Night one of a three game road trip for the Montreal Canadiens began in New Jersey. The Canadiens continue to stay in the wild card hunt despite little faith in their game anywhere in the NHL, except their own locker room.
Perhaps that is why they’ve performed so well against top teams this season. This time, another tough foe, New Jersey, was rested and ready.
But again, it was the Canadiens who pulled off the upset 3-2 in Newark.
Wilde Horses
Every game the last six weeks has the same heroes, essentially. The top line continues to provide an exciting look into the future. They’re doing most of the team’s scoring. In the first period, it was an outstanding combination with all three playing their part.
It was Nick Suzuki who came in hard as the first forechecker. He forced an uncomfortable Devils pass to behind the net. It kicked up off the dasher mid-air, about waist height, where Cole Caufield was able to turn his stick over and bat it to the front of the net.
That’s where Juraj Slafkovsky was slashing through bodies untouched to pounce on it for his his sixth goal of the season. What a run it is is for the former first pick overall in 2022. Slafkovsky had his sixth goal of the season, but more than that, it’s 10 points in the last 15 games for Slafkovsky on his second goal in two games.
In the third period, it was Caufield who scored the game winner. Sean Monahan and Caufield were both in the crease to tip a deflection. The final tip was Caufield’s, whose goal total is getting a bit more respectable at 14. It’s impressive how often Caufield is around the crease for a small player.
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The top line is also putting together strong analytics. They have fallen from the top 10 when they were at a 61-per cent share of expected goals at 5-on-5. However, at 56 per cent overall, they are still strong, and by far, the best line on the club.
Though there is only one line showing top-six talent, when the club returns to health they may have the workings of something resembling strength. Imagine a healthy Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, joined perhaps by Joshua Roy.
It was as if a light bulb went off in the head of Roy in his third game as an NHL player. His first two he was a bit tentative, but in this one, he was outstanding. Roy pushed hard on the forecheck. He showed outstanding vision. He made strong passes.
In the second period, he one-upped that effort by scoring his first NHL goal. It was a beauty as Roy fed Monahan with a breakout pass. Monahan seemed to wait too long as he carried the puck behind the goal line, but he had the angle to feed Roy streaking in. Roy parked it far side. There aren’t many first goals more beautiful than that one.
Roy looked like he did for two seasons for the Sherbrooke Phoenix, for Canada at the World Juniors, and for the Laval Rocket. It looks like he can repeat this effort. It wasn’t as if the puck was tracking him, but he was tracking the puck. If Roy can carry this game forward in any capacity, he becomes an excellent hope for the future.
The club also has two other forwards in the juniors who are shining in Filip Mesar and Owen Beck. Both are absolutely lighting up the scoreboard in the Ontario Hockey League.
There is so much talk about the lack of a star scorer, and a lack of a second line. It’s fair. However, what never gets spoken of is how deep the Canadiens are going to be from forward one to forward 12. It’s difficult to know where each player’s ceiling will settle out, but there are nine forwards as a group that will scare any team’s defence overall when everyone matures.
In the goal against New Jersey, it was Samuel Montembeault excelling again. Montembeault has one of the best save percentages in hockey in January at .930. Listening to comments around the league, it’s remarkable how difficult it is to gain respect when a goalie gets a late start to his NHL career.
Montembeault is not a back-up goalie just because he was three years ago. He has arrived. He is top five in the league in stolen victories this year. He was top five last year, too. You can’t ask for more than a goalie stealing a game and giving a club two points in the standings they didn’t deserve. Montembeault deserves so much more respect than he gets.
This one was one of his best. Saves on breakaways, on shots from five feet, rebounds controlled — he was simply outstanding. It may be time to change from saying he’s playing great to saying he is great.
Wilde Goats
It’s back-to-back wins over Colorado and New Jersey for the Canadiens this week. It’s Jan. 17, and the Canadiens are only four points out of a wild card spot. With two vital centres, Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak, out for the season, and a key winger out for four months in Alex Newhook, this was not supposed to be possible.
No goats for these stunning results, and this club that stays in the fight.
Wilde Cards
The optimistic are still entertaining hopes that the Canadiens can be a part of a playoff race in March. The pessimistic have their eyes on a high draft pick and are hoping for losses. It is still too early to definitively say which path the Canadiens are on, but by one measure a high draft pick is more likely.
When half a season remains, it becomes important which teams have difficult opponents in front of them, and which teams still have the bottom dwellers to go. It’s commonly known as ‘strength of schedule’ and it’s not a pretty tale for the local heroes.
The Canadiens have the fourth most difficult schedule in the entire league in front of them with their opponents having a collective record of a .577 winning percentage. Montreal has a lot of teams like Boston, Carolina and Vancouver yet to face. However, they do play well against great teams, so perhaps they can keep it up.
Also not in the Canadiens’ favour is most of the clubs that they would compete with for that playoff spot have easy schedules. For the pessimistic looking for a high draft pick, that is possibly good news to pass on to you.
Every single team but two in the bottom third of the league standings has an easy schedule. Only the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets are in the top half in strength of schedule. Buffalo, San Jose, Anaheim, Chicago, Calgary, St. Louis, and Minnesota are among the teams with the easiest schedules.
What this means is for those who want the Canadiens to fall lower in the standings, they have a good chance of this happening considering when Calgary plays Minnesota, someone has to win. When all the bad teams play each other, someone has to take the points.
Imagine a Tuesday night in March — Montreal plays Boston, while Buffalo is playing Ottawa. That will happen a lot the rest of the year, and that means the road to the playoffs is a lot harder than the road to a high draft pick.
Let’s play the games to see what happens. Perhaps that fighting spirit in the Canadiens locker room doesn’t care one bit about strength of schedule. They’ve certainly not laid down for teams like the Rangers, Jets, Stars, Oilers, and the Avalanche this season. It might just continue.
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.
