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The secret was out pretty quickly.A week before the 2015 playoffs Robin Lehner Jersey Womens , the United States Hockey League’s Sioux City Musketeers invited prospect Eeli Tolvanen to skate with them to see about signing him for the following season. He stood out among older players on a first-place team.”This little 15-year-old kid from Finland who was about 5-foot-6 at the time, he came to that practice and you could tell he was an elite playmaker,” now-New York Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk said. ”When he was doing that at that age, we could tell almost right away.”Tolvanen now looks like a Finnish Mozart on ice, a child prodigy who reaches the next level of hockey faster than anyone expects. On the verge of turning 19, Tolvanen for his next masterpiece could be playing a meaningful part in a playoff run for the NHL-leading Nashville Predators, based on the range of his experiences already.”His growth just step-by-step happened quicker than most people see,” said Jay Varady, Tolvanen’s coach in Sioux City. ”He’s just been successful at a really young age in really tough challenges.”At 17, Tolvanen led his team and tied for eighth in points in a USHL full of 19- and 20-year-olds, went 30th in the draft last June to Nashville and decided to go home to play professionally for Jokerit in the Kontinental Hockey League. Contract talks with the Predators began on draft day and continued as Tolvanen set the KHL scoring record for an 18-year-old and rarely looked out of his depths.Unlike when Sioux City got a first impression of Tolvanen and thought it a no-brainer to give up its first-round pick to sign him, Jokerit general manager and Hockey Hall of Famer Jari Kurri wasn’t sure what to expect. Sure, Tolvanen lit up Finnish junior leagues, but this was a different level playing against men.”Since the first day, everybody was pretty clear that this guy is hardly a kid,” Kurri said. ”Everything went smoothly.”Tolvanen led Finland in scoring at the world juniors twice and tied for second in points among all players at the Olympics as one of the youngest players in the tournament. Before and after the Olympics, he filled up highlight reels in the KHL and impressed Jokerit staff with more than just his shot.”He’s more like a well-rounded player than many people maybe understand at the moment,” coach Jukka Jalonen said. ”He can defend excellent, he’s really physical, he hits hard http://www.officialdevils.com/authentic-adidas-cory-schneider-jersey , he has good vision on the ice. He can pass the puck over and shoot it, and he can play defense. He’s a very sound player.”Pionk didn’t see Tolvanen’s marksman-like shot in the spring of 2015 because a growth spurt hadn’t happened yet. Two years in the USHL playing under Varady allowed Tolvanen to grow and adapt his game to an ice surface smaller than those in Europe while learning English and American culture.”It was really just Eeli’s commitment to becoming a pro,” Varady said. ”He wanted to come over here, he did want to learn the language. He wanted to challenge himself on the smaller rink, tighter-checking game than maybe under-20 in Finland.”Tolvanen’s depth of experiences from the USHL to the KHL and the Olympics could speed up his learning curve in the NHL. He averaged more than 12 minutes in his first two games and was quick to get over the enormity of his leap to the next level.”Most of the nerves went away after the first shift,” Tolvanen said.Before the organization’s top prospect debuted, Predators coach Peter Laviolette said he hoped it was a seamless transition and pointed out that Tolvanen could simply fit in instead of carrying the load. Laviolette saw a jump in Tolvanen’s play from Game 1 to 2 and expects the improvement to continue.”He looked like he was skating better, more competitive, more confident with the puck,” Laviolette said Sunday in Tampa. ”Every game he plays, I think he’s going to get more and more comfortable with the speed of the game, with the level of competition.”Other young Finns have raised the level of competition in the NHL, from Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine and Florida’s Aleksander Barkov to Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen. Kurri thinks those players succeeding and playing a full season against grown men in the KHL readied Tolvanen for this.”He was facing tough games night after night,” Kurri said. ”He’s a fast guy but he’s pretty strong – strong in his skates, too. A lot people are surprised (by) that. He can play physical game. He can hit, too, and he wants to. I think this year really helped (him) to be a better player when he started facing the KHL teams night after night.”Joining fellow Finns Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros and Miikka Salomaki should help Tolvanen, the third-youngest player in the NHL this season. Though judging from his experience with Jokerit and Finland’s national team Jesper Bratt Jersey Kids , he fits in with teammates of all ages.”He gets well along with older guys, and they love Eeli and how he handles himself on and off the ice,” Jalonen said. ”He’s quite a laid-back presence. He’s quite cool, quite patient under the pressure and he doesn’t panic. I think he’s matured as he’s aged.”As Tolvanen ages and sharpens his all-around game, he is expected to be part of the Predators’ long-term future with Johansen, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and P.K. Subban. He already stands out and has plenty of room left to improve.”He does it a little different than everybody else: where his hands are at, how he handles the puck and he just has that ability to get his shot off and it’s deadly,” Varady said. ”The other thing is his speed, and he will play with a little bit of edge. He finishes checks, which sometimes surprises you with him, but he wants to get in on the forecheck, he wants to skate, he wants to compete.”—AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.— WASHINGTON (AP) The Washington Capitals scored 13 goals in two games against the New York Islanders, and Alex Ovechkin accounted for none of them.T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Niskanen scored as Washington swept a home-and-home set against the skidding Islanders with a 6-3 win on Friday night.Alex Chiasson had a goal and two assists for the Capitals, who hammered the Islanders 7-3 in New York on Thursday. Jakub Vrana’s goal gave Washington a 5-1 lead with 9:04 remaining, and Lars Eller added an empty-netter.”It’s very important to have balance. I don’t think anyone here is worried about (Ovechkin) not scoring Leo Komarov Jersey Womens , but it is good we have other guys stepping up,” Oshie said. ”That’s important. We want confidence throughout the lineup offensively going into the postseason.”Braden Holtby gained confidence in his return to the lineup. The 2016 Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goaltender had lost seven of eight and did not play in the previous four games. Holtby made 22 saves against the Islanders in his first game since March 6.”I felt a lot better,” he said. ”Not that I was feeling horrible before. You get refreshed from a week off work.”Washington broke a tie with the idle Pittsburgh Penguins for sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals’ four-game winning streak is their longest since taking five in a row from Dec. 28 to Jan. 9.Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and John Tavares scored for the Islanders, who have lost 10 of 11.Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington’s second-leading scorer, left in the second period and did not return after sustaining an upper-body injury. Capitals coach Barry Trotz said Kuznetsov is day-to-day and would be re-evaluated Saturday.Kuznetsov had two assists before exiting. In the final seconds of the second period, he smashed into the boards behind the Islanders net as New York’s Thomas Hickey was called for a slashing penalty. The slow-rising Kuznetsov eventually skated off and headed straight toward the locker room.The Islanders were called for 11 penalties that totaled 41 minutes one night after a lopsided loss. Ross Johnston received a game misconduct following a fight with Washington’s Tom Wilson.”You can’t sit in the box against that team,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. ”We battled. It wasn’t as hard as we wanted to play in the first, but we took three penalties and guys battled physically, they worked hard. They’ll probably say it was an easy game, but we worked hard.”Philipp Grubauer, tied for fourth in the league with a 2.26 goals-against average, went 3-1 in net for Washington over the previous four games. Trotz would not commit to a starting goaltender for Sunday’s pivotal matchup at Philadelphia.The good news for Washington is that Holtby’s performance makes the decision difficult.”I thought (Holtby) was pretty solid. He looked really confident,” Trotz said. ”You could tell by his play with the puck in the corner on the power play the one time. He’s feeling some confidence, so that’s good.”Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves. New York has given up at least five goals in 20 games this season.”Try to come in here and play for each other,” Nelson said of New York’s motivation with postseason hopes rapidly fading. ”We are where we are. It’s tough. But you’ve got to go out there and be professional and do your job and work every day.”Oshie redirected Ovechkin’s shot past Halak for a power-play goal in the first period. Oshie has three goals in two games after a 19-game drought.Barzal’s unassisted goal with 14:30 remaining in the second tied the score at 1. The tie did not last long as Washington took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play. Backstrom’s persistent jabbing at a loose puck in front of Halak led to a 2-1 lead with 7:12 left in the second.NOTES: Nelson and Tavares scored power-play goals. … The Capitals won the season series 3-1. … Washington honored Ovechkin before the game for scoring his 600th goal Monday against Winnipeg. … The Capitals scratched forward Brett Connolly, center Chandler Stephenson and defenseman Jakub Jerabek. Connolly has 14 goals this season. Washington D Christian Djoos played for the first time since March 6. … The Islanders scratched defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, defenseman Sebastian Ho and forward Chris Wagner.UP NEXTIslanders: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.Capitals: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.—