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Canucks head home with major issues after disastrous road trip – Sportsnet.ca

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3 years ago

November 15, 2021

ANAHEIM, Calif. — With a more talented roster, a better schedule, a full training camp, almost full health and an emphatic desire by everyone involved to prove that last year’s disaster was a one-off, the Vancouver Canucks are back exactly where they were after the first 16 nights of chaos last season.

Their 5-1 loss Sunday to the Anaheim Ducks capped the most disillusioning three-game road trip of the Jim Benning-Travis Green era and sunk the Canucks to 5-9-2 — matching the 12 points Vancouver managed in their 6-10-0 false start to 2021’s pandemic season.

They were outscored 19-6 over a span of four nights by Anaheim, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche. Vancouver is already six points out of a playoff spot.

19-6

— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) November 15, 2021

The traction the Canucks had managed to gain over the preceding seven-game homestand, when they were generally defending well and outplaying teams at five-on-five but losing games due to awful special teams, was lost in the thin air of Denver on Thursday and the team has looked untethered since.

Reporters aren’t allowed in National Hockey League dressing rooms these days, but you can still whiff the self doubt of Canuck players who on this road trip lost touch with most of the concepts required to be successful.

The only thing they maintained from their homestand is the inexplicably bad special teams. Canuck penalty-killers yielded on Sunday two more power-play goals for the seventh time in eight games, which is unfathomable.

Their league-worst 20 power-play goals against are at least double the figure surrendered by 22 teams, and Vancouver’s special-teams deficit is now 11 goals through 16 games.

The only thing worse than that odour of self doubt is the sad stench of hopelessness. The Canucks could be there soon if they play the next three games at home as badly as the three they just played on the road.

“We haven’t given up, that’s for sure,” Tyler Motte, whose belated return to the lineup Sunday after off-season spinal surgery did not help the penalty kill, told reporters after the game. “We believe in ourselves, we believe in this group. Again, get the first domino to fall and I think we’re going to get some momentum from it. We just haven’t been quite good enough to put one across the finish line.”

The Canucks weren’t quite good enough at home. On the road, they weren’t close to good enough although they did battle admirably in Vegas and were tied in the third period there on Saturday before a bad penalty call was enough to collapse them and lead to a 7-4 loss.

Vancouver’s 7-1 loss Thursday to the Avalanche was one of its worst games in years.

These Canucks are badly underperforming both their talent level and payroll and — giving the team a mulligan for last season when there was a perfect storm of disadvantageous circumstances aligned against it — this is the first time you can say that about Green’s group.

“I feel confident our team will pull out of this,” the coach said Sunday. “I think our penalty kill is going to have to help get us going. I think it will come around. I know our power player will score. I know we have some players that will produce (because) they’ve produced before. I know getting some of our defencemen back will also help our game.

“Things haven’t gone the way we’ve wanted to, but I will say that I’m confident that our team will turn it around.”

Green added that the team must play better, too, which means he buried his lead like reporters sometimes do.

“They’re not the efforts that we wanted,” veteran defenceman Tyler Myers said of the three dog nights. “I thought our effort in Vegas was good; it was a good hockey game right up until towards the end of the third. Other than that, we didn’t play the way we need to to win. We have to find a way as a group to respond when things go badly within a game. If a game doesn’t go our way, we have to respond coming into that next game, too. It’s part of maturing as a group and working together to get out of it.”

Vancouver’s three-game homestand opens Wednesday with a visit from the Avalanche, and then there’s another five-game odyssey that starts with three difficult opponents.

These are critical days. The team is teetering.

Top Canuck forward Elias Pettersson had two shots on Sunday, which doubled his volume from the first two games of his pointless road trip in which he was minus-four. Pettersson will make it to Game 17 without an even-strength goal this season.

Captain Bo Horvat was also pointless on the trip and Conor Garland, so dynamic at home, vanished on the road, managing one assist and getting outscored by four goals at even strength. And goalie Thatcher Demko was blown up in Denver and Las Vegas — and was still one of the least culpable Canucks.

Other than Nils Hoglander, who scored Vancouver’s only goal and had six shots against the Ducks, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes, few Canucks distinguished themselves amid the adversity.

“It can turn quick,” Myers insisted. “You know, a lot of things can change. We just have to make sure we keep pushing forward to get out of it. It’s not something that we can just accept and hope it starts to turn our way. We’ve got to fight to get out of it.”

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Penguins re-sign Crosby to two-year extension that runs through 2026-27 season

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11 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.

The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.

Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.

At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.

The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.

Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

Published

22 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.

Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.

The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.

“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.

“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”

Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.

The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.

“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”

It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.

“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”

Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.

He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.

Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.

“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”

Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.

“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.

Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.

Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.

“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”

Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.

Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.

Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.

Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.

Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.

“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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