adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Gaudreau leads Flames to win over Canucks – TSN

Published

 on


CALGARY — A first-period rescue by Jacob Markstrom and offensive wizardry from Johnny Gaudreau propelled the Calgary Flames to Monday’s 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Gaudreau scored Calgary’s first goal of the game and assisted on another in the second period after Markstrom turned away 15-of-16 shots in the first.

Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson with an empty-net goal also scored for the Flames (2-0-1).

300x250x1

Markstrom earned a second straight win over his former team with 25 saves.

“He did everything that you want a goalie to do,” Flames head coach Geoff Ward said. “He kept us in and gave us a chance to win. In the big moments when we needed a big save, he made it.”

Jake Virtanen and Tyler Myers replied for the Canucks (1-3-0), who played their fourth road game in six days. Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots in the loss.

Markstrom, a Canuck for seven seasons before signing a six-year, US$36-million contract with Calgary in October, had posted a 32-save shutout in Calgary’s 3-0 win over Vancouver on Saturday.

“Right now, he deserves the contract,” Lindholm said.

Demko was pulled for an extra attacker with four minutes to play, and Vancouver went to work on a two-man advantage when Calgary’s Andrew Mangiapane took a tripping minor at 16:56.

The visitors didn’t produce another goal, however, and Andersson scored into an empty net with 55 seconds remaining.

Vancouver’s Myers scored shorthanded at 13:15 of the third period.

Giordano teed up a blast from the top of the face-off circle that Demko couldn’t get his glove on for a power-play goal at 6:40 of the third period.

Outplayed in the first period, Calgary’s 20-3 margin in shots in the second was bolstered by four power-play chances and winning more draws in the face-off circle.

Lindholm stretched Calgary’s lead to 3-1 just two seconds before the second-period buzzer. He one-timed Gaudreau’s cross-ice feed past Demko during a Calgary two-man advantage.

The hosts led 2-1 by 13:30 when Backlund scored his first goal of the season. The Swedish centre rifled a rebound over Demko.

Gaudreau pulled the Flames even at 12:05 on a give-and-go with Sean Monahan and Dominik Simon providing a screen.

“You can see when he’s feeling it a little bit and those are the nights when he can take a team on his back and carry us,” Ward said of Gaudreau. “Tonight he was feeling it and you could see it just building. He’s such a tremendous player. He’s got a special skill set.”

Canucks winger J.T. Miller returned from COVID-19 protocol that kept him out of Vancouver’s lineup the first three games of the regular season, but defenceman Jordie Benn has yet to play.

The visitors outshot Calgary 16-4 and dominated the face-off circle in the first period, but led just 1-0 due to Markstrom’s work.

The Flames goaltender turned away five shots on a Vancouver power play starting two and a half minutes after the opening faceoff.

“Our first period was maybe our best period of the year so far and we responded in the second not very well,” Myers said. “We need to get more dialed in and a little more focused on the way we have to play to win.

“We can turn things around very quickly here. It’s a mindset. We’ve got to buy in as a group for a full 60 and not just for 20 minutes.”

Virtanen’s long shot from the high boards deflected off Flames defenceman Juuso Valimaki and over Markstrom’s shoulder at 10:17.

The Canucks head home after three straight road losses. Vancouver hosts the Montreal Canadiens in back-to-back games starting Wednesday.

The Canucks play 11 games in their first 18 days of an NHL regular season shortened and condensed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Time to get going,” Demko said. “Losing three in a row is not good enough for this team. Our expectations are higher than that.”

Calgary, by contrast, has a five-day break before hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday afternoon.

Notes: The Flames signed 30-year-old defenceman Mike Stone to a one-year, two-way contract Monday . . . Canucks defenceman Nate Schmidt played his 400th career NHL game Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2021.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list – CBC.ca

Published

 on


The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.” 

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

300x250x1

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout. 

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. 

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. 

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday. 

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford. 

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said. 

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday. 

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13. 

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com

Published

 on


“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

300x250x1

JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

Published

 on


* public_profileBlurb *

* public_displayName *

300x250x1

* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending