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A year ago at this time the Vegas Golden Knights had one minor league player on an otherwise empty roster and no idea what to expect when an entire team was finally assembled.

Now Justin Simmons Jersey , they are two wins away from playing for the Stanley Cup.

The best story in sports got even better Wednesday night on the Las Vegas Strip, where the Golden Knights continued their improbable run toward the Cup final with a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Before a raucous crowd of 18,477 newly minted hockey fans, the expansion team like no other won a second straight against the Jets to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference final.

As much as 500-1 to win the Stanley Cup in this gambling city’s sports books when the season began, the players that like to refer to themselves as the Golden Misfits are now incredibly the odds-on favorites to win it all.

In a city built on losers, the first major pro franchise could be the winner no one expected – even the players cast off from their former teams.

Misfits, they’re not. But many of them had never even met before last summer’s expansion draft, and now they’re on the brink of the Stanley Cup finals.

”I don’t think anyone saw us here,” said Marc Andre Fleury, the three-time Stanley Cup winner who was left unprotected in the expansion draft by Pittsburgh. ”I’m really proud to be part of this season.”

On a night when Fleury made one spectacular save after another, the Knights were just good enough to take the advantage in the series. They held onto a one-goal advantage most of the third period, despite being outplayed and outshot by the Jets.

The grudges they once held against their former teams are gone. But they’ve played the entire season with a chip on their shoulders after being judged expendable by their former employers.

”We all came here with the right mindset Marvin Harrison Jersey ,” said James Neal, who had a goal and an assist in the win. ”No one likes to be left unprotected.”

That the Knights were competitive in their first season wasn’t a total surprise. The NHL set up the expansion draft so teams couldn’t hold onto all of their top players, and the Knights wasted no time in making Fleury the backbone of the new team.

What did surprise a lot of people in hockey was that general manager George McPhee nailed just the right combination of speed up front to go with the stellar goalkeeping. And so far they’ve held their own speed-wise in the series against the Jets, a team built on speed itself.

”They’re a quick team, for sure,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. ”When we’re fast we look faster, too. It’s the ebb and flow of the game.”

The Knights are not only the hottest ticket on the Strip, but the hottest thing in a city of 2 million. Las Vegans have embraced their first major pro franchise and opposing players often talk about the atmosphere inside the T-Mobile Arena.

Away from the arena it’s more of the same. Golden Knights merchandise is everywhere in the city and hundreds of fans show up just to watch practice at the team’s facility in the suburbs. Homegrown baseball hero Bryce Harper is such a big fan he has bats with Golden Knights logos, and singer Carrie Underwood offered (it was declined) to sing the national anthem after her Nashville Predators were eliminated.

And if the Jets drove past Caesars Palace on their way to the game they might have noticed the statue of Caesar was holding a Knights hockey stick.

Fleury, who made spectacular back-to-back saves that left him sprawled across the ice while the Knights were clinging to a 3-2 lead in the third period, was asked after what he would have thought before the season if someone told him the team would be within two wins of the Stanley Cup finals.

”Probably laugh a little bit,” he said.

No one is laughing now as the Knights try and make history as an expansion team turned Stanley Cup champion. The team has defied the odds since the opening game of the season Alex Erickson Jersey , and bookies are having a hard time finding anyone to bet against them now.

They were Vegas Strong, starting the season just after the murderous Oct. 1 rampage just down the street from the arena that took 58 lives in the worst mass shooting ever in the U.S. They became Vegas Born, which has resonated in a city where so many people are from elsewhere.

Call them what you want. But soon you may be calling them Stanley Cup champions.

”We’re just a bunch of hockey players that wanted to find a home,” Jonathan Marchessault said a few games ago. ”And we did.”

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or Mitch Marner led the charge on a night full of milestones for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Marner had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Wednesday night to set a franchise record with their 46th win.

Toronto also set a high-water mark with its 27th home win. The Philadelphia Flyers held off the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 later Wednesday, keeping the Leafs from clinching a playoff spot for at least one more night.

”Those things are all nice to get,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said of the records. ”But we’ve got bigger plans. We’re just moving along and trying to get better. This is a good win, it gives you confidence.

James van Riemsdyk added his 35th goal – and the 200th career – for Toronto, while Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau added their 30th and 25th goals, respectively.

Frederik Andersen made 30 saves and set a career high with his 36th victory.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice, and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Florida, which got 31 stops from Roberto Luongo, including a couple of big ones early.

Both Huberdeau and Dadonov hit the 25-goal mark.

Florida Christian Jones Jersey , meanwhile, remains three points back of New Jersey for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, with one game in hand.

”These are the games you’re judged on,” Florida coach Bob Boughner said. ”This team’s been pretty consistent for the second half of the season, and tonight for 20 minutes we weren’t.”

Toronto came out flying after having its club-record home winning streak snapped at 13 by last-place Buffalo on Monday. Luongo stopped van Riemsdyk on a breakaway, then robbed Tyler Bozak of what looked like a sure goal with a blocker save.

The Leafs broke through at 3:05, when Marner was quickest to his own rebound off the end boards to get his 21st.

Luongo thwarted another chance by Bozak from the slot later in the period, but could do nothing when Matthews beat him five-hole on what turned into a 4-on-2 rush with the Panthers caught gambling at 9:24.

”Wanted to shoot it high and then at the last moment he was kind of standing up, so at the last second I let up a little bit and was able to sneak it in five-hole,” Matthews said. ”I think he was guessing glove, and that’s where I thought I was going.”

Matthews scored 40 goals last season as a rookie but has missed 20 games this season with various injuries. He joins van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri (30) in the Leafs’ 30-goal club this season.

Toronto made it 3-0 at 13:55 when Marner wheeled off the boards and found a wide-open Marleau for a tap-in.

Marner has four goals and nine assists in his point streak and 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in his last 20 games.

”It’s been fun John Sullivan Jersey ,” Marner said. ”This team is feeling confident.”

Marleau, meanwhile, tied Frank Mahovlich for 33rd on the NHL’s career list with the 533rd goal.

Florida cut the deficit to 3-1 at 17:49 of the first when Huberdeau took advantage of Zach Hyman’s miscue in the Leafs zone and zipped in his 24th.

Desperate for points in their playoff chase, the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on a 37-second 5-on-3 early in the second before Andersen robbed Huberdeau with a diving glove save after one of the penalized Leafs had returned.

Huberdeau scored at 15:08 when he picked the top corner on Andersen after Aaron Eklad hit the post midway through the period for Florida, which was 13-3-1 over its previous 17 coming into Wednesday.

In the third, Luongo shot out his pad to rob van Riemsdyk again, but the big forward found his own rebound while getting slammed to the ice at 11:48.

Van Riemsdyk has nine goals and three assists in his last eight games.

Dadonov poked goal past Andersen on a rebound with 1:26 left.

NOTES: Andersen won 35 games with Anaheim in 2014-15. … Tomas Plekanec assisted on Marner’s opener for his first point in 13 games since coming over in a trade with Montreal. … The Leafs won 45 games in 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2003-04, and secured 44 victories in both 1992-93 and 2002-03, but those seasons all came before the NHL instituted the shootout to break ties. Toronto leads the NHL with seven shootout victories this season. … The Leafs’ previous high of 26 home wins came in 2005-06. …

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit Ottawa on Thursday night.

Maple Leafs: Play at the New York Islanders on Friday night before coming home to host Winnipeg on Saturday night.

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