pay special attention to him,” coach Gerard Gallant said. ”The wingers can’t fall asleep up high and let him go down the backdoor and give him a lot of shots to the net. That’s what they do

The Anaheim Ducks Womens Luke Kunin Jersey , one of the hottest teams at the start of the NHL season, had another promising development heading into Saturday’s game at the Vegas Golden Knights with the resolution of a contract dispute with young left wing standout Nick Ritchie.The signing of Ritchie to a three-year, $4.6 million deal comes at an opportune time when Anaheim (5-1-1) has suffered a series of injuries.Forwards Ryan Getzlaf (groin), Ondrej Kase (concussion), Carter Rowney (upper body) and Jakob Silfverberg (finger) were unable to play in the Ducks’ 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday at Honda Center.Article continues below ...Ritchie, who started practicing with the Ducks on Thursday, will likely not play Saturday against Vegas or Sunday when Anaheim hosts the Buffalo Sabres. The 22-year-old Ritchie is in the process of completing his immigration paperwork before he can play, and he is rusty from sitting out all of training camp and the first seven games of the season during the holdout.“My view on Ritchie is he’s got a ways to go, that’s for sure,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle told the Orange County Register. “He’s got some catching up to do. He looks very fit.”Vegas (3-4-0) and Anaheim enter Saturday’s game coming off impressive wins.Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for his 407th NHL victory in the Golden Knights’ 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.Fleury tied Glenn Hall for 10th place on the career wins list, and is 16 from tying Tony Esposito for ninth place (423).William Karlsson scored his first goal of the season and had two assists, and Cody Eakin scored for the Golden Knights, who won consecutive games for the first time this season.Vegas, playing its second game of a five-game homestand Marcus Foligno Jersey , has allowed one goal in its past two games after giving up 19 in the first five.“We played a lot better defensively,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “I thought the guys competed defensively. Everyone was important for our team tonight.”Fleury said he saw flashbacks to Vegas’ defensive performance last year, which helped the new franchise to break expansion-team records and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. “Our speed and transition game, and the way our guys played defensively in our zone, preventing those passes in the crease or the backdoor (passes), and I think we’ve been better in the last few games with that,” Fleury said.Ryan Kesler scored twice to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead heading into the third period against the visiting New York Islanders, his first multi-goal game since a hat trick on Jan. 1, 2017, against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Ducks won 4-1 to start 2-0-1 at the Honda Center this season. They are 3-1-0 on the road.Kesler sat out the first three games of the season while completing a lengthy offseason rehabilitation process after major hip surgery in the summer of 2017. The injury limited him to 44 games last season. His goals against the Islanders gave him three goals and four points to start this season. “I’ve got a little to improve on and it’s a long year, but it’s a good start,” Kesler said. Goaltender John Gibson stopped 34 of 35 shots against the Islanders. He was 35 seconds from his second shutout of the season when New York’s Casey Cizikas scored. The Ducks are off to their best start since opening the 2014-15 season 6-1-0 en route to an appearance in the Western Conference finals. Carlyle joked that reason for the hot start is “just purely coaching, 100 percent,” but he knows his players have made things click by coming together to overcome the rash of early-season injuries.“It’s obviously the players http://www.officialwild.com/authentic-adidas-matt-dumba-jersey ,” he said. “We have some young guys who have provided energy. We have some veteran people. We’ve been able to formulate a group that’s still a work in progress. We know there’s lots of work ahead of us.” It took one trip to Las Vegas early in the season for the San Jose Sharks to realize that the fast start to the season for the expansion Golden Knights was no fluke.So it should come as little surprise to the Sharks that they have to get past Vegas in the second round of the playoffs starting Thursday night to reach the Western Conference final for the fourth time in the past nine seasons.”I remember playing them in November and walking in and going, `This isn’t a mirage. These guys are for real,”’ Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. ”Their game was real, the way they came at you, the tenacity they played with, the depth they have. That opinion for me hasn’t changed in any of the games we played them, and it went back as far as November when we played them early. Great test for us.”The Golden Knights brought relentless speed to a Pacific Division that had been known in recent years for heavy teams that thrived on wearing down opponents with physical play.The group of castoffs raced past the rest of the division for 109 points in the regular season and then swept a Los Angeles Kings team that always seemed to be a step behind in the first round of the playoffs.”We played them a couple of times early and you figured out this team is for real and will be tough for years to come,” Sharks defenseman Justin Braun said. ”They have great speed and the coach has them going hard. We’re going to have to match that every shift.”The Sharks have embraced the league’s transition to a faster game in recent years, making it a priority following a loss in the Stanley Cup Final to Pittsburgh two years ago.The transformation really took hold this season after top-line center Joe Thornton went out with a knee injury in January and the Sharks acquired Evander Kane and Eric Fehr the following month, adding both speed and depth to the forward group that should test the unproven Golden Knights.”I would assume it’ll be a bit more fast-paced a bit, maybe a little more open hockey,” Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”I think LA was a team that played well defensively, but they don’t create as much offensively. With these guys we’re going to have to do a little more up and down.”Here are some other things to watch in this series:GOALIE SHOWDOWNThe series features a matchup of two of the NHL’s hottest goalies. Fleury allowed just three goals in a first-round sweep, leading the league with a .977 save percentage and 0.65 goals against average. San Jose’s Martin Jones was nearly as stingy Mikael Granlund Jersey , allowing four goals against Anaheim for a .970 save percentage and 1.0 GAA. Jones’ career .931 save percentage is third best ever among goalies with at least 20 playoff games.SPECIAL TEAMSOne of the few things Vegas didn’t do well in the first round was capitalize on power plays, scoring on just 1 of 12 chances after converting on 21.4 percent in the regular season. The Sharks were among the best penalty killers all season, ranking second at 84.8 percent. San Jose’s power play has been a bit of a roller coaster this season, struggling early and late but thriving for a stretch in the middle of the year. The Sharks were 6 for 20 in the opening round.”It does become more important as the playoffs go on that you win the special teams battle,” DeBoer said. ”Both teams take a lot of pride in those areas so it should be a good test.”BIG BURNSThe Sharks rely heavily on defenseman Brent Burns‘ big shot to generate offense. He had nine shots and a goal in Game 1 of the last round before the Ducks seemed to put extra emphasis on shutting him down. Vegas figures to do the same.”When he’s on the ice, you got to pay special attention to him,” coach Gerard Gallant said. ”The wingers can’t fall asleep up high and let him go down the backdoor and give him a lot of shots to the net. That’s what they do, they focus on getting pucks to the net.”LONG BREAKBoth teams figure to be well-rested for this series after sweeping the first round. San Jose will have seven full days since beating Anaheim, while Vegas has had eight days off since finishing off Los Angeles. This marks just the second time in the past 22 years that teams will meet in the playoffs after sweeping the previous round.JUMBO JOEThe Sharks will once again start the series without star center Thornton, who has been out since Jan. 23 with a knee injury. DeBoer ruled Thornton out for at least Game 1 and there is no timeline for when he will be ready to return.—AP freelancer W.G. Ramirez in Las Vegas contributed to this report.—