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LAS VEGAS (AP) Just before the most improbable of Stanley Cup Final in the most improbable hockey city around Oscar Klefbom Jersey , Gary Bettman and Bill Daly put on a little show of their own.As lounge acts go, it probably wouldn’t play on the Las Vegas Strip. Then again, no one ever thought the Vegas Golden Knights would be playing on the Las Vegas Strip – and certainly not as late as Memorial Day.But play they did, in a wild 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals that officially ended with Elvis singing ”Viva Las Vegas” and the Golden Knights taking a 1-0 lead in the series.The greatest expansion team ever against a classic underachiever was already a story that has played well even among those who wouldn’t think of watching anything but playoff basketball this time of the year.But a thrilling Game 1 couldn’t have been scripted any better even if Bettman and Daly had spent their pre-game writing it instead of sitting in front of the media, sharing laughs and a few inside jokes. They completed each other’s sentences, and seemed to be having so much fun that they didn’t want to leave.And why not? They could have taken a victory lap outside the T-Mobile Arena and no one would have seemed to mind.They are the architects of NHL expansion, the gatekeepers who decide which cities are in the league and which cities must watch from the sidelines. They came up with the plan – hatched privately a decade ago – for billionaire Bill Foley to pay $500 million to put a team among the gamblers, degenerates and, yes, upstanding citizens of the city where fun never stops.They then made sure it would work, despite all the naysayers who said hockey would never catch on in the desert and certainly not in a city where there are a lot of other things to do than watch hockey players race up and down the ice.But even the top league execs didn’t expect this.”No one saw this coming http://www.officialoilers.com/authentic-adidas-ryan-nugent-hopkins-jersey ,” Bettman said.They didn’t in New York, and they didn’t in Las Vegas. A generous expansion draft helped set the Knights up to be competitive, but competitive doesn’t mean scoring 109 points in the regular season and then going 13-3 in the playoffs.Competitive doesn’t mean taking the ice on Memorial Day with nearly 19,000 crazed Knights fans cheering them on inside the arena on the Strip and thousands more partying as the game unfolded on big-screen TVs outside.It was, as Bettman pointed out, 342 days since the expansion draft in the same arena. And what a 342 days it has been for not only the new franchise but a league that took a chance on Sin City when no other league would.Bettman and Daly rolled the dice that Las Vegas would raise the league’s profile and not just because it isn’t, well, Columbus or Ottawa.”We thought being in Las Vegas would give hockey a greater presence and make the game stronger,” Bettman said.The results, at least so far, show that bet paying off. Las Vegas has gone mad over the Golden Knights Ryan Strome Jersey , and hockey is thriving in a town where most ice is made for drinks, not rinks.And the NHL is on a bit of a roll itself. The controversial decision not to halt play during the middle of the season for the Olympics paid off in increased attention for professional hockey and television ratings for the playoffs, while not nearly up to NBA levels, are up across the board.And so far no one has said a word about the evils of sports betting and how a major sports franchise can’t exist in a city that allows it.”This commissioner wasn’t scared by the things other sports leagues may have been scared about,” Daly said.No one, of course, could have expected a hockey team to help heal a city in the wake of the Oct. 1 massacre that killed 58 people just down the street from the hockey arena. But the Knights helped that cause, too, adopting the Vegas Strong name and honoring victims not only at the opener nine days after the shooting but at games since.The players – who call themselves the Golden Misfits – have also done their part, both on and off the ice.”They seem to be playing with the emotion of a higher purpose,” Bettman said.That’s one reason why the bookies had them favored to beat the Caps and win the iconic trophy before the first puck dropped in Game 1. So far they’ve not only run through every obstacle in their way Womens Wayne Gretzky Jersey , but smashed through them.Good times in Las Vegas, and good times for the NHL.Little wonder that Bettman and Daly couldn’t stop smiling.—-Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers are happy to have Roberto Luongo back in net.Luongo made 26 saves in his second start since missing nine games with a knee injury to lift Florida over the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Thursday night.The Panthers won two games in a row for the first time this season. They beat Winnipeg 4-2 in Finland last Friday.The victory also marked Florida’s first in its home rink this season.“I just wanted to keep building off the last game and make sure that I gave my team a chance to win,” Luongo said. “It’s nice you get rewarded with a few goals there in the second period and in the third.”Luongo made several big stops early in the first.“He was the best player on the ice tonight,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “I was a little leery about us starting slow in the first five or 10 minutes. He stopped two or three big-time chances. That’s what he does.”Evgenii Dadonov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Colton Sceviour scored for the Panthers. Mike Hoffman and Vincent Trocheck each had two assists.The Panthers defeated Edmonton at home for the first time since March 8, 2002, a span of 10 games.The Oilers have lost three straight overall.“You never want to lose three in a row,” center Connor McDavid said. “Obviously, it’s frustrating but we have to regroup here.”Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers Aaron Ekblad Jersey , and Cam Talbot stopped 29 shots.“I thought today we started well,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We had some opportunities early (but) Luongo made some good saves. We didn’t bear down.”The Oilers play three of their next four at home.“We have to come home now and put an end to this streak that we’re on,” McLellan said. “Good teams find a way to do that. We haven’t been able to do it on the road, so we have to do it at home now.”Edmonton closed to 2-1 on Draisaitl’s goal 23 seconds into the third period. Draisaitl redirected a pass from McDavid and beat Luongo up high.Huberdeau’s power-play goal from the left circle made it 3-1 at 3:43 of the third. Sceviour added an empty-netter with 49 seconds left.Dadonov gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 6:45 of the second. He took a backhand pass from Aleksander Barkov in front and slid the puck past Talbot while falling to the ice. Dadonov extended his point streak to a career-high nine games.Bjugstad found a loose puck in front and poked it into the net at 8:12 of the second.NOTES: Hoffman’s assist on Dadonov’s goal made him the fourth player in Panthers history to have a 10-game point streak. … D Mark Pysyk, who missed six games with an upper-body injury, was cleared to play but got scratched. … Edmonton has played six of its last eight games on the road.UP NEXTOilers: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.Panthers: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday.