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Canadiens must ignore optics of Niskanen ruling

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TORONTO — The optics don’t look good.

Brendan Gallagher will be getting his jaw wired shut after Matt Niskanen broke it with a cross-check in the dying minutes of Game 5 of Montreal’s series with Philadelphia, and we don’t know when he’ll be able to return. We do know it won’t be for Game 6 — or 7, if the Canadiens win on Friday — but Niskanen will be available to the Flyers come Sunday.

In a just world, that wouldn’t be the case. But justice appears to be a rather complex principle in the NHL.

Only in this league can a boarding minor — trumped up to a major and a game-misconduct because the victim of the hit suffered a small cut — equate to a crosscheck that causes someone a trip to the dentist, and one to the doctor for a procedure that ensures they’ll be drinking their food through a straw for the foreseeable future.

Granted, Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s punishment for the hit that sliced Travis Sanheim was 21 minutes and 45 seconds shorter than Niskanen’s will be. But we digress.

The NHL’s department of player safety put out a two-minute-and-24-second video to explain how they arrived at their conclusion following Niskanen’s 3 p.m. Eastern hearing on Thursday. There were 618 words spoken in there, but the only ones that resonated were the ones in the very first sentence.

“Wednesday night in Toronto, Flyers defenceman Matt Niskanen recklessly delivered a crosscheck to the face of Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher, knocking him to the ice and causing an injury.”

And yada, yada, yada, that amounts to a one-game suspension.

For a league that wants to curb concussions and eliminate head-shots, it’s a bad look.

And this ain’t pretty, either: The Canadiens were 4-7-1 sans Gallagher this season, and now, following a win with their backs against the wall in Game 5, they have to go runner, runner against a Flyers team that hasn’t lost consecutive games since early January, which was well before the world as we knew it stopped turning and COVID-19 paused the NHL season.

And then there’s the fact that the one thing the Canadiens proved, as they plummeted to 24th in the standings from October to March, was that they weren’t able to overcome injuries to Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron, never mind one to the player who has led them in goals in each of the past three seasons. You know, the guy who interim head coach Kirk Muller referred to on Thursday as “our heartbeat.”

But here’s the thing: The Montreal team we’ve seen in this unprecedented summer tournament for the Stanley Cup bears little resemblance to the one that needed to be gifted the opportunity to play these games in Toronto. Against all odds, the Canadiens handled a championship-calibre Pittsburgh Penguins team in less than the maximum number of games it required to advance beyond the qualifying round, and they’ve been every bit as good as the top-seeded Flyers so far in this first-round series.

Their coach, Claude Julien, suffered a cardiac event, was hospitalized, operated on and sent home to Montreal after a hard-fought Game 1 loss to Philadelphia, and they responded to that adversity with a resounding 5-0 win in Game 2. They were shut out in Games 3 and 4 and did everything they could (and succeeded) to chase Carter Hart from his net in Game 5 — even if Flyers coach Alain Vigneault was going to pull the young goaltender but suddenly decided against it after a bad goal allowed was overturned due to a missed offside call.

Speaking of missed calls, there was Gallagher, pinned up along the boards, clutching at his mouth to keep his teeth from falling out, bleeding profusely before he got up from Niskanen’s “reckless cross-check” and berated the officials on his way off the ice.

It was wasted breath, and he knew it.

Just like these Canadiens know it would be a waste of energy to get bogged down in L’Affaire Niskanen. They can’t do anything about the fact that one of their best players will be unavailable to them for the rest of this series, nor can they change the fact that Philadelphia will have one of theirs back if it gets to Game 7.

Not that all recent history is irrelevant.

The Canadiens shouldn’t forget what they did to win Game 5. They overcame the early departure of their leading goal scorer in these playoffs (Kotkaniemi), and they battled back after blowing two leads. They should also remind themselves that they managed to get this far with just one goal in eight games from Gallagher, and, in his absence, they should play in his image — with reckless abandon and caution thrown to the wind.

We know there’s at least one person who believes they can do it. He’s the guy who wasn’t supposed to make it to the NHL — especially not just two-and-a-half years after being drafted 147th overall. The guy who no one thought would last in this league but is now eight years into his career. You know, the guy who’s made his living turning the optics upside down.

Source: – Sportsnet.ca

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Sports betting roundup: NFL and college football were all about the favourites

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The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.

The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.

Trends of the Week

The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.

In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.

When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.

Upsets of the Week

The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.

Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.

Coming up

Right after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series, odds for the 2025 World Series were released.

The Dodgers have the best odds at +400, while the Atlanta Braves and Yankees are next at +800.

The Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies round out the top five, both at +1100.

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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.

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AP sports:

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Longtime rivals Ovechkin, Crosby join Necas as NHL’s three stars of the week

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NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.

Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.

The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.

Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.

Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Oliveira, Mitchell named as finalists for CFL outstanding player award

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TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).

Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.

Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.

Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.

Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.

The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).

The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.

The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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