LAS VEGAS — The Edmonton Oilers could have won this game in the opening 15 minutes. Should have, really, because they didn’t have 60 minutes of chasing down the Vegas Golden Knights in them Wednesday night.
Injury-riddled and on the back end of back-to-back road games, Edmonton stayed in this game against a red-hot Vegas club as long as one could expect before ol’ Bessy just couldn’t keep chuggin’ along anymore. In the end, they lost 3-0 on a night where the other guys had better goaltending and — on the rare occasion this season — better special teams as well.
“We needed a powerplay goal,” lamented Leon Draisaitl. “We had enough chances to score, especially the first two powerplays. Just couldn’t get one over the line.”
Draisaitl had copious chances to notch his 100th point of the season but just could not scratch the itch.
“Other than the second period I thought we played a solid game. We created chances. But nights like that, they happen,” he shrugged. “We’ve probably won a lot of games this year where we created a lot less than tonight.”
In the opening 15 minutes, Draisaitl did everything but finish. He later rang one off the post with the score 1-0, early in the third.
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Connor McDavid missed on a pair of chances in the opening 12 minutes that he buries nine out of 10 times. And legendary goalie Marc-Andre Fleury did his Gumby act in the Vegas nets, weathering an offensive storm that could have — should have — yielded at least two early goals, if not more.
Then the puck went down the other way, and the red light went on. A Max Pacioretty rocket from a bad angle that should never go in — especially when the guy at the other end is denying everything — flew short-side on Mikko Koskinen, and even though he played pretty well after that, a beat up Oilers squad needed perfection, and that was provided only by Fleury at the other end.
Edmonton dominated the first period and trailed 1-0 at its conclusion. Ouch!
“They were the better team tonight. I don’t think it was just a hot goaltender,” McDavid said. “They get one on the powerplay, it’s a back-breaker, made it 2-0 with 10 minutes to go. We start the third on the powerplay, and if we find a way to get one there it’s a different game.”
The good news is, Edmonton got three of six points on this road trip, the middle stage of a run that sees them play nine of 12 games on the road, from Florida, to California, to Nashville and Chicago.
The bad news? They’ve now dropped four of their past five.
The injuries are starting to catch up, and Andreas Athanasiou left this one with a lower-body injury in just his second game after coming over in a trade from Detroit.
“It’s been a hard go here, the schedule, and we’ve had players play hard,” allowed head coach Dave Tippett. “We’re hanging around and finding a way to get points. Saturday we get Kass (Zack Kassian) back, and I think we’ll slowly start to get some people back in the next little bit. Hopefully everyone who comes back is fresh and rested, and can help the cause here.”
Edmonton entered the game minus injured players Oscar Klefbom, Kailer Yamamoto, James Neal, Joakim Nygard and Kris Russell, while Kassian was serving the final game of his seven-game suspension for kicking. Kassian will return Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, but the fatigue you can plainly see comes from players playing more than their usual minutes for too many games in a row.
“I liked our first period,” Tippett said, “but once we started chasin’ the game, you could see the fatigue factor creeping in.”
As for Koskinen, he made a series of circus saves in the second period to maintain his team’s chances of winning, but alas, he’s not the first to have been outplayed by Fleury. On this night he was just that — the second-best goalie in this game.
“Vintage Flower,” said Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer, whose tendy stopped all 29 shots. “We don’t get out of the first period unless he plays the way he does. He was fantastic.”
Edmonton has a one-game homestand — a Hockey Night in Canada affair against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday — and then it’s back on the road.
They’ll need some horses back. There’s track left in the Pacific Division race, and Edmonton is running out of steam.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
