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Canadiens @ Predators recap: Jake Allen steals a point for Montreal – Habs Eyes on the Prize

Published

3 years ago

December 5, 2021

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.

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Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.

It won’t be an easy assignment.

Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.

“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”

Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”

Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.

After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.

“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”

Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.

“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.

A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.

“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”

But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.

“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”

Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”

“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.

Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.

“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”

While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.

“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”

The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.

“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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