Following this season’s second eight-game losing-streak, the Montreal Canadiens looked to improve against the only Canadian team currently beneath them on the league table, the Ottawa Senators.
Brendan Gallagher was suffering from headaches and was confirmed out ahead of the game, meaning that newly acquired Ilya Kovalchuk once again stepped onto the first line to pair up with Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar. Matthew Peca was back in the lineup for the first time in a month, flanking Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the third line. On defense, Ben Chiarot missed his second game in a row with a lower-body injury, meaning that the same six defenders who started against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night would get a new chance to operate. There were large contrasts in the netminding game, where Montreal started Carey Price and Ottawa started Swedish sophomore Marcus Hogberg, with just 12 career NHL games before Saturday.
After an even start Dylan DeMelo crosschecked Max Domi, and with that he sent Montreal on the man advantage. Being without Gallagher, Paul Byron, Joel Armia and Jonathan Drouin, the Habs still managed to produce one of the best-looking power plays of the whole year. The puck went from player to player as if on a string, before ending with Nick Suzuki scoring his ninth of his rookie season, assisted by Jeff Petry and Tatar.
Nick Cousins became the first and only Montreal player to visit the box in the first period as he received a crosschecking minor. However, Ottawa only got 23 seconds to try to capitalize on their first power play before Drake Batherson evened the strength out with a hook on Artturi Lehkonen.
Batherson had a rough first period. Right as he was entering the game again, having served his two-minute minor, he reached with the stick to try to stop a Montreal attack before having fully exited the box. giving the referees no choice but to send him right back in for interference.
Lehkonen, Kovalchuk, Danault, and Suzuki each had opportunities to double the lead for the guests before the break, but either the shots went just beside the net or Hogberg was in the way. The score remained 1-0 until the end of the period.
Midway through the second, Brady Tkachuk got annoyed by Victor Mete’s presence in the crease and chose to crosscheck the defenceman into Price, with an interference penalty following. Unfortunately, the positive flow from the first power play was nowhere to be seen, and instead Chris Tierney had a chance to equalize when he broke through alone from mid-ice. Price stopped the effort and held tight on his shutout bid.
Ottawa took over through the course of the second, making Price and Montreal’s vulnerable defence work hard to prevent losing a lead once again. The two earlier games this week have both followed the same pattern, with Montreal in the lead to end the second period and then a turnaround in the third for the worse.
Montreal, coming into Saturday with a league-high 35 shots per game on average, had difficulties getting opportunities on offence, resulting in only 16 shots fired against Hogberg throughout the first 40 minutes of play. There were more chances to be had, but most shots seemed to have a tendency to wind up wide of the net, making Hogberg’s night considerably easier.
Marco Scandella and Tierney got sent to the box simultaneously early in the third, creating a two-minute four-on-four. The best scoring chance during these minutes went to former Hab Mikey Reilly, playing the Canadiens for the first time since the trade. Price was awake and managed to block the shot from the point.
Minutes later, Tierney drew a new penalty on a Canadiens player. This time Mete was the perpetrator and Tierney did not have to accompany him to the penalty box. Yet again, Montreal’s usually fragile penalty kill came up strong and killed off the two minutes meritoriously.
The penalty kill would have to continue to play on top of their level as Tatar got called for holding shortly afterword. Ottawa was closing in on double the amount of shots as their guests. Price, however, demonstrated a confidence that has been lacking during the start of the new year, stopping every effort and getting by with a little help from his friends.
It eventually took a Montreal Canadiens player to tie the game up. Batherson got credited with the goal that was steered toward the net by Peca’s stick to fool Price. If a single goal could summarize the Habs’ season so far, this had to be it.
Struggling offensively and now needing another goal, matters became even more difficult when Scandella got penalized for the second time in less than 20 minutes, this time for tripping up Reilly. While being one man down, Montreal could actually have settled matters. On a surprising breakaway, Ryan Poehling and Nate Thompson came in two-on-one against Hogberg and a lone Senators defenceman. After passing back and forth, Poehling gave Thompson a chance for a simple put-in from close distance, but yet again the shot failed to go.
Just as it had the two times earlier this season, a game between Montreal and Ottawa went to overtime. Kovalchuk got a first-class opportunity for his first goal in a Habs jersey, getting left alone from mid-ice during a botched Senators line change. The young Swedish netminder read the effort and stopped a fairytale ending.
With less than a minute left of overtime, the Russian sniper would get a second chance. Getting into the offensive zone on the left side, one-on-one against a forward, Batherson, playing defence, Kovalchuk slowed down, making everyone believe he would pass to a surging Danault on the other side. Instead, he demonstrated that marksman-like wrist shot that has made him feared by the world’s premier goaltenders for nearly two decades. The shot went off the far post and in, creating havoc among both the Canadiens players and the fans at Canadian Tire Centre. The relief in Kovalchuk’s eyes as the puck went in truly was priceless to see. As was the joy among his teammates when they congratulated him.
Next, the Habs will return home to the Bell Centre for an outing against the Calgary Flames on Monday night. With this win, Montreal ended their second eight-game losing streak this season. Let us hope that we won’t have to endure yet another one of these anytime soon.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
