Basisphilosophie » it,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. ”That’s an important one

WINNIPEG Chicago Blackhawks Hoodies Authentic , Manitoba (AP) Jonathan Marchessault was left unprotected in the expansion draft by the Florida Panthers, who seemed to determine his breakout season was a fluke.Oops.The Vegas Golden Knights selected Marchessault and he averaged nearly a point a game in the regular season, and leads the team with six goals and 15 points in the playoffs.Marchessault scored twice against the Winnipeg Jets in the series-tying 3-1 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference final Monday night.”Yeah, I’m satisfied with my game,” he said.Florida was not satisfied, apparently, even though he scored 30 goals in his first full season and had one year left on his contract for a relative bargain of $750,000.”I was surprised at the decision,” he acknowledged. ”I had a great season. I think I was one of the top four players at the forward position there, but they did the best decision for their organization. It’s been like that my whole career. It was a reality check. Just when you think you can be a little bit comfortable, you can’t.”After I heard I was unprotected, I moved on and hoped that Vegas would pick me and they did.”When the Golden Knights saw up close how good Marchessault was as their leading scorer in early January Chicago Blackhawks Hats Authentic , they signed him to a $30 million, six-year contract extension . He could have gambled on his future and cashed in even more on free agency this summer, but chose to stay with a team that finally believed in him.”It was not a tough decision,” said Marchessault, who finished the regular season with 27 goals and a career-high 75 points. ”When I saw they wanted to keep me long term, I was happy because I wanted stability in my life. It’s been a rollercoaster career. I was just happy to be able to buy a home and stay there.”The 5-foot-9, 174-pound Marchessault, married with three young children, bounced around earlier in his career after being undrafted.”First time I saw Marchy, he was a skilled guy who stayed on the outside. Didn’t really battle,” said Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant, who had Marchessault on his team in Florida before being fired. ”The reason why he’s a 30- to 40-goal scorer now is because he’s more competitive. He’ll go to those hard areas to score some goals. He plays a good Custom Chicago Blackhawks Jerseys , strong game. Small guy, but very competitive.”Before his 51-point season with the Panthers last season, he had a total of 19 points in parts of the three previous seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning.”I was always the underdog because of my size,” he said.Marchessault talked a big game after Vegas lost the series opener at Winnipeg, calling Monday a must-win game, and backed it up. He gave Vegas a two-goal lead in the first period and restored the two-goal lead 1:28 after Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor scored midway through the third.”If you’re going to talk out there in the media that you have to be better, I think you need to lead by example,” he said. ”I tried to do that.”Game 3 is Wednesday night in Las Vegas.— ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) The Minnesota Wild skated to the NHL trade deadline in an enviable position, on track for the playoffs with their lineup almost intact again.Though the top two teams in the daunting Central Division bolstered their rosters on the last day for dealing of the season, the Wild weren’t worried. They’ve won four straight games to surge into fourth place in the Western Conference.”I like what we have and the way we’re playing,” coach Bruce Boudreau said on Monday www.officialavalanche.com , about two hours before the trade deadline. ”Obviously to get into the playoffs and to go anywhere, we have to play better.”That’s essentially what they’ve done, though, after stumbling through their first 20 games. They’re 26-12-4 since Nov. 9, and 10 of their next 11 games are against teams currently below the cut for the postseason.”We’re showing that we’re sticking to the game plan,” center Matt Cullen said. ”Early in the year, we may have changed things up a little bit if things weren’t going our way and find ourselves in trouble and dig a hole, but I think it’s been pretty good here lately.”Nashville acquired left wing Ryan Hartman from Chicago and re-signed center Mike Fisher for the stretch run. Winnipeg landed center Paul Stastny in a surprising swap with suddenly skidding St. Louis. The only move the Wild made on Monday was to trade defenseman Mike Reilly to Montreal for a fifth-round draft pick.”I don’t let it bother me,” Boudreau said. ”I’ve always believed if we do the right things, then usually good things happen. I’ve been on both sides.”They’re expecting defenseman Jonas Brodin back from a broken left hand this week, and their forward depth has been sound enough that they let right wing Chris Stewart go in a waiver claim by Calgary. That gives the Wild some more space under the salary cap for future maneuvering.”We pretty well knew he was going to get picked up,” Boudreau said. ”He’s too good a person Colorado Avalanche T-Shirts Authentic , too good a teammate for nothing to happen to him.”The Wild, who host the Blues on Tuesday, have displayed an invaluable ability to rally lately. They turned a 2-0 deficit in the final minute of the second period against San Jose on Sunday into a 3-2 overtime victory . They trailed 2-0 at New Jersey on Thursday and charged back to win 4-2.”Lately, we’re getting that feeling that we’re never out of it,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. ”That’s an important one to have.”Even more critical than this late-season resilience has been the productivity of these victories. Sometimes teams can get hot and still go nowhere in the standings, but the Wild have timed their streak well against slumps by some of their closest Western Conference competitors.”It’s a good sign for us, but it’s still going to be tight,” left wing Zach Parise said. ”We all know there’s not a lot of points separating the teams, so we’ve got to keep improving and worry about ourselves. You don’t want to find yourselves in a spot where you have to scoreboard watch.”—