available Thursday night when the Predators host Dallas.Boyle, 34, has 13 goals and 19 points in his 12th NHL season, and he also has 88 hits in 47 games with New Jersey this season. Boyle won the 2017 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy after battling chronic myeloid leukemia.The center originally was dra

TAMPA www.montrealcanadiensteamshops.com , Fla. (AP) Like many young Russian hockey players, Nikita Kucherov grew up following Alex Ovechkin’s career, hoping to someday become a prolific scorer and maybe even compete against his countryman in the Stanley Cup playoffs.The 24-year-old Tampa Bay Lightning winger has spent five seasons fulfilling the first portion of the dream.The other part becomes a reality Friday night, when the Lightning open the Eastern Conference finals against Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals.”When he came in the league, he was the best player, and I mean he’s still the best player,” Kucherov said.”Everybody would talk about him, and I definitely wanted to be in his spot one day, scoring goals,” the Lightning star added. ”He’s a great example for young kids and someone to look up to.”Ovechkin is also looking for his first trip to the Stanley Cup Final, a platform Kucherov has already performed on.The Lightning, who also feature of couple of other young Russians playing key roles in goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, are in the conference final for the third time in four years.In 2015, they defeated the New York Rangers before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Cup Final.”It’s great competition to play against the best players and then against your countrymen,” Kucherov said.”I think it’s great for Russia to see the young guys come into North America and go through the CHL, AHL and then make it to the NHL,” he added. ”It’s great to see and to see how the kids want to be in the best league in the world. They don’t care about the money in the KHL, they want to be in the best league and play against the best. It’s nice to see.”The Lightning have been exceptional through the first two rounds of the playoffs, going 6-1 at home while eliminating both the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins in five games.The Capitals beat Columbus in the opening round before ousting the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.”They are similar to us in that they have a pretty deep lineup, a very lethal power play and forwards that can really change the momentum of the game with how good they are http://www.redwingsshoponline.com/authentic-anthony-mantha-jersey ,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said.”We are going to need to rely on our depth as well and stay disciplined. That’s something we’ve talked about going against Boston with how good their power play is and we saw first hand that if we are going to take penalties, teams are going to make us pay,” Stamkos added. ”Washington is very similar in that regard. That will be one of the keys for us.”Ovechkin expects the Atlantic Division winners to be a stern test, too.”Right now, in this situation in this time of year, everybody has the best players, the best goalies, and you have to be the best to beat them,” the Capitals star said.”That has to be in our mind and we have to play as a group, not play individually.”Some things to know about the Capitals and Lightning, one-time Southeast Division rivals meeting in the playoffs for the first time since 2011:CAPITALS REINFORCEMENTS: Washington won Game 6 in overtime at Pittsburgh without top center Nicklas Backstrom and wingers Andre Burakovsky and Tom Wilson.Backstrom, who took a shot from Justin Schultz off his right hand in Game 5 against the Penguins on Saturday, skated and did some light stickhandling Thursday; Burakovsky (out with upper-body injury) practiced and are each considered day-to-day.Wilson will be back off a three-game suspension, and with Backstrom and Burakovsky potentially close, the Capitals could have their full lineup soon.”The first instinct is to try to put the lines back together that you had, but this time of year, you go with the guys who are going,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”The guys that are going well, you use, and the other guys wait for another opportunity. When I get the word Darren Helm Jersey , then we’ll put them back together.”ROAD WARRIORS: The Capitals are 5-1 on the road through two rounds and 9-3 away from home going back to the 2017 playoffs. It helps Trotz to be able to get his top defensive pairing of Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen out against opponents’ stars, but beginning on the road could prove beneficial for Washington.”With the matchups on the road, you don’t get them all the time so I think guys are a little more aware of who they’re on the ice against, maybe a little more engaged in terms of knowing who’s on the ice,” winger Brett Connolly said.”So I think we’re just playing on the road. Barry’s just throwing guys over the boards and they ultimately get to decide who they want to play against that line, so guys are feeling confident and comfortable and just playing and feel good about themselves.”LONG TIME SINCE 2011: Only five players in this series were around when the Lightning and Capitals last met in the playoffs back in 2011: Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman and Washington’s Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson. The Lightning won in a sweep before losing in seven to Boston in the East final.”Obviously we haven’t played these guys in meaningful games like this for a while,” Stamkos said. ”So we can definitely expect a different series than that was.”—AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed.— NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators have made a pair of trades, adding size and toughness trying in an attempt to fill the void created by the absence of a trio of players.That doesn’t mean general manager David Poile is necessarily finished trying to improve the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners. There is still three weeks before the NHL trade deadline. And no matter how happy Poile is with his roster after trading for a pair of veteran forwards in Brian Boyle from New Jersey and Cody McLeod from the Rangers on Wednesday, things can always be better.Poile plans to keep making calls, listening and paying attention until the deadline Feb. 25.“I think just look for the right deal,” Poile said. “If we can improve our club, we’re going to do that. I’m comfortable with what we have in our depth and filling the holes that I thought we had or got created by the three players that we’ve lost in the last couple weeks. But if we can improve our team in the next three weeks, we will certainly do that.”The Predators lost defenseman Anthony Bitetto to a waiver claim to Minnesota on Jan. 25, trying to sneak him to the AHL for some playing time. Forward Austin Watson was suspended indefinitely Jan. 29 under the NHL’s substance abuse program. Poile announced Wednesday that forward Zac Rinaldo will have season-ending surgery for an injured shoulder.Nashville center Kyle Turris has missed 17 straight games but could return Thursday against Dallas or this weekend in a back-to-back, home-and-home series with St. Louis. Forward Miikka Salomaki also may be closing to a return from an injury.Poile swapped the Predators’ second-round pick in June’s NHL draft for Boyle and will send the Rangers a seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft for McLeod. That was prompted by a worst case scenario of Watson possibly not returning this season.That left size the most immediate need filled by both Boyle, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound forward who can play center and wing, and the 6-2 http://www.redwingsshoponline.com/authentic-dylan-larkin-jersey , 245-pound McLeod. That should help Nashville better match up with Winnipeg, which ousted the Predators in the second round in seven games last postseason.“This year it will have to be through Winnipeg,” Poile said. “There are no guarantees that’s the case, but yes … I think we wanted to have more size in our lineup.”Both Boyle and McLeod should be in Nashville and available Thursday night when the Predators host Dallas.Boyle, 34, has 13 goals and 19 points in his 12th NHL season, and he also has 88 hits in 47 games with New Jersey this season. Boyle won the 2017 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy after battling chronic myeloid leukemia.The center originally was drafted 26th overall in the 2003 draft held in Nashville by Los Angeles, and he has played 740 career NHL games with 211 points. He also has blocked 513 shots and 1,498 hits and played in the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 with the New York Rangers and 2015 with Tampa Bay. Boyle has 28 points in 111 career postseason games.Better yet, Boyle scored five power-play goals last season and has six this season, which Poile noted is more than anyone on the Nashville roster. The Predators ended an 0-for-34 drought with the man advantage Tuesday night in a win over Arizona and still went 1-for-5 on the power play.Poile has regretted losing McLeod since Nashville waived him in January 2018, trying to get the veteran more playing time with Milwaukee in the AHL only to lose him. McLeod’s wife and two children remained in Nashville, and McLeod, 34, has a goal and 60 penalty minutes in 31 games this season with the Rangers.“Hopefully together we can do something real significant this year in the playoffs,” Poile said.