MONTREAL — It was Reverse Retro, Role Reversal Night at the Bell Centre Thursday, with the Ottawa Senators snapping a nine-game winless streak with a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, who looked nothing like themselves — from the jerseys they were wearing to the way they played.
You usually don’t win if your best players aren’t your best players — even if you have the best record in the NHL and you’re playing against the team with the worst one. And you definitely don’t win if your best players show up as your worst.
If the Canadiens came into Thursday’s game with a 7-1-2 record, it was in large part thanks to the elite performance Nick Suzuki had authored as their No. 1 centre. But, against the Senators, he looked nothing like the guy who played wise beyond his 21 years, the guy who played a patient, cerebral and highly-effective game at both ends of the ice.
“It was definitely a tough night,” Suzuki said afterwards. “Definitely my worst game of the year so far. I was fighting the puck a bit.”
He was at war with the puck in the faceoff circle, where he lost all but four of 15 draws — including one cleanly to Connor Brown that led to the setup of the game-winning goal, which Brown himself tipped in after he shook Suzuki in coverage.
“Can’t be losing that many draws — especially on that third goal there,” Suzuki said. “I lost it pretty clean and it ended up in our net.
“Tonight I was struggling to read the play a bit,” he added. “There was a few times where I was getting lost in the defensive zone, and that’s not something I’m used to, so I gotta definitely clean that up.”
Many of the players who helped Suzuki and the Canadiens off to their torrid start have some polishing to do before Saturday’s rematch against the Senators in Ottawa.
Tyler Toffoli, who came into the game as the NHL’s leading goal scorer (9) didn’t touch the puck outside of five relatively harmless shot attempts — only one of which came from less than 25 feet out.
Josh Anderson drew a penalty with a solid drive down the middle in the third period, and he scored his seventh of the season shorthanded with 1:29 remaining, but he was stuck in neutral through the first 40 minutes. Actually, he was stuck mostly in the defensive zone over the first two periods, where he, Suzuki and Jonathan Drouin got hemmed in and gave up 13 shot attempts versus the four they generated at the other end.
Jeff Petry, who came into the game leading all NHL defencemen in scoring (13 points), said after Monday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks, in which he registered two goals and an assist, “There’s times the puck’s your friend.”
On Thursday, the puck was Petry’s enemy, as he juggled it and struggled to connect on the passes he usually makes with his eyes closed. It wasn’t kind to him when it rang off the post on a late Montreal power play, either.
At least Phillip Danault (two assists), Brendan Gallagher (one goal) and Tomas Tatar (one assist) brought it after not factoring in as much as some of the other players through the first 10 games.
“They were our best line by far,” said Canadiens coach Claude Julien. “Those three played well, and we saw some of the chemistry they’ve shown in the past.”
They were dominant throughout, but particularly in a first period that saw them produce nine shot attempts and eight scoring chances to one against their Senators opposition.
The one the Danault line allowed? A good shot from Thomas Chabot with 39 seconds to go in the opening frame for Ottawa’s first goal.
Was it great? Let’s just say it wasn’t as good as the one Senators rookie Tim Stützle scored on 18 seconds later, with Petry looking on from the penalty box.
It would be fair to say Carey Price would’ve liked to have had one, if not both of them — as he once told us after a tough loss in Tampa Bay several years ago, “I believe I should stop them all.”
Price definitely wants to stop the ones where he has a clear line of sight on the puck, even if the shots are top quality.
He’s supposed to be Montreal’s best player, but he hasn’t been that too often in the early portion of this season, with his .899 save percentage being a reflection of that. He has been good enough to win four of his seven starts, and had he been a bit better on this night, he could’ve made the difference.
Not that Price was the reason the Canadiens lost. Far from it.
“I thought that we were fighting the puck tonight,” said Julien, who was pointing out what was plain to see. “Even if the first period wasn’t that bad, them scoring two goals in the last minute of it hurt. In the second, we weren’t there at all from a performance standpoint. We fought the puck even on simple plays and passes. We came back in the third, but it wasn’t a big game from us.”
Perhaps the biggest evidence of that could be found on the power play, where the Canadiens whiffed on four opportunities —including a 5-on-3 in the second period. They took seven shots with the man-advantage, and Senators goaltender Matt Murray had a clean look at every single one of them.
Julien pointed to cleanly-lost faceoffs as one issue in that department. But he also acknowledged there was another problem there.
“We’re moving the puck around, but I think at some point there we’ve just gotta find a way to finish,” he said. “You gotta create some chances, and sometimes it’s just a little adjustment here or there as far as the mindset is concerned. Not so much what the plays we’re utilizing or trying to use during the power play; it’s more of a mindset, and we’ve gotta find ways to get maybe that little hunger at trying to finish around the net area or scoring those goals when you do get the scoring chances.”
The Canadiens were about as hungry on the power play as John Candy after eating that 72-ounce steak in “The Great Outdoors,” which is to say they weren’t hungry at all (and if any of you youngsters haven’t seen “The Great Outdoors,” get on it).
The guys in the blue retro jerseys just didn’t have it on this night. And the guys wearing white, red and black, who haven’t had it in a month, showed up and played a good game.
“Give Ottawa credit for playing hard and competing well,” said Julien.
His Canadiens will have to recapture what they had before this game come Saturday, when they’re back in their traditional jerseys.
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.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
