To win in the playoffs, you have to be as tight as can be defensively.
Sports
Canucks 4, Flames 2: Another tight, defensive win for playoff-bound Vancouver
To win on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames, the Vancouver Canucks were just that.
Of course, against a limping squad like the Flames, the Canucks could have made life a little easier for themselves by scoring another goal or two earlier in the game, but the bottom line is they were pressed defensively and didn’t break.
They iced the game nicely on a late third period power play, finally picking the corner of Jacob Markström’s net.
Notably, Saturday’s win was the eighth time in nine games the Canucks have yielded just two goals or less.
This stretch of play has really pleased head coach Rick Tocchet and Saturday was no exception. It’s about his team hasn’t been compounding mistakes, he said.
The game wasn’t perfect, but they got the job done.
“You’re trying to play without the puck and you know, we’re getting some good efforts from some guys. Trying to find a consistency. It was a business-like workman-like game,” he said.
“The Petey line obviously was the line that drove us to the win tonight.”
Off the jump
It’s always impressive to score a goal in the game’s first minute.
It’s even more impressive to do so when it’s actually the second shift of the game.
That’s the nice little truth of Nils Höglander’s game-opening goal: he’d been on the ice for 11 seconds when he deftly finished off a lovely two-pass sequence from Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland.
And what a night it was for the Pettersson line. They scored two goals. They were +4 in high-danger chances in close.
They were humming on offence all night.
Nice head fake
Höglander’s second goal came with a hint of Pavel Bure as he made a head-fake on approach, then move left then right in dekeing out Markström.
“I just tried to do a move and get him down and put it up high,” Höglander said.
“Oh yeah,” Höglander grinned.
Pettersson said the move faked him out.
“He faked me out. I thought he was going to shoot. Then he did what he did. I was fired up,” he grinned.
“Garland made a heckuva play and I said that Hogs had more speed than me. … I just told Hogs to go himself.”
Oh yes, Miller heard the chant
J.T. Miller hammered home the game’s third goal on a late power play. Fans have really taken to shouting “J! T! Miller!” in time with Rogers Arena public address announcer Al Murdoch when Murdoch announces Miller’s name after a goal.
And such was their enthusiasm on this night, they started chanting Miller’s name on their own as the game wound to a conclusion.
It’s not the first time that’s happened, but usually Miller denies hearing the adulation.
“I heard it today,” he said, grinning. “But honestly, I don’t know why the hell they chanted my name? I was maybe the worst f**king player in the game.”
Sure he’d taken a penalty and struggled with some passes, but in the big moment, he scored a sensational goal and sealed the victory. He stood out in the right moment.
Ahead of the chance that would be a goal, Miller said he and his power play mates had a chance to quickly review the previous power play opportunity during the TV timeout that preceded the power play.
Indeed, the Flames suggested to reporters post-game that the set play Miller ran with Brock Boeser was perfectly designed to take advantage of their penalty kill set up.
Miller was pleased just he’d hit the net: He’d missed the net on the previous power play opportunity. He said Tocchet told him before the power play to just hit the net this time.
Tocchet laughed a little in his presser when he was told that Miller had said the coach gave him a simple directive.
“I just told him, especially with three, four minutes left, your flanker shots, if you miss a net, that’s usually [when] the PK takes off,” Tocchet explained. “Obviously he listened to me because that was a hell of a goal.”
Losing their way a little
The overall performance pleased Tocchet, but he did admit that the way things were going late in the second period weren’t ideal.
The game got a little loose, he felt, with players getting a little loosey-goosey in their roles.
“I want us to press but smart, I think we lost lost our F3 a few times,” he said, referring to the third forward on a forecheck, whose job is to patrol out near the blue line, ready to reinforce the forecheck or be a strong defender should the opposition suddenly try to break out.
SMASH
Somehow a puck rang off the crossbar before the game and had enough energy still in it to hit the scoreboard above centre ice, causing some damage to one of the panels.
Post-game, the Rogers Arena crew were able to quickly replace the damaged panel.
Impressively quick work.
He did get a shot off
Jonathan Huberdeau looked like he wanted a penalty shot off Vasily Podkolzin’s slashing penalty on him midway through the second period, but no dice.
He got a decent shot off and the standard for calling a penalty shot is supposed to be being denied a chance to score.
In similar fashion, Miller was fouled as he out battled Oliver Kylington for a loose puck that was sliding down the ice in the third. And while he was clear of Kylington when he collected the puck, it’s hard to say it was a true breakaway.
Playoff picture
By beating Calgary on Saturday, Canucks are now guaranteed to finish top four in the division, but that still isn’t quite enough to secure a full playoff spot: the St. Louis Blues — and technidcally the Minnesota Wild — remain in the frame.
And if the Blues did finish the season with more points than the fourth-placed team in the Pacific, they’d take over the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
The truth is that St. Louis’ margin of error is very, very fine. They won on Saturday afternoon to keep themselves in the picture — beating Minnesota in overtime, more on that in a second — and could still get to 101 points should they win all 11 remaining games.
And what about the Minnesota Wild? By picking up a point today, they could still get to 99 points on the season. But if the Canucks win on Monday, the Wild’s chance of catching Vancouver is over. The Wild don’t play again till Thursday vs. Vegas, who they could still catch for the wild card, but they have to make up six points and overhaul the Blues along the way.
No Cole again
Ian Cole missed his second game in a row, presumably with the same minor ailment that kept him out of the lineup Thursday.
Whatever it is, it’s not bothering Cole much: he skated in practice on Friday and in Saturday’s morning skate and was in pretty good spirits on Friday after practice.
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HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
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AP MLS:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
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AP MLS:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
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AP MLB:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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