Unsere Gaeste - Ecke » Arizona on Thursday night.

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 Reshad Jones Jersey ,” 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, 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 Kyler Fackrell Jersey , 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, 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 Chris Carson Jersey ,” 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, 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 Drew Bledsoe Jersey , 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.”

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Shea Theodore opted for a simple approach on his shootout attempt.

Good call.

Theodore scored in the tiebreaker to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

Theodore, the fourth Vegas shooter, beat Jacob Markstrom on a backhand. The 26-year-old defenseman, who is from the Vancouver suburb of Langley, improved to 2 for 2 on shootouts.

”Sometimes when you overthink it the pucks ends up in going in the corner,” he said. ”I just tried to make a fake and tried to catch him biting on it.”

It was the first game for longtime Vancouver stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin since announcing Monday they are retiring after Saturday’s season finale in Edmonton. In the third period, the brothers stood at the bench and waved to the crowd who gave them a standing ovation. Vegas players banged their sticks on the ice.

”It was fun to be part of it,” Daniel Sedin said. ”It takes us back to a playoff atmosphere. It was fun to be part of that again.

”It’s been a while since this building has been this exciting to play in. It’s a great feeling.”

Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter and Nikolay Goldobin, with his second of the game, scored in the third period as the Canucks erased a three-goal deficit. Goldobin tied the game at 10:53 when an innocent-looking tip squirted past Vegas goalie Malcom Subban.

”We had good control of the game … and fell asleep a little bit,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said.

Subban Alex Anzalone Jersey , who finished with 21 saves, wasn’t happy.

”You never want to win that way,” he said. ”You want to shut the door and not lose focus. I felt I lost focus there a little bit and they capitalized on it.”

Vancouver’s Jake Virtanen was called for hooking 15 seconds into overtime. Theodore scored on the power play, but the goal was overturned because of goaltender interference.

Brandon Pirri led Vegas with two goals in his first NHL game of the season. William Karlsson had a goal and two assists and Tomas Tatar also scored for the first-year Knights, who clinched the top spot in the Pacific Division on Saturday.

Daniel Sedin earned an assist on Horvat’s power-play goal for the Canucks, who had won four in a row. He also hit a post in the shootout. Henrik Sedin also missed in the shootout.

Markstrom stopped 35 shots.

The last home game for the Sedin twins, who spent their entire 17-season career in Vancouver, will be Thursday against Arizona.

A large number of fans, many waving signs thanking the Sedins or holding up jerseys, pressed along the glass and stood four or five deep in the aisles during the warmup. The brothers were featured in a video tribute on the big screen before receiving thunderous cheers and a standing ovation in the pregame introductions.

There were cheers during the game each time a Sedin touched the puck.

NOTES: Vancouver’s Ashton Sautner looked to have his first NHL goal in the second period, with assists from the Sedins, but it was overturned on video review for the play being offside. … The Canucks sent goaltender Thatcher Demko back to Utica of the AHL. … Forward Brendan Leipsic returned to the Canucks lineup after missing five games with a neck injury. … Vegas didn’t dress forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula.

UP NEXT

Vegas: Travel to Edmonton on Thursday night.

Vancouver: Host Arizona on Thursday night.

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