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7 takeaways from a weekend full of Game 7s – CBC.ca

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This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports’ daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.

There’s a cliché that the best two words in sports are Game 7. Well, across the NHL and NBA this weekend, we witnessed seven of them — not to mention additional winner-take-all matches in soccer and tennis.

Some of the showdowns were good, old-fashioned classics, while others were duds. Some favourites advanced, and some underdogs did too. The only constant: heartbreak on one side — and jubilation on the other.

Here are seven takeaways from a wild sports weekend:

Maybe the Maple Leafs are just cursed. Unlike last season against Montreal, Toronto didn’t quite collapse against Tampa Bay. Instead, it was simply a loss where one team got one extra bounce. Of course, that bounce didn’t go the Maple Leafs’ way, because bounces never seem to go the Maple Leafs’ way. Their series against the two-time defending champions was scintillatingly close — the Leafs both outscored and outshot the Lightning by one over seven games. But for the sixth straight year, Toronto is going home after the first round. That makes nine consecutive potential series clinchers that the Maple Leafs have lost. Maybe this team needs major changes to shake up the mojo. Or maybe they’re just cursed.

Sometimes in the playoffs, you need superstars to step up. Hockey might be the ultimate team sport, and sure, anything can happen in the playoffs. But thanks to a pair of true gamechangers, hockey fans will get the first Battle of Alberta playoff series since 1991. For the Oilers that gamechanger was unsurprisingly Connor McDavid, whose tenacious individual effort was the dagger in Edmonton’s 2-0 Game 7 win over Los Angeles. Per stats guru Meghan Chayka, McDavid was on the ice for 20 of the Oilers’ 26 goals in the series, recording 14 total points. Meanwhile, Johnny Hockey came through for Calgary, picking a corner in OT to send the Flames past Dallas and goalie Jake Oettinger, whose 64 Game 7 saves were somehow not enough.

WATCH | Memorable moments from the Battle of Alberta:

9 Battle of Alberta moments…in 90 seconds

11 hours ago

Duration 2:04

Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs will feature one of the oldest and most heated rivalries in hockey.

But the playoffs are also where stars are born. McDavid and Gaudreau were expectedly great. Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe? Not so much. Verhaeghe was a third-round pick of his hometown Maple Leafs in 2013 who bounced around the minors before finally getting a chance with the Lightning a couple years ago, when he scored nine goals in 52 games. That was enough for the Panthers, who poached him from their state rivals in free agency. The move paid off in their six-game series victory over Washington, where Verhaeghe, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, was on the ice for a McDavid-like 13 of Florida’s 20 goals, and earned a point on 12 of them, including his Game 6 OT winner.

What now for a trio of surefire Hall of Famers? In many ways, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Patrice Bergeron have defined the salary-cap era of the NHL. But after each met a first-round exit, their futures are less certain than usual. The Penguins were up 2-0 in Game 5 of a series they led 3-1 when Crosby was injured, forcing him to miss the rest of that contest as well as Game 6. Pittsburgh eventually lost in OT of Game 7, despite Crosby’s return. “Sid the Kid” remains excellent, posting 10 points in the series, but at 34 he’s certainly no longer a kid, and he’s surrounded by a similarly aging core with co-star Evgeni Malkin headed to free agency. In Washington, Ovechkin produced a vintage 50-goal season, but the Capitals seemed to sputter all season before falling to the Panthers. And Bergeron, also a pending free agent, made a point to hug each and every teammate after the Bruins’ Game 7 loss to the Hurricanes. Could that signal the end of an era? The 36-year-old said today he wouldn’t play anywhere but Boston — that is, if he continues to play.

Both of last year’s NBA finalists flamed out of the playoffs. The reigning champion Bucks, missing all-star Khris Middleton, simply ran out of steam against an impressive Celtics team in a 28-point Game 7 loss, despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s best efforts. But while Milwaukee shot a paltry 12 per cent on three-pointers against Boston’s stout defence, that wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as the Suns’ stunning defeat to the Mavericks, in which the 33-point margin was flattering to top-seeded Phoenix. At halftime, the Suns, who owned the NBA’s best regular-season record, had managed just 34 points — as many as Dallas superstar Luka Doncic scored on his own to that point. The Mavs now meet the rejuvenated Golden State Warriors in the West final, while the East final features the Celtics and Miami Heat. Read more about both games here.

Canadian women aren’t done collecting soccer hardware. In a winner-take-all match across the pond, Canadian Olympic champion Jessie Fleming came on in the 80th minute and proved crucial to Chelsea’s FA Cup victory. Fleming ran alongside star Australian forward Sam Kerr on a two-on-one in extra time, acting as a decoy for Kerr to fire home the game winner. The play capped a breakout year for the 24-year-old, who was even handed Canada’s captain’s armband at an international tournament recently. Meanwhile in France, fellow gold medallist Ashley Lawrence scored twice and Jordyn Huitema saw action too as Paris Saint-Germain won the less-heralded Coupe de France with an 8-0 rout over underdog Yzeure.

Novak Djokovic is back, and Iga Swiatek has arrived. Djokovic bageled Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening set of their Italian Open final en route to his sixth Italian Open championship. It’s a return to form for the controversial Serb, who heads to the French Open for his first major of the season next week. Meanwhile, Swiatek claimed the women’s title, marking her stunning 28th straight victory and fifth straight championship. Ranked No. 1, Swiatek should be a clear favourite at Roland Garros. In women’s doubles, Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Giuliana Olmos missed out on a second straight victory of their own, falling in the Rome final. Read more about all the clay-court action here.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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