up on the play. The Golden Knights uniformly criticized it as a late hit, while the rambunctious Wilson defended

LAS VEGAS (AP) Chalk up another milestone for the Vegas Golden Knights.Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves for his 11th career playoff shutout Authentic Derek Forbort Jersey Kids , Shea Theodore scored in the first period and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Wednesday night to win the franchise’s first playoff game.The expansion club will try to take a 2-0 lead in its first-round playoff series Friday night.”It’s another first for our organization, it’s a big playoff game and I love the way our team responded,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”Both goalies made some real key saves. It really wasn’t a 1-0 game, it was probably a 4-3 game for somebody, but the goaltending was excellent. Everybody had a big part of us winning the hockey game tonight.Fleury got his first playoff shutout since last May, when his Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.”They’re a big team, they like to shoot from the points with a lot of guys in front of the net and trying to screen and tip pucks; maybe I got a few little more sticks in my legs than the (regular) season, and my face, but it’s all part of the playoffs,” Fleury said. ”I felt good, but my teammates were great also. They helped me out a lot, blocking shots and grabbing guys in front of the net, so it makes my job a little easier.”The Kings, who entered with a combined 928 games of playoff experience, outhit the Golden Knights, 68-59. But it was Vegas that came out looking like a seasoned bunch ready for the postseason. Just like the Golden Knights mascot who slayed a bumbling king at center ice during a pregame show, Vegas was physical from the start.William Carrier led the team with 10 hits, and Vegas’ aggressive forechecking kept Los Angeles off its game throughout. But Carrier’s diligence on the offensive end seemingly frustrated Los Angeles’ veteran defenseman Drew Doughty, who slammed his shoulder into Carrier’s jaw in the third period. The hit sent the left wing to the locker room for the remainder of the game, while drawing the ire of Gallant.”Obviously we all seen what happened with the hit … I thought it was a bad hit, but it’s not for me to decide,” Gallant said. ”The referee didn’t think it was a penalty Youth Dion Phaneuf Jersey , but I’m sure people will look at that hit and make a decision on it.”The Golden Knights have dealt with a rash of injuries down the stretch of the regular season, including Carrier, who Gallant said is day-to-day.Theodore got on the board 3:23 into the first. Tomas Nosek came from behind the goal to fire a pass to Theodore, and he blasted a wrist shot through traffic for the Golden Knights’ first playoff goal.”It was a great play by Nosey and sometimes you’ve just got to get `em on net and that’s kind of the goals that happened in the playoffs,” Theodore said. ”We knew they were going to come out hard, they’re a physical team. But I feel we are, too. We’re a fast team and we can counter that. We were putting pucks in great positions … so when you can kind of put it in the corners and forecheck hard, I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”The Kings, who were 0 for 3 with a man advantage, blew a chance to tie it in the second period, when Doughty’s rebound found Dustin Brown, who was staring into an empty net 2 feet away. He lifted his shot over the goal.”I thought our guys played hard tonight and I thought we created some opportunities to get some offense, but I think we’ve got to make it a lot tougher on (Fleury) seeing the puck,” Kings coach John Stevens said. ”They’re a good offensive team, they create on the rush, they create in the zone and their power play is dangerous. So, we’re going to have to be good defensively to have success in the series.”NOTES: The Golden Knights were 34-5-2 in the regular season when scoring first, second in the NHL. … NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance for the first playoff game in Las Vegas. … Los Angeles, which allowed a league-low 202 goals and had the league’s best penalty-killing unit, stopped the Golden Knights on all three of their power plays. … Los Angeles has won 10 of the last 12 playoff series it has played, but it has lost 21 of the last 29 series in which it has lost Game 1. … The Golden Knights wore Humboldt Broncos stickers on their helmets in honor of the junior hockey players who were killed when their bus crashed on a Saskatchewan highway.— LAS VEGAS (AP) In a single nine-minute stretch of the third period, the Washington Capitals dramatically took the lead before the Vegas Golden Knights replied with two goals of their own. Washington’s Tom Wilson also flattened Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault with a blindside hit that could reverberate through the Stanley Cup Final.After 10 goals and a Final-record four lead changes overall in a fantastically entertaining opener Drew Doughty Jersey , it’s tough to imagine what these unlikely opponents will do for an encore.But the upstart Golden Knights have spent their entire inaugural season speeding past all expectations, and their first Final game didn’t slow them down in the slightest.Tomas Nosek scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and the expansion Golden Knights surged past the Capitals for a 6-4 victory on Monday night.”We put fun ahead of everything, and you can tell,” said Ryan Reaves, who scored the Knights’ tying goal in the third period. ”Guys have are having fun and they’re smiling.”The Eastern Conference champion Capitals hadn’t given up this many goals in 29 games since March 18, but they hadn’t seen anything like this charmed run by the upstart Knights. With its sellout crowd of hometown fans at deafening volume all night, Vegas put its usual speed and relentlessness on full display while overcoming that third-period deficit to win the opener of a matchup between two franchises seeking their first Stanley Cup titles.Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in an occasionally shaky performance, but the three-time Stanley Cup winner’s new teammates carried the goalie who has so often carried them with a relentless outburst of offense.”We’re a good defensive group, but we weren’t tonight,” Marchessault said. ”They’re a team that’s very fast in the neutral zone, and we gave them too much respect with the puck. We need to be faster in the defensive zone. We’re going to fix that in our game.”The Game 1 winner has won the last six Cups and 61 of 78 overall.Braden Holtby stopped 28 shots for the Capitals, whose first Stanley Cup Final game in 20 years was a defensive nightmare. Washington still played a strong offensive game and had chances to win, but never slowed the Knights.”I think next game is going to be different, and all the nervousness, all the bad thing goes away in this game,” said captain Alex Ovechkin, who had an assist. ”We just have to forget about it and bounce back (in the) next one.”Wilson got credit for the goal that put the Caps up 4-3 early in the third period when Fleury back-heeled a loose puck into his own net, but Reaves evened it 91 seconds later for Vegas.Nosek then put the Knights ahead after Shea Theodore kept the puck in Washington’s zone, sidestepped a defender and fired a beautiful cross-ice pass to the Czech forward, who buried a one-timer for his second goal of the playoffs.Colin Miller, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith scored early goals before Nosek added an empty-netter for the Knights http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-dustin-brown-jersey , who are three wins away from one of the most improbable championships in recent North American team sports history. Just 342 days after the Knights selected the backbone of their first roster in the expansion draft, Vegas had another party on the Strip with its remarkable collection of castoffs.Brett Connolly, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson also scored for Washington, but its biggest stars didn’t match the Knights’ outburst. Along with Ovechkin’s quiet night, Evgeny Kuznetsov – who scored a whopping 24 points in the first three rounds – also had just one assist.The Golden Knights’ playoff pregame shows have been a celebration of Vegas showmanship, and their first Final game started with an extravaganza that included archers, a trebuchet and a spectacular light show.And then the Knights and Caps put on a high-energy production of their own with plenty of fireworks and drama.With none of the customary caution or high-pressure effects often shown by teams and players in their first game on the NHL’s biggest stage, Vegas and Washington jumped right into an up-tempo thriller. Vegas had outscored its opponents 10-0 in the first period at home during the playoffs, but the Caps got two goals.After Miller scored the Knights’ first goal on a power play and ended Holtby’s scoreless streak at nearly 167 minutes, Washington calmly surged ahead later in the first period with goals 42 seconds apart.The wild scoring continued in the third with an own-goal by Fleury, who lost track of a rebound and kicked it backward into his net.T-Mobile Arena was only quiet for a few seconds before the tying goal from Reaves, who cross-checked Carlson to the ice an instant before the puck unexpectedly bounced to him for an uncontested shot.Reaves didn’t score at all in his first 26 games after joining the Knights in a trade, but the rough-and-tumble forward broke through with the winning goal in the Western Conference finals clincher against Winnipeg.Wilson delivered his crushing open-ice hit moments later to Marchessault, who was shaken up on the play. The Golden Knights uniformly criticized it as a late hit, while the rambunctious Wilson defended himself.”I haven’t obviously slowed it down and looked at it, but I think he’d probably say he shouldn’t have admired his pass, and I’m just finishing my check,” Wilson said.”I think the league is going to take care of it,” Marchessault said. ”I never see him coming. Puck is away for a couple seconds for sure. But whatever. He’s a guy who plays hard, throws big hits out there.”NOTES: Vegas is aiming to be the first franchise in a major North American professional league to win a title in its first season since the 1950 Cleveland Browns, who entered the NFL as a fully formed team after four seasons in the AAFC. … Vegas D Deryk Engelland had two assists after going scoreless in the first 15 playoff games. … Vegas improved to 11-1 in the postseason when scoring first.—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals