The Vegas Golden Knights overcame their postseason baggage and one of the hottest goaltenders in the playoffs to win Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, advancing to the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars.
“I need a drink after the last three games before I think about Dallas. We’ll talk tomorrow,” said coach Pete DeBoer, after his team’s 3-0 victory over the Canucks. It’s the second time in the three-year existence of the franchise that the Knights are in the conference finals.
It almost didn’t happen because of one opponent: Thatcher Demko, the Canucks’ backup goaltender who took over from an “unfit to play” Jacob Markstrom in Game 5 with his team down 3-1 in the series. Demko faced 125 shots in the last three games of the series and stopped 123 of them, with Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore‘s goals in Games 5 and 7 being the only pucks that got past him.
“That’s as hard an adversity as we can face. That goalie was just unbelievable. It was hard to get one past him,” said Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault.
Demko made 33 saves in Game 7 after shutting out the Golden Knights in Game 6 just 24 hours earlier. Theodore’s power-play goal at 13:52 of the third period was the game winner, with empty-net goals from Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny padding the score.
“Anytime you see a young player have success, you’re proud of them,” said Vancouver coach Travis Green of Demko, the 24-year-old San Diego native. “I’ve been with him for a while and I’m happy for Demko to raise his game to this level.”
Vegas goalie Robin Lehner was brilliant, too, saving all 18 shots he faced.
“There was times it felt like we could have played six hours and not scored on them,” DeBoer said. “What he did, and the lightning they could put in a bottle in the last three games with him and how he played … what I’m proudest of is how our group stuck with it. When you hit a hot goalie like that, you can fall into the trap of cheating to try and push for more offense. Our belief system in what we were doing, sticking with it, that’s the thing I’m proudest of.”
The mental challenge wasn’t just what Demko was doing in goal; Vegas also had to battle the mental demons from last postseason’s disastrous Game 7 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
The déjà vu was almost too much to process. Last postseason against the Sharks, the Golden Knights blew a 3-1 series lead to force a Game 7. Like against Vancouver, they had the better play against the Sharks in Game 7. The turning point in last season’s Game 7 was a major penalty on former Golden Knights center Cody Eakin that led to four power-play goals for the Sharks. Against Vancouver on Friday night, Vegas forward Ryan Reaves took a major penalty for a check to the head of Canucks forward Tyler Motte in the second period.
“Five-minute major, right? Penalty killing in a Game 7?” chuckled DeBoer, who coached that Sharks team last postseason before being hired by the Knights in January.
But this time, things were different. The Golden Knights killed off their major penalty — and three more Vancouver power plays in the game.
“You have to think [last postseason] crossed our mind a little bit,” Marchessault said. “We knew this year that no matter what adversity that we faced that right off the bat it was our game. It was just a matter of time. Sticking to the process. Every team we face, there’s going to be adversity: a hot goalie or a five-minute major or something like that.”
The Golden Knights faced adversity and overcame it. “We didn’t have any passengers tonight. We had 20 guys out there committed to advance,” DeBoer said.
The Knights and Stars open their conference finals on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
