It’s one outstanding team after another that the Montreal Canadiens face as they wind down their season. While another missed playoffs wasn’t the hope, solace can be taken that the Canadiens improved as the season progressed.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have given the Canadiens a lot of trouble, and Thursday night was no different. The Lightning seized on an off-night for Cayden Primeau to win 7-4.
Wilde Horses
It was a rare night for the Canadiens as they finally had some secondary scoring. Alex Newhook, Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia took over the reins from the first line led by Nick Suzuki.
Newhook has had a strong season with little praise for it. Gallagher continues to work his tail off, even though his best offensive days are behind him. However, the big story on the line is Armia. He has put together a remarkable comeback season.
His season started in the minors, where it all could have gone extremely wrong for him after a suspect training camp. Armia put his head down and got to work. That work quickly produced a promotion back to the NHL.
Since then, he’s had the best season of his career. Armia scored twice in the contest to up his goal total to 16. That ties his best season registered in 2020. He has seven games to hit a career high in goals.
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Armia is also third on the team in goals despite missing 16 games. He trails only Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Armia is tied with Juraj Slafkovsky, who kept his excellent run going with a tip-in on a point shot. Slafkovsky is learning he cannot be contended with physically. He can go to the front of the net and park, then wait. He’s learning what an outstanding weapon he has.
Slafkovsky used his size again, but in a different manner, on the 6-4 goal. He brought two players to him, and simply had too much strength for the Tampa players to handle. That created space for Suzuki and Caufield. It was Caufield finishing with the shot to the top corner.
Wilde Goats
Kaiden Guhle took a hit in the first period that seemed to have left him with a concussion. He suffered a concussion in October as well. Guhle’s head was rocked against the glass by Nikita Kucherov. No penalty was called, even though the hit nailed Guhle right between the numbers.
The point that defenders of that hit will make is that Guhle has to protect himself, because Kucherov was simply following through on the play. However, the issue taken with that is there was no way that Guhle could defend himself. He was finishing a pass to his defensive partner.
Guhle must play the puck and his hands are low to accomplish that pass. Are we suggesting Guhle must suffer a concussion to make a hockey play? If Guhle does protect himself by pushing his hands against the glass when hit, he cannot simultaneously play the puck.
This is why the rule about “hitting from behind” exists. There are scenarios where a player can’t physically defend themselves in the run of play. The NFL has recognized this. They have recently initiated a penalty called “hitting a defenceless receiver.”
The penalty exists in hockey as well. Simply, call it. Just call it. Guhle was defenceless. He cannot both defend himself and make a hockey play. Let him make a hockey play without also getting a concussion. Let’s protect these players more.
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One of the hardest things to grasp is that drafting is not an exact science. It’s so common to suggest that a mistake has been made on draft day, but a lot of time must pass before a true evaluation can be made on a pick.
In his first year after the draft, Jesperi Kotkaniemi looked like the right pick. At third overall, he stormed onto the scene as a teenager and turned in a strong season. Unfortunately, he never progressed. In fact, he has regressed. Kotkaniemi was even a healthy scratch for the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Carolina is on the hook for that contract until 2030.
For every perfect selection of Auston Matthews, there’s a disaster like Nail Yakupov. Even the number one pick, in a revisit of the draft five years later, can turn out to be the wrong selection.
For this reason, the people who are so certain that a mistake in a draft has been made by the Canadiens need to wait for history to tell its own story.
Early on, when Juraj Slafkovsky struggled to keep on his feet and couldn’t win a puck battle, the knives were out and sharpened. Only a season later, Slafkovsky looks like the right choice at first overall.
With that as the backdrop, it’s quite bizarre to see the same scenario playing out with the next Canadiens early first-round pick. The fear now, and even a certainty, for many, is that David Reinbacher was the wrong choice at five.
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Matvei Michkov is speculated to be a superior player, but let’s wait on that. Michkov hasn’t played a single game in the NHL. He may actually not be all that. He’s not a big player. He’s a winger. He has no defensive game or a desire to have one — at all. He may not be the next Gretzky. Reinbacher may be the best choice, just like Slafkovsky. Give it time.
In the end, Kotkaniemi wasn’t the best choice. In fact, the best went four picks later in Quinn Hughes. Evan Bouchard went seven picks later. Both players were not even on the radar in that draft for Montreal. It was a Kotkaniemi or Brady Tkachuk or Filip Zadina choice.
It’s not a science. Every single year a five can be 10th best and a 10th may be fifth best.
This year, there is quite a lot of consternation that the Canadiens absolutely must lose a sufficient number of games to draft fifth. That is the goal. It would be a benefit to draft higher. This is not the disputed point. Of course, higher equals better over the long course of history.
However, should the Canadiens win more and drop to seven, they will still be able to get a forward in the same tier.
It is expected that Ivan Demidov will be the best of the forwards in his tier. However, it may just be Cayden Lindstrom who is best. Berkly Catton might even be the breakout star, or Cole Eiserman. Tij Iginla could also follow in his father’s footsteps and be a great one who was chosen later than he should have been.
No one knows. As long as the Canadiens get a forward in the top tier, they’ll have achieved their goal. Remember that the Vegas Golden Knights wouldn’t part with Cody Glass, taken at six, but were fine to part with Nick Suzuki, taken at 13, in the Max Pacioretty trade.
If you are still skeptical Montreal absolutely must finish fifth-worst, look at every single draft in history. There isn’t a single one where a redraft would see the same top 10 in the order taken. Not one.
So try not to lose too much sleep thinking this is the first draft ever where the order taken is the exact order of excellence the picks will mature to. Montreal will get an excellent forward in the draft. That is sufficient for the day.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
5:04 The Call of the Wilde
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns, helping the Baltimore Ravens overcome an early double-digit deficit and extend their National Football League winning streak to five games with a 41-31 victory Monday night over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost their top two receivers to injuries.
The two-time NFL MVP improved to 23-1 against NFC teams, the best mark by a quarterback against an opposing conference in NFL history. He’s 3-0 against the Bucs (4-3), who faded after taking a 10-0 lead with help from the 100th TD reception of Mike Evans’ career.
Evans departed with a hamstring injury after Baker Mayfield tried to connect with him in the end zone again, and late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, leading Bucs receiver Chris Godwin was carted off the field with a left ankle injury. ESPN declined to show replays of Godwin’s injury, which appeared to be severe.
Jackson completed 17 of 22 passes without an interception, including TD throws of nine and four yards to Mark Andrews. He also tossed scoring passes of 49 yards to Rashod Bateman, 18 yards to Justice Hill and 11 yards to Derrick Henry, who rushed for 169 yards on 15 carries. Bateman had four catches for 121 yards.
The Ravens (5-2) rebounded from a slow start on defence, with cornerback Marlon Humphrey turning the game around with a pair of second-quarter interceptions — one of them in the Baltimore end zone. Jackson led a four-play, 80-yard TD drive after the first pick, and the second interception set up Justin Tucker’s 28-yard field goal for a 17-10 halftime lead.
Elsewhere in the NFL:
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CARDINALS 17 CHARGERS 15
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray ran for a 44-yard touchdown and led the Cardinals on a drive that set up Chad Ryland’s 32-yard field goal as time expired, and Arizona rallied for a win over Los Angeles.
Cameron Dicker kicked his fifth field goal of the night — this one from 40 yards — to give the Chargers a 15-14 lead with 1:54 left. But the Cardinals (3-4) quickly moved into field goal range, aided by an unnecessary roughness call on Cam Hart that cost Los Angeles (3-3) 15 yards.
Arizona followed that with a bruising 33-yard run by James Conner, who finished with 101 yards on the ground. That eventually set up Ryland’s short field goal and a Cardinals celebration.
It was a frustrating night for the Chargers’ offence, which gained 395 yards but couldn’t find the end zone. Justin Herbert completed 27 of 39 passes for 349 yards.
Dicker booted field goals of 59, 50, 28, 47 and 40 yards, the first of which tied a franchise record for distance.
Murray ran for a spectacular touchdown early in the fourth quarter, rolling to his left before turning on the jets, beating safety Junior Colston to the sideline and then coasting into the end zone for a 14-9 lead.
It was Murray’s second long touchdown run in three weeks after he scored on a 50-yard sprint against San Francisco. It was also Murray’s 20th career game with a touchdown pass and run.
Murray completed 14 of 26 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps have been here before — literally and figuratively.
With the season hanging in the balance, the ‘Caps were dealt a blow last week when the club learned it wouldn’t be able to play a post-season wild-card game in its home stadium, B.C. Place, due to a scheduling conflict.
The Whitecaps ceded home field advantage to their regional rival, the Portland Timbers. The two clubs will battle for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference in Oregon on Wednesday.
The winner will face No. 1-seed Los Angeles FC in a best-of-three first-round series, starting Sunday.
An unforeseen hurdle like a change of venues is nothing new for the ‘Caps, said defender Ranko Veselinovic, who was part of the team that was forced to relocate first to Portland, then Utah during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It feels that always something happens for us, but it is what it is. So far, we’ve managed to always find solutions for those situations,” said the Serbian centre back. “But I hope this team can find it one more time, because we need it this time. And it will be a really nice feeling in those circumstances to go in, win and go face L.A. in the next round.”
Vancouver (13-13-8) heads into the post-season winless in its last seven MLS games and with losses in four straight after dropping a 2-1 road decision to Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
The skid followed a run that saw the club go 4-1-3 across all competitions between late August and late September.
There’s just one way to return to that level, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini.
“The work is the only way to do it. Try to put the work in and try to put the team in a way that they’re going to regain the form and the way that they were in the past,” he said.
Despite the final score, Sartini has seen positives in the way his team played in its two most recent losses.
“I think already we turned the corner,” he said. “And we start from there to build and build and build.”
Facing challenges together can help a team build, whether it’s a winless skid or an unexpected hurdle, said Vancouver’s captain Ryan Gauld.
“When you’re going through adversity, that’s when people start to raise their voice a little bit. You get good when the problems arise, you get a lot of people coming together to make sure we get out of it,” said the Scottish attacking midfielder.
“And we’ve had a tough time the last few games, but everyone’s aware of the fact that we’re a much better team than we’ve shown, and we need to find a way to get back to doing what we’re good at.”
The ‘Caps face a familiar foe in the Timbers (12-11-11).
The two sides have already met three times this season, with each coming out of the series with a win, a loss and a draw.
Portland has also struggled in recent weeks and are winless in their last five MLS outings (0-1-4).
The Timbers boast one of the league’s top offensive units, though, with threats such as Evander. The Brazilian midfielder notched 15 goals and 19 assists during the regular season.
To earn a win on Wednesday, the Whitecaps must be solid defensively, Gauld said.
“They must be one of the best attacks in the league. They have a lot of good players, and they can hurt you if you switch off,” he said. “So just being concentrated from the first whistle, and just being hard to beat, being stuffy. Just being on it for the full 90 minutes.”
A victory in the wild-card match would guarantee Vancouver at least one home playoff game, a factor that Sartini said would be a big reward for his group.
The entire team relished the experience of playing post-season soccer in front of more than 30,000 fans last year, the coach said, and the desire to repeat the feat is high as the club heads to Portland.
“Everyone is happy to be in the playoffs. So we don’t have to be moody to be in the playoff. And we go in there, we’re play one of our rivals. So it’s gonna be a nice game to show up and to play our best game possible.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (13-13-8) AT PORTLAND TIMBERS (12-11-11)
Wednesday, Providence Park
HISTORY BOOKS: This will mark the seventh all-time post-season meeting between the Timbers and ‘Caps, dating back to 1975. The last time the two clubs squared off in a playoff game was during the Western Conference semifinal in 2015. Portland won the two-game aggregate series and went on to hoist the MLS Cup.
ROAD WARRIORS: The ‘Caps boasted a 7-6-4 record on the road during regular-season play — better than the 6-7-4 showing they posted at B.C. Place.
POST-SEASON PARTY: Wednesday will mark the first time the Timbers have hosted a post-season game since 2021.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Scotland conceived rugby sevens in the 1880s yet it will not feature in the scaled-back 2026 Commonwealth Games hosted by Glasgow.
Other sports that have also been dropped include field hockey, triathlon, badminton, Twenty20 cricket, squash, and diving.
The Games will have a 10-sport program in four venues. Athletics and swimming are compulsory while there will also be track cycling, gymnastics, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls and 3×3 basketball.
There will also be integrated para events in six of those sports: Athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, bowls and basketball.
The Games will take place from July 23-Aug. 2 after Glasgow stepped in when the Australian state of Victoria withdrew last year because of rising costs.
It was not easy to decide which sports to include, Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Ian Reid told the BBC on Tuesday.
“I think everybody recognises that these events need to be more affordable, lighter and we would have loved to have all of our sports and all of our athletes competing but unfortunately it’s just not deliverable or affordable for this time frame,” Reid said.
Athletes and support staff will be housed in hotels. Around 3,000 athletes are expected to compete from up to 74 Commonwealth nations and territories representing a combined total of 2.5 billion people, a third of the world’s entire population.
More than 500,000 tickets made available for spectators.
The Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Katie Sadleir said: “The 2026 Games will be a bridge to the Commonwealth Games of tomorrow, an exciting first step in our journey to reset and redefine the Games as a truly collaborative, flexible and sustainable model for the future that minimises costs, reduces the environmental footprint, and enhances social impact. In doing so, increasing the scope of countries capable of hosting.”
Glasgow hosted the event in 2014 at a cost of more than 540 million pounds.
