Bewerbungen » Travis Zajac appeared in his 900th

WASHINGTON (AP) Nashville Predators players stood around the locker room after beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 Custom Anaheim Ducks Jerseys , huddled around cellphones watching and rooting for more franchise history.Seconds after the Boston Bruins lost to the Florida Panthers in regulation on Thursday night, Mattias Ekholm yelled out, ”Yeah boys!” as teammates high-fived to celebrate the first Presidents’ Trophy in the team’s 19-year history.A year after the Predators made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, they’ve clinched home ice throughout the playoffs as the top team in the NHL during the regular season.The road to the Cup now runs through Nashville.”It’s a pretty good night for us,” captain Roman Josi said. ”Obviously the big goal for every team is to win the Stanley Cup, but you can’t win the Stanley Cup right now. It was something we took a lot of pride in, and I think it’s a big accomplishment for us.”Josi, who scored a power-play goal in the clincher, said he and fellow Predators players looked at the rafters of other buildings this season and wanted to earn more than just the one ”Western Conference Champions 2016-17” banner that currently hangs in Bridgestone Arena.They accomplished that in Washington thanks to two goals from Craig Smith, a game-winner from Ryan Johansen and 29 saves from backup goaltender Juuse Saros, setting a franchise record with 52 wins in the process.”It’s always just been about home ice and trying to stay in our building, give ourselves the best chance to be successful in the playoffs,” coach Peter Laviolette said. ”With that www.officialcoyotes.com , those things happen. You end up winning a division, a conference and first place in the league.”David Poile, who has been general manager since the franchise’s inception, shook hands and congratulated each player as he walked out of the locker room.While Laviolette and his staff watched the end of the Bruins-Panthers game in the coaches’ office and players took it in on hockey operations manager Brandon Walker’s phone, Poile watched alone from the concourse on one of the prouder nights in Predators history.”We all have goals. That was part of it,” Poile said. ”It feels real good. When we get to a week from now and we start the playoffs, we’ll be moving on to something else, but I’m very proud of our franchise. This is the first time we’ve done it and it means a lot and I’m proud of everybody, all the effort that was put in all year.”It was almost poetic that the Predators won the Presidents’ Trophy by beating the Capitals, who won it the past two seasons and three times since 2010.Days after the five-year anniversary of his now-infamous trade from Washington to Nashville, star winger Filip Forsberg remarked: ”We’ve seen especially here (in Washington) that the trophy doesn’t mean that much going forward. But I think just the home ice is going to be huge.”The Metropolitan Division-champion Capitals, who have home ice through at least the first two rounds, got two goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov Arizona Coyotes T-Shirts Authentic , Alex Ovechkin’s league-leading 47th of the season and 25 saves from Philipp Grubauer in the loss.Washington could still face New Jersey, Philadelphia, Columbus or back-to-back defending Cup-champion Pittsburgh in the first round.”I like the way we’re playing,” said coach Barry Trotz, who was in Nashville for that franchise’s first 15 seasons and has Washington in the playoffs for the fourth time in four years. ”We’re playing with lots of speed, we’re playing with lots of pace, and that was a good test.”The Predators know there are more tests upcoming, this time as the Cup favorite that won’t fly under the radar. But after going 9-2 at home on their run to the final a year ago, they assured themselves of more playoff hockey in Music City than on the road.”We learned what it was like to play at home in the playoffs,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. ”To have the home ice is huge for our team.”NOTES: Smith’s two goals gave him a career-high 25. … Johansen scored the go-ahead goal with 5:27 left. … Kuznetsov has seven goals and 11 assists in his past 10 games. … Capitals F Alex Chiasson left the game with an illness. … Ovechkin was honored before the game for playing in 1,000 NHL regular-season games. In addition to the traditional silver stick and Tiffany crystal from the team and league, Ovechkin’s teammates got him and his wife a trip to Spain, presidential suite tickets to see FC Barcelona and a Lionel Messi jersey. … Rookie Eeli Tolvanen was a healthy scratch for the Predators after playing three games in a row.UP NEXTPredators: Return home after three-game road trip to face the Columbus Blue Jackets in each team’s season finale Saturday.Capitals: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday in a potential playoff preview.— NEWARK Arizona Coyotes Hoodies Authentic , N.J. (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins seem to be getting their act together for a playoff push and one clear sign of that is finally finding a way to beat the New Jersey Devils.Bryan Rust scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the second period and the Penguins avoided the embarrassment of being swept by the lowly Devils with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.“Even last year, it was kind of the same way,” said Zach Aston-Reese, who scored for the Penguins along with Chad Ruhwedel and Nick Bjugstad. “They had our number. It’s nice to get that one, especially going down the stretch to the playoffs. Those are important wins.”Coupled with Montreal’s win over Columbus, the Penguins moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division. They have now won four of the last five games in their bid to make the playoffs for the 13th straight year. The streak is the longest active playoff run in the NHL.Penguins coach Steve Sullivan said his team was really good in the second period when it scored twice to take a 4-2 lead.“I think at this time of the year guys are playing so hard that the games are so tight,” he said. “We need everybody to have the juice. We need to play the game the way we want to play it. so I thought our second period was really strong, but thought the guys played hard all night.”Matt Murray made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to help the Penguins salvage the final game in the four-game season series.“New Jersey always plays us really well,” Ruhwedel said. “They come out hard but that second period was really good by us. We were in the offensive zone a lot. Guys were moving their feet. It was fun to be part of.”Jesper Bratt, Marcus Johansson and Miles Wood scored for the Devils, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Keith Kinkaid had 24 saves in losing to the Penguins for the first time in four games this season.“It could be the story of the season Arizona Coyotes Hats Authentic , we don’t play a full 60 (minutes),” Kinkaid said. “I don’t think their shots were too harmful, like I said a crazy curve on the fourth one and I have to find a way to squeeze that third one. I didn’t see it right away. It’s one me I have to come up with the big save. I think we played well enough to win.”Rust broke a 2-all tie at 10:45 with a shot from the inside of the right circle after a great rush up the ice by Jake Guentzel. Kinkaid got a piece of the shot but the puck squirted through his pads and rolled into the net.Ruhwedel, who just returned to the lineup after sitting out since Nov. 19, got his first of the season and what proved to be the game-winner on a shot from the point that found the top corner of the net with 2 1/2 minutes to go in the second.Wood closed the gap to a goal with 4:50 to play on a slow shot that somehow got under Murray’s stick.The Devils twice took one-goal leads in the first period only to see the Penguins tie the game.Bratt scored for the second straight game to put New Jersey ahead early. Crosby extended his points scoring streak to six games by setting up Aston-Reese in front four minutes later to tie the score.Johansson restored the lead when he stripped the puck from Phil Kessel in the Penguins zone and beat Murray with a backhander up high. Bjugstad scored on a power play with 1:36 left in the period for his second goal since being acquired from Florida on Feb. 1.NOTES: The Devils gave the first 9,000 fans in attendance a David Puddy bobblehead. He’s the Seinfeld television show character portrayed by Patrick Warburton, who painted his face in Devils’ colors in an episode and shouted “We’re the Devils.” … Travis Zajac appeared in his 900th game with the Devils. … Penguins Matt Cullen will tie Phil Housley for third most games (1,495) by an American-born player the next time he takes the ice. … The Devils activated F Blake Coleman off injured reserve and assigned F Nick Lappin to Binghamton (AHL).UP NEXTPenguins: Return home to host San Jose on Thursday night.Devils: End a three-game homestand against Ottawa on Thursday night.