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Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens romp over the Seattle Kraken – Global News

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It had been a difficult five-game road trip for the Montreal Canadiens with three losses in their first three games.

However, it all turned around Sunday in game four of the road trip as the Canadiens romped over the Kraken in Seattle 5-1.

Wilde Horses

The Montreal Canadiens have been playing hockey for 115 years. The best season ever for a teenager was Henri Richard in 1955-56 when he tallied 40 points. Juraj Slafkovsky is on the verge of breaking that record.

In the first period, the Canadiens jumped out to a big four-goal lead. Slafkovsky got an assist for his 39th point of the season. He needs only one more point to tie Richard. He has three games to achieve the feat.

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It’s only three games because Slafkovsky will leave his teenage years behind on March 30. If Slafkovsky keeps his current pace, he should not have any difficulty reaching the total. He has eight points in his last seven games.

It’s been remarkable to see Slafkovsky progress. He’s realizing now that he can stand in front of the net for deflections and rebounds as much as he wants, because no one can move him. A once controversial draft pick is no longer controversial.

In a poll on X, when asked if the Canadiens made the right decision in choosing Slafkovsky, the response was 94 per cent in favour of the pick. Contrast this with a poll done on X the day before the draft, when 85 per cent wanted the Canadiens to choose Shane Wright.

Credit to the Canadiens managerial and scouting staff. They went with a player who was never the consensus pick at number one leading up to the draft, but it appears they made the right choice.

There are so many great moves made by the organization under Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes. Kirby Dach is a tremendous acquisition as his ceiling his high. Dach only needs to stay healthy to show it.

They also acquired Alex Newhook, who scored his 11th goal of the year on another Guhle deflection. He added another late in the first period on a 15-foot snap shot. If Newhook stayed healthy this season, he would be on a 24-goal pace for the year. That’s a strong total.


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The team lead in goals is held by Nick Suzuki with 28. He scored an absolute beauty by roofing a shot on a two-on-one with Cole Caufield. The Canadiens absolutely dominated as they led by four after 20 minutes.

The best goal of the night was a shorthanded tally by Mike Matheson. He showed all the skills that he has to score on a breakaway. It didn’t start as a breakaway, but he out-skated Tomas Tatar so severely that he turned it into one. He then beat the goalie Joey Daccord with a gorgeous deke. Matheson was plus-five on the night.

Wilde Goats

It wasn’t a perfect night for Montreal as they were dominated in the second and third periods, but Cayden Primeau was strong again. He faced 18 shots in the second period stopping all but one. He stopped 36 of 37 overall. Don’t give up on goalies at the age of 23. They take time to mature.

Primeau is arriving right now as part of a strong tandem with Samuel Montembeault who was an outcast until he was 25. Surprisingly, it is Primeau who has the superior numbers this year, with a .907 save percentage compared with Montembeault’s .903.

Wilde Cards

The Laval Rocket are in a tremendous fight for a playoff spot in the American Hockey League’s North Division. The Rocket had a strong weekend on the road in Belleville and Toronto, taking six out of a possible six points. Even better news was Belleville, which Laval is fighting for that final spot, had only one point out of a possible six.

The weekend also saw the start of the North American career of last year’s first-round pick David Reinbacher. He was asked to fly from Switzerland after his season concluded there, and play three games in three days. There was no time for jet lag for Reinbacher. In fact, there was no time to acclimatize at all.

It was remarkable to see all weekend the likely future of the Canadiens blue line on the right side for years to come. Justin Barron and Logan Mailloux also patrolled the right defensive position in an all first-round draft pick display.

Reinbacher played exceptionally well. On Friday, he scored an absolute beauty in his first game. He picked up the puck at centre ice. He then made an outstanding feint to beat the first man, then took on the defender and shot just as he was about to be closed upon. His shot was perfect as it went far side to that magic spot right over the goalie’s pad and out of reach of his hand.

Reinbacher will not be known for his offensive prowess, though, when he becomes a staple on the Canadiens blue line. The search was for stability and smarts, and it was easy to find. The Austrian national knows exactly what to do when he is on the ice.

Defensively, he boxes out in front of the net, ties up the attacker, leaving the forwards no options should a rebound come back out. When retrieving the puck, he is already assessing his options before he gets to it, and makes his play immediately. He’s always planning ahead. He makes the right decisions. Physically, he is not a killer out there, but he is imposing enough.

The only minor complaint would be that, occasionally, it would be advantageous to hold on to it a bit longer to assess whether there may be an outlet pass that could free up some attack. This also might be a decision to play it a little safe on opening weekend to play a clean game. Reinbacher is certainly low-risk.

That would be the term to describe his game: low-risk. Clean, steady and smart will also be used a lot to describe Reinbacher.

A successful blue line doesn’t just feature the prolific offence of Lane Hutson, the ripper of a shot that Logan Mailloux has. A strong blue line features smart defenders who can shutdown attackers as well. Sometimes a team needs a goal down 3-2, and sometimes a team needs to hold on for the win up 3-2.

The Canadiens blue line of the future will have a strong balance. It’s impossible to know the exact make-up of the eventual Canadiens defensive core, but on the right, Mailloux, Barron and Reinbacher will be formidable, if they grow their games at their present rate.

On the left side, after some of the regulars age out in the coming years, Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, and Arber Xhekaj will also provide excellent balance. There will be some growing pains, of course, but that is a blue line with a tremendous amount of promise.

If one of those players doesn’t grow as expected, the club also has Jayden Struble, Jordan Harris, and Jonathan Kovacevic, who are also young enough to earn a spot on the future blue line. That’s after two of the best, Mike Matheson and David Savard, have moved on.

The number of possibilities on the blue line is practically a lottery ticket. General manager Kent Hughes has a lot of dealing to do when he decides it is time.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

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

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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

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

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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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