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BUFFALO Womens Sean Couturier Jersey , N.Y. (AP) James van Riemsdyk thought about the possibility of back-to-back hat tricks. Then again, five goals over two nights and a career milestone will do just fine.Van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. It came after a three-goal performance one night earlier in a 6-5 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.”Our line has been playing good for a while now, maybe not getting just rewarded with some of the bounces as we would’ve liked,” van Riemsdyk said. ”So it’s nice to see our line get some bounces in the sense of being able to capitalize on some chances.”Connor Carrick, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 38 shots.With the win, the Maple Leafs picked up their third consecutive win following a four-game losing streak.”I thought we played a pretty solid game for a back-to-back situation,” McElhinney said. ”It was a big win for us.”Van Riemsdyk set the tone early by picking up Toronto’s first two goals and hitting a career-best in the process. He opened the scoring from a bad angle 3:39 into the game as he spun at the end line and flung the puck between Lehner’s legs http://www.officialflyersproshop.com/aut...isbehere-jersey , which deflected off the goalie’s pad into the net.Van Riemsdyk then set a new single-season career-high for goals three minutes later with his 31st. Left all alone in the Sabres’ end, he took his time before firing a wrist shot high to the glove side.”He’s obviously been real hot here since the trade deadline,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. ”I don’t know if it’s you get to concentrate on hockey and not think about the other things but he’s been good for us. He’s obviously got real good hands around the net and an important player for us.”Sam Reinhart and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo, and Robin Lehner finished with 33 saves. The Sabres were unable to repeat their surprising performance against the Maple Leafs from March 5, when the struggling Sabres picked up an upset 5-3 victory.”We just can’t allow ourselves to get behind like that early in the game,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. ”It was a tale of two games. Last game we play them here, same thing happened, we got that two-goal lead. It was just a reversal tonight.”Carrick made it 3-1 6:22 into the second period on a long shot through traffic from the point.Bozak made it 4-1 with 5:50 remaining in the second on a terrific pass by van Riemsdyk Travis Konecny Jersey , who spotted him all alone on the opposite side of the crease.Reinhart got the Sabres on the board with a power-play goal with 5:31 remaining in the first. Reinhart has four goals in his past six games and 26 points in his last 26 games.Buffalo cut Toronto’s lead to 4-2 with its second power-play goal of the game just before the end of the second. Pominville redirected Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot from the point with 58.5 seconds left in the period.Marleau added an empty-netter with 43.6 seconds remaining.Toronto forward Leo Komarov was injured midway through the second period after a collision with teammate William Nylander and did not return. Babcock said after the game that Komarov should be fine and may not miss any time.NOTES: The upper-body injury to Maple Leafs starting goalie Frederik Andersen is not considered serious, Toronto coach Mike Babcock said before the game. Andersen left Toronto’s 6-5 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night midway through the second period. Toronto recalled Garret Sparks to serve as its backup against Buffalo. … RW Kyle Okposo was scratched for Buffalo as he recovers from a concussion. … Sabres C Jack Eichel skated Thursday morning and is getting closer to returning from an ankle injury. Eichel could return on Saturday against Chicago.UP NEXTMaple Leafs: Host Montreal on Saturday night.Sabres: Host Chicago on Saturday.— ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) The smiling side of a handshake line at the end of the second round was a brand-new experience for Alex Ovechkin and Barry Trotz.Ovechkin received a message of good luck and a pat on the chest from Sidney Crosby, while Trotz got to enjoy a happy moment with longtime coaching friend Jacques Martin. Ovechkin acknowledged he’d been in that position a lot of times – though never as the one moving on to the third round.Until now.The Washington Capitals reaching the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1998 is perhaps most special to the superstar captain and his coach who had never made it out of the second round before. No coach in NHL history had been behind the bench for more games than Trotz and no active player had been in as many playoff games as Ovechkin without reaching the conference finals.”There is a kinship there, there’s no question,” Trotz said. ”I’ve been at this for a while and it’s so hard to move forward sometimes. It’s always thrown in your face everywhere your turn. I know it’s thrown in Ovi’s face everywhere he turns, and he’s a great player in this league. … I knew the frustration because you’re so close and you just can’t get it, and you just got to stay with it.”After 51 playoff games together Adam Cracknell Jersey Womens , Ovechkin and Trotz will take part in their first East final starting Friday night in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. Now that they’ve gotten over a hump that defined their respective careers, Ovechkin, Trotz and the Capitals are in unfamiliar territory.”It’s something new for us and cool,” Ovechkin said Wednesday, less than 48 hours after Washington eliminated the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. ”Right now it’s just satisfaction we beat the Stanley Cup champions finally and we move forward and now we’re going to play against a very good team, against very good goaltending and solid players over there.”The Atlantic Division-champion Lightning present a formidable challenge, but the Capitals had to overcome something altogether different after losing in the first or second round in all nine playoff appearances that have come during the Ovechkin era dating to 2008. Beating the rival Penguins in overtime in a Game 6 on the road made the breakthrough even more emotional.”We should be proud of that,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ”It’s a big achievement. But I think we’ve got to be greedy. We’ve got to want more because this is a heck of a run. I don’t know if there is a group out there that knows how hard it is to get to this point.”The Capitals are at this point with Ovechkin on top of his game with eight goals and seven assists Wayne Simmonds Jersey , his best playoff output since 2009. And they’re here in large part because of Trotz, a well-respected, 19-year NHL coach who does not have a contract for next season.”I had a summer which was very enlightening to me, and I just look at everything way differently than I ever have,” Trotz said. ”I just recognized that I can only control what I can control, and the other stuff I can’t.”Trotz can’t control upper-body injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky or a three-game suspension handed out to winger Tom Wilson, only the decisions he makes in replacing them. So far, Trotz has pushed the right buttons Womens Bryan Rust Jersey , like putting Braden Holtby back in net in Game 2 of the first round and promoting Jakub Vrana to the top line in Game 5 against Pittsburgh.His players know Trotz is in control as he and the Capitals advance further into the spring than they have in 20 years.”He wants to win a Cup,” forward Chandler Stephenson said. ”He doesn’t want to make it past the second round. It’s obviously a little accomplishment, a little confidence-boost. But we’re not done yet. We’re only halfway.”—AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed.—