The beauty of hockey — it can sprinkle stardust on an ugly game and turn it into something wondrous and magical as well as any Disney studio.
If you like your underdogs, your David vs. Goliath or your Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, then Monday’s game at Scotiabank Arena was for you.
No team seemed less equipped to rebound from a 5-1 second-period deficit than the North Division’s last-place Ottawa Senators and few teams seemed less vulnerable than the first place Toronto Maple Leafs.
And yet, here we are. Thanks to the greatest comeback in Senators franchise history, they own their first two-game win streak of the season. From 1992-2021, an Ottawa team had trailed by at least four goals in a regular season game 240 times and this was the first instance the Senators emerged with a win.
“It’s hockey, anything can happen,” said overtime hero Evgenii Dadonov, who tied the game late in the third. “We didn’t stop playing.”
No, they left that to the Leafs.
A shorthanded goal by Nick Paul late in the second period gave the Senators hope.
“That was huge going into the intermission,” said winger Drake Batherson, who scored Ottawa’s first goal of the night. “The older guys told us through the second intermission to keep going. Anything can happen. And we showed it there by tying it up.”
After that same penalty kill featuring the Paul goal, defenceman Artem Zub emerged from the penalty box and scored his first NHL goal on a breakaway. A gorgeous deke from a player brought over from the KHL for his defensive play. Now, the magic was surely in the air.
Joy can be fleeting in a condensed, pandemic hockey schedule, however. The Senators beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Saturday in the dying seconds of a Hockey Day in Canada game, then the smiles were wiped off their faces while getting routed for the better part of 40 minutes of a 5-1 game against the Leafs. Play was as lopsided as in any Ottawa game this season, but as head coach D.J. Smith would say afterwards, his team was due for a break after losing some heartbreakers earlier in the schedule.
Now, the question is can they build momentum from a miracle? Or was it a mirage?
What do the Senators do for an encore?
Before this dramatic turn of events in Winnipeg and Toronto, things looked dire. Starting goaltender Matt Murray was injured and backup Marcus Hogberg was essentially put on notice that he had to turn in a solid game against Winnipeg or the club would find other options.
Hogberg was brilliant in the 2-1 victory against the Jets, and while he yielded five in the early Leafs onslaught, he didn’t give up a sixth. Several stops in the third period and overtime were spectacular, including outlasting Mitch Marner on what could have been the goal of the year if he’d pulled it off. On the night, Hogberg stopped 33 of 38 Toronto shots.
Dorion making moves
On the face of it, a team that had a 2-12-1 record as recently as Saturday morning, would seem likely to be in a state of inertia. It would be easy to get paralyzed into numbness, and just ride out the string, hoping that the months pass quickly so the Senators could turn a page. Play the kids, draft well, move onto next year.
Instead, general manager Pierre Dorion is trying to manage his way out of this latest crisis. Goaltenders have been moving in and around the roster and taxi squad like chess pieces wielded by Beth Harmon. And on the weekend, Dorion moved out two pending unrestricted free agents, forwards Alex Galchenyuk and Cedric Paquette, in exchange for a third pending UFA, former Senators winger Ryan Dzingel.
Don’t look now, but the Senators are 2-0 since making the trade! (Never mind that Dzingel is in COVID-19 quarantine and won’t play until March 1).
As it did in the off-season, Murray’s phone is buzzing.
For starters, Dorion and Smith had to deal with the loss of their No. 1 goalie. Most frustrating about the injury, Murray had only just begun to find the form that Dorion was hoping for when he traded for Murray back in October and signed him to a four-year deal. Murray got hurt in a collision with his own defenceman, Nikita Zaitsev, in Winnipeg last Thursday.
That left the job to backup Hogberg, a frightening proposition considering Hogberg couldn’t seem to find his angles or his net in his seven previous season appearances. But in his eighth game, Hogberg delivered the most inspiring Ottawa performance of the season, stopping 30 of 31 shots (a save percentage of .968) while his teammates got him a last-second goal, a redirect by Brady Tkachuk, to stun the hometown Jets.
Murray practised with the team on Monday and could be back as early as Wednesday. Look for Murray and Hogberg to split the remaining games of the Toronto series, Wednesday and Thursday.
When goaltender Joey Daccord was recalled from AHL Belleville after just one start, a 5-1 loss in Laval on Friday, and moved from the taxi squad to the active roster to backup Hogberg in Toronto on Monday, he became the third different backup the Senators have used.
Filip Gustavsson, who was on the bench in Winnipeg on Saturday, was moved to the taxi squad. But with Murray better, Daccord is moving back to the taxi squad while Gustavsson is shifted to the Belleville roster.
Dzingel, two-time deadline transaction?
When Dorion flipped out Galchenyuk and Paquette to Carolina in exchange for Dzingel, there were those who wondered if he was simply rearranging deck chairs on a certain ship that need not be named.
In fact, the move does shake things up around the Senators room. Dorion is letting his group know that he is not going to stand idly by while they lose the bulk of their games, even if they have played much better since their turnaround game in Montreal on Feb. 4.
If the GM can improve the team week to week, even marginally, he will, while recognizing he can always flip out veteran players at the deadline to acquire draft picks or prospects. Clearly, the Hurricanes wanted Paquette and took on Galchenyuk just so Ottawa could dump the contract (one year at $1.05M). Galchenyuk was promptly put on waivers by Carolina before being traded to the Leafs. Fortunately for him, he remained in Ottawa at the time of the trade and so can move to Toronto without facing a cross-border quarantine.
Dzingel, 28, was a two-time 20-goal scorer while with the Senators in his first go-around (23 in 2017-18, 22 in 2018-19). He should have some familiarity and comfort with the organization that drafted him out of Ohio State in 2011 (seventh round, 204th overall), although there are only a handful of players left from the Ottawa team he knew two years ago.
Dzingel said he believes he will get more opportunity with Ottawa than he did in Carolina.
“It’s been a crazy few days and I’m just excited to be back,” Dzingel said on a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday. “I think anytime you get a second chance in anything in life it’s pretty special, so I’m looking at things with a different lens right now.
“Other than this 14-day quarantine, being stuck in the Brookstreet (Hotel in Kanata), I’m excited … to get this thing going in 12 or 13 days when I get out of jail here.”
Dzingel can practice with the Senators on Feb. 28. The team’s next game after that is March 1 vs. Calgary.
As we mentioned last week, the Senators are sure to be busy at the trade deadline, and even beforehand, with as many as nine pending UFAs on their roster. Now they are down to eight. Dzingel will get his chance to help his old team, but is also a deadline trade option.
Why did Dorion sign so many veteran castoffs in the off-season? As near as we can figure, he was auditioning players who should have been motivated to salvage their careers, to see which ones might work out, and either complement the youth corps or push them to be better.
Some have. Winger Austin Watson has come in and been a well-conditioned, gritty, useful bottom six forward.
Not so much for Galchenyuk, Paquette or centre Derek Stepan, who would like to be accommodated with a trade closer to his family in Arizona if possible.
Erik Gudbranson has played important minutes for Ottawa, and looked to be in a good pairing with Erik Brannstrom until Brannstrom got hurt.
Dadonov was no castoff, but a significant free agent signing at three years at a $5-million AAV. With his pair of goals on Monday, Dadonov has surged to lead team scoring with six goals and is looking effective with Colin White and Paul, arguably the Senators best line of late.
Now, the teams get to do it all over again. Those pesky Senators, with three of their four victories registered against their eastern rivals from Toronto (2) and Montreal (1) will be tested by the Maple Leafs in Wednesday’s rematch.
They might not want to risk a four-goal deficit this time, but then again, the Senators have trailed in all of their victories this season.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
—
Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
