The Montreal Canadiens’ pre-season campaign continued to roll on as they kicked off a back-to-back series, this time against the Ottawa Senators. The roster heading to Canada’s capital was largely the same as the one that throttled the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last game. It did, however, feature another debut for the Habs as Sami Niku suited up for his Montreal debut after signing late last week upon having his contract mutually terminated in Winnipeg.
The Habs jumped out to a solid start, with the duo of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jake Evans finding a rhythm early on. Harvey-Pinard found the open space in Ottawa’s zone, and filtered a perfect pass to Evans who fired it five hole, but was denied by Matt Murray’s pads.
Then it was Niku’s turn to try to generate some pressure deep in the Ottawa zone, and he did that while centring a feed for Christian Dvorak. However, Niku was caught deep and Jonathan Drouin was late on his rotation to cover his spot allowing Ottawa to spring an odd-man rush.
While Ben Chiarot perfectly eliminated the passing target, Austin Watson fired a shot that snuck through a sliding Jake Allen to put Ottawa on top early in the first. The goal didn’t take the wind out of the Habs’ sails though, as Montreal continued to push back as the period wore on.
Eventually they found a breakthrough as Dvorak and Drouin worked their magic in the offensive zone once more. Drouin fed a pass to Chris Wideman who let his shot go. It hit Murray’s blocker and Alex Belzile was in the spot to pot the rebound into the open net and tie the game.
The tie did not last for long though, as Artem Zub fired a wristshot from the point toward Allen, and in front of the net Drake Batherson outmuscled David Savard while managing to redirect the puck by the veteran goalie to put Ottawa back on top.
The first period took an ugly turn as Josh Norris hammered Niku in the numbers as the Canadiens defender was turned to move the puck along the boards. Niku got up slowly, with his visor splattered with blood, though Norris wasn’t assessed a penalty of any kind. Batherson was given two minutes for roughing in the scrum that followed, but the Canadiens weren’t able to generate a single shot on their man advantage.
Ottawa drew the next power play to end the period as Michael Pezzetta was called for tripping. The Habs held strong to end the first, but had just over a minute of penalty-killing left to start the second period.
The Montreal penalty killers stood tall to kill off Pezzetta’s remaining sentence. Unfortunately, with the fourth line taking the next draw, the Senators took advantage of their inability to clear the zone. Shane Pinto swiped an errant pass and set up Nick Paul, who fired a shot right past Allen to double Ottawa’s lead.
That edge continued to grow as the period wore on, as an ill-timed pinch by Savard turned into another odd-man rush, and Batherson was in alone on Allen. The Sens forward uncorked a wicked shot, and the Ottawa lead was pushed to three goals.
A tripping call by Cole Reinhardt on Kaiden Guhle sent Montreal back to the power play, and this time they made sure to take advantage of that situation. Some deft movement on the power play allowed Drouin to slip a pass to Wideman, who once again aimed high on Murray. It ended up hitting Dvorak in front first, and then the centreman coolly fired the rebound into the back of the net as he shook of the stinger he had gotten from the shot.
Before the period was over, a pair of mental lapses in the defensive zone resulted in another pair of Ottawa goals, and the Canadiens found themselves in a very deep hole heading into the final period. They also found themselves staring down a very angry Senators team after Ottawa believed Michael Pezzetta took advantage of the smaller Parker Kelly in a fight during which Pezzetta dropped Kelly with just a few stiff punches.
Instead of fighting or going after anyone in a white sweater, the Senators went down the ice, turning Savard around, and scored a seventh goal to welcome Kevin Poulin to the game.
A Canadiens power play yielded next to nothing in terms of offence-generation as it was clear the Canadiens and Senators were content to just run the remainder of the game clock out.
Watson finally tracked down Pezzetta as the game was clearly over from a competitive standpoint. Watson threw Pezzetta to the ice, with the young forward clearly not wishing to engage, and Watson took a seat in the box for two minutes. Again, the Canadiens’ man advantage passed the puck around well, but there were no more goals to be found in this game as the Senators coasted for the final minutes to come away with an easy 7-2 victory.
The Senators also claimed the post-game shootout victory, with Tyler Ennis netting the winner while Ryan Poehling was denied by Murray to cap off a frustrating night.
The Canadiens get an immediate do-over tonight in Montreal when they welcome the Senators to the Bell Centre. It’s expected that we’ll see more of the team that opened the pre-season against Toronto, plus Ryan Poehling who was informed he will be playing both games this weekend.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
