WASHINGTON (AP) George McPhee will only get a ring if the Ve

WASHINGTON (AP) George McPhee will only get a ring if the Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup.Maybe he should get one if the Washington Capitals win.McPhee is responsible for acquiring 13 players on the current roster during his 17 years as general manager and also hired longtime friend Brian MacLellan Carey Price Jersey , who became his successor and built the rest of the team. Kicked around the past five years for trading Filip Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat and not being able to bring the Cup to Washington, McPhee has his fingerprints all over this final after building the foundation of each team.”It’s funny how life goes,” McPhee said Sunday in Las Vegas. ”Two years ago I was walking around Ann Arbor kicking stones and couldn’t get a job.”McPhee went two years between his job as Capitals GM and his new one when new owner Bill Foley hired him for the dream job of his life as GM running the as-yet-named Vegas expansion team. From MacLellan to captain Alex Ovechkin, star center Nicklas Backstrom, goaltender Braden Holtby and management staffs on either side, this final in many ways is a validation of McPhee’s philosophy, knowledge and career.”It’s great to see him have success somewhere else,” said Capitals defenseman John Carlson, one of 12 McPhee draft picks facing him in the final. ”I knew he would, based on the pieces that he put in place here.”McPhee was GM when the Capitals last made the Cup Final in 1998 but had just taken over the previous summer. Until the past year, his greatest accomplishment was rebuilding Washington into a perennial playoff team and title contender that went to the playoffs from 2008-2013.After missing the playoffs in 2014 Jeff Petry Jersey Kids , the Capitals did not renew McPhee’s contract.”When you’re working with (players), they’re sometimes like your own kids,” McPhee said. ”You’re on call for them all the time, you’re trying to help them, you try to steer them in the right direction. Then you get fired and you’re suddenly persona non grata because nobody wants to be seen to be too close to you in the organization. I understand that’s how things change quickly and that’s the business.”Things changed quickly because MacLellan went from McPhee’s college teammate and roommate and then right-hand man as assistant GM to the person who owner Ted Leonsis said gave ”the most negative of the interviews” among candidates. MacLellan said he felt like he had nothing to lose during the interview process, which led to him landing the job at the same time Barry Trotz was named coach.MacLellan conceded Friday his relationship with McPhee was ”not as close” as in previous decades.”I think it just took a little time for things to evolve,” MacLellan said. ”I think he needed a break from the game, needed a break from how it went down for him here and it just took time.”MacLellan choked up a couple of times talking about glory days with McPhee, when they won the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Championship together at Bowling Green. McPhee and MacLellan have had dinner and texted in recent days about how strange it is to face each other after all that has transpired.”It’s kind of a weird experience,” MacLellan said. ”It’s a little awkward, but it’s going to be a fun experience Jonathan Drouin Jersey , I hope.”McPhee still has plenty of supporters in the Capitals’ locker room, especially among players he stuck his neck out for. He signed Jay Beagle as a college free agent in 2007, listened to now-Vegas goaltending coach Dave Prior and selected Holtby as the 10th goaltender in the 2008 draft and picked Tom Wilson in the first round in 2012.”I have a very fond respect for George,” Wilson said. ”You always have kind of a soft spot for the guy that drafted you, that brought you into the league, that gave you a chance. … He kind of always had his players’ back.”Not only is Beagle thankful to McPhee for taking a chance on him, but he also believes in the moves made to try to bring a championship to Washington well before now, even if they didn’t work out perfectly.”The trades and the deals that he made were to win the Stanley Cup that year,” Beagle said. ”You can always look back and be like, `Oh it wasn’t the right one’ or `It was the right one.’ But at the time it was the moves that he felt needed to be done to win a Stanley Cup that year because we had a team to do it for a lot of years.”Now that the Capitals – and Golden Knights – have that team, McPhee will be there each night to see one of his teams lift the Cup.”I’m certainly proud of the Washington team and the players http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-karl-alzner-jersey ,” McPhee said. ”Really happy for them – and really proud of this team we have in Vegas.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals— WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest from Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights (all times local):9:40 p.m.The Washington Capitals got three goals in the first period of Game 4 and are spending much of the second period making sure the lead stands up against the Vegas Golden Knights.Striving to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final, the Capitals have killed a pair of power plays to maintain a three-goal cushion.Vegas has a 20-13 advantage in shots on goal, but Washington has goals from T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.The Capitals have not trailed at any point since their Game 1 loss.—9:30 p.m.High schooler Jack Merritt threw a crab on the ice after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final and hopes it becomes a Washington Capitals tradition.The 15-year-old from Chevy Chase, Maryland, said before Game 4 that a crab is better than the ”stupid” plastic flamingo thrown onto the ice to celebrate Vegas Golden Knights wins. He knows all about the plastic rats in Florida, the octopi in Detroit and the catfish in Nashville. He wants crabs to be a thing at Capital One Arena after Washington victories.Merritt bought a crab from a local restaurant before Game 3 and brought it into the arena with hope. He got down to the lower bowl from his upper-deck seats and managed to get the crab on the ice after the Capitals beat the Golden Knights 3-1 to take a 2-1 series lead.Without tickets to Game 4, Merritt only hopes someone else follows his lead.—9:10 p.m.Capitals fans had plenty to cheer about during the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final after goals by T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly.They also got to cheer during a TV timeout.Two months after the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash killed 16 in Canada, forward Kaleb Dahlgren from the Saskatchewan junior league was shown on video screens at Capital One Arena.Dahlgren got a nice reaction from the crowd and then a roar when he lifted up his yellow Humboldt jersey to reveal a red Capitals jersey.—9 p.m.The Washington Capitals have taken a 3-0 lead into the first intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.Washington is looking to take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-7 series.Tom Wilson and Devante Smith-Pelly both scored in the final four minutes of the period after T.J. Oshie put the Capitals on top with a power-play goal 9:56 into the game.Wilson is known for hard checks and time spent in the penalty box, but on this occasion he beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a shot from the slot at 3:58. Not long after that Jonathan Bernier Jersey Womens , Smith-Pelly scored from a tough angle on the left side after a weird bounce.Earlier, with the game scoreless and the Golden Knights on the power play, Vegas winger James Neal hit the post in front of an open net.—8:35 p.m.T.J. Oshie has given Washington an early 1-0 lead over Vegas in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.Evgeny Kuznetsov’s shot off Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded to Oshie in front of the net and he jammed it home on the power play 9:54 into the first period.The Golden Knights look much quicker on offense than in Game 3, when they took only 22 shots. James Neal missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring, hitting the right post when firing at an open net.It is the third straight game the Capitals have scored first and they have won the last two for a 2-1 series lead.—8:20 p.m.The puck has dropped, and Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is under way in the nation’s capital with Vegas trying to even the series against Washington at 2-2.The Golden Knights are starting Tomas Tatar in place of David Perron, who was scratched. Perron has not scored a goal in 14 playoff games.The atmosphere was electric before the game. Max Scherzer and Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals baseball team were introduced as the ”Fans of the Game.” Nationals slugger Bryce Harper, who grew up in Las Vegas, was wearing a white Golden Knights Jersey.The fans waved white glow sticks and waved towels before the national anthem.Game 5 is Thursday in Las Vegas.—6:25 p.m.Red-clad fans are filling the streets of Chinatown before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights.Fall Out Boy is playing the pregame concert at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, two days after Sting and Shaggy. The strains of ”My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark” could be heard blocks away over the sound of scalpers looking for hard-to-find tickets.According to Ticket IQ, the cheapest Game 4 tickets are up almost $400 from last week. The cheapest tickets available on Ticket IQ and StubHub are more than $1 Mike Reilly Jersey ,000 each.—4:40 p.m.The Vegas Golden Knights are making at least one lineup change for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final by plugging in offensive-minded winger Tomas Tatar.Vegas has scored three goals against the Washington Capitals in the past two games and fallen behind 2-1 in a series for the first time in the playoffs. Coach Gerard Gallant says he hopes Tatar adds some offense and speed to a group that lacked both in a Game 3 loss Saturday.Tatar has not played since Game 3 of the Western Conference final against Winnipeg. It looked as if Tatar would replace struggling winger David Perron in Game 4, though Gallant on Monday refused to confirm that scratch and alluded to at least one other possible move.The Golden Knights traded a 2018 first-, 2019 second- and 2021 third-round pick to Detroit for Tatar at the deadline. He has dressed in just six of 19 playoff games, scoring one goal.Tatar did score the most goals against the Capitals this season: four in two games with the Red Wings, including an overtime winner.—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals