The Vegas Golden Knights were a 500-to-1 long shot to win the Stanley Cup before the NHL season began in October. Their surprisingly successful inaugural season is still rolling along Boone Logan Milwaukee Brewers Jersey , and they’re one win from a berth to the Stanley Cup final.

Reilly Smith scored on a breakaway late in the third period to lead Vegas to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4 of the Western Conference final Friday night.

Vegas can clinch the conference title and advance to the Stanley Cup final when the series resumes Sunday in Winnipeg.

”The last one is always the toughest to get,” Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said.

William Karlsson and Tomas Nosek also scored for Vegas, and Fleury, ninth all-time in postseason wins, turned in another spectacular performance by making 36 saves to earn his 73rd career playoff victory. The 14-year veteran goalie, left exposed by the Pittsburgh Penguins for Vegas to select him in the expansion draft, continues to have a career-best postseason as he aims for a third straight Stanley Cup title.

”I think we’ve got to keep the same mindset,” said Fleury, who has a 1.72 goals against average and .945 save percentage in the playoffs. ”Just take it one game at time and not think too far ahead and be ready to play that next game, because they’re going to be coming hard.”

It’s something the Jets have already been doing, even in their three losses in the series.

Asked how his team has been able to survive Winnipeg’s tenacious attack, Smith replied: ”He’s sitting right next to me,” referring to Fleury at the postgame news conference.

But with the game tied at 2, it was Smith who made the big play after racing down the left side of the rink and beating Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck above his blocker to put the Golden Knights ahead with 6:58 left.

Hellebuyck made 27 saves, but lost for the third consecutive game despite telling reporters after Game 3 that he liked his game better than Fleury’s. Patrik Laine and Tyler Myers scored for Winnipeg Leighton Vander Esch Color Rush Jersey , which is on the brink of elimination.

”I know we can win a game, we’re a good enough team,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. ”We’ve battled. We’ve gone into some pretty heavy environments and won a game that we needed to win. So it’s just one game.”

The Jets took over where they left off in the third period of Game 3 by outskating the Golden Knights in the first period of Game 4, but Karlsson’s power-play goal was the difference. Off the draw, Smith found Jonathan Marchessault, who fed Karlsson for the one-timer that gave Vegas a 1-0 lead.

In a case of deja vu from Game 3, when Vegas responded 12 seconds after giving up a 1-0 lead, Winnipeg and the Golden Knights traded goals 43 seconds apart midway through the second period.

First, it was Laine’s one-timer on the power play that even Fleury wasn’t catching up to and it tied the game at the 9:29 mark. Then, it was Hellebuyck failing to secure a shot by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who raced to the puck and fed Nosek, who punched in his first career playoff goal to put Vegas up 2-1.

”It’s a good way to be, when they get one, the next guy’s up and ready to go,” said Golden Knights forward James Neal Alex McGough Color Rush Jersey , who is looking to make it to the Stanley Cup final for a second consecutive year after getting there with Nashville last season. ”It’s always hard when you get one and the other team scores right away, it kind of takes the wind right back out of you. For us being at home, it just energizes the building. As soon as it sucks the wind out, boom, huge goal, and we’re back.

”That was a great goal by Nose.”

The Jets outshot the Golden Knights 12-2 by the midway point of the third period – including Myers’ tying goal – keeping Fleury busy. But the three-time Cup champion was finished allowing anything in his net.

”We win that game nine times out of 10 – tonight was that one,” Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler said. ”Their goalie made some extraordinary saves, he’s a good player. You’ve got to sometimes take your hat off to a good player.”

NOTES: The Golden Knights and Jets joined a record 18,697 in attendance in a moment of silence for those affected by the shootings at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday. … Jets forward Mark Scheifele, who registered his 10th and 11th road goals in Game 3 to set a single-year NHL postseason record, had his six-game goal streak as a visitor end.

UP NEXT

Game 5 is at Winnipeg on Sunday.

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The Detroit Tigers lost much more than a game on Tuesday night.

Miguel Cabrera ruptured his left biceps tendon in the third inning of a 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins and will have season-ending surgery later this week.

”This is obviously a very sad day for Miggy and for the entire ballclub,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”It is obviously a huge blow to the team, both on and off the field, but we will have to find a way to overcome it.”

Gardenhire said Cabrera’s status for the 2019 season won’t be known until after the operation. He still has $154 million left on a contract that runs through 2023.

Cabrera swung awkwardly at Jake Odorizzi’s slider and immediately walked to the dugout with his arm limply at his side. When he was joined by team trainers, the slugger gestured to his biceps and continued walking into the Detroit clubhouse.

”At that end of that inning http://www.ramsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-john-kelly-jersey , I ran up to check on him in the clubhouse and he said he felt a pop on that swing,” teammate Nicholas Castellanos said. ”I knew that wasn’t good, but we didn’t find out how bad it was until after the game.”

Many of the Tigers had already left the clubhouse before it was opened to the media, more than 20 minutes after the final pitch.

”We’re all kind of stunned,” said JaCoby Jones. ”You don’t think anything like that is going to happen to Miguel Cabrera, especially on a swing.”

Cabrera has played through numerous lower-body injuries in the past few years, even while winning a Triple Crown, two MVP awards and four batting titles, but it started to catch up with him in 2017. He played 130 games, but hit a career-worst .249 with 16 homers.

This year, he missed three games with spasms in the same biceps tendon that ruptured on Tuesday, then was out for 26 games with a hamstring strain and back tightness. He returned on June 1, hitting .244 with no home runs and one RBI in 12 games before the latest injury.

Gardenhire didn’t think the earlier injuries played a role in what happened on Tuesday.

”He took BP before the game and he said he felt great,” Gardenhire said.

John Hicks, normally Detroit’s backup catcher http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-oren-burks-jersey , played first base during Cabrera’s previous absence and will return there for the time being. Gardenhire said the team will discuss long-term plans in the upcoming days.

”We’re all going to have to step up, starting tomorrow, to try to fill Miggy’s shoes,” Castellanos said. ”That means everyone, beginning with me.”

The mood in the clubhouse wasn’t helped by a late-inning loss. Detroit led 2-1 after six innings before Ehire Adrianza’s first career grand slam rallied the Twins.

Tigers starter Blaine Hardy allowed a leadoff single to Eduardo Escobar to start the seventh and was replaced by Louis Coleman.

”I understand that move completely,” Hardy said. ”I have just as much faith in Lou as I do myself, and that hasn’t changed.”

Coleman (3-1) only threw nine strikes in a 23-pitch outing, walking two batters to load the bases with two out. Gardenhire brought in Warwick Saupold, who went to a 3-1 count on Adrianza before throwing a fastball that ended up in the right-field stands.

”I’m not a home run hitter, so this is very exciting,” Adrianza said. ”It was a hitter’s count, so I was looking for a fastball and I hit it hard. I was emotional.”

The Tigers made it 5-4 with two runs in the seventh. With runners on second and third with two outs, Jones beat out an infield single and Escobar’s throw sailed past first baseman Logan Morrison for Minnesota’s second throwing error of the inning.

Miguel Sano gave the Twins a 6-4 lead with an RBI single in the eighth.

”We walked some people and we just let the game get away from us,” Gardenhire said. ”That was disappointing.”

Ryan Pressly (1-1) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

”I think we’ve played better in games that we’ve lost, but winning is the important part http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-alex-mcgough-jersey ,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ”What Ehire did was obviously huge. We were hoping he’d get something to the outfield, and he puts it in the seats.”

Hardy pitched six-plus innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk. Hardy, who replaced Jordan Zimmermann in the rotation, is expected to make at least one more start before Zimmermann and Francisco Liriano return from the disabled list.

Odorizzi permitted two runs on four hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out four while throwing 102 pitches.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead by manufacturing a run in the third. With one out, Adrianza reached on an infield single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ryan LaMarre’s sacrifice fly.

Jose Iglesias tied the game with a one-out RBI triple in the fourth, and scored on Leonys Martin’s sacrifice fly.

STAYING IN SHAPE

While on third base after his fourth-inning triple, Iglesias had to dive to the ground to avoid being hit by teammate Dixon Machado’s line drive. He broke his fall with his hands and snapped off three quick push-ups before jumping back to his feet.

HEALTHY RESUME

Cabrera made his major league debut for the Florida Marlins on June 20, 2003, and played in 87 of their final 88 games. He averaged 153 games in the next 14 seasons, but will finish 2018 with 38.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: Minnesota signed RHP Matt Belisle to a major league contract and he joined the team in Detro.