The Tampa Bay Lightning can win the Stanley Cup for the second time in less than 10 months when they visit the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Bell Centre on Monday.
The Lightning won the Cup for the second time in their history Sept. 28, 2020, defeating the Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6 of the Final.
“It’s been a ride,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Tampa Bay can become the first team to sweep its opponent in the Cup Final since the Detroit Red Wings did it against the Washington Capitals in 1998.
The Lightning are the first team to win the first three games in the Cup Final since the Los Angeles Kings against the New York Rangers in 2014. The Kings lost Game 4 but won Game 5 to win the Stanley Cup.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to go out there and take it, but it’s going to be hard,” Lightning defenseman David Savard said. “We know that team on the other side doesn’t want to go down without a fight.”
The Canadiens will try to become the fifth NHL team to come back after losing the first three games in a best-of-7 series and second to do it in the Cup Final (1942 Toronto Maple Leafs). They are the 200th team to trail 3-0, including the 28th in the Cup Final.
Tampa Bay has outscored Montreal 14-5 and hasn’t trailed in the series. The Lightning had one-goal leads after the first period in Games 1 and 3.
“There is a lot of energy,” Canadiens forward Paul Byron said. “Everyone on the team knows we can play better. It’s a big challenge for the team, but everyone has to play to their potential tonight. I like the energy. I like the atmosphere on the team. We’ll see tonight.”
Here are 3 keys for Game 4:
1. Price must be right
Canadiens goalie Carey Price has been badly outplayed in the series by his Lightning counterpart, Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Price has a 4.39 goals-against average and an .835 save percentage, allowing 13 goals on 79 shots. Vasilevskiy has a 1.67 GAA and a .948 save percentage, allowing five goals on 97 shots.
It’s unlikely that the Canadiens will extend the series if Vasilevskiy continues to outshine Price.
2. Lightning need to block out noise
The Lightning don’t believe they’re going to get caught up in the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup because of their experience from last season.
They lost Game 5 of the Cup Final against the Stars last season when they had a chance to win the series. They won it in Game 6.
“I remember vividly last year having an opportunity to knock out Dallas and I look back now my thoughts were all going in the wrong direction,” Cooper said. “You’re thinking about raising the Stanley Cup, what’s it going to be like after, lifelong dreams, who is going to get to drink out of it. That’s called channeling your energy in the wrong direction.
“When we lost that game, I learned a lesson and it has to come back to your beliefs and it’s the process over the outcome. You can’t think of the outcome. You just have to believe in your process and whatever happens that’ll all take care of itself. Going into these games now, knowing how much is at stake, I’ve put it aside and I want to channel my energy into having our team play the best possible game.”
3. Canadiens make changes
The Canadiens will have a new look with several line and lineup changes in an attempt to shake things up and find some new energy, particularly at the start of the game.
The biggest change up front is inserting forward Jake Evans at center on the third line and scratching Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has played 19 straight games since he was a healthy scratch in Game 1 against the Maple Leafs in the first round.
Evans, scratched the past two games after playing on the fourth line in Game 1, will center the third line with Artturi Lehkonen and Byron. Canadiens coach Dominque Ducharme said the line brings speed and energy, as it did in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers.
“They can play against top lines,” Ducharme said. “They showed it against [Connor] McDavid in two games.”
Brett Kulak and Alexander Romanov will enter the lineup on the third defense pair, replacing Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson.
“We wanted to bring a little bit more skating on our back end with those two guys,” Ducharme said. “We feel it’s important against them tonight and we’ll see.”
Killorn will be a game-time decision, Cooper said. He has missed the past two games after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Game 1 when blocking a shot. … Toffoli will move up to the top line and replace Lehkonen, who will drop to the third line. Anderson will move up from the third line to the second line and Caufield will move from right wing to left wing. The Canadiens fourth line will remain the same from Game 3.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
