VANCOUVER – This is the ugliest six-game winning streak in franchise history. Of course, in 50 years, the Vancouver Canucks have had precious few six-game winning streaks with which to compare it.
The Canucks matched their longest victory march in more than six years by somehow beating the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 on Thursday, when Vancouver blew two one-goal leads, then overcame a two-goal deficit before winning it on Adam Gaudette’s goal out of thin air with 4:11 remaining.
Canucks captain Bo Horvat capped his excellent, plus-four night by blocking Erik Gustafsson’s slapshot in the final seconds, then scoring into an empty net from 130 feet.
Vancouver was awful at the start of the second period, risky with the puck most of the night and lucky to get a couple of deflections and a couple of bounces as the Canucks won a sixth straight National Hockey League game for the first time in three years.
The last time Vancouver won seven in a row, John Tortorella was their one-and-done coach in 2013-14.
Everyone at Rogers Arena loved the mistake-filled, goal-choked roller coaster. Well, everyone except coaches, goalies, the official scorer and hockey purists.
“Obviously, it’s better to be on the winning end of it,” Horvat said after the Canucks clung to their playoff position. “But I’d rather win a game 3-2 to be honest with you. Or 4-2 with an empty net, but not 7-5. Sometimes you’re going to have games like that and you’ve got to figure out a way to win them.
“Not getting down on ourselves down by two (in the second period), and for us to come back. . . against a good team right now, that was a big win for our group.”
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The Blackhawks, who seized control of the game with three goals in four minutes early in the second period before a timeout by coach Travis Green helped the Canucks wrestle it back, had won five of their previous seven games.
“It was kind of an ugly game,” Vancouver winger J.T. Miller said after his one-goal, three-assist night tied his career-high for points in a game. “You don’t want to win 7-5 too many times. We got into a little bit of a track meet there. Sometimes that happens against those guys. It’s important that we didn’t quit in the second period there when it got a little ugly, and we found a way to get it together and get two points. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.”
But wasn’t it fun?
“No, not really,” Miller said. “Normally, when you’re giving up five (goals), it means you’re doing something wrong. I think it’s important. . . after they got their fourth, we dialled it in and played a pretty good hockey game after that.
“We definitely don’t want to play a wide-open game. When we defend well, we spend time in the other team’s end and we grind them down, I think that’s when we know we’re playing at our best. I’m just glad to get two points, honestly.”
For the second time during this winning streak, Green halted opposition momentum with an early timeout. He called his players to the bench after Jonathan Toews banked a centring pass in off Canucks rookie Quinn Hughes to make it 4-2 for the Blackhawks at 8:17 of the second period.
Atrocious in those first eight-plus minutes, the Canucks were a different team after their timeout and quickly tied it on goals by Hughes and Elias Pettersson at 10:20 and 11:45.
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Horvat, who until three games ago hadn’t scored on home ice this season, got a lucky go-ahead goal at 8:10 of the third period when his harmless backhand flip from a sharp angle was swept by Chicago goalie Robin Lehner off the back of defenceman Dennis Gilbert and into the Hawks’ net.
Naturally, the Canucks couldn’t hold the 5-4 lead, although they had reason to complain about a non-call when Patrick Kane squeezed a shot between Jacob Markstrom’s pads on a two-on-one at 13:44 a few seconds after Toews clearly interfered with Hughes at the Vancouver blue line.
No matter, the Canucks won it anyway two minutes later when Gaudette skated free from Ryan Carpenter, took Miller’s pass and beat Lehner from the slot for his first game-winning goal.
Amid all that scoring, Horvat made the block of the night on Gustafsson as the Blackhawks attacked six-against-five.
“The boys are so good, they all recognized that,” Horvat said of the block, which complemented his nine-shot night that included a 10-7 faceoff record. “They gave me some fist bumps and some props for it. It actually felt better than the goal.”
The Canucks have been outshot 210-167 during their streak, and Markstrom twice won them games when the shooting deficit was nearly two to one. They’ve blown leads in three of the games. Yet, here they are.
“We feel confident,” Pettersson said. “That’s easy to say after six games in a row with a win. But we feel confident out there. We stay humble. We can’t have shifts like we had in the second period. It went our way this game.”
“Our best hockey is still yet to come,” Horvat promised. “I think we’ve still got some learning to do, some things to work on. We’re going to continue to do that.”
Do we hear seven?
The New York Rangers visit the Canucks on Saturday.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
