that type of an award there’s a lot more to it and G does a heck of a lot more for this hockey team than just score points,” coach Dave Hakstol said. ”And believe me it’s hard to score points in this league

TAMPA http://www.ducksshoponline.com/authentic-ondrej-kase-jersey , Fla. (AP) — Down two goals and mired in a losing streak, the Vegas Golden Knights didn’t fold.Instead, they rallied to beat the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.Alex Tuch scored the only goal in a shootout and the Golden Knights halted a four-game skid with a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.Vegas got goals from Cody Eakin and Valentin Zykov in regulation. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots.“Definitely a good feeling,” Fleury said. “Playing the best team and coming up with a win is a good confidence booster.”Brayden Point and Mathieu Joseph scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves. Steven Stamkos had two assists to give him 14 points over his last 10 games.“It wasn’t our worst game we’ve played all year, it wasn’t our best,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It comes down to the shootout. Two good goalies, it’s probably just going to take one.”The Golden Knights, helped by a power play, outshot Tampa Bay 6-0 in overtime.“Vasy stood tall,” Stamkos said.Vegas had lost five of six coming in. The Golden Knights scored seven times in the victory and had a combined seven goals in the losses.“I know we lost the past four games before this, but even though it was in a shootout I thought that we played hard and played pretty good defensively,” Tuch said.Zykov tied it 2-all 5:22 into the third period on his fifth career goal and first since March 26.Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead at 14:19 of the second when a video review overturned a no-goal call on Joseph for goalie interference. Stamkos’ shot went off a Vegas defender and Fleury before going into the net off Joseph.Eakin made it 2-1 on a breakaway 2:09 later off a pass from Jon Merrill.“It was big. It got us back in the hockey game,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “We played a good Rickard Rakell Jersey , hard game against a real good team. So, we’re happy to end that streak, for sure.”Point opened the scoring 6:36 into the game with his 31st goal on a power play. He returned after missing one game with what appeared to be a right leg injury.Nikita Kucherov got his 59th assist on Point’s goal and has an NHL-best 81 points.The Lightning’s league-leading power play went 1 for 5 against the Golden Knights, who ranked second on the penalty kill. Vegas failed to score on three power plays, including one that came late in the third.Golden Knights center Ryan Carpenter was shaken up late in the second after going into the boards on a check by Cedric Paquette. Carpenter tried skating off the ice twice on his own and needed a teammate and later a linesman to keep him from falling to the ice.Gallant had no update after the game on Carpenter’s injury.NOTES: Paul Stastny’s seven-game point streak ended. Stastny had three quality chances stopped by Vasilevskiy. … Lightning RW Ryan Callahan was scratched for the third time in four games.UP NEXTGolden Knights: Complete a four-game trip Thursday night at Detroit.Lightning: Host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night. Taylor Hall had just scored two more goals in another big New Jersey Devils victory when his general manager asked him a simple question.”I said, `Taylor, what’d you get tonight?”’ Ray Shero recalled. ”He goes, `We got two points is what we got.’ He had a smile on his face. And I knew he was not going to say two goals. I knew it. We got two points.”That’s what Shero wanted to hear from the player most responsible for New Jersey’s turnaround from lottery afterthought to playoff contender. Hall is without a doubt the Devils’ most valuable player but he is one of about a dozen candidates for the overall NHL honor. The race for the Hart Trophy is one of the most crowded, convoluted and subjective in decades.An MVP case can be made for Hall, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, Los Angeles‘ Anze Kopitar, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Boston’s Brad Marchand, Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler, Nashville’s Pekka Rinne and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. The award is given to ”the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”Reigning Hart winner McDavid leads the league in points and should take home the player-voted Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player, but the Oilers have long been out of playoff race, hurting his candidacy to some extent and showing how valuable the other contenders are.Shero said matter-of-factly the Devils ”wouldn’t be in the race” without Hall. The same can be said for the Avalanche without MacKinnon, the Capitals without Ovechkin and the Flyers without Giroux.”Offensively, he’s such a big part of how we generate goals,” Ovechkin teammate T.J. Oshie said. ”Whether he’s scoring them or not, when he’s on the ice, he’s a concern for the other team. Where we’d be at? I don’t know. I’m not sure.”Washington won the Metropolitan Division for the third consecutive year thanks in large part to Ovechkin after losing Marcus Johansson, Justin Williams, Daniel Winnik, Nate Schmidt Womens Ryan Kesler Jersey , Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk from a group that captured the Presidents’ Trophy last season. Ovechkin averages 20 minutes a night, has scored 18.7 percent of the Capitals’ goals and leads the league with 46 while not missing a single game.Kopitar is another ironman who leads all NHL forwards in ice time, is fifth with 91 points and has the Kings on their way back to the playoffs. GM Rob Blake said Kopitar means ”pretty much everything” to Los Angeles, particularly because the two-way star has done it all most of the season without No. 2 center Jeff Carter.”When I look at that MVP race and importance to a team, I think Kopi’s head and shoulders above everybody: to do what he’s had to do without the advantage of having Carter come back on the ice after,” Blake said. ”He had to go with Nick Shore and Adrian Kempe on the ice every shift after. He leads forwards in minutes. His defensive stats and some of the advanced stats show the commitment that he’s had, and it’s from day one.”Two-way play extends to Giroux, who has put Philadelphia on his back at times. Giroux has a career-high 97 points – trailing only McDavid and Kucherov – has won 58.6 percent of faceoffs and run the power play and played the penalty kill for a team that has needed to get wins from four different goaltenders.”When you talk about that type of an award there’s a lot more to it and G does a heck of a lot more for this hockey team than just score points,” coach Dave Hakstol said. ”And believe me it’s hard to score points in this league, so I’m not downplaying that. I’m telling you how important a lot of the other things he provides are to our hockey team.”MacKinnon has provided a spark with 38 goals and 56 assists for the Avalanche, who are still fighting to make the playoffs.”He’s a threat to shoot, threat to take pucks to the net, delay and find people,” coach Jared Bednar said. ”He’s got a little bit more change of speed and change of gears on his attack this year.”Given the success of the Lightning Ryan Miller Jersey , Bruins, Penguins, Predators and Jets, it’s hard to discount Kucherov, Stamkos, Marchand, Malkin, Rinne and Wheeler. Even Vegas’ William Karlsson or Columbus’ Artemi Panarin could get some consideration.While Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff thinks Wheeler has shown his value beyond his league-tying 67 assists, he knows nothing about the Hart is a slam dunk.”It speaks volumes to the league and to the importance these players have on their team,” Cheveldayoff said.—AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed.—