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WINNIPEG Paul Stastny Jersey , Manitoba (AP) The Vegas Golden Knights are going to the Stanley Cup Final – with a chip on their shoulder.”Everybody on this team has something to prove,” Ryan Reaves said. ”We call ourselves `The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”Reaves scored the winning goal, Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves and the Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday to wrap up the Western Conference final in five games.”It’s insane,” said defenseman Deryk Engelland, who grabbed the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after the final buzzer to celebrate with his teammates. ”Your goal is always to make the playoffs. But if I were to guess I would be sitting here doing this right now, you would be a little skeptical at the time.”Alex Tuch also scored for the Knights. They lost Game 1 in Winnipeg before winning four straight to become the first expansion team since the 1968 St. Louis Blues – when the six initial expansion teams were put alone in the West – to get to the final.”It was their time,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. ”They’re just playing really well.”Vegas will meet Tampa Bay or Washington in the final. Tampa Bay leads the Eastern final 3-2, with Game 6 set for Monday night in Washington.The Knights, whose jaw-dropping inaugural 109-point campaign included a Pacific Division crown, swept Los Angeles in the first round, and knocked out San Jose in six games in the second.”All those records and everything, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not the last team standing,” Vegas center Jonathan Marchessault said. ”I think we have a lot of gas left.”Josh Morrissey scored for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves.”It’s very difficult to find that positive feeling at this moment,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.Reaves, the bruising Winnipeg native acquired from Pittsburgh before to the trade deadline in February, snapped a 1-1 tie with 6:39 left in the second period when he tipped Luca Sbisa’s point shot past Hellebuyck. Reeves last goal before Sunday came 3 1/2 months ago while with Pittsburgh.”The guys that weren’t playing, myself included, we stayed ready,” Reaves said. ”We had fun while we were doing it, but we worked hard so when we were called upon we were ready to go.”Fleury stopped 151 of 161 shots in the series, and allowed just six goals the rest of the way after giving up four in the opener.”Everybody’s stepping up at different times,” Fleury said.Winnipeg got a power play early in the third, but couldn’t muster much of anything. The Knights smothered much of the Jets’ attack for the next 10 minutes, with Hellebuyck having to come up with big stops on William Karlsson and Eric Haula to keep his team within one.The Jets pressed with under 4 minutes to go, with Fleury stopping captain Blake Wheeler on the doorstep, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Knights closed out their third straight series on the road.The Jets had the NHL’s second-best record with 114 points in the regular season. They advanced to the first conference final in city’s history with a five-game victory over the Minnesota Wild in the opening round before topping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in Game 7 on the road.The usual raucous, white-clad crowd at Bell MTS Place were silenced just 5:11 into Game 5 when Tuch jumped on Morrissey’s turnover and fired his sixth past Hellebuyck.The Jets were tentative to start and it got worse after the opener as Vegas dominated the next couple of shifts, forcing some good saves from Hellebuyck before Winnipeg got its feet moving.After being outshot 7-1 in the first 7 minutes, the Jets finally pushed back and turned the tide with the next nine attempts on goal http://www.officialsabres.com/authentic-adidas-jack-eichel-jersey , culminating with Morrissey making amends for his early gaffe with 2:46 left in the period.Bryan Little won a faceoff in the offensive zone straight back to second-year defenseman, who blasted his first career playoff goal past Fleury’s glove.One of Winnipeg’s downfalls in the series through four games was an inability to maintain momentum. The Knights scored within 1:28 of a Jets’ goal in each of the first four games – a crushing 12 seconds after Winnipeg tied Game 3, and an equally gut-wrenching 43 seconds after the Jets knotted Game 4 – but they managed to take the game to the locker rooms tied 1-1.Both teams had chances in the second period before Reaves made it 2-1, with Jets center Mathieu Perrault just missing on a pass from Little that had too much speed.Right after Reaves scored the second playoff goal of his career – and first since 2015 with St. Louis – Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers rang a shot off the post on Fleury.NOTES: The Jets were an NHL-best 32-7-2 at home in the regular season, but were a pedestrian 5-4 in the playoffs, including losses in four of their last five post-season outings. …. Winnipeg had won a combined 13 straight at home before dropping a 2-1 decision in Game 4 against Nashville.— NEWARK, N.J. (AP) There has been a power shift in the New York City metropolitan area in the NHL.After missing the playoffs for the past five seasons and finishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference last season, the New Jersey Devils seemingly are back.And that’s not all.Article continues below ...The New York Rangers have waved the white flag after a seven-year postseason run that included a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and two other trips to the conference championship round. They will be trading assets for prospects as Monday’s deadline approaches.And the Islanders are being the Islanders. They are talented, inconsistent and just on the edge of a playoff berth heading into the final quarter of a season that might be John Tavares‘ last with the club should he choose free agency.The surprising story is the Devils. They are young, fast and a pain in the neck to play against. Their 70 points with 22 games left in the season matches their total of last year and it has them in the top wild-card position.Taylor Hall, the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, has been the catalyst with 25 goals and 38 assists in his bid to make the playoffs for the first time in his eight-year career.”You don’t know when it is going to come again,” said Hall, who is having a career year. ”I don’t know if injuries are going to plague us next year or we get back to this spot in the playoff race, but you really want to take advantage of it. I am trying to do that and have fun but at the same time. I really value how important each shift is in these games.”New Jersey is not a team of stars. They have contributors, young and old.Nico Hischier, the first overall pick in June, is centering the top line and has 13 goals and 26 assists. The 19-year-old is also an outstanding defensive player.Defenseman Will Butcher (two goals, 28 assists) and fellow rookie Jesper Bratt (12 goals, 21 assists) have been a pleasant surprise. Veteran Brian Boyle has provided the emotional spark coming back from cancer to score 11 goals.Speedy forward Miles Wood has 16 goals in just his second full season, while veteran Kyle Palmieri has added 14 goals and some grit, which is a trademark of the John Hynes-coached team.To be honest, the Devils still need to finish what they started. They have had good streaks and bad ones, including a recent 18-game skid in which they won five games. They followed that with a four-game winning streak to quell the belief that they were freefalling to the finish.”That’s what winning teams do,” veteran Drew Stafford said. ”You have your warts and everyone goes through that in down times. It’s a matter of learning how to handle the losses and how to handle success.”There were a couple of times this season we would get on a little run and maybe the foot came off the gas a bit. That’s something we are trying to correct, and we did.”Unlike last year when they were trading players at the deadline, general manager Ray Shero said the Devils will entertain offers.If they can get someone to help the team, they will deal, but not at the expense of giving away prospects to win right now.The Rangers, who have seen Chris Kreider (blood clot) and Kevin Shattenkirk (knee) lost to injuries Richard Panik Jersey , are another story. They are in last place in the Metropolitan Division, having lost 11 of 14 games.Earlier this month, management announced it will not try to save this season. It will look to rebuild the franchise that went to the playoffs 11 of 12 years.Forwards Rick Nash and Michael Grabner are on the trading block and so might defenseman and captain Ryan McDonagh as well as forward Mats Zuccarello.”Let’s face it – we’ve had a pretty good run for a while,” general manager Jeff Gorton said earlier this month. ”Many years we’ve had a team that, at this time of year, we’re looking to add players and try to win a Stanley Cup.”Right now, as we sit last in our division, it’s becoming increasingly clear that’s not our team right now. That’s not where we want to be.”After making the playoffs the previous two seasons, the Islanders missed the postseason last year.Breaking down their team is simple. They can score with anyone in the league. They also give up goals just as quickly.If they are going to make the playoffs, it will be up to general manager Garth Snow to get some help for his defense by Monday.That may mean parting with a young kid or some draft picks, but making the playoffs might have greater urgency this year if they want to keep Tavares, their All-Star center and leader since being taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft.TRADING DEADLINE: Besides Nash and Grabner, here’s a quick list of some of the well-known players who might be switching teams before Monday:F Evander Kane and G Robin Lehner of Buffalo; F Thomas Vanek of Vancouver; D Mike Green of Detroit; F Max Pacioretty, F Alex Galchenyuk and F Tomas Plekanec of Montreal; F Patrick Maroon and F Mark Letestu of Edmonton; F Derick Brassard and D Erik Karlsson of Ottawa.SCOUTING REPORTThe Five Nations tournament, which was won by the U.S., drew a crowd last week in suburban Detroit because it featured many of the world’s top players 18 and under.Every NHL team was represented by at least one scout and more than 10 teams had their general managers attend at least one game.When Russia beat the Czech Republic 9-2 on Feb. 15, Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee sat near center ice, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman stood about 10 feet to the right and Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland watched from the stands at the other end of the rink.”It’s a good spot to see all the kids,” Yzerman said. ”This tournament – every year whether it’s here or in Europe – has a majority of the top draft-eligible players from five of the best hockey-producing countries in the world.”The league observers were watching two players in particular: Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov, a candidate to be taken No. 2 this year after Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. American forward Jack Hughes was also there. He may be the No. 1 selection overall in 2019.GAME OF THE WEEKIt’s got to be the Islanders and Devils on Saturday night in New Jersey. Both teams are fighting for a wild-card berth and the Devils have the added incentive of playing when the team retires the jersey of Patrik Elias, who spent his 20-year career in New Jersey. He retired after last season as the franchise’s all-time leader in points, goals and assists, and was a member of the Devils’ Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2000 and 2003.LEADERSThrough Tuesday’s games: Goals: Alex Ovechkin (Washington), 36; Assists: Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), 55; Points: Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), 78; Wins: Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay), 35; Goals-against average: Carter Hutton (St. Louis), 1.87; Save percentage: Hutton, .938.—AP Hockey Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report.—