Despite (still) being the bottom-feeder of the North Division, the narrative is starting to change — at least a little — around the Ottawa Senators.
Maybe they aren’t the pushovers they once looked to be, on a pace to be one of the worst outfits in league history, hearkening back to their expansion season. Maybe Matt Murray, who barely survived January with a .845 save percentage, will recover well enough to be closer to his .900 February save percentage the rest of the season.
Maybe they will turn out closer to the team that gave Toronto a heck of a fight in an unexpected 5-3 season-opening win, and less like the one that got outscored 16-3 in a three-game set against Vancouver last month.
Or, maybe, their current 4-2-0 run is a deepfake and they’ll revert back to another form.
Whatever we get from the Senators in the next week and a half could greatly impact many aspects of the Calgary Flames. At 9-9-1 and fifth in the North Division — three points out of a playoff spot — Calgary will meet the Senators for five of their next six games. Everyone else has already played the Senators more than once, and usually to good results.
Except for their most recent opponent.
At a most crucial time in Calgary’s season, here is an overview of how the non-Toronto North Division teams have played the Senators in certain key stretches, and what followed after.
WINNIPEG JETS
Overall record vs. Senators: 4-1-0
Sitting second in the North Division by points percentage (.639), I don’t know if we’ve gotten a full view of the Jets yet. Patrik Laine played one game before he was injured then traded and the player he was dealt for, Pierre-Luc Dubois, got injured, has played three games and spent the last one on the wing rather than his usual centre.
Some things haven’t changed here from last year, though. They still allow a pile of 5-on-5 scoring chances each game, which puts added pressure on Connor Hellebuyck — it also hasn’t changed that Hellebuyck is fully capable of dealing with his workload.
But the Jets chug on and haven’t hit the lulls we’ve seen from some others around them in the standings. They’ve been steady, not losing back-to-back games in regulation yet, but also haven’t strung together a monster winning streak. They’ve won two in a row on a couple of occasions and their longest streak of the season came when they won three in a row… against Ottawa from Jan. 19-23.
That stretch got Winnipeg off to a 4-1-0 start to the season. The closest of those results was a 4-3 overtime win that came the day after the Jets played Toronto, so Laurent Brossoit was in net. The others were 4-1 and 6-3 wins.
Playing the Sens didn’t really change Winnipeg’s track at all. After their 6-3 win, they played the very next day against Edmonton and lost 4-3 with Brossoit in net. Two days later they beat Edmonton 6-4 and had a three-day break.
Winnipeg later met Ottawa again on Feb. 11 and 13, winning one 5-1 and losing the other 2-1. In fact, Ottawa’s win on Feb. 13 was the beginning of this respectable little stretch they’re on right now.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Overall record vs. Senators: 3-0-0
The Canucks were the first panic team to meet Ottawa this year and were, at least briefly, able to get off the mat.
Vancouver started its season 2-5-0 before first meeting Ottawa. The three-game set they played from Jan. 25-28 inspired hope that the Canucks could get back on track towards the exceedingly high expectations surrounding them following Canada’s best playoff run last summer.
The Canucks won all three of those games convincingly, with an aggregate 16-3 score in their favour. The Lotto Line, which had been in a rut, woke up a bit. Elias Pettersson scored his second and third goals of the season and added a couple of assists, J.T. Miller scored his first two of the season, and Brock Boeser recorded his third two-goal game of the month.
Vancouver came out of it fourth in the North and believing that perhaps the worst of the season was behind them. Their first game after the Senators series reinforced the belief, a 4-1 win over a Winnipeg Jets team fresh off a three day break.
Those starry-eyed days were short-lived, though. The Canucks followed that Jets game with a horrible trip through Montreal and Toronto, and even though they’ve measurably been playing better in the last two weeks than at any other point this season, Vancouver is still quickly sliding out of the race.
They are 2-8-2 in their past 12, sixth in the division, and closer to seventh place than fifth in points percentage. And there’s no more games against Ottawa to save them in the near future — they won’t face them again until a couple of road games in mid-March.
EDMONTON OILERS
Overall record vs. Senators: 4-0-0
When the Oilers first played the Senators this season, it was nearly panic time.
A 4-6-0 start had Edmonton fifth in the division by points and sixth by points percentage. They had split a couple home games with Toronto earlier in the week that dialled down the temperature a degree, but a bad series against the last place Sens and who knows how bad things could begin to spiral?
Still finding themselves after a really disheartening playoff elimination to Chicago, Edmonton was facing the same questions about commitment to defence and whether or not their goaltending was good enough to keep them afloat. Mike Smith was still injured when the Oilers first played the Sens, and Mikko Koskinen was beginning to show signs of fatigue.
From Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, the Oilers played five games and four of them were against Ottawa. They won all four by an aggregate 18-10 and, on the morning of Feb. 10, found themselves third in the North and with brand new life.
Since that series of games, the Oilers are 5-1-0 with wins against each of Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver all in that stretch. There are still questions about defence, but in their past six games Edmonton’s opponents have been held to two goals or less four times. Smith is back and, between him and Koskinen, the net split is uneasily settling as expected.
The depth players have made an appearance and been key reasons for a couple of these wins while Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl…well…they keep doing what they’ve always done.
Edmonton has gone from sheer panic to second in the North and the NHL’s hottest team since playing the Senators.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Overall record vs. Senators: 1-1-2
While other teams have been able to spin positives, real or temporary, out of their meetings with Ottawa, the Montreal Canadiens have gone another route.
Oddly enough, the Sens have been a momentum killer for the Habs. Between Feb. 4-6, the teams played two games and the Habs entered with a 7-1-2 record, a North Division juggernaut, and had just scored 11 goals in two games against Vancouver. Montreal’s only regulation loss to that point, a 2-0 decision to Calgary, was played well enough to be a win.
But the two-game split Montreal had with Ottawa turned out to be an ominous sign of things to come.
This series is where the percentages suddenly and abruptly started catching up to Montreal. The NHL’s most high-event, high-powered offence at the time went ice cold, scoring four goals on 70 shots against Matt Murray — it was the first time all season Murray had allowed less than three goals in a game and he did it in back-to-back starts against Montreal.
The Habs followed these two games with losses to Toronto and Edmonton before barely scratching out a come-from-behind 2-1 win against Toronto in a rematch on Feb. 13. In those three games, Montreal scored just three times.
Following that win, Montreal went on a six-day break and returned to play Ottawa on Sunday night and again on Tuesday. The Habs were outshot in both games, dropped both in extra time and have now fallen to fourth in the division.
Given where the Canadiens were at the start of this month, just before their first game against Ottawa, it’s unfathomable that Claude Julien became the first coaching casualty of the 2021 season.
“It’s an NHL team, it’s a good young team, they work extremely hard and they have a good young coach,” Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin said after letting Julien go Wednesday. “They’re a good hockey team and they’re up and coming.”
CALGARY FLAMES
Overall record vs. Senators: 0-0-0
So what’ll it be for the Flames, whose coach has also been a target for criticism amidst their own slide? More than the coach even, Calgary is a team with bigger player personnel questions to ponder if things go sideways this season. And if it really goes wrong soon, maybe Brad Treliving will feel a need to be proactive and make a splash before long.
This is why the next two and a half weeks could be season-defining ones for Calgary. After a three-game winning streak earlier this month, they have won just two of their past six and were humiliated in a 7-1 drubbing to Edmonton on Saturday night. They allow the first goal of the game far too often and slow starts are unfortunately a defining characteristic about this group right now.
At the end of last week their GM went on Calgary radio to say the Flames’ effort just wasn’t good enough and challenged them to be a harder team. But it never seemed any big change was imminent.
Why? Because this stretch of games coming up is where the Flames should be making up ground. It’s maybe not the time to make a move and wait on a replacement through quarantine. Instead, we could learn a lot about Calgary’s chances here.
Currently fifth in the division and just three points out of a playoff spot, a strong week could vault them back into the picture and calm calls for change.
But a bad run against the last place team? That could all but end the Flames, and maybe start shifting them into a tier with Vancouver instead of Edmonton or Winnipeg or Montreal.
It’s interesting timing for sure. The Flames must have had this stretch marked on their calendar for some time, but just as they get here the Senators aren’t playing like a soft touch anymore. They’ve been mostly hanging around games recently, been tough to compete against, have strung together a respectable record for a week and a half, and were the tip of the spear in this year’s first coach firing.
The softest portion of Calgary’s first half schedule has suddenly turned into a nail-biter.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps will begin their post-season campaign with a play-in game against the Timbers in Portland on Wednesday.
The ‘Caps (13-13-8) ended the regular season with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday and finished eighth in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings.
The eighth and ninth spots from each conference meet in a play-in game this week, with the winner going on to face the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
Each eighth-place team was set to host the play-in game, but Vancouver announced Friday that its home stadium, B.C. Place, is not available, so the club will cede home-field advantage to Portland (12-11-11), the ninth-place team.
The ‘Caps and Timbers split their three-game series during regular-season play, with each side taking a win, a loss and a draw.
The first round of the MLS playoffs is set to begin next weekend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Diego Luna scored a tying goal in the 73rd minute and Real Salt Lake added another on an own goal for a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night to set a single-season club record for points.
Real Salt Lake (16-7-11) secured the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and will face Minnesota in the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs. RSL reached 59 points this season, topping the 2012 team with 57.
Vancouver (13-13-8) will play the Portland Timbers on Wednesday in a wild-card game for a chance to play top-seeded LAFC.
Luna settled a long cross from Braian Ojeda before taking four touches to slot home a shot inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.
RSL went ahead in the 83rd when Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer misplayed a lofted ball that rolled into the back of the net.
Vancouver midfielder Ryan Gauld opened the scoring in the 58th to become the first player in club history to produce multiple seasons with at least 10 goals and 10 assists.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Juan Soto’s arrival last winter was supposed to be that move that pushed the New York Yankees back to the top.
They’re one step away.
Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and the Yankees advanced to their 41st World Series — and first in 15 years — by beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.
Baseball’s biggest brand is going back to October’s main stage.
Soto, who was acquired in a seven-player trade from San Diego in December, pushed the Bronx Bombers into position with one big swing.
This was why he came, for this moment and for so many more.
“We’re right where we belong,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who pulled off the deal for Soto.
The Yankees will try to win their 28th title against either the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 6 of the NL Championship Series is on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
In the third consecutive tight game in three nights at Progressive Field, Austin Wells walked with one out in the 10th and Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez, whose soft toss to the bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio for an error.
Hunter Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres and had Soto in a 1-2 count before New York’s stylish outfielder sent a shot over the wall in center. Soto danced down the first-base line and paused to celebrate with his teammates before circling the bases.
“I was just saying to myself, `You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything,’” said Soto, who moved alongside his manager, Aaron Boone, as the only New York players to homer in an extra-inning, series-clinching win.
Luke Weaver got the final three outs with Lane Thomas flying out for the last one, which was caught by Soto.
“We get to play for a world championship,” Boone said. “That’s pretty sweet.”
The 25-year-old Soto is eligible for free agency this winter, and Yankees fans chanted “Re-sign Soto!” during the postgame festivities. He’s expected to get a contract upwards of $600 million, and his heroics in Game 5 may have raised his price.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and was named ALCS MVP as the Yankees took care of the Guardians in five games. It wasn’t easy.
New York won the first two at Yankee Stadium without much fanfare or any major drama. However, it was a different story in Cleveland as all three games at Progressive Field were nail-biters.
The Guardians rallied to win Game 3 on two, two-run homers in their last two at-bats, and the Yankees held on to win Game 4 after blowing a four-run lead.
“This was a rollercoaster and we were able to just keep punching back,” Stanton said. “We know there’s much more work to do and it’s only uphill from here and we got to get it done.”
Cleveland just didn’t have enough and a surprising season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt ended just short of a World Series. The franchise remains without a title since 1948, baseball’s current longest drought.
“There’s only one team that gets to win the last game of the year, and unfortunately it’s not going to be us,” Vogt said. “But we accomplished a lot as a group. We got better. We worked extremely hard. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. We just didn’t get quite as far as we wanted to.”
The Yankees are back in the World Series, back where their fans expect them to be every year.
The club’s 82-80, fourth-place finish in the AL East last season led to some “soul searching as an organization” during the winter, according to Boone, who has been widely criticized but is one of just three managers to take New York to playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.
While the team’s core stayed mostly intact, getting Soto in a blockbuster trade on Dec. 7 — New York sent five players to San Diego for the three-time All-Star — accelerated the team returning to title contender.
“That was a good day,” Boone said with a laugh before the game.
Stanton’s 446-foot rocket into the left-field bleachers tied it at 2 in the sixth and chased Tanner Bibee, who had struck out New York’s dangerous DH in his first two at-bats and held the Yankees scoreless for the first five innings.
It was Stanton’s fourth homer in this series — his third in three days — and his 16th in the postseason, moving him into fourth place on the club’s career list behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18).
Before the game, Boone was asked what makes Stanton so good.
“He can hit it harder than anyone, first of all,” Boone said. “So there’s the physical nature of what he does that’s different than just about everyone in the world.”
But Boone went on to compliment Stanton’s discipline at the plate, “his approach, his process, how he studies guys.”
“There’s something that he does when he gets familiarity with people on top of being very physically gifted,” Boone said.
The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the fifth off Carlos Rodón on Steven Kwan’s RBI single with two outs. But Cleveland missed a big chance for more, leaving the bases loaded when Lane Thomas grounded out on the first pitch to him from Mark Leiter Jr.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (elbow strain) had another successful live batting practice session. The reliever remains on track to join the Yankees on their World Series roster. Boone said Cortes would throw again early next week. Cortes went 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 30 starts.
