ST. PAUL Youth Matthew Tkachuk Jersey , Minn. (AP) — In their first year under new coach Rod Brind’Amour, the Carolina Hurricanes are using their youth and speed to wear out opponents.They started by outshooting Minnesota 20-5 in the first period Saturday. After a back-and-forth third period, Carolina showed off its stamina, too.Sebastian Aho scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lift Carolina over the Wild 5-4 on Saturday night.“The message has been pretty clear from Day 1, and I think they’ve been doing what we’ve asked, or they’re trying to, and I think they see that it’s a fun way to play,” Brind’Amour said. “But it’s also a way that can have outcomes like tonight where we can come back.”Justin Williams tied the game for Carolina with 1:09 left in the third period, and the Hurricanes matched the best five-game start in franchise history by tying the 4-0-1 Hartford Whalers in 1995-96.Aho added an assist while running his point streak to five games. Jordan Staal and Brett Pesce also scored for the Hurricanes. Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves as Carolina outshot Minnesota 57-23 and survived a third-period frenzy in which the Wild rallied to twice take a one-goal lead.The Hurricanes entered the game averaging 38.5 shots per game, second in the NHL. Their 4.25 goals per game coming in was tied for sixth after they were 23rd in the league last season.“To be down twice in the third period, that’s tough, and maybe that’s something that last year or the year before, maybe we would’ve just wilted and packed it in and said ‘All right, good try,'” Williams said. “But our power play showed up and we scored one late. So, a really good win that we would’ve been upset if we lost.”Devan Dubnyk stopped 52 shots for Minnesota and Jason Zucker scored his 100th career goal and third in the past two games. Charlie Coyle, Jared Spurgeon and Mikael Granlund also scored for the Wild, who played their third consecutive overtime game.“In a realistic world Michael Frolik Jersey , you’re happy you got a point out of that,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. “If it wasn’t for Devan Dubnyk; he’s been our No. 1 star in all four games that he’s played.”Dubnyk’s work allowed Minnesota the chance to recover in the third. It’s the second game this season and 14th time in his career he’s made at least 40 saves in game. He’s 10-1-3 in those contests.Staal opened the scoring midway through the first with his fourth goal, the only tally in the first for Carolina despite the shot advantage and a pair of power-plays, including a 5-on-3 situation. Coyle’s first goal of the season tied the game through one period.“We’re horrible in the first period right now, and that’s myself included, that’s everybody,” Zucker said. “We got to be better. We got to fix it.”Pesce redirected Aho’s shot for the only goal in the second as Carolina entered the third leading 2-1.Spurgeon tied it with his first goal of the season just 1:20 into the third period, Zucker scored just over four minutes later and Granlund added his first of the season with 4:13 left in the game.Aho’s first goal erased the first lead from Zucker’s goal.“I think it tells something about us, coming back twice and get the win,” Aho said. “Also our (power play) has been bad all year and we haven’t scored, and when we need it most, we score. It feels good.”The Hurricanes were 1 of 9 on the power play Saturday after entering the game 1 of 10 for the season.NOTES: Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said F Joel Eriksson Ek has a lower-body injury and will miss a week. … Matt Hendricks was back in the lineup for the Wild after being scratched for one game. … Minnesota is 10-3-4 in its last 17 games against Carolina. … Aho has four goals and five assists during his point streak. Hurricanes F Teuvo Teravainen has points in four straight games. … McIlhenny became the first Carolina goaltender to win his first three starts with the team since Justin Peters in 2010.UP NEXTHurricanes: Finish a back-to-back set at Winnipeg on Sunday.Wild: Travel to Nashville on Monday. LAS VEGAS (AP) The Washington Capitals have waited nearly 44 years to raise the Stanley Cup for the first time.Their only remaining obstacles are some desert-dwelling misfits who refuse to wait for anything.The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are just four wins away from an astounding championship when they host Alex Ovechkin’s long-striving Caps on Monday night to open a thoroughly improbable Stanley Cup Final.Even the players from the NHL’s last two teams standing seemed a bit surprised by their achievements when they gathered Sunday in balmy 84-degree Nevada weather.”Who would have thunk it?” asked Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt, who played the previous four seasons for the Capitals. ”The Stanley Cup Final that was never meant to be, right?”Indeed, a first-time NHL champ will be crowned next month after a Final between two teams that arrived at hockey’s ultimate destination from very different directions. While the Caps finally climbed over the hump in the Eastern Conference, the Golden Knights have been bulldozing every logical obstacle in their path since October.”We’ve been able to do some things in the playoffs, but we never got to that last stage until now,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. ”And everybody knows what Vegas did in the first year is very special. We’re both hungry. This is going to be a beast of a series.”The Golden Knights have exceeded every expectation by utilizing a rich expansion draft and multiple clever coaching moves to create a team that dominated the Pacific Division and then rampaged through the Western Conference playoffs. Their story still carries a ring of impossibility Authentic Mikael Backlund Jersey , but they’re close to adding a real ring to every hand in the dressing room full of self-described ”Golden Misfits,” as their T-shirts say.The Capitals have repeatedly fallen short of their postseason goals during Ovechkin’s career, including a heartbreaking shutout loss to Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 7 of the second round against Pittsburgh last spring. After falling to Fleury’s champion Penguins in the past two postseasons, the Caps revamped their roster with youth and finally overcame years of playoff disappointment to reach their first Final in two decades. Of course, Fleury is in the way again – in goal for the Golden Knights.Neither team was the favorite to get this far. Neither team is ready to stop now.While Capitals coach Barry Trotz skated his now-customary hot lap before practice at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights had their usual standing room-only crowd for practice at their training complex in suburban Summerlin.Their grip on this sports-hungry town was already strong, and the 24-hour gambling mecca will come to a standstill this week during the Cup games in the arena behind the New York New York hotel-casino and its 150-foot Statue of Liberty, which has been wearing a Golden Knights jersey since April.Speaking of larger-than-life figures in hockey sweaters, this series showcases two major talents who can cement a legacy.Ovechkin is a formidable scorer and competitor, but he has never won an Olympic medal with Russia or a Stanley Cup ring with the Caps. He’s keeping a sense of humor about this momentous trip: With a straight face Sunday, Ovechkin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had called him to wish him luck, before adding: ”I’m just joking.””We want to be here,” Ovechkin said. ”We work so hard all year. I don’t think nobody believes in us, and nobody believes in Vegas, and we’re right now in the Stanley Cup Finals, and we fight for a Cup. Come enjoy this moment.”Fleury already has three Stanley Cup rings, but he has added another incredible act to his career with tenacious play for the Golden Knights, whose inexperienced pros have leaned on him to get through tough nights.”I think it’s weird seeing that team here Mike Smith Jersey , being in the Cup the first year,” said Brooks Orpik, the only Washington player with a ring. ”Obviously, I’m not surprised (Fleury) is here. Without him, they weren’t beating us last year. He singlehandedly won a couple of games for (Pittsburgh) when we totally outplayed them.”Here are more things to know about the ice hockey event in the Mojave:COACHING CROWNThe winning coach also will raise the Stanley Cup for the first time in a fitting peak to two careers built on resilience. The 55-year-old Trotz never played in the NHL, but his 19th season as an NHL coach is ending in his first Cup Final. Gerard Gallant was a solid NHL forward for Detroit, but the 54-year-old bench boss had never even won a playoff round as an NHL coach before this spring.(TURN)OVER KNIGHTSSeveral Capitals pointed out the importance of minimizing turnovers against the Golden Knights, whose counterattacking acumen and team speed cause problems. ”They’re a very fast team and when you turn pucks over, they’re like a shark smelling blood in the water,” Oshie said. ”They all stop on a dime and want to take it the other way. That’s how they get a lot of their offense.”CAPTAIN CHARGEOvechkin could become the first Russian captain to raise the Stanley Cup. If the Knights win, they don’t have a captain to raise the Cup first. Gallant and GM George McPhee decided to rely on a six-man leadership council instead. ”I think that’s the best decision we ever made,” Gallant said. ”Sure, there’s guys who could have been captain in our group, but it was their first year – and we really didn’t think we’d be grabbing the (Western Conference) trophy the other night in Winnipeg.”SCHMIDT’S REUNIONThe Golden Knights’ matchups against the teams that let them go in the expansion draft have been a consistently entertaining feature of this season. For the grand finale, Schmidt is at center stage against the Caps, who left him unprotected and then tried to reacquire him from Vegas. Schmidt led the Golden Knights in ice time and surpassed his previous career highs with five goals and 31 assists. He is logging nearly 25 minutes per playoff game.THE HOTNESSSummer heat hasn’t quite settled onto Las Vegas yet, but the upcoming week looks like a scorcher. The temperature on the Strip should hit 100 degrees on Wednesday before Game 2.—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals