Only for Guild Members » Sunday with a protective cage mask

ARLINGTON Noah Hanifin Jersey Womens , Va. (AP) Philipp Grubauer was 18 and had only been in North America for a year and a half when he walked into the Windsor Spitfires locker room as the latest member of a stacked junior team.”He was really German at that point,” Windsor teammate Taylor Hall said. ”He was very quiet, and he was a goalie, so you just kind of let them do their thing.”Grubauer did his thing all the way to the Ontario Hockey League title and the Memorial Cup. Last year, he did his thing to help Germany qualify for the Pyeongchang Olympics.This spring, he did his thing to earn the starting job for Thursday night’s playoff opener at home against Columbus. He got the nod over 2016 Vezina Trophy winner and longtime No. 1 Braden Holtby. Grubauer doesn’t make a whole lot of noise with his unassuming personality or how he makes saves – he just makes them with such regularity that he looks like a No. 1 NHL goaltender.”I’m really proud of him because he never lost focus,” Germany national team coach Marco Sturm said. ”I know it was a long wait, but he always waited for his chance and he finally has it right now.”Grubauer bided his time through four years in the minors before getting to back up Holtby. It looked like that arrangement was ending after two seasons, but when Vegas general manager George McPhee and goalie coach Dave Prior – who drafted Grubauer in 2010 – didn’t take him in the expansion draft and the Capitals didn’t trade Grubauer, the 26-year-old was back for a third year as No. 2.”I think we have had Grubauer valued more than the league has had,” Washington general manager Brian MacLellan said. ”We feel he was going to be a good No. 1 goalie. And the rest of the league, in general William Nylander Jersey , say that he hasn’t had time to prove it.”Getting lit up for eight goals in Philadelphia in the Flyers’ home opener was an inauspicious start, but since Oct. 27, no goalie in the league has a better goals-against average than Grubauer’s 2.06 or save percentage better than his .933.When Holtby struggled in February and March, Grubauer took the reins and went 7-3-0 down the stretch.”Grubi was able to take the ball and run with it,” said former NHL goalie Olie Kolzig, who served as Capitals associate goalie coach earlier in Grubauer’s career. ”It just comes from experience. You know you belong. When you’re first coming in as a No. 2, you’re just getting your footing and getting to know the league. But then you play games, you practice with these guys, you build relationships with your teammates, you’re accepted, you have success in games. All of a sudden, you’re getting older Womens Zach Hyman Jersey , you’re getting more mature, you’re taking in information and then you know.”Grubauer, now 6-foot-1, was always undersized. He was never outworked.”Quiet guy, but always worked hard,” said Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban, who played with Grubauer in Windsor. ”To get to this level, especially in that position, you have to be really dedicated to your craft. He’s obviously done a really good job of working at his game to get better and that’s why he’s playing for one of the top teams in the league now.”Grubauer went 20-1 through the OHL playoffs and Memorial Cup in 2010, and yet Hall said, ”I’d be lying if I said he’d be as good as he was now.””He always played well in the big games,” said Hall Bo Horvat Jersey , now an MVP candidate with the New Jersey Devils. ”When we needed a save, it was always there.”That reputation followed Grubauer to the American Hockey League, where he stopped 54 of 58 shots at Providence to help steal a second consecutive game for eighth-seeded Hershey in the 2013 Calder Cup playoffs. And it continued to international play, where he stopped 66 of 68 shots in must-win qualifiers to get his country into the Olympics.Last year, when the world championships were in Cologne, Grubauer landed at the airport and went straight to the rink. High-pressure situations don’t bother Grubauer.”It seems like that’s the way he likes it,” Sturm said. ”He’s so athletic but also really calm in the net and he made the big saves when he had to. That’s something a team builds off.”The Capitals have recently built their game up in front of Grubauer, and Kolzig has noticed them playing hard for him like they did for Holtby when first called up.As he goes into his first Stanley Cup playoffs as the starter, Grubauer is trying to stay calm and not think about the stakes. Washington has not advanced past the second round in 20 years.Playing the single-elimination Olympic qualifier best prepared Grubauer for this. He couldn’t lose. And he didn’t.”The mental approach just to be dialed in and pay attention to details,” Grubauer said Wednesday. ”I learned one shot at a time. Don’t look ahead. Don’t look to the next game. Just one shot. One situation.”— CHICAGO (AP) — Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers didn’t miss when it really mattered.McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime to lift the Oilers to their third straight win, 2-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.After Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad got caught deep in the Chicago zone, McDavid finished a 2-on-1 break Youth Brandon Sutter Jersey , taking a cross-ice feed from Leon Draisaitl and beating Cam Ward from the low edge of left circle for his eighth goal.With only Chicago defenseman Erik Gustafsson back, Draisaitl made the perfect pass and McDavid buried the shot to give him goals in four straight games.“We’re fortunate to have those two,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “They feel real comfortable in those situations. They wait for their moments and they make them count.”Along with four goals, McDavid has two assists in his last four games. Overall, he has a point in nine of 10 games.“We’ve got some skill,” McDavid said. “Even if it’s not me and Leon, it’s some of our D jumping in and up and down the lineup. And we know how to play 3-on-3. It’s different style hockey that we all seem to understand.”Cam Talbot stopped 31 shots as Edmonton improved to 3-1 in overtime games. Chicago is 3-3 in contests that go beyond regulation.“We didn’t give them a whole lot,” Talbot said. “I thought we stayed poised, calm and collected. Connor and Leon did what Connor and Leon do all the time.”Chicago’s Brent Seabrook and Edmonton’s Zack Kassian scored in the first period.Kane, Chicago’s leading scorer, assisted on Seabrook’s goal to extend his point streak to six games. Kane entered with an NHL-leading 11 goals and has been held without a point only once in 12 games.Ward made 24 saves as the Blackhawks rebounded with a tighter defensive effort following a 7-3 loss at St. Louis on Saturday.“It was a concerning game going in,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “It was interesting to see how we responded.“I thought our first (period) was ordinary Brendan Leipsic Jersey Kids , but our last two were OK. We took a point and you hope you get a second one.”The Oilers and Blackhawks play again at Edmonton on Thursday in their second of three meetings.Seabrook opened the scoring at 11:02 of the first period, completing a give-and-go with Kane during a 5-on-3 power-play for his second goal this season.Seabrook passed from the blue line to Kane in the right circle. Seabrook then slipped through the slot, took Kane’s return feed and beat Talbot high on the glove side.Kassian’s first goal tied it 1-all with 1:34 left in the period to cap a flurry around the Chicago net following a faceoff. Ward made a pad save on Darnell Nurse’s shot from the point, and then Jujhar Khaira flipped the rebound off the crossbar.Kassian corralled the loose puck at the right side of the net and scooped it in with Ward sprawled on the ice.Chicago outshot Edmonton 13-7 in the scoreless second. Talbot stopped Nick Schmaltz on a breakaway 3:22 into the period and Marcus Kruger close in with 2:20 left.Tobias Rieder shot wide on a short-handed 2-on-1 break midway through the scoreless third. Talbot stopped Erik Gustafsson from the slot with 17 seconds left in regulation.NOTES: Oilers C Draisaitl and D Adam Larsson took regular shifts on Sunday after both sustained messy injuries in the second period at Nashville on Saturday, and then returned in that game to help Edmonton win 5-3. Draisaitl was high-sticked above the left eye and Larsson was struck by a puck in the mouth against the Predators. Larsson skated on Sunday with a protective cage mask. … D Jan Rutta, C John Hayden and LW Chris Kunitz were healthy scratches for Chicago. D Evan Bouchard, C Cooper Marody and RW Jesse Puljujarvi sat out for Edmonton.UP NEXTOilers: Host Minnesota on Tuesday.Blackhawks: At Vancouver on Wednesday to start a three-game Western Canada trip.