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Beijing's Olympic plans are already mired in politics and threatened by COVID-19. Will it all be worth it? – The Globe and Mail

Published

3 years ago

January 29, 2022

At Beijing’s airport, an employee passes a poster of Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda, and his Paralympic counterpart Shuey Rhon Rhon, a Chinese lantern. The Beijing Winter Olympics begin on Feb. 4, and the Paralympics follow on March 4.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

Dressed in down jackets and N95 face masks, the crowd of some 500 volunteers and staff packed into a courtyard in Yanqing, a suburb north of Beijing, as the Olympic Village opened. Raising their fists in the air, they chanted: “Rest assured, my Party, I am here for the Winter Olympics!”

Elsewhere across the capital the slogan “together for a shared future” is ubiquitous, as are the cartoon faces of Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Tight security is noticeable, with soldiers standing guard outside the main subway stations.

China is going all out for the Winter Games, which open on Feb. 4 with a ceremony at the Bird’s Nest, the stadium made iconic by the 2008 Summer Games. Those Olympics were a huge success for China, proof for many of the soft-power value of playing host to such mega events.

In his New Year’s address for 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to recreate this triumph: “We will spare no effort to present a great Games to the world. The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready!”

But 2022 is not 2008, and the Winter Games are not the Summer Olympics. The gamble that China is taking this time around is far riskier, and the potential payoff much smaller. By the time it’s all over, the country’s leaders may be asking themselves whether it was all worth it.

IOC chief Thomas Bach announces the winning bid for 2022 in July of 2015; the same day, people celebrate outside Beijing’s Olympic stadium, the Bird’s Nest.Joshua Paul and Mark Schiefelbein/AP

During the bidding for the 2022 Games, Beijing presented itself as the “reliable and risk-free choice.” Never mind that the Chinese capital had no mountains and scant snow, or that winter sports were not popular in China. The country had pulled it off in 2008 and could do it again. Beijing organizers also vowed to do it at a far lower cost, and with less impact on the environment, amid concerns over the negative effects previous Games have had.

The budget for Beijing 2022 was set at US$3.9-billion, a fraction of Pyeongchang’s price tag of US$14-billion, and nowhere near the staggering US$51-billion Russia spent on the 2014 Sochi Games. (Budgets tend to overrun and the Beijing plan did not include all of the infrastructure investments, such as a new high-speed rail line linking Olympic sites, so the final cost may be much higher.)

Beijing organizers had not expected to win the 2022 Games – the bid was seen as a stage setter for 2026 – but after four other potential hosts dropped out, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved China’s bid over that of Almaty, Kazakhstan, by a narrow margin, making Beijing the first city to hold both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

“We know China will deliver on its promises,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in 2015, and the country has. New venues have been built in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, connected to central Beijing by high-speed rail and covered with artificial snow pumped out by “green-powered” machines. (Artificial snow is becoming something of a Winter Olympics tradition amid a warming world climate: both Pyeongchang and Sochi relied on fake flakes.) Few were expecting this to be a challenge: Gian Franco Kasper, then-head of the International Ski Federation, was speaking for many observers in 2019 when he said “everything is easier in dictatorships.”

As Mr. Bach arrived in Beijing this week to meet with President Xi, he announced that “China is now a winter sports country, and this is the start of a new era for global winter sports.”

At top, an artificial snow machine pumps out powder outside one of the athletes’ villages in Beijing; at bottom, an ice maker sprays over an Olympic logo at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.Kevin Frayer and Carl Court/Getty Images

But Beijing 2022 is facing challenges far greater than creating snow where it never falls. Eight countries, including Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games, citing China’s woeful record on human rights, and particularly the treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which the Canadian Parliament has said amounts to “genocide.”

A diplomatic boycott means only that officials stay away, however. Large delegations of athletes are still competing, and these countries will still take part in the Parade of Nations that opens the Olympics.

Many countries have declined to sign on to the boycott – French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed it as “insignificant and symbolic” – but calls for countries to snub Beijing 2022 still damage the prestige of the event, as does the widespread media coverage of demonstrations over Xinjiang and Tibet, said Heather Dichter, an expert on the Olympics at De Montfort University in Britain.

The absence of world leaders may also have more of an effect than many people predict. “These mega events are a very important place for networking between the world’s elites,” said Susan Brownell, author of the 2008 book, Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China. She noted that “if you look at Beijing 2008 or London 2012, more heads of state attended the opening ceremonies than even Davos.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with almost every other top leader other than Foreign Minister Wang Yi, has not left the country, attending global events such as the recent UN climate summit by video link. During this time, there has also been little reason for world leaders to visit China, so in-person diplomacy has been severely limited, and Beijing may come to view the Olympics as a missed opportunity on this front.

“Ultimately, we won’t know the full impact of this diplomatic boycott until some time after,” Dr. Dichter said.

COVID-19 precautions in Beijing: At the airport, top, workers in biohazard suits work at a credential validation desk; at a hotel included in the Olympic ‘bubble,’ bottom, a guard looks out a small window in the fence as a police officer passes by.Jae C. Hong/AP; Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Beijing organizers may have priced in the risk of a boycott when they bid for the Games in 2015, but one factor they could not have predicted was the coronavirus.

The pandemic already caused the delay of the 2020 Summer Olympics for a year, and when the Tokyo Games did eventually go ahead, it was amid spiking cases across Japan, angry calls for the event’s cancellation, and without spectators, for the most part.

With greater time to prepare, Beijing organizers clearly thought they could outdo Tokyo, promising a “closed loop management system” that would enable athletes and spectators to proceed as normal within a tightly policed bubble, despite some occasional contradictions. (Athletes have been advised to avoid hugging each other, for instance, but thousands of condoms have also been handed out.)

So far, their efforts seem to be working: while cases have been detected among the hundreds of people travelling to the Olympic Village, they have been swiftly detected and quarantined, and no cases involved athletes or team officials, organizers said.

With new outbreaks of the Delta and Omicron variants popping up in recent weeks – small by international standards, but a concern for almost COVID-free China – plans to allow local spectators inside the bubble have been dropped. (International fans were never invited.) Only a tiny number of hand-selected, highly monitored attendees will be able to watch events live, and they have been instructed not to cheer or shout.

“It’s a pity that I won’t be able to watch the Games this time,” said Chen Lin, a 38-year-old Beijinger who attended the 2008 Olympics. “Of course, we can still watch the Games … on TV and live streaming online, but it doesn’t provide as strong a sense of engagement as watching the Games on the spot.”

A commentator’s screen at the Wukesong hockey arena; security cameras outside the main media centre.Carl Court and Michael Heiman/Getty Images

For those outside China, media coverage may also be affected by the pandemic. Multiple broadcasters, including the CBC and NBC, are anchoring events primarily from their respective countries, with just a few reporters on the ground inside the bubble, while some media are staying home entirely. ESPN announced this month that it “will not be sending any news personnel to the Winter Olympics.”

“With the pandemic continuing to be a global threat, and with the COVID-related on-site restrictions in place for the Olympics that would make coverage very challenging, we felt that keeping our people home was the best decision for us,” ESPN executive editor Norby Williamson said.

The tight restrictions on journalists inside the bubble, while vital to China’s pandemic strategy, could have costs when it comes to soft power, diluting the amount of coverage of the country itself. While there were reports on Tibet and human rights in 2008, the Summer Games ultimately served as a global ad for China, something that is unlikely to play out this time around. Broadcasters have faced calls to drop the Games entirely, and NBC Olympics chief Molly Solomon has promised the network will not ignore the “geopolitical context” in its coverage.

This may result in a more sports-focused Olympics than ever before – something viewers may appreciate. But the hosts are not shelling out billions of dollars just to showcase curling or luge. And when it comes to soft power, China is facing an uphill battle: polling shows unfavourable views of the country are at, or near, historic highs in most advanced economies, and particularly in those countries where the Winter Olympics is a key focus.

According to Pew Research, more than 70 per cent of respondents from Germany, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands – all winter sports powerhouses – said they had an unfavourable view of China. In Sweden the figure was 80 per cent. Even if the Olympics do move the needle somewhat (and research suggests any 2008 bump was short lived, in any case), it’s unlikely they’ll be winning many hearts and minds in the West.

Public perceptions of China, by nation

Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021

Global Attitudes Survey

Unfavourable view

Favourable view

North America

N. Zealand

Overall

median

the globe and mail, Source: pew research center.

those who did not answer not shown. does not

add to 100 due to rounding.

Public perceptions of China, by nation

Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021

Global Attitudes Survey

Unfavourable view

Favourable view

North America

N. Zealand

Overall

median

the globe and mail, Source: pew research center.

those who did not answer not shown. does not

add to 100 due to rounding.

Public perceptions of China, by nation

Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey

Unfavourable view

Favourable view

North America

Netherlands

N. Zealand

Overall

median

the globe and mail, Source: pew research center. those who did not answer not shown.

does not add to 100 due to rounding.

The likelihood of viewers seeing any public dissent on display during the Games is next to zero, however –even athletes who might protest have been advised by activist groups not to risk it.

In developing nations, China is more popular, but winter sports generally aren’t. Ms. Brownell pointed out that most developing countries are in temperate and tropical climates, and “there’s a bit of a question as to whether that part of the world even watches the Winter Games.”

“The Winter Games will never match the Summer Games, because they involve half the number of athletes, half the number of countries,” said Dr. Dichter. “It just isn’t as big of a deal for much of the world.”

The government hopes the Olympics will kickstart a $200-billion winter sports industry, but it is starting nearly from scratch, with many people never having watched, let alone taken part in, most of the sports that will be on display next month.

“Winter sports are far away from our real life, to be honest,” said a Beijing resident named Zheng, whom The Globe and Mail is not identifying by her full name because of the sensitivities of discussing the Olympics with foreign media. “My daughter is more excited – she’s been looking up rules of different ice sports and now is something of an expert.” She said that compared with the 2008 Games, which felt more tangible, “this Olympics is more like a symbol to us. A symbol of our country becoming greater and more competitive on the international stage.”

After the billions of dollars spent, the diplomatic fallout and the stress about spiking COVID-19 cases, the organizers of Beijing 2022 will be hoping against hope the rest of the world sees it the same way.

With reports from Alexandra Li and the Associated Press

What are people saying about the Olympics?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes on Parliament Hill in 2018.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Many partners around the world are extremely concerned by the repeated human-rights violations by the Chinese government. That’s why we … will not be sending any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympics.

–Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Based on ideological biases as well as lies and rumours, Canada and a handful of Western countries have been flagrantly engaged in political manoeuvring, with the attempt to disrupt the smooth progress of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their clumsy performance can hardly find any support and is doomed to fail.

–China’s embassy to Canada

The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human-rights abuses.

–White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki

I don’t think we should politicize these topics, especially if it’s to take steps that are insignificant and symbolic … You either have a complete boycott, and don’t send athletes, or you try to change things with useful actions.

–French President Emmanuel Macron

We are fully confident and capable of presenting to the world a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Winter Olympics.

–Chinese President Xi Jinping

The Games should not be used as a distraction from China’s appalling human-rights record. On the contrary, they should be an opportunity to press China to address these issues.

–Amnesty International

The IOC awarded the Games to China, a country recognized internationally for its human-rights violations. This unfairly makes athletes pawns in a geopolitical fight. The IOC is to blame for putting athletes in this position; no athlete can be faulted for their choice to attend or not attend the Games.

–Advocacy group Global Athlete

Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.

–Beijing Olympics official Yang Shu on potential athlete protests

The pure ice and snow sports cannot tolerate dirty political calculations. Anyone who attempts to disrupt and sabotage the unity either by making an issue of the Winter Games or by manipulating the athletes will be framed as a clown in history.

–Global Times, Chinese state-run newspaper

Beijing 2022: More from The Globe and Mail

The Decibel

Many of Canada’s Olympians are at risk of eating disorders because of toxic training methods and the suspect science behind them, a recent Globe and Mail investigation found. Reporters Grant Robertson and Rachel Brady spoke with The Decibel about their findings. Subscribe for more episodes.

On the geopolitics

Megan Walsh: The Olympics as metaphor for how the Chinese Communist Party writes its narratives

John Rapley: We’re not entering a new Cold War with China – though it might be better if we were

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo: By choosing China, the IOC put athletes at risk

On Team Canada

Catriona Le May Doan is living the chef de mission dream

Canada’s ski cross team is ready for anything as they fight for a place at the Winter Olympics

NHL veteran Eric Staal leads Canada’s hockey team into Beijing Olympics

Our Olympic team will be writing a daily newsletter to land in your inbox every morning during the Games. Sign up today to join us in keeping up with medals, events and other news.

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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