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Pressure mounts on both sides as Stars and Golden Knights prepare for Game 6

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Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill (33) stands with his team during open net at the end of the third period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars, Saturday, May 27, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/AP)

DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson is frequently scoring goals again for the Dallas Stars, Jake Oettinger is stopping shots and captain Jamie Benn is about to return from a two-game suspension.

The Western Conference Final isn’t over yet, and suddenly feels much different.

After the Vegas Golden Knights won the first three games, the Stars staved off elimination two games in a row in these NHL playoffs. They are now back home for Game 6 on Monday night, looking to do it again and force a Game 7 to determine who faces the waiting Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup.

“We put ourselves in a really tough spot, and to get to this point right now, it shows you the character that we have in our room and the belief we have,” said Oettinger, who has stopped 64 of 68 shots since allowing three goals on five shots in the first 7:10 and getting pulled from Game 3. “Even being down 3-0, the series was far from over. We’ve done our job up to this point, but unfortunately for us, our backs are still against the wall.”

Dellandrea delivers remarkable Game 5 performance to keep Stars’ season alive

Dallas is only the fifth team to extend a conference final or NHL semifinal series to a sixth game after losing the first three, and first since the 2008 Stars lost Game 6 against Detroit. Only the 1975 New York Islanders against Philadelphia, and the 1939 New York Rangers versus Boston then forced Game 7, and both lost those deciding games.

Still, has the pressure shifted to the Golden Knights, as Stars coach Pete DeBoer said would happen if his team won Game 5? Vegas lost both Games 4 and 5 after leading 1-0 and 2-1 in each of them.

“We’re playing a desperate hockey team, and nobody ever said it was going to be easy. We’ve got match their urgency and desperation,” Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez said.

“This is the Western Conference Final, right? He’s trying to make a story in the media, I think,” Knights captain Mark Stone said. “There’s pressure on both teams to try to make the Stanley Cup Final.”

Dallas will host Game 6 on Monday night at the same time the NBA’s Boston Celtics, who overcame 3-0 deficit in their conference final, are playing Game 7 at home against the Miami Heat.

The Florida Panthers completed their East Final sweep of Carolina last Wednesday. They are waiting to see if they will go to Las Vegas or Dallas for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final next Saturday.

Vegas, which led the Western Conference in the regular season with 51 wins and 111 points, has consecutive losses for the first time since mid-March. The only time the Knights lost four games in a row was at the end of January, part of a month-ending stretch when they lost seven of eight. But they are also trying to get to their second Stanley Cup Final in the franchise’s six seasons, and are this deep in the playoffs already for the fourth time.

Benn was suspended after his cross-check and stick to the neck of Stone, who fell to the ice without his stick after the captains collided less than two minutes into Game 3 on Tuesday night.

The Stars came off the ice Saturday night and were welcomed by Benn dressed in a suit and tie. No. 14 will be back on the ice Monday night.

“I think what it tells you is what Jamie Benn means to them,” DeBoer said. “I think that’s a direct reflection on what the guy means to our team in that dressing room, what they’ve done the last couple of nights.”

Why Stars’ Benn deserved to be ejected for cross-checking Golden Knights’ Stone

Ty Dellandrea, a healthy scratch earlier in the series and in the lineup with Benn and Evgenii Dadonov (lower body) both out, scored twice in a span of 87 seconds in the third period Saturday night as Dallas won 4-2.

Robertson scored the Stars’ second tying goal Saturday night. He had both of their goals in regulation to twice tie Game 4 at home Thursday night, getting his first career multigoal playoff game before 38-year-old Joe Pavelski became the oldest player ever with an overtime goal for a team facing elimination.

“The fourth (win) is always the hardest, right? I mean, the season on the line, so obviously they feel that they’ve got to get it done. And, you know, it’s just as much pressure on us to keep it going, keep our composure,” said Robertson, with five goals this series after only three in his previous 20 playoff games. “All we can do now is focus on Game 6. Hopefully, ideally, we don’t go down by a goal, but if we do, we’re going to look for that same response.”

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DeMar DeRozan scores 27 points to lead the Kings past the Raptors 122-107

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.

Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.

Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.

The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.

DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.

RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.

Takeaways

Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.

Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.

Key moment

The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.

Key stat

Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.

Up next

Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.

Kings: Host the Clippers on Friday night.

___

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Whitecaps take confidence, humility into decisive playoff matchup vs. LAFC

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.

Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.

“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.

“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”

The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.

The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.

First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.

Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.

No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.

“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.

Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.

“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.

This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.

The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.

“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”

Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.

Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.

“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”

The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.

Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.

“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”

LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.

“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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PWHL unveils game jerseys with new team names, logos

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TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League has revealed the jersey designs for its six newly named teams.

Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.

The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.

Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.

“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.

“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”

Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.

Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.

Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.

Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

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