After a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the Montreal Canadiens had several days off to regroup after a sluggish series against Ottawa. Waiting for them on Wednesday night were the red hot Toronto Maple Leafs, who were coming off a three-game domination of the hapless Vancouver Canucks. After their opening-night clash, both teams had solidified themselves as the class of the North Division, and their two meetings this week were set to have a huge impact on the standings overall.
Toronto was down a handful of players from opening night, missing Joe Thornton, Nick Robertson, and Wayne Simmonds, while Montreal welcomed Joel Armia back to the lineup after his concussion at the hands of Tyler Myers. With the big Finn back in the lineup the Habs made Paul Byron a healthy scratch. Carey Price got the start for the Montreal after getting a day off on Saturday afternoon, with Frederik Andersen getting the call for the Leafs.
While Toronto looked dangerous in the opening seconds, it was Montreal that tallied the game’s opening goal. A smart interception by Jonathan Drouin in the neutral zone allowed him to spring Josh Anderson down the right wing into the Toronto zone. Anderson drove toward the net, letting a seemingly harmless shot go, but the puck found a gap in Andersen’s positioning and went in for Anderson’s ninth of the year.
Montreal continued to press Toronto in all three zones, never allowing the Leafs’ star players to set up shop or to get a clean look on Carey Price. Even in an odd-man rush Toronto failed to trouble Price with any sort of quality scoring chance.
Pierre Engvall’s careless stick sent Montreal to the game’s first power play. Despite dominating the even-strength play for the entire period, the man advantage wasn’t able to create much pressure in their two minutes on the ice.
Montreal’s penalty killers were called on late in the first period as Shea Weber was whistled for hooking Auston Matthews. The short-handed group did their thing once again, including Jake Evans hustling down the ice to help burn time off the clock to escape without a goal against.
A Phillip Danault turnover forced the Habs centre into a hooking penalty of his own, and a flubbed shot by Travis Boyd nearly tied the game. However Montreal’s penalty-killers fought off the late Toronto advantage, leaving just a small bit of power play left to kill off at the start of the second period.
Toronto nearly equalized in their brief power play to start the second as a bang-bang play freed up John Tavares to fire in on Price. The Canadiens’ netminder squeezed the puck in his arm and slowly inched away from the line to deny the Toronto captain a goal.
The Maple Leafs continued to press Montreal as they sought a goal to tie the game, and Montreal’s defence was caught out for long stretches of time, including Alexander Romanov being out for a 2:08 shift. However, the strong skating of Joel Armia drew a holding call against Zach Bogosian, giving Montreal’s power play a second chance to operate. The advantage ended up playing more defence than offence, pushing their current form to just one conversion in their last 13 opportunities after a hot start to the season.
A fracas in front of Toronto’s net sent the play to four-on-four, and the Leafs finally found their breakthrough with the extra space on the ice. After Montreal failed to clear the puck from their zone, a pass made its way to Travis Dermott, and he walked in from the point and wired a shot just under the crossbar and in to tie the game at one goal apiece.
Montreal couldn’t escape the period without one last self-inflicted wound, with Joel Edmundson being called for interference quite literally at the buzzer, but embellishment by Zach Hyman on the same play was called as well, starting the next period at four-on-four.
While Montreal managed to match Toronto for almost the entire two minutes while those players were in the box, a miscommunication allowed Justin Holl all the time in the world to step into a shot and blister a goal by Price. Then 11 seconds later, a flubbed cross-crease pass waffled off of Brett Kulak’s stick, allowing Ilya Mikheyev to get just enough of the puck to push it over the line and double Toronto’s lead.
Down by two goals, the Habs decided it was time to play hockey again as the offensive attack kicked back into gear to try to overcome the deficit. A bit of luck went the way of the Canadiens as a shot from Ben Chiarot hit a Toronto stick on the way to the net, forcing Andersen to scramble into position. With the goalie down and out, it was Tomas Tatar crashing into the crease to chip the loose puck into the net to get Montreal within a goal with just over three minutes left to play.
A Hyman empty-netter quashed any chance at a comeback, and Montreal would be sent to the showers with a 4-2 loss hanging over their heads after a mostly listless effort. There’s no rest for the team, however, as they take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight at the Bell Centre before heading to Toronto for a rematch with the Maple Leafs.
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.
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.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
