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Game Day Notebook: Two more Canadiens added to NHL COVID protocol list – Montreal Gazette

Published

3 years ago

December 30, 2021

Louie Belpedio and Gianni Fairbrother, who were both on taxi squad, bring number of Habs on protocol list to 13 ahead of game in Carolina.

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette

The Canadiens will be missing 13 players who are on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list when they play the Hurricanes Thursday night in Carolina. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme announced Thursday morning that two more of his players would be placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.

Ducharme wouldn’t name who the two players were after the team’s optional morning skate in Carolina, adding the names would be released later in the day as per NHL protocols.

“I think there’s a procedure with the league there, so I’ll wait for everything to be confirmed and sent to the league and everything,” Ducharme said about the names of the two players being released.

Later in the day it was announced that the players added to the list are defencemen Louie Belpedio and Gianni Fairbrother, who had both been called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket this week to join the Canadiens’ taxi squad.

The two new players bring the total number of Canadiens on the protocol list up to 13 ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Hurricanes (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) at PNC Arena.

While the decision on whether to play the game or not isn’t in his control, Ducharme was asked if he thinks from a personal standpoint it’s right for his team to be asked by the NHL to play under the current circumstances.

“I’m not sure I’m here to say if it’s right or not,” the coach said. “They have people at the league that are looking around and making sure that everything is done for the league to be going and for every team looking at every situation. So it is what it is. Like I said before, we’re going to be having 20 guys wearing the jersey tonight, like we did in Tampa, and we’re facing a really good team. It’s a good challenge for us and we’re going to be ready to go.”

The Canadiens rank 31st in the overall NHL standings with a 7-21-4 record and are three points ahead of the last-place Arizona Coyotes (6-21-3), who hold two games in hand. The Hurricanes are third in the overall standings with a 21-7-1 record.

The Canadiens are coming off a 5-4 overtime loss to the Lightning Tuesday night in Tampa, while the Hurricanes haven’t played since beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Dec. 18. The Hurricanes are 6-1-0 in their last seven games.

Less than a week ago, the Hurricanes had 12 players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list, but they were down to three on Wednesday, including goalie Frederik Andersen. As a result, Antti Raanta will be in goal against the Canadiens.

Sam Montembeault will make his second straight start in goal for the Canadiens.

The 11 Canadiens players who were already on the protocol list are: goalies Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau, defencemen Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Chris Wideman, along with forwards Laurent Dauphin, Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen, Tyler Toffoli and Paul Byron.

The search for a new GM

Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported Wednesday night that eight people will be interviewed for the vacant Canadiens GM job next week: Patrick Roy, Daniel Brière, Mathieu Darche, Marc Denis, Kent Hughes, Stéphane Quintal, Danièle Sauvageau and Émilie Castonguay. One or two other names could be added to the list by the end of next week.

Owner/president Geoff Molson, executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, minority owner Michael Andlauer and former captain and GM Bob Gainey will be on the selection committee.

Waiting for test results

The Canadiens’ Jake Evans was asked Thursday morning what the anxiety level is on the team as the players await the results of their COVID-19 tests each day.

“I feel like even when I went home (at Christmas) the way that this variant’s been spreading I feel like everyone here knows a few people (who have COVID) that they were somewhat close with, all this contact tracing stuff,” he said. “So even here you might have had lunch with the guy beside you who tested positive the day before. I think we’re at a point where you’re not really thinking about it. You’re hoping nothing happens, but there’s been a lot of cases so it’s hard to get too anxious about it because it’s not going to be any good.”

When asked if the league should postpone Thursday night’s game with so many Canadiens players on the protocol list, Evans said: “That’s a tough question. What we’re going to do is just play with what we have and keep working hard and let the league and the team decide what’s best for us. Whoever’s in the lineup’s going to play hard and try and win.

“I think with all these quarantine rules and with COVID you don’t want to get it and you know we’re in, I guess you could say, kind of a hot spot with how many guys on the team are getting it,” Evans said. “You don’t want to be stuck in a city you’re not familiar with, too (while in quarantine after testing positive). But you trust the league and you trust the team and what we’ve been doing to keep safe. Testing every day and rapid testing and all that stuff. So I feel pretty confident in how our team and how the league’s been handling it and hopefully we can just move on soon from it.”

Hurricanes a well-balanced team

The Hurricanes are a very well-balanced team, ranking first in the NHL in defence (allowing an average of 2.14 goals per game) and eighth in offence (scoring an average of 3.28 goals per game).

The Hurricanes also rank second in penalty-killing (88.7 per cent), 10th on the power play (22.5 per cent) and third in faceoffs (54.4 per cent).

The Canadiens rank 31st in offence (2.19 goals per game), 30th in defence (3.56 goals against per game), 32nd on the power play (12.0 per cent), 29th in penalty-killing (72.7 per cent) and 25th in faceoffs (48.0 per cent).

“They do have a really good team over there and they’re a fast and skilled team,” Evans said about the Hurricanes. “So just playing smart and hard and hopefully we can pull out a win.

“They’re a balanced and well-rounded team,” Evans added. “They’ve got great goaltending, great defencemen and a lot of offensive skill up front, too. Last game I thought we played a pretty solid game (against the Lightning) limiting their chances and just playing hard. We got to continue that tonight and just limit those mistakes because with their skill up front they can capitalize on as few chances as possible.”

Ducharme noted that the Hurricanes like to play a fast game.

“They’re a fast team, they play with pace and they’re pretty consistent up and down their lineup,” the coach said. “You can clearly see their team identity and they play within that identity and they’re pretty consistent doing it.”

The Kotkaniemi watch

This will be the Canadiens’ second game this season against the Hurricanes, who won 4-1 at the Bell Centre on Oct. 21.

Former Canadien Jesperi Kotkaniemi, playing his first game against his old teammates, scored a goal in that game while being booed by Montreal fans every time he touched the puck.

In 29 games this season, Kotkaniemi has 7-6-13 totals and is plus-1 while averaging 12:13 of ice time and winning 50.8 per cent of his faceoffs. He is on a three-game point streak with 1-4-5 totals during that span and has four goals in his last 11 games. No player on the Canadiens has scored more goals than Kotkaniemi’s seven.

“We were good friends last year and he’s a great guy and a great player,” Evans said about Kotkaniemi, adding that he still keeps in touch with him. “So it will be fun to play against him and hopefully shut him down this time and get a big win against him so we can rub it in.”

Romanov a hit machine

The Canadiens’ Alexander Romanov ranks second among NHL defencemen in hits with 101, trailing only the Florida Panthers’ Radko Gudas, who has 121.

Romanov ranks seventh overall in the league in hits with former Canadien Nicolas Deslauriers of the Anaheim Ducks leading the way with 137.

When asked if he checks his number of hits after games, Romanov said: “No, I never check it. It’s just my style of play.”

Romanov logged a season-high 26:53 of ice time in Thursday’s game against the Lightning, along with three hits.

The 21-year-old Russian said his biggest improvement since joining the Canadiens has been in the defensive zone while learning to play with a close gap.

“I think you don’t need to waste energy and work with your brain,” he added. “You have to think more on the ice. No rush. Just wait.”

Curfew back in Quebec

After reporting more than 14,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the Quebec government announced new pandemic restrictions, including a curfew from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. starting Friday.

The Canadiens have already postponed their next four scheduled home games at the Bell Centre because of attendance restrictions put in place by the government because of COVID-19. A fifth game in January that was scheduled against the Bruins at the Bell Centre has been moved to Boston.

“Honestly, for us it doesn’t change that much since for a while we’re not allowed to go anywhere, basically,” Ducharme said a curfew. “We’re one the road, we’re staying at the hotel, we cannot go outside or eat out or anything else. They asked us to do the same in Montreal now. So curfew or not, beside taking a walk at night, for us it doesn’t change much.

“I think it’s hard on everyone, not only us,” Ducharme added. “I think it’s hard on everyone mentally at one point to be stuck like that. But we’ve been through it last year. It’s a challenge, but we got to do what we need to do and we have nothing to say on that part. It’s a government decision and we’ll see what happens and what they ask. But as a team and as a league we’re being careful everywhere we go and we need to be avoiding any kind of activities like this. So for us it doesn’t change much.”

The lines

Here’s how the Canadiens’ forward lines and defence pairings looked at Wednesday’s full practice in Carolina:

Drouin – Suzuki – Gallagher
Harvey-Pinard – Poehling – Caufield
Belzile – Evans – Ylönen
Pezzetta – Paquette – Vejdemo

Romanov – Savard
Kulak – Clague
Niku – Schueneman

What’s next?

The Canadiens will fly to Florida after Thursday night’s game and play the Panthers on New Year’s Day Saturday (1 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

After that, the Canadiens are not scheduled to play again until Jan. 12 when they will face the Bruins in Boston.

scowan@postmedia.com

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

2 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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