Up 3-2 late in the second period and still tied 3-3 on the road halfway through the third against a bruising, formidable opponent, the Canucks’ fuel gauge finally hit empty after all these months and the Wild scored three times in the last eight minutes to sink a dagger into Vancouver’s improbable playoff drive.
Leading scorer J.T. Miller hobbled to the final buzzer after blocking a slapshot on the inside of his knee. Checking centre Brad Richardson insisted on finishing the game after getting his nose smashed by Kirill Kaprizov’s stick in the first period. Goalie Thatcher Demko tried to play through whatever is affecting him — even if that is simply exhaustion after playing 63 games — but just didn’t have it.
The Wild were too good, too big, too deep.
The Canucks’ first regulation loss in nine games was still enough to feel like the end of hope after a magnificent four-month charge back towards the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But it wasn’t this game that cost them, even if it seemed that way. It was all those games they lost in November, when a team that needed everything to go well for it to make the post-season began the National Hockey League campaign 6-14-2.
That is the lesson they need to take from Thursday, from this season: Playing three-quarters of a season, even at the winning clip of a top-10 NHL team, isn’t enough when only half of the league’s 32 entries are allowed to play for the Stanley Cup.
Pettersson, who was stuck at six goals on Jan. 15, scored twice Thursday to bring his season total to 31, 13 of them in the last 12 games. But even if the Canucks win their final four games, starting Saturday in Calgary, it may not be enough.
It wasn’t enough that Miller, with 30 goals and 93 points, built the most productive season by a Canuck since Henrik and Daniel Sedin were winning consecutive NHL scoring titles a decade ago. It won’t be enough that Bo Horvat, now out with an ankle injury, scored 31 times. Or that defenceman Quinn Hughes will likely still set a new franchise record for points by a defenceman, needing three points from the final four games to surpass the 63 points Doug Lidster amassed 35 years ago. And it wasn’t enough that Demko had an MVP season, not only showing he can start over an 82-game campaign but proving he is one of the top goalies in the NHL.
All of these achievements were not enough to undo the damage to the Canucks from those first 22 games. Game 78 on Thursday — 32-15-9 since those first seven weeks — was a painful reminder of how much is required to make the playoffs.
“We had a lot of guys go down recently,” winger Conor Garland said Thursday after setting up Pettersson’s goals. “Everybody stepped up and played as hard as we could for as long as we could, trying to just keep winning games, trying to give ourselves a chance to get in. A lot of guys played hard for a long time. That won’t change the last four (games) but tonight definitely hurts.
“We understand what that (loss) means. It’s tough to be tied against probably one of the top two or three teams in the Western Conference in the third period, and we just couldn’t find a way to get it done. It sucks. We just couldn’t find a way to get that fourth one.”
Pettersson’s second goal, giving him five two-goal games in the last dozen, put the Canucks ahead 3-2 at 16:09 of a wild second period when he deftly converted Garland’s rebound to give Vancouver its only lead.
But it lasted less than two-and-a-half minutes because at 18:36, Mats Zuccarello crossed with Kaprizov in the Canucks’ zone and fired a wrist shot in off Demko’s catching glove to tie it.
Kevin Fiala scored the winner for Minnesota at 12:17 of the third period, shaking free from the Canucks’ Brad Hunt as he circled behind the Vancouver net, skated out into the slot and scored short-side on Demko. Kaprizov fired between the goalie’s pads at 18:05, and Ryan Hartman added an empty-netter.
“Until eight minutes to go in the third period, I thought we were doing a really good job,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I thought their third goal was a little bit of a backbreaker. I mean, if we usually get into the third period with the lead, we’re usually at least getting a point out of it. That hurt a little bit.”
But Boudreau added later: “They give it everything they have. I mean, tonight, for example, Miller’s blocking a shot; he’s got a couple ice bags on. Richardson breaks his nose and still wants to play. I mean, that’s the kind of effort and character that these guys have. I’m very proud of them. They never quit, they never die. Obviously, tonight was very disappointing at the end, but… they could have given up a long time ago, the odds were so against us. But they believed and they still believe. They’ll believe again tomorrow.”
With four games remaining, three against teams likely to be in the playoffs, the Canucks are four points back in the wildcard race, seven points behind the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division.
If they win out, the Canucks will have 95 points and that still may not be enough to make the playoffs.
“Everyone tried their best,” Pettersson said after his team was outshot 15-4 in the third period. “Everybody knew what’s on the line, everybody worked their hardest.
“It’s extremely tough. We know how badly we wanted this win. We battled all 60 minutes. It’s not looking better for us, but it’s certainly not over. We’re going to battle until we don’t have any games left.”
There are as few as eight days left in their season.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
