, who has been in net 1,779 minutes.Tomas Nosek Philadelphia Flyers Hoodies Authentic , Reilly Smith and Ryan Reaves scored for Vegas, which dropped to 11-4-2 at home.NOTES: The teams will meet twice more in the next nine days, with the Golden Knights visiting Los Angeles on Dec. 29, and the Kings returning to T-Mobile Arena on New Year’s Day. … The Kings played their 2,000th regular season road game. … Kings D Drew Doughty played in his 365th consecutive game, extending his franchise record that began Oct. 8, 2014. … Vegas C Ryan Carpenter was a healthy scratch and remains one shy of playing in his 100th career game. … Los Angeles improved to 3-17-2 when opponents scores first. … After opening the season 0 for 16 on the power play in their first six games, the Golden Knights have scored with an extra man in 23 of their last 33 games (25 for 103, 24.2 percent). … The Kings, who rank last in the NHL with their road power play, have scored with a man advantage in three of their last four games — all on the road.UP NEXTKings: Host Arizona on Thursday.Golden Knights: Host Colorado on Thursday. LAS VEGAS (AP) Marc-Andre Fleury sat shirtless in front of his locker, staring blankly, his exhausted gaze fixed nowhere. Pads still strapped to his legs after another spectacular night’s work, the Vegas Golden Knights goalie looked as if he were trying to gather his thoughts, trying somehow to make sense of it all.The rest of the hockey world is Philadelphia Flyers Hats Authentic , too, as the newly minted Knights play Sunday with the most improbable prize of all at stake – a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Final.The story is well known by now, or at least it should be. But the fantasy has never been so close to reality as it is now, with the Knights up 3-1 going into Sunday’s game against the Jets in Winnipeg.An expansion team born last October on the heels of the Las Vegas massacre that took 58 lives is on the brink of winning it all, confounding both hockey experts and expert bookies alike.Even the guys on the other team are shaking their heads at what the hockey gods wrought.”You know it’s just the stars are just aligning for them,” Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said. ”But it’s not going to stay that way.”Maybe not, partly because hockey is a notoriously fickle game. But in this gambling town the odds are suddenly in the house’s favor.With the hope they don’t have to play at home again until the Stanley Cup Final, the Knights trotted out some old Vegas mojo Friday night with Wayne Newton and the Blue Man Group making appearances to root the team on. The Backstreet Boys were there and rapper Lil Jon took the microphone to lead the cheers just before Reilly Smith punched in the go-ahead goal in the third period.And, of course, this being Las Vegas the guy doing the anthems was a singing gondolier whose day job is serenading tourists in the faux canals of Venice just across the street.There’s nothing fake about this team now one win from one of most improbable runs ever. Once 500-1 longshots to win the Stanley Cup in their first year, the Knights are now favored – at least in the sports books – to win it all.It’s enough to make even Bark-Andre Furry – the lovable canine and goalie namesake who is now the unofficial team mascot – to sit up and take notice.”It’s nice, but the last one is always the toughest to get,” Fleury said. ”I think we have to keep the same mind set and just go and take it one game at a time and not think too far ahead and be ready to play that next game because they are going to be coming hard.”That mentality has worked well for a team that began the season as an afterthought, a collection of unwanted players from other teams thrown together in hopes of winning a respectable number of games in their first year. The coach himself, Gerard Gallant Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys , had been unceremoniously fired from the Florida Panthers, left on the side of a road with his luggage as the team bus headed down the road.It’s been a remarkable run for a team that likes to call itself the Golden Misfits. They’ve struck gold in Las Vegas, a town that loves winners and has embraced its first major pro sports team.Just how remarkable? Well, consider that while the Knights are five wins from bringing home the Stanley Cup in their first year, the Toronto Maple Leafs – a member of the NHL’s exclusive Original Six club – haven’t won one in the last 51 years.On Friday, the Knights used the same formula – speed and stellar goaltending – that has worked for them all year to beat the Jets 3-1 and take a commanding advantage in the Western Conference finals. It was the third straight win for the Knights, who have no illusion on how tough getting win No. 4 will be.”No team is going to go out quietly this time of the year,” Gallant said.Still, everything seems to be aligning in the Knights’ favor. They’re playing hard, yes, but they’re also getting the kind of bounces and breaks that are usually the difference in a series between two evenly matched teams.That continued in Game 4 as Dustin Byfuglien whiffed on an attempt near the blue line and Smith scooped up the loose puck and raced down the ice to score the winner over the shoulder of Hellebuyck with 6:58 left.Soon the Knights were celebrating, and Elvis was singing. Viva Las Vegas blared through the arena, and the crowd of 18,697 filed out happily into the warm desert night.One win away for a team no one dares bet against.—-Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg