Sports

Vladar saves his best for last as Flames win Battle of Alberta

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2022

EDMONTON – Darryl Sutter referred to it as a “scheme,” a plan he came up with long ago to give Dan Vladar more starts, more regularly.

Apparently, he’s yet to fully disclose his ploy with the Flames backup.

No matter, as there was Vladar, denying a frantic, last-minute push by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co. to win a quirky version of the Battle of Alberta, 4-3 Saturday.

“I gotta look at a video,” smiled the towering Czech backstop, who made several of his 26 saves in the dying seconds.

“I think the clock was paused a little bit because those last five seconds felt like 45. It was so long.”

Nothing could have felt longer on Saturday night than the lonely skate his counterpart, Jack Campbell, had to make ten minutes into the game, when he was pulled after being beaten four times by an energized faction of Flames.

By that point the Flames had a 4-1 lead in a game that was literally on pace for 30.

Things settled down from there, and Vladar’s steady influence had plenty to do with that, with a little help, of course, from a diligent group of Flames who knew all too well how capable the Oilers are of erasing large deficits.

A power-play goal by Connor McDavid midway through the second was followed up four minutes later by a Ryan McLeod snipe that closed the gap to one goal, setting the table for a tense third, no matter which side of Red Deer you live in.

“It was just awesome,” said Vladar of a final frame in which he turned aside all eight shots in what will be the Flames’ only visit to Rogers Place this (regular) season.

“After the second period, all the guys were saying, ‘Hey, this is our last 20 minutes in the regular season here. Let’s do everything to bring those two points home.’

“It’s a tough building to play in, obviously a great team, but I think today we showed heart and we battled.”

The fact they did it with their backup was significant, for many reasons.

Was the coach looking to shield starter Jacob Markstrom from an Oilers team that had his number all last season?

Is Markstrom simply feeling the effects of an illness that sidelined him the day before Thursday’s opener?

Will the coach appease a fan base that has been clamouring for Markstrom’s workload to decrease?

“Pretty clear I didn’t make (the decision) today or yesterday,” said Sutter after the game.

“When I looked at the schedule and looked at the first month, that’s what I was doing.

“He was awesome. That’s how he played in the pre-season. He did a really good job for us and that’s what I said this morning.”

Sutter said after the morning skate Vladar could expect more than the 19 appearances he made last year.

“Our theme coming in was there’s 26 weeks in our season and we want to make sure that Vladar gets a game a week,” he said.

“It’s just the way this month works. Quite honest, when Marky was under the weather last game, we thought about playing (Vladar) against Colorado and then Marky here. But he chose Game 1, so this is Game 2.”

It was music to Vladar’s ears after the game.

“It means everything for me, obviously,” said Vladar, who was told of his starting assignment Friday morning.

“That’s why I’m here. I’m here to play my best and help the team every single time I get the call. I didn’t even know that coach said that, but if he said that, it’s great for me. But obviously I have to perform well every single time I get the call.”

On Saturday, he did.

It certainly helped that Mikael Backlund scored 73 seconds in, before his teammates responded to a Cody Ceci equalizer with three more from Michael Stone, Nazem Kadri and Andrew Mangiapane.

Stuart Skinner posted a clean slate the final 50 minutes, with help from the post, which three Flames hit as part of continued pressure through the balance of the first and in parts of the third.

While Stone’s first three-point effort of his NHL career earned him a Hockey Night in Canada interview, Kadri’s goal had most people talking. He made a strong first impression in his provincial battle debut as he raced in alone past a stumbling Brett Kulak before neatly finishing the play with a tuck between Campbell’s legs.

“I just try to skate faster, that’s really what happened,” said Kadri of his mindset while watching Kulak fall to the ice at the blue line.

“I saw he kind of was going down and I just tried to put on the jets and luckily it came out with a chance and I was able to finish.”

A huge power-play goal for the newbie.

“It’s good to see him score,” said Sutter.

“They got the matchup they wanted the first two periods and it was against Naz. His wingers (Mangiapane and Dillon Dube) are going to have to get better for him.

“I thought we played a really strong game. In the second period you knew they were going to shorten the bench and come with a push, and they did early. I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job.”

The win came two days after beating the defending champs, springboarding the Flames into an eight-game homestand that starts Tuesday against Vegas.

Plenty to be excited about if you’re a Flames fan wondering how the re-tooled bunch would mesh early.

“I think it shows a lot of maturity,” said Kadri of the team’s ability to shut things down the final 25 minutes after the Oilers clawed within one and threatened to continue that momentum as they did through last spring’s playoff mismatch.

“We have a mature group in here and I don’t think anyone really hit the panic button. I think that’s what the season is all about. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, you’re going to be up a couple, you’re going to be down a couple.

“Either way, you just have to find that balance and continue to push forward.”

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

Published

13 hours ago

October 18, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

Published

23 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

Published

23 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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