Well, not right here — down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup final and facing elimination on home ice — but the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens stared at the same long odds back in junior and managed to flip the script.
After losing the first three games of their quarterfinal series against the Quebec Remparts in the 2012 QMJHL playoffs, Ducharme’s Halifax Mooseheads responded with 2-1 and 3-2 wins to force Game 6.
Led by 16-year-old Nathan MacKinnon, they followed that up with a 5-2 victory before securing a thrilling 5-4 overtime decision in Game 7.
The stakes are much higher some nine years later in the summer of 2021 with Montreal down 0-3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the clinical defending champions looking to become just the second team to repeat since 1999.
‘That’s what we’re thinking about’
Ducharme’s overarching blueprint to get back in this series, however, remains the same.
“You can’t look too far ahead,” he said Saturday. “If you do, the mountain seems pretty high. There are steps to follow. The first step is to win at home [Monday in Game 4]. Those who think we’ll just go away don’t really know us. We’ll fight.
“That’s what we’re thinking about.”
WATCH | Late turnover costs Habs any chance of comeback against Lightning:
Ondrej Palat capitalized on a late turnover from Joel Edmundson to put an end to any potential comeback from the Montreal Canadiens in game two. 1:03
The Canadiens are also thinking about how they can get back to a style of play that solidified midway through the first round against the heavily favoured Toronto Maple Leafs and propelled them on this improbable playoff journey.
Montreal erased a 3-1 hole in that series by taking care of the puck, finally capitalizing on its chances, and relying on consistency up and down its lineup.
The Canadiens then stunned the Winnipeg Jets with a sweep — they won seven straight contests without ever trailing at one point this spring — and used the same formula against the Vegas Golden Knights in the semifinals.
But the NHL’s 18th-ranked team during the pandemic-shortened regular season, and the last to qualify for the playoffs, has looked like it for much of the Cup final.
Montreal gifted Tampa goals left and right in Friday’s 6-3 loss at the Bell Centre with sloppy decisions and mental mistakes that simply weren’t made over the last month-plus of grinding, methodical action.
The Lightning capitalized on an inability to clear the puck and a needless delay-of-game penalty early to take a 2-0 advantage in Game 3.
Montreal steadied itself and cut the lead heading into the first intermission, but again switched off in the opening stages of the second by failing to get the puck deep on a line change and creating a 2-on-0 the other way that was followed up by a 2-on-1 strike a few minutes later.
And that was basically that at 4-1.
The Canadiens are wary of making mistakes against an opponent stacked with skill and assassin-like precision, but is overthinking and not playing on their toes actually forcing them into the exact errors they’re looking to avoid?
Ducharme doesn’t think so.
“We know how to manage [the puck],” he said less than 24 hours after returning to the bench following a 14-day absence because of a positive COVID-19 test. “There’s nothing to say about our will [in Game 3]. You just need to find the right balance and manage that, and manage that energy the right way.
“When you’re trailing, you have a tendency of pushing a little bit more and forcing a little bit more, and you make a little bit more risky plays. The risk and reward, sometimes you get a bit.”
‘The best team we’ve played’
What was working in the first three rounds is no longer the case. And Tampa — with the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy — is doing its part to complicate matters.
“The best team we’ve played,” Ducharme said with both clubs staying off the ice thanks to an extra day off between games. “Everything that we do is just a little bit more difficult because we’re playing a good team. I don’t feel that being smart with the puck puts you on your heels because you don’t want to make mistakes.
“It’s just being smart.”
WATCH | Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning:
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals have the Montreal Canadiens back on their home turf. The stadium will let 3,500 people in — with physical distancing required. Montreal went into this game down 0-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 1:57
Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh said Tampa has emphasized speed to keep Montreal off balance at both ends of the rink.
“That’s when we’re really at our best: when we’re attacking the opposition when they don’t have the puck,” said McDonagh, whose team can become the first since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings to sweep the final. “When we get away from it, we realize it right away.
“When we’re at our best — when the puck’s not on our stick — we’re using our speed to get in their face and try and disrupt things.”
Ducharme said he’s contemplating lineup changes with his team’s back pressed against the wall, but one switch firmly off the table is benching Carey Price.
The former Hart and Vezina Trophy winner is the main reason Montreal is in its first final since 1993, but he also owns an ugly .835 save percentage in the series.
“Carey’s the guy playing Monday,” Ducharme said. “You can talk about one guy or another guy. It’s about all of us. We need to be better in front of him. Everyone. All 20 guys putting on the jersey are looking for, Monday night, playing their best game.
“That’s it.”
The trouble is, their best game still might not be good enough.
WATCH | Meet Canada’s Olympic track and field team:
This week on Team Canada Today, Andi Petrillo explains all of the big Canadian storylines in athletics — including Andre De Grasse’s chances at winning another medal. 4:13
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
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