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Canadiens @ Flames game recap: Resilient Habs win in comeback fashion – Habs Eyes on the Prize

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Of the four teams the Montreal Canadiens were scheduled to play on a pre-Christmas road trip, the Calgary Flames were the hottest, sporting an 8-2-1 record over their previous 11 games. Both of the regulation losses had come in the two most recent games, so the Habs were arriving in Calgary at a good time to take on what is a fairly well constructed squad.

There wasn’t much room for either team to work in the opening 20 minutes. Checking was tight in the first period, with a lot of play in the neutral zone and few quality chances around the nets.

It was after some of that closely contested play that the game’s first goal was scored. Jeff Petry took the puck away from a Flames forward behind his goal line by marking him closely. Attempting to break the puck up the wall moments later, Petry’s passing motion was thrown off by contact with an opponent, and it didn’t go to the intended teammate, but right onto the stick of Elias Lindholm in the slot instead. All of Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar, and Brendan Gallagher scrambled into defensive positions, but the Flames remained calm, and Brady Tkachuk was picked out on the opposite post to capitalize on the turnover.

Montreal’s best chances of the period came from the third line. First a two-on-one with Nick Cousins and Nick Suzuki saw the former hold the puck to move right into the slot for a shot, getting denied by goaltender David Rittich. A quick forward pass from Carey Price after a Flames dump-in found Suzuki in the neutral zone on a later shift, and the rookie got into the zone for a shot, but had the puck clank off the base of the post.

As momentum seemed to be shifting with a bit of sustained pressure from Montreal, Danault had the puck get behind him at the attacking blue line, and his effort to immediately sweep it away from a Flames player led to a trip instead, putting the Flames on a late power play. The man advantage had plenty of quick passing, and Calgary doubled its lead by making not one, but two passes right across the slot. Johnny Gaudreau moved the puck from the left side to Tkachuk on the right flank of the zone, forcing the defence to shift its focus. The Habs were then unable to react when Tkachuk sent the puck to Lindholm at the back post, and the Flames had a two-goal edge with just eight seconds remaining in the period.

Montreal had a couple of offensive flurries in the opening minutes of the second, but it was a relatively harmless play that created their first goal of the night. After Shea Weber had pinched down below the goal line to play the puck — as he is wont to do this season — the captain moved it over to Gallagher at the side boards. Gallagher saw Danault in front of the net and sent the puck in his direction, but the shot got through the netminder on its own, bringing Gallagher’s goal total up to 15, weeks ahead of the midpoint of the season.

Four minutes later, the Habs had another. Artturi Lehkonen collected the puck at the Flames’ blue line, entered the zone, and passed off to Joel Armia. Armia showed off the powerful release we’ve been seeing a lot this season, blasting the puck into the net so hard only the referee standing below the goal line saw it actually cross the line.

Flames head coach Geoff Ward challenged the play, as Lehkonen had crossed the blue line backwards with his feet entering the zone before the puck. After review, the linesman determined that the forward had been in control of the puck at the time, making player and puck a single unit as far as the offside rules are concerned, and the goal was allowed to stand.

Since they lost the challenge, the Flames were forced to serve a minor penalty for wasting everyone’s time. Montreal didn’t really do much with that power play, but they also didn’t allow Calgary to regroup. After more solid play once the game returned to five-on-five, with some great displays of talent from Ryan Poehling, they soon drew another man advantage. Despite the best efforts of Suzuki on the right-side boards, making passes and taking shots of his own while acting as the quarterback, a third goal wasn’t in the cards.

With the game tied, the Flames held a slight edge to open the third period. At the five-minute mark, Mikey Reilly and Tobias Rieder got into a jousting match in Montreal’s end, both getting time in the box and sending the game to four-on-four.

The open space nearly allowed Montreal to grab their first lead of the night. Armia went in alone on a breakaway, and got a good low shot away, but was denied by Rittich. Brett Kulak’s follow-up shot was aimed for the far corner, but the trajectory was off, sending the puck around the boards. Max Domi tried to ensure the sequence would continue, but that’s about as deep as his thought process seemed to go. He tried to stickhandle around three defenders, and when he realized that wasn’t going to work he tried to lay the puck across to where he hoped a teammate was stationed, but found the stick of Noah Hanifin instead.

The Flames rushed the other way, with Johnny Gaudreau speeding into the zone, pulling up along the boards, and finding Oliver Kylington racing up with a head of steam. Gaudreau fed his defenceman, and Kylington notched his first goal of the year to put his side back on top.

It could have been the back-breaker for a Habs team that had already been forced to overcome a two-goal deficit, but that wasn’t the case. With eight minutes to play in regulation, Suzuki engaged in a bit of fencing with Derek Ryan at the top of the crease to get his stick on top. It proved to be a key manoeuvre, because moments later a shot-pass came in from Cousins, and Suzuki was able to rotate his blade to the perfect angle to deflect the puck over Rittich’s shoulder but still under the crossbar, tying the game with his seventh goal of the year.

As time wound down on the third period, Montreal seemed content to secure the point, but the Flames were going for the win. Price had to make a few critical saves to keep his team alive, getting in front of everything the home side could muster. With three seconds on the clock and a faceoff in Montreal’s zone, Calgary pulled off a nearly perfect play, getting the high-danger chance they were hoping for. The puck glaced off Shea Weber and headed toward the net, but it found iron rather than mesh, and the game continued on to overtime.

In the extra frame, Montreal held the majority of the possession. The team wasn’t finding many chances to attack the net, and spent most of their time regrouping in the neutral zone. Tatar managed to get two decent chances, though neither was successful.

Montreal lost an offensive-zone draw late in overtime, and that led to a massive advantage for Calgary, with the extra point on the stick of Lindholm. The forward was denied by a great save from Price, and then it was Montreal’s turn to catch the opposition on its heels.

Domi was the one to collect the puck, and he carried it all the way down the ice and over the blue line. Having done a full lap of the rink, he didn’t try any dangles, but decided rather to load up a slapshot, pounding one beyond the reach of Rittich to give Montreal a 4-3 overtime victory.

The Canadiens have now won five of their last six games (it’s nice to be able to dismiss that debacle versus the Detroit Red Wings like that) and have secured at least a split on their four-game Western Canadian road trip. The Habs will look to do better than that when they take on the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday evening; a matchup of elite skill versus strong depth.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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