TORONTO — It was a home game, but not like the ones these guys — or any of us — are used to.
Not when you’re in a city that isn’t home and certainly not when your fans aren’t there to cheer you on.
How strange it must be to experience the adrenaline of the Stanley Cup playoffs, to have it coursing through your veins for hours after you scored the big goal to give your team its biggest win of the year, and to not be able to go home to your wife and kids and revel in it with them before it must be washed away.
Think about what it’s like if you’re Jeff Petry. If you just became the first Montreal Canadiens player in 31 years to score two game-winning goals in a playoff year. Pretend you just went into a raucous PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and helped silence it by scoring the overtime winner in Game 1 to steal away home-ice advantage from the Penguins. Picture, after suffering a tough loss in Game 2, coming home to the Bell Centre for the game you’ll eventually play hero in again.
This wasn’t what Petry dreamed of when he was telling his grade-school friends he’d be an NHL hockey player and, perhaps, a Stanley Cup champion someday.
But, it is what it is.
Nothing about this situation is normal. Not for any of us. COVID-19 has deleted normal from our lives and there may never be an undo option. Down is up, right is left, and nothing makes sense — especially not a 24th-placed team in a 24-team tournament for the Cup pushing a dynasty to the brink of elimination in an abbreviated series.
But we’re rolling with it.
So is Phillip Danault.
The Canadiens centreman expressed grave concerns about being away from his family for a long portion of time, with his wife at home taking care of their 18-month-old son.
“With everything we’re living, it’s part of the game, I guess,” Danault said Thursday, the morning after helping the Canadiens take a 2-1 series lead over the Penguins. “We’re all in the same boat, all the players. Definitely hurts, though.
“It’s fun to celebrate with your teammates, too. It’s a little different the setup — it’s like a team thing. We’re all together after the game and everything. But it definitely hurts. My wife and kid are at home, and she’s taking care of the kid, so it’s nice from her. It is hard, but it’s part of the game and we’re here right now and we’re enjoying every single minute of my playoff appearance and it’s fun so far.”
Julien’s post-game routine
If you think it’s hard for the players — and even some reporters — to settle down after a playoff game, imagine what it’s like for a coach.
Canadiens coach Claude Julien’s been doing it at this level since 2002, and he said Thursday that winding down is still a challenge.
“I don’t know that much has changed, to be honest with you,” Julien said. “Do I have trouble sleeping after a game? Absolutely. Just because you’re wound up. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter. You’re thinking — you’re like players. You got excited about the game and you’re emotionally attached to it, so that’s always what happens after games.
“But the one thing that I have done and will continue to do is, the minute the game’s over, turn the page and start to think about the next one because that’s the one that’s most important. Whether you won or lost, there’s not much you can do about it. You just want to keep yourself ahead of the game.”
Don’t be surprised if Julien comes back to original lines
With all the buzz around the changes the coach made in Game 2 — he moved Danault to a checking line with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen, elevated Nick Suzuki to play with Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar and moved Jesperi Kotkaniemi between Joel Armia and Jonathan Drouin — he has a well-established pattern of going back to his original plan and adjusting from there.
There’s no certainty that’s what Julien will do, but it’s an educated guess. That he’s kept Tatar, Danault and Gallagher together for most of two years tells you how he feels about mixing things around. And just because a few adjustments worked in-game, it doesn’t mean he’s beholden to them.
If it is Julien’s plan to return to the base and adjust from that in-game, he’s got a tried and tested model of success given how Game 3 went.
If you’re looking for Montreal’s unsung hero through the first three games of this series, he wears no. 77.
Could anyone have expected Brett Kulak to play this way — not only after his up-and-down season, but also after he had COVID-19 and missed 10 days of the team’s 13-day training camp in Phase 3?
“He’s been great,” said Canadiens captain Shea Weber after Game 3. “Given that situation, obviously he was sick and his inability to come and skate with us and work out with us… He was doing stuff on his own, but that’s not quite the same. To be in it, to stay in it mentally, it’s kudos to him. He’s done an excellent job for us so far. He was solid for us this year and he’s continued to be solid for us in this series”
With all the talk centred on the jobs Weber, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot are doing, there’s been little about Kulak.
But he’s averaging over 19 minutes per game, he’s setting up chances on the rush, if he has an assist in this series it’s because he’s doing a good job of getting his shot through traffic and he’s been remarkably steady in his own end — both in defending and in moving the puck or skating it out.
“I think Brett’s been great for us,” Chiarot said Thursday. “He’s a big guy, who skates really well and moves the puck. And when he’s doing all those things and he’s confident, he’s really effective for us. He’s been doing that quite a bit for us lately. He looks great for us.”
Enter Jarry?
What a decision Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has to make as far as his goaltending’s concerned.
Can anyone envision him going with Matt Murray for Game 4?
Not that Murray has been bad, he simply hasn’t been good enough. And now Sullivan must turn to Tristan Jarry, who’s been sitting on the bench for four-and-a-half months — and all three games of this series — in an elimination game.
Also, Jarry has never played in the Stanley Cup playoffs before, which isn’t necessarily good or bad. It’s just that Sullivan now has to turn to an unknown for the biggest game of the year.
The comfort in making that call is that Jarry played like a Vezina Trophy candidate for much of this past season, and that he posted a .921 save percentage over his 33 appearances.
But this is a dicey situation and no one knows how he’ll react to it.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
