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Adversity is the biggest test you can face.
The Canucks dug deep and put together one of their best periods of the season, tallying two goals in the third’s final 10 minutes to force overtime.
Adversity is the biggest test you can face.
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The Vancouver Canucks got over a massive mountain on Saturday night; not only did the put an end to an ugly four-game (regulation) losing streak, they mounted a massive comeback against one of the league’s great teams.
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The Canucks wanted more than just a moral victory, but with 20 minutes to play, they were facing that reality. They’d outplayed the Boston Bruins for much of the night, but found themselves trailing 2-0 after two periods.
But they dug deep and put together one of their best periods of the season, tallying two goals in the third’s final 10 minutes to force overtime.
That alone was enough of a story, no matter the final result.
But what a result! The Canucks won 3-2 in overtime as their much-maligned power play finally struck, Brock Boeser tipping home a point shot.
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NEXT GAME
Tuesday
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vancouver Canucks
17 p.m., Rogers Arena, TV: SN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650
It was a massive game for Boeser, who scored the Canucks’s first goal and the winner and he set the screen on the tying goal.
Hockey is a game of fine margins and the Bruins just had a smidgen more through two periods. The Canucks had all the margins in the final 23 minutes.
Both Bruins goals were opportunistic strikes by their depth forwards, while the Canucks struggled to grind out open chances for much of the night despite holding the puck for long stretches.
The third saw the Canucks push hard and they scored twice for the efforts.
Tyler Myers, who has seen a lot of ups and downs as a Canuck admitted the game was possibly the most satisfying of his career.
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“It’s up there,” he said. “That was a good hockey game. I thought our mindset the whole game, even when we got down, is exactly the way we want to play.”
The four-game losing streak had been frustrating. The Canucks had been so successful this year but they’d lost their way.
“We hadn’t gone through adversity this year,” he said. “We slipped a little with our mindset of how to handle it. But you know, those are the times that you need to address it. You need to talk about it in the room. We did and we responded the way we needed to — just got to carry that learning process going forward,” he said.
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On a night where the Canucks needed someone to take the bull by the horns, J.T. Miller was the man.
“Millsy willed the game, his third period was incredible,” Rick Tocchet said.
Miller was hard on the forecheck. He threw lots of hits. He set up both the tying and winning goal.
“I just thought it was a hell of a hockey game and showed a lot of balls for our group today,” Miller said.
The Canucks controlled so much possession of the game, but Boston did great work in front of the net.
The Canucks had so much success early in the year creating rebound opportunities and getting their sticks on point shots and through two periods that was still a struggle.
But the Canucks rediscovered their ability to create traffic in front of the opposing crease and Filip Hronek’s tying goal was a perfect example: it was Boeser who was screening Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman as Hronek’s point shot sailed unchallenged into the net.
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Elias Pettersson highlighted Boeser’s effort as an example of what he and his teammates dialed in on in the third period.
“It’s a cliché get the bodies to the net. That’s why we tied it. It wasn’t a hard shot but Brock made great screen so the goalie couldn’t see it. It’s the small plays but they play a big role,” he said.
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Quinn Hughes skated 24:07 at even strength.
He was +26 in shot attempts. Just a massive performance from the Canucks’ best defenceman.
Talk about a star performance in a game where his team needed it.
Where Hughes goes, the Canucks go. He’s a workhorse who is hard to handle.
Nikita Zadorov is hard to miss.
And on this night he was notable for all the right reasons.
Rarely was he caught up in his own zone.
He was feeling confident with the puck on his stick, leading numerous rushes up the ice.
“I’m a good player when I move my feet, so I’m going to keep going,” he said with a smile.
And he made the great pass to open up a chance for Boeser.
Zadorov said that ahead of the faceoff Miller pointed out the way the Bruins defence sets up, with both defencemen away from the middle of hte ice, gives a bit of time for a winger to find a gap to set up in.
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Boeser was left unchecked for just enough time as a result.
“Yeah we drew that play,” he said.
It hasn’t been an easy run for Boeser since the All-Star game.
But in a game where the Canucks really needed a big goal, they got two from him.
So much of his success this season has been because he’s found little moments around the net.
And on his third-period goal, he found an inch of space and wired a classic wrist shot.
And then there was the winner in over time, a perfect pass from Miller, who is adept at perfect passes.
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Given his own line to work with, it was evident how smooth Elias Lindholm’s game is.
He made numerous excellent defensive reads in the early going, guiding Bruins attackers into spaces they didn’t want to go.
It was a little reminiscent of Dan Hamhuis’ strength as a defender, so cerebral, with a fabulous understanding of space.
Lindholm also created an early scoring chance by jumping on a loose puck in his own end, making some hard strides to get himself clear of the Boston back check and create a 2-on-1.
For all the pressure the Bruins were absorbing, they kept finding safe ways out of the zone once they won possession of the puck.
Once the puck landed on their stick, they got out of the zone.
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Their reads and lines off the puck are so smart and clean.
Tocchet has been clear this week about one thing that’s vexing him and is easy to fix: don’t take stick penalties.
Myers’ minor for slashing late in the first period surely drove him nuts: you can understand Myers confronting Charlie McAvoy over a hard, hard hit on Sam Lafferty, but do it without the stick, man.
You’d probably never heard of Justin Brazeau before Saturday.
He set up Boston’s first goal, using his giant reach to slide the puck around Quinn Hughes and on to Jesper Boqvist’s stick, who finished the play perfectly.
Brazeau is in just his third NHL game. He’s likely to play many more, given what we saw on this night.
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And he came through the Toronto Maple Leafs’ farm system as a project player.
He’s huge. He could score in junior.
What he couldn’t do was skate.
The Leafs took a flyer on him, built a proper skating program, sent Brazeau to the ECHL and went to work.
The Leafs surely should have held on to him. He looks like he’s going to be a solid depth player for the Bruins from here on.
The Canucks’ comeback takes the headline, but underneath that was another vital thing: the Canucks’ defensive play in front was marvellous. They didn’t give much away to Boston.
David Pastrnak had nine shot attempts somehow, but you struggle to identify any of quality.
Brad Marchand played more than 20 minutes and had no shots. He just had a chorus of boos following him around all night.
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The Bruins’ stars are in a slump.
“All due respect, we didn’t have to defend much,” Miller said.
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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
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AP golf:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
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AP Paralympics:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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