EDMONTON — On the day we drink Guinness, the Edmonton Oilers made the perfect point.
Fitted with a 3-0 lead for the second straight game, the Oilers proved this time that they know what to do with it, shutting ‘er down and defeating the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 in a game they controlled from the drop of the puck to the final horn.
“It was a full 60 minutes. Maybe as good a game as we have played all year,” said defenceman Tyson Barrie, who had a goal and an assist on a plus-2 night. “After two periods we realized that we had played a pretty solid game up to that point and we made a point of coming out and drilling home that last 20 minutes — to show us what it feels like to play the full game.”
After leading 3-0 five minutes into the game against Detroit on Tuesday, Edmonton found itself tied 5-5 in the third period before winning 7-5. Two nights later it blunted the Sabres, who were not very good at all.
“What I saw was what everybody else saw,” said Sabres head coach Don Granato. “That was not a very good game.”
For his team, perhaps. But the Oilers collected another two points on a what has been a perfect four-game homestand so far, and they’ll try for five straight when they host New Jersey in a Saturday matinee.
The Oilers rolled four lines right overtop the Sabres on St. Patty’s Day, and as they begin to get their ‘A’ team back from Injured Reserve, Edmonton is finding a rhythm in the way it plays.
“I thought we got contributions from everybody,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “All four lines, three D-pairs, Mike Smith was excellent, the penalty kill was good, we got a shorthanded goal and we scored a power play goal. All facets of the game seemed to be firing on all cylinders, and because we had everybody going, we were able to spread the minutes out nicely tonight.”
On a night when five different Oilers had two-point nights, Zach Hyman was perhaps their most industrious player on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Jesse Puljujarvi. Hyman was a catalyst all night, the buzz saw that GM Ken Holland envisioned when he lured him in as a free agent last summer.
“Just when it looks like there are three guys on him, he finds a way to outwork them all. That’s why he was so coveted,” Barrie said. “The thing about him is that he plays the same way every night. You can rely on him.”
The Oilers’ quest is to get the flightiness out of their game. In a league where everyone seeks consistency they’re no different, seeking an identity that they can roll out one night after the next.
That means being a better defensive team to go along with the plethora of offence the Oilers possess, with Leon Draisaitl scoring his 40th Thursday and Connor McDavid flying around the ice, simply on a different level than his peers.
He had two points but left early when he took a late stick in the chops.
“Yep, sutures and he got zipped up. He’s just fine,” said Woodcroft. “I don’t think he’s getting enough credit for what he’s doing defensively. He makes a lot of really subtle good plays in his own zone. He stops on pucks, and had some really good box outs tonight as well.”
It’s true: McDavid’s defensive game has found a new level. With him and Draisaitl both playing a proper two-way game — and each of them heating up production-wise — the Oilers are rounding into a team that can beat you.
“The Detroit game was a good lesson for us,” Hyman said. “It was nice to have learned from that and put it to the test. I thought we were great all the way through (Thursday).”
A subplot against the Sabres was goalie Mike Smith getting another start, as he continues the journey to finding his game with his 40th birthday set for Tuesday. It’s hard enough for a young forward to overcome the games lost to injury that Smith has endured, and catch up to the pack as everyone else rounds into playoff form.
But a 40-year-old goalie?
Oilers fans were wondering if the task was impossible, but they received a ray of hope Thursday on a night that was exactly what the doctor ordered — a game where the shots arrived (mostly) methodically, and rarely in succession. This was a confidence-builder for Smith, beaten only on a quality one-timer by Victor Olofsson.
He made 28 saves, but was asked to make very few spectacular ones. It’s a game he can build on, and he can thank the skaters for applying themselves against Buffalo the way they had not against Detroit.
“That is always the goal, to make sure you help your goalie out as much as you can,” Hyman said. “In the first (period) there was a half breakaway and drive to the net and he made the saves on both of those. He just played steady all night and I thought his ability to move the puck…
“It was great to get him the win and he earned it.”
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.
