The Montreal Canadiens headed down south for a rematch with the Nashville Predators, a team they bested at home just two weeks ago in a wild 6-3 game at the Bell Centre. Since then, the Predators had alternated wins and losses in spite of their reunited top line thriving. The Habs obviously went through a massive change as they fired most of their front office and began the steps toward a change in direction.
The Canadiens’ lineup had been wildly altered since the teams’ last meeting as well, namely with Josh Anderson and Jeff Petry out long-term. However, returning to the lineup for the Habs on Saturday was Mike Hoffman, and the team hoped he might solve their drastic power-play woes.
Hoffman’s return to the lineup started about as unfortunately as it could as he was whistled for a trip inside the opening 30 seconds. Jake Allen fought off some strong looks by the Predators’ power play and allowed Montreal to escape the penalty kill unscathed.
That still didn’t stop Nashville from finding the first goal thanks to a timely deflection by Eeli Tolvanen. Mattias Ekholm carried the puck into the Habs’ zone and pulled up to fire a shot from the blue line. As it headed toward the net, Tolvanen caught a piece of it, lifting it past Allen to open up the scoring.
In response to the Predators’ opening goal, the Canadiens took another penalty as David Savard blatantly shoved a Nashville player headfirst into the Montreal net behind Allen. The penalty-killers and their goaltender again teamed up to keep the Preds’ seventh-ranked power play off the board once again, and shortly after drew a penalty of their own.
With the units in a state of flux, the one with Ryan Poehling and Cole Caufield brought some kind of life back to Montreal’s offence. Poehling teed up Caufield for a clean look from the left circle, but Juuse Saros read it the whole way, swallowing up the hard shot without allowing a follow up opportunity. There was little momentum gained from that play, as Nashville went right back to dominating the game at even strength, once again leading to the Canadiens taking a defensive-zone penalty in the final minute of the period.
The Habs did well to fight off the late power play, including Tyler Toffoli creating a short-handed breakaway, but instead of passing it to a wide open Christian Dvorak, Toffoli took the shot himself, and it was stopped by Saros as the period ended.
The Canadiens’ penalty-killers kept a perfect record intact to start the second period as they easily dispatched the remaining 42 seconds of the power play. Then the game had it’s first fight after an extremely physical first period, and it featured none other than Michael Pezzetta. The rookie forward buried Matt Benning in the Predators’ zone and for his troubles had to throw down with Mark Borowiecki in a spirited fight.
Following the fight, William Carrier was called for holding the stick, and this time the Habs power play clicked. Caufield drew the defenders to him as he dipsy-doodled with the puck before feeding Chris Wideman, who in turn slid the puck to Nick Suzuki. The young centre walked into the faceoff circle, loaded up his shot, then ripped it over the shoulder of Saros to get the Canadiens on the board.
Suzuki’s goal brought some life back into the Canadiens’ offence, and with some excellent hustle Christian Dvorak had the Canadiens back in the lead. A long lob from Savard was destined to be an icing until Dvorak hustled down the ice to negate it and create a chance of his own. The puck was fed back to Savard at the point whose shot was batted down by Saros, but Dvorak pushed off his man to swat home the rebound to give Montreal its first lead of the night.
John Hynes challenged for goaltender interference, but the official review saw no such thing and the Habs headed to another power play thanks to the failed challenge. On that power play, Mathieu Perreault took a stick to the face, making it a five-on-three advantage for Montreal. The Habs promptly squandered the key chance as their two-man advantage failed to test Juuse Saros and the play returned to five-on-five with the Canadiens nursing just a one-goal lead.
In the final minutes of the period, Nashville finally found a second goal as a point shot from Ekholm was tipped home by Tanner Jeannot. It was initially believed to be a high stick, but a quick review said otherwise and the game was tied.
Montreal wasn’t able to get to the intermission without another Hoffman penalty giving Nashville a power play to start the third. Montreal’s penalty-killers handled the power play, and the team used that momentum to take the lead back once again.
Alexander Romanov won a puck battle that allowed Caufield to start an odd-man rush up the ice. Caufield wisely held the puck before fluttering a pass int to middle of the zone to a charging Brett Kulak, who snapped it under Saros’s glove to give Montreal the lead back.
After Kulak fought Luke Kunin following the next faceoff, it became the Jake Allen show once again as the Habs failed to clear their lines. After an icing, it was Allen sprawling all over to keep the Predators from tying the game up. The Habs failed to get their legs going from there and in a scramble around the net it was Kunin who was able to chip it by Allen who was searching for the loose puck in his crease.
A too-many-men penalty put the Habs back on the penalty kill again, and once more they managed to deny Nashville as the game entered its final minutes. Artturi Lehkonen nearly found the late go-ahead goal, but his breakaway chance was denied, and after a flurry of pad saves at the other end, Allen had forced the game into overtime.
The three-on-three frame was a wild affair, and it looked like the Habs might have pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a pair of set plays. Jake Evans won a draw forward right out of the zone, setting Hoffman off after the puck, creating a breakaway opportunity but Saros denied. They nearly accomplished the same thing on the next defensive-zone faceoff on the opposite side of the ice.
The Preds eventually caught the Habs napping just long enough to score the winner. Filip Forsberg lost his stick in the corner as the puck transitioned to the other side of the zone. As his teammate held it, Forsberg retrieved his stick and slid in behind the defence and easily converted the pass to secure a second point for Nashville.
The road ahead for Montreal doesn’t get much easier, as they have a Stanley Cup rematch with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
