Sports

Canadiens vs. Sabres: Start time, Tale of the Tape, and how to watch

Published

2 years ago

November 22, 2022

Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo
In the United States: NHL Network

As the clock ticked toward zero on Saturday night, it looked like the Montreal Canadiens were on the verge of doubling down on what had happened in Columbus. For the second game in a row, the Habs had scrambled to regain parity after spotting their opposition a two-goal lead. For the second game in a row, the other team had plunged a dagger into the hopes of the Canadiens and their fans when it looked like the bleu-blanc-et-rouge had seized the momentum.

Not so fast, said Nick and Cole.

The eventual shootout victory, plucked from the jaws of defeat, snapped a two-game losing streak for the Canadiens. Now, as the calendar moves toward American Thanksgiving, the Habs will try to continue their winning ways against the Buffalo Sabres.

Tale of the Tape

Canadiens	Statistics	Sabres
Canadiens	Statistics	Sabres
9-8-1	Record	7-11-0
45.8 (25th)	Scoring-chances-for %	52.3 (8th)
3.06 (19th)	Goals per game	3.44 (9th)
3.50 (26th)	Goals against per game	3.67 (29th)
18.0% (27th)	PP%	23.3% (10th)
81.4% (8th)	PK%	70.2% (29th)
1-0-0	H2H Record	0-0-1

For the Sabres, Montreal is the last stop on a three-game Canadian road trip. The last time these two teams met, nearly a month ago, the Canadiens emerged with a 3-2 victory in the Empire State. Since then, the two teams have trod upon divergent paths. Montreal is a modest but still encouraging 5-4-1, but Buffalo has gone 3-8-0 and arrives in La Belle Province having gone not only winless, but also pointless in their last eight games.

Much of the Sabres’ woes lie at the feet of their netminders. During their first 10 games, Buffalo enjoyed .912 goaltending, and seven wins. Since then, it’s been .847 — and eight losses. Throughout the season, Eric Comrie has been the Sabres’ starter. However, he is out for several weeks after suffering an injury last Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators. Now, Buffalo must decide between 41-year-old backup Craig Anderson (who has an .881 save percentage over his last four appearances) or rookie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (who gave up five goals on 23 shots last Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs). Incidentally, Habs fans may be more familiar with Luukkonen than Anderson, since the Finn faced off against the Laval Rocket on October 28 of this year, a game that Laval won 8-1 and Luukkonen was pulled after allowing six goals.

The Sabres have also not been helped by an offence that has gone drier than the Sahara. After scoring 54 goals through their first 14 games, Buffalo has managed just eight in their last four, with half of those coming in a 5-4 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. The team clearly has offensive weapons: Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin are still above a point-per-game pace, while Alex Tuch is just below that threshold. But after losing eight in a row, the Sabres just need someone — anyone — to put the puck in the net.

For the Canadiens, Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers simply reinforced the main theme of this season so far: this team lives and dies by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The Canadiens’ captain has 23 points in 18 games, and has amazingly put up two points six time in his last eight games. On the other hand, Caufield’s brace against the Flyers broke a mini-slump where the Habs sniper had only lit the lamp once in five games. Secondary scoring has been a seemingly perpetual problem, but things might be turning: Christian Dvorak, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, and Mike Hoffman have all scored within the last five games, and Mike Matheson can contribute from the blue line as well.

Speaking of Matheson, his introduction forced Jordan Harris out of the lineup for Saturday night, and it remains to be seen if Harris will be reintroduced for either Arber Xhekaj or Johnathan Kovacevic, or whether Martin St-Louis will elect to stand pat with a winning lineup. If Monday’s practice is any indication, the pride of Costco Ancaster might be the odd man out.

Tuesday night will be enticing for both teams. For Buffalo, with the St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado Avalanche all looming in their next five games, the Canadiens represent arguably their best opportunity to pick up points for a long time. If they fail to do that, a nine-game losing skid could quickly spiral into a season-destroying 0-13 stretch. The Canadiens, conversely, will fly out to Columbus after the game for a rematch with the Blue Jackets on Wednesday night, making Buffalo likely their best chance of a win before American Thanksgiving.

Source link

Sports

Canada to face three-time champion Germany in Davis Cup quarterfinals

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.

Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.

World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.

The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.

Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.

Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.

The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

Source link

Sports

Canadian men climb two places to No. 38 in latest FIFA world rankings

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.

Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively

Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.

It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.

Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.

The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.

Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.

The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.

Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.

San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.

Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.

Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024

Source link

Sports

Carolina Panthers’ early-season struggles not surprising to Proline players

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.

As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.

In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).

However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.

And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.

In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).

Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).

Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.

Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.

Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.

A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.

A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.

A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

Source link