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LAS VEGAS (AP) The bookies in this gambling city have to be getting a bit nervous.Hockey fans Youth John Moore Jersey , though, are nothing short of ecstatic.They screamed, danced and cheered as the goals came one right after another in a first period blitz Thursday night as the Vegas Golden Knights remained undefeated in the playoffs by dominating the San Jose Sharks 7-0 in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.The hottest show on the Las Vegas Strip got even hotter as the Knights – who were 200-1 at many sports books to win the Stanley Cup before the season began – opened their second playoff series with a rout of the Sharks that was over before the Zambonis hit the ice.This had nothing to do with the so-called Vegas Flu that has overcome some visiting teams who might have not resisted some of the pleasures on the Las Vegas Strip. This was a simple beat down, by a group of players who had never been together on the ice before the season began.”It’s not going to be like this every night,” Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”We’re going to enjoy this and move on.”Once again, the Knights played like no expansion team ever before. Once again, they showed that perhaps the fantasy of bringing the Stanley Cup to the Las Vegas Strip may not be such a fantasy after all.And once again, 18,444 fans sang ”Viva Las Vegas” and went home happy – but not before watching Fleury join them in doing the wave in the closing minutes.”It’s a great home crowd,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”We like them a lot.”There’s a lot to like about a team that a year ago was nothing more than an expansion project with an uncertain future. Now the Knights are tearing through the playoffs like a hot dice thrower at the craps table.That might be a problem at the sports books, which are on the hook for possibly millions if the Knights should win it all. But it’s playing out nicely around the rest of Las Vegas, which is awash in Knights merchandise as the city that has never had a major sports team eagerly embraces one that is its very own.If getting to the playoffs was seen as almost impossible before the season began, the Knights are 5-1 in sports books on the Strip to win it all, just behind Nashville and Tampa Bay as favorites.With good reason. The Knights are the only remaining unbeaten team in the playoffs, and have the hottest goalie around. Fleury, picked up from Pittsburgh in the expansion draft, got his third shutout of the playoffs and has allowed only three goals in five games.He didn’t allow any against the Sharks, stopping 33 shots to record the shutout.”I don’t go looking at my stats,” Fleury said. ”A win is a win and I’ll try my best to get my team a win. That’s what it’s all about.”The team that proudly declares itself Vegas Born thrilled a raucous crowd at the T-Mobile arena, scoring three goals within a span of 1:31 in the first period to pretty much put the game away early.Against a team that – like the Knights – swept their opening series, they turned the game into a rout early. Seven players scored goals, though with Fleury in net there was no way seven would be needed.”You don’t get extra points for winning by a touchdown like they did,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. ”We just have to be better.”Earlier, Knights general manager George McPhee talked about how good the team he put together might be. But even he had to be surprised at the ease the Knights, coming off a nine-day layoff after sweeping the Los Angeles Kings, won their second-round opener.”We think we’re a pretty good club but we’ll keep trying to do what we do and see where it takes us,” McPhee said. ”We haven’t really looked at the season in its totality before it started, or the playoffs in its totality.”The formula for the Knights has been as simple as it has been effective. With some top talent there for the taking in the expansion draft the Knights combined a fast, swarming attack with stellar work of Fleury to win their division.Nothing changed in the opening game against the Sharks except the goals came early and often.”We play fast, we play quick, we play direct hockey,” Gallant said. ”So far it’s worked for us.”The Knights have done all of that, and more to move into the serious conversation about what teams can win the Stanley Cup.If any more proof was needed, even the bookies are believers now.—-Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg BOSTON (AP) The Boston Bruins remember what happened last time they met Toronto in the NHL playoffs. They also realize they can’t count on it happening again.After taking a 3-1 lead in the series but failing to close out the Maple Leafs in Games 5 and 6 of their first-round series in 2013, Boston fell behind 4-1 in the third period of the decisive seventh game before sending it into overtime with two goals in the last 82 seconds of regulation.The Bruins won in OT en route to their second Stanley Cup Finals appearance in three years.”It’s kind of crazy how things worked out,” forward Brad Marchand said after practice Wednesday. ”If we went back there again, it wouldn’t necessarily work out (that way), so we got lucky.”In addition to Marchand Womens Kyle Palmieri Jersey , the Bruins have goalie Tuukka Rask, forward David Krejci and defensemen Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid and Torey Krug from that team. Toronto has five holdovers with bitter memories of that postseason, including forward Nazem Kadri, who thought he clinched it when he scored with 5:29 gone in the third to make it 4-1.”I think a lot of people thought the same thing,” Kadri told The Canadian Press. ”It was hard to deal with.”The Bruins went on to beat the New York Rangers in five games and swept the Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals. They led Chicago 2-1 in the finals before losing three straight, giving up two goals 17 seconds apart in the final minutes of the finale before watching the Blackhawks skate around the TD Garden ice with the Cup.It all started with the late rally against Toronto.”We had a good run after that,” Rask said.Here are some other things to look for from the first-round playoff series between the Bruins and Maple Leafs.OUTBruins center Riley Nash is not yet ready to return, Cassidy said. Although he worked out on Wednesday, the team decided to give him until at least Saturday to recover from the puck to the right ear that has kept him out since March 31.”He’s an underrated guy,” Cassidy said, adding that Noel Acciari was the likely replacement. ”We’re confident in the guy replacing Riley, but we’ll miss him.”The move likely leaves U.S. Olympic team captain Brian Gionta as a healthy scratch.HISTORY, PART IIThe two Original Six teams don’t have much of a playoff history – at least not lately, or compared to the Bruins and Canadiens. Before 2013, Boston and Toronto hadn’t met since 1974, having spent much of the `80s and `90s in different conferences.In all, the teams are dead even at 34-34-1 in the playoffs, with Toronto holding a series lead of 7-6-1.But that 2013 series still smarts.Current Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was 16 years old at the time.”As a Leaf fan, it was tough,” he told the CP.MATCHUPSCassidy said the Bruins would not go too far out of their way to make sure they can match lines with the Maple Leafs, which would help Boston use Bergeron to try to neutralize Toronto’s No. 2 scorer Auston Matthews.”Generally speaking, we’ve allowed our players to play,” Cassidy said. ”We look for it, but we don’t chase it.”UP NEXTHere’s the schedule for the series:Thursday: Toronto at Boston, 7 p.m.Saturday: Toronto at Boston, 8 p.m.Monday: Boston at Toronto, 7 p.m.Thursday, April 19: Boston at Toronto, 7 p.m.x-Saturday, April 21: Toronto at Boston, TBAx-Monday, April 23: Boston at Toronto, TBAx-Wednesday, April 25: Toronto at Boston, TBA(x-If necessary)—