Hilfe für Betroffene » Ovechkin saw his 14-game point streak

NASHVILLE Martin Jones Jersey , Tenn. (AP) Goaltender Pekka Rinne wound up in a most unfamiliar spot in two of the most important games of his life.On the bench having been chased not once, but twice.In the Stanley Cup Final.Now Rinne is back in the postseason once again, and the 6-foot-5 Finn is a big reason why the Nashville Predators won the Presidents’ Trophy with the most points during the regular season. As Rinne prepares for Game 1 on Thursday night against Colorado, he insists last year’s Final provides not so much motivation as experience to use to his advantage along with so many good memories from that thrilling playoff run.”It’s a different year, obviously different situation, little bit of a different team,” Rinne said. ”But I’m sure you’ll look back at last year’s run, I think there’s a lot of things we can take, a lot of positives all the way through the finals and even after the finals. I think it was an unbelievable experience. I think you try to use that to your advantage.”Rinne carried last-seeded Nashville all the way to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final by going 12-4 with a .945 save percentage, ranking among the best postseasons by a goalie.Then came the Final.In Game 2 against Pittsburgh , Rinne was pulled by coach Peter Laviolette after Nashville gave up three goals in the first 3:18 of the third period of a 4-1 loss. Game 4 was even worse as Rinne gave up three goals on nine shots Womens Melker Karlsson Jersey , lasting only the first period before being replaced by Juuse Saros again. The Predators lost in six games.Laviolette believes Rinne took the bulk of the blame for those losses when the Predators could have played better in front of their goalie. He also noticed what Rinne did to improve himself.”Let’s be honest,” Laviolette said. ”He’s been the backbone of this franchise. He was really good down the stretch in order to get us in the playoffs last year, and when the playoffs came, he was on point. And that was a big part of it. It was more for me just a continuation. I think there’s always changes. I think Pekka does a terrific job of trying to watch, trying to learn, trying to understand the game better, trying to work at his craft.”Washington coach Barry Trotz has seen how driven Rinne is. He wants to stop every puck – even in practice.”He’s extremely competitive and extremely proud, that he plays hard on every puck,” Trotz said of his former goalie. ”It doesn’t matter how tired he is. … He plays every puck to exhaustion. And to me that’s allowed him to stay sharp mentally, and I think it’s allowed him to stay sharp physically because he’s 35 and he still is as quick and explosive as he’s ever been.”Rinne started working early to prepare for this season. He has worked on his stance in and around the net with Predators goaltender coach Ben Vanderklok to tighten his stance. Planting his skates inside the post rather than outside allows Rinne to be faster tracking a puck, able to push off a post to slide quickly to the other post.Not a big change for a goalie who turned 35 last November.”It’s hard to do any drastic changes at this point of your career Adidas John Moore Jersey ,” Rinne said.Rinne has rebounded from losing the Final with a season that finally might win him the Vezina Trophy he missed three other times.The goalie, who won his 300th career game during the season, posted a career-high eight shutouts with the second-best save percentage of his career at .927. He finished third in the NHL with 42 wins and fifth in goals-against average (2.31). Down the stretch, Rinne was at his best going 23-5-1 with five of those shutouts.”He was the best goalie of the year,” Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen said.Rinne also should be rested for the postseason having played only 59 games, two fewer than last season and his fewest in an injury-free season since 2009-10 when playing 58 games. Laviolette stuck to a plan trying to ensure Rinne would be as fresh as possible for the playoffs while developing Saros.As winners of the Presidents’ Trophy, the Predators will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. Smashville is where Rinne went 25-6-2 this season and an impressive 9-2 last postseason, which provides a certain sense of comfort.”When you think about it, if you take care of all the home games, you win the Stanley Cup so I mean that’s huge,” Rinne said.—AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.— WASHINGTON — Less than a week after losing in a shootout Tim Heed Jersey , the Buffalo Sabres will seek a measure of revenge Friday when they return to D.C. to face the Washington Capitals.In that 4-3 defeat on Dec. 15, Buffalo couldn’t figure out a way to slow Alexander Ovechkin, who netted the tying goal and registered the shootout winner. Stopping the Capitals’ veteran would again seem to be the primary goal for Buffalo, which is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Panthers in which they lost for the first time all season when leading after two periods.“I really liked the way our guys played,” Sabres coach Phil Housley told reporters after practice Thursday about the recent meeting with Washington. “Obviously, that’s a very good team, a physical team, a heavy team. But we played them with speed and pace. We had an opportunity to win a game and that breeds confidence within our group.”Article continues below ...Buffalo continues to battle through injuries, with defenseman Jake McCabe and Lawrence Pilut returning to the ice for practice Thursday, though their status remains unclear for Friday. Winger Jason Pominville left the Panthers game after an on-ice collision, and Housley said his status was “day-to-day.”In addition Womens Tomas Hertl Jersey , Buffalo announced Wednesday that center Patrik Berglund was placed on unconditional waivers with the intent to terminate his contract. The veteran, who was having a disappointing season, was indefinitely suspended when he didn’t show up for the Sabres’ flight to Washington last week.“I’m not going to comment on that,” Housley said. “It’s an unfortunate situation, but we’re focused on the guys in that room.”The Capitals are coming off a hard-fought, 2-1 loss to rival Pittsburgh on Wednesday that ended their five-game winning streak. But Washington’s players felt like they did enough in the loss to carry some positive momentum into the game against Buffalo.“We’ve played some good hockey here, a good stretch,” forward Tom Wilson told reporters. “We’ll regroup here and get back after it.”Ovechkin saw his 14-game point streak come to end in the loss to Pittsburgh, but in 46 games against Buffalo, he has 47 points, including 30 goals. And with Wilson Adidas Jaroslav Halak Jersey , Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom all having solid years, the Sabres are aware of the dangers when facing the Capitals.“They’re so skilled over there — they have so many good players,” Buffalo’s Jack Eichel told the team’s website. “They generate a lot of really grade-A chances and they play well together.”Washington likely will go with starter Braden Holtby between the pipes as they head toward the holiday break. He is 8-3-0 since Nov. 19.“For us, moving forward, we’ll push into these final two games before we get a much-needed break,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden told reporters. “I like a lot of things we’ve done. I want to win every single game, and we’ve been doing a good job of trying to win most of them.”