Dean scores first MLS goal as Fire tie visiting Toronto FC 1-1

EDMONTON – When the key to a win is work ethic, it is not surprising to see Mattias Ekholm rise to the occasion.

Ekholm had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a three-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Noah Philp, Vasily Podkolzin and Raphael Lavoie also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 2-3 in NHL pre-season play.

“They are a hard-working team, no matter who they have in the lineup, so we expected that,” said Oilers forward Derek Ryan, who picked up a couple of assists.

“There were points in the game where we were kind of matching that intensity and work ethic and things were going well for us. We let the work ethic dip a little bit and then the game gets away from us. It is a good message to the guys who were playing and the whole group that it starts with work.”

Jacob Melanson, Eduard Sale, John Hayden and Ben Meyers responded for the Kraken, who fell to 1-3 in exhibition action.

“I thought we were getting up the ice well, playing fast, playing north,” said Meyers. “I think we probably just gave up a little bit too much to win that game, but I thought offensively we played pretty well and we had our chance.”

The Oilers started the scoring just over three minutes into the opening period as both defenders tried to cover Connor McDavid on a two-on-one, but he made a nice backhand pass back to Nugent-Hopkins, who beat Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer upstairs blocker side.

Seattle tied the game nine minutes into the first after Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard made a couple of saves in tight before Melanson was able to poke it in from the crease.

Pickard left the game soon afterwards after teammate Noah Philp got angled into his own netminder, hitting him in the head. Pickard did not return to the game.

Olivier Rodrigue replaced Pickard in the Edmonton net and surrendered a power-play goal with six minutes to play in the first as Ryan Winterton lifted a deft pass over a defender across to Sale for the goal.

Edmonton knotted the game with 2:43 remaining in the first frame as Ekholm spotted Philp driving the net and completed a long saucer pass through a couple Kraken players to allow him to wrist it home.

Seattle made it 3-2 5:32 into the second period after Rodrigue attempted to direct a puck away from the net, only to have it hit Hayden and carom into his net.

With two minutes left in the middle period, the Kraken added to their lead as Meyers elected to shoot on a two-on-one opportunity, beating the Oilers’ goalie upstairs.

Edmonton got that goal back just 26 seconds later as Derek Ryan threaded the needle to a trailing Ekholm and he beat Grubauer to make it 4-3.

The Oilers tied the game six minutes into the third on a short-handed tally as Ryan made a great play to draw the defenders his way before sending it over to Podkolzin for the easy tap-in.

Edmonton avoided overtime with 2:53 remaining in the final frame as Lavoie battled hard to retrieve the puck before swinging out front and sending a shot through Grubauer’s legs.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has been impressed with Lavoie’s skills as a sniper.

“He’s got good hands and an even better shot,” he said. “He showed great skill on that goal.”

NOTES

The Oilers still had 41 players in camp — with four goalies, 13 defencemen and 24 forwards. … Seattle was down to 37 players at camp — 33 skaters and four goalies — after cutting eight players before Friday’s contest against Vancouver. … Edmonton had both of the players in camp who are on PTOs in the lineup on Saturday, forward Mike Hoffman and defenceman Travis Dermott. … Grubauer made his first appearance since last Sunday’s 6-1 loss to Calgary, during which he allowed four goals on 19 shots.

UP NEXT

Kraken: Visit the Calgary Flames on Monday.

Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – The Toronto Maple Leafs have won both NHL pre-season games against the Montreal Canadiens, bringing home a physical 2-1 win on Saturday evening at the Centre Bell.

“The group was involved and they’re competing out there, it was a really hard game,” said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube. “I don’t really do a lot — they just go and play. They’re smart guys they know what they’re doing.”

Nicholas Robertson scored twice for the Maple Leafs, while Kirby Dach scored Montreal’s lone goal late in the third period.

Less than four minutes into the game, the raucous Centre Bell abruptly fell crowd quiet when newly acquired forward Patrik Laine collided with Cédric Paré and Jacob Quillan of the Leafs in what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit. Laine did not return to the game.

The injury sparked retaliation from Arber Xhekaj whose actions earned him a game misconduct, leaving the Canadiens with a seven-minute penalty to kill. Including an earlier injury to David Reinbacher, the Canadiens found themselves three players short after less than five minutes.

“It was a very emotional first period and definitely set the tone for the rest of the game. You’re down to 17 players and you have a really short bench,” said Montreal head coach Martin St Louis. “You don’t want to overwork your players, but you’re almost forced to.”

Toronto capitalized on the man advantage when Robertson’s shot squeezed past netminder Samuel Montembeault. For the rest of the first frame, the Maple Leafs’ defence shone, killing off three penalties and conceding hardly any dangerous chances.

The Maple Leafs penalty kill last season left a lot to be desired, but this performance showed a concise and organized block that was perfect all evening.

“It was a special teams battle from the start of the game, and I think we executed. We scored a goal on the power play and we did really well on the (penalty kill) to shut them down and not give too many chances,” said Matthew Knies.

“It’s just constant pressure. I think we didn’t let them get set up well and if they saw something we never let them get a good opportunity from it.”

Montreal started the second period with renewed enthusiasm, committing more to the forecheck. However, rivalry and animosity grabbed the spotlight as the period was littered with scrums after nearly every whistle and two fights, leading to 73 penalty minutes between both teams by the end of the second frame.

“I think we did a good job sticking together and taking care of one another,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. “I think once we started playing five-on-five we showed up a lot better.

“The flow of the game was just really choppy so once we once we got to five-on-five we showed a lot of good things.”

Toronto once against shut the door in the Canadiens face during the period, allowing nine shots but killing off three penalties including a dangerous four-on-three in order to keep a 1-0 lead at the second intermission.

The Maple Leafs started the third period with much more progressive play, taking their speed to the Canadiens defencemen and finding enough space to double their lead. After a quick breakout, Robertson found himself alone with the netminder, once again firing a shot from a difficult angle but finding the five-hole.

“It’s not only the goals, it’s (Robertson’s) effort and the way he played. I though his work ethic was excellent and his competitiveness,” said Berube. “He made good decisions with the puck and hopefully he can get a couple goals for us.”

Montreal thought they had found an answer less than a minute later, but Cole Caufield was denied by an excellent sprawling save from Dennis Hildeby.

With the goalie pulled the Canadiens continued to pile on the pressure in order to find a way back into the game. They got it with less than two minutes to play after a slick passing play left Dach with a wide-open net, cutting the deficit to one.

It was too little too late for the home team, however, as the Maple Leafs held on to seal the victory.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Josef Martinez quickly turned frustration into elation in the second half Saturday night.

After a scoreless first 45 minutes, Martinez scored twice as CF Montreal earned three crucial points in a 3-0 win over the league-worst San Jose Earthquakes in MLS play.

“He’s the best version of himself the last couple weeks,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “We knew that if his teammates played consistently and if he stayed healthy, he would have a lot of opportunities to shine.

“Now he’s coming back to his level.”

Martinez opened the scoring in the 50th minute and doubled the lead in the 55th to bring the 19,619 fans at Saputo Stadium out of their seats. Montreal (9-12-10) extended its unbeaten run to four games (3-0-1) amid a playoff chase.

The veteran striker, a league MVP in 2018, is up to eight goals on the season. He looks like a different player than the one Courtois benched on Aug. 9 because, in the coach’s words, he needed to manage his ego.

“Happy Josef is big time for us,” teammate Bryce Duke said. “He’s a legend in the league. He scores goals. Hopefully that keeps going.”

Caden Clark made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute. Duke had two primary assists and Clark produced the other as both attacking midfielders linked up with Martinez all game.

Montreal improved to 37 points with three games remaining in the regular season. Courtois’s men are ranked 10th in the Eastern Conference but are tied with ninth-place Philadelphia and eighth-place Toronto FC for the two wild-card berths. Toronto has played one additional game.

“I’ve been thinking that we can make playoffs since Day 1, even though we were going through a tough stretch, (and) I still think we can make playoffs,” Duke said. “That’s no doubt my mind that we can do it.

“With the performance that we’ve been playing I think that’s just showed you and all the people out there that kind of doubted us that we can do it and that we can prove people wrong.”

San Jose (5-23-3), which is without a victory in its last five outings (0-4-1), registered only two shots on target. Montreal dominated with 11 on target (17-10 total shots) and held 58 per cent of possession.

Martinez, who was all over the ball in the first half, buried a header off a corner from Duke to finally put Montreal ahead right after the break.

Five minutes later, Clark swung a ball to the top of the box and Martinez made no mistake, smashing his shot past San Jose goalkeeper Daniel into the bottom right corner.

Clark made it 3-0 when he tapped home a tick-tack-toe play with Duke and Dawid Bugaj, putting the game well out of reach.

“At halftime I said to me, Bryce and Josef … we’re gonna get one really soon,” Clark said. “We’re gonna get one and then it’s gonna unlock it. So that was the feeling going into halftime, because we were close in the first half many times.

“It all came together.”

Montreal came out eager to get on the front foot and controlled the first half, holding 65 per cent of possession while building up play through the midfield with ease in a wide-open match.

The home side led the shots 11-5 (7-0 on target) after 45 minutes, but couldn’t give itself an early lead — as much as Martinez tried.

The 31-year-old Venezuelan had four shots in the first half, three of which hit the target.

“We were all upset going into halftime thinking, how are we tied 0-0,” Duke said. “(We said) when we get that one, things start to open up, and then you just gotta take full advantage of it, especially when a team like San Jose, like right now, they’re in a tough stretch of games.”

Martinez’s first came in the eighth minute when he sent a shot through a crowd. In the 38th, Duke sent Martinez on a break for an attempt on goal that the ‘keeper turned away.

Two minutes later, Martinez tried to chip the ball past Daniel, who came out to challenge after Clark found him streaking into the box, but once again failed to find the back of the net.

UP NEXT

Montreal: Visits Atlanta United on Wednesday and Charlotte FC next Saturday. The regular season ends on Oct. 19 at home against New York City FC, who are seventh in the conference.

San Jose: Hosts FC Dallas on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.