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Hogberg’s 40-save performances helps lift Senators past Flames – Sportsnet.ca

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OTTAWA — Marcus Hogberg isn’t sure he belongs in the NHL, but he might be the only one uncertain of his status.

Hogberg was at his finest Saturday making 40 saves in the Ottawa Senators‘ 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames.

The Senators (17-23-8) were outshot 42-21 and if not for Hogberg’s performance, they would have likely seen a different outcome. This marked the 25-year-old’s second NHL win in 13 career starts.

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Hogberg has a 1-2-5 record this season, but his record is hardly indicative of his play.

“He’s got points in four straight (games),” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “He gave us every chance to win those other three games and he was really good again tonight. It’s good for our team and our organization to have a young guy that’s playing at this level.”

Hogberg has seen substantial playing time as Anders Nilsson remains sidelined with a concussion. The Senators have played the 25-year-old in favour of veteran Craig Anderson, who many believe could be moved at the trade deadline.

“I just try to work hard and show my best for the guys and the coaches and we will see what happens,” said Hogberg.

While many of his teammates plan to head to southern beaches Hogberg said he will likely return to Belleville and hang out at home as he’s spent plenty of time in a hotel in Ottawa.

The victory also allowed Ottawa to snap its nine-game winless streak. The win comes at the perfect time as the Senators are headed into an eight-day break.

“We’ve played for stretches the way we want to play, but tonight without Hogberg we’re not winning that game, it’s that simple, he was excellent,” said Dylan DeMelo. “We got some timely goals, the power play scored which was huge for us and it kind of seemed like we didn’t have many shots, but when we did they went in.”

With nearly 40 family members on hand for the fourth installment of the Tkachuk’s clash of the brothers, it was Brady who shone bright picking up a goal and assist. It also marked the first time his Senators beat older brother Matthew’s Flames.

The game started with referee Wes McCauley throwing out Artem Anisimov and Elias Lindholm out of the faceoff circle to allow the brothers to take the opening draw.

“We got that out of the way last year and we had talked about it,” said Matthew Tkachuk. “This year we didn’t talk about it and weren’t going to do it. Wes was great — he said, `if I’m reffing you guys have got to do the opening draw — your mom will love it.’ [Brady] snapped that back on me pretty good and seemed to destroy the rest of our team tonight too.”

Brady admitted getting the win was a little more special considering who it was against, but in the end the two points were the most important.

“It’s two teams who need those points and definitely happy we got those two points,” said Brady. “It was all because of (Hogberg). He stood in there and had a phenomenal performance. Wish we could have lessened the load in the first period, but it showed everybody how good of a goalie he is.”

Calgary (26-19-5) saw its six-game winning streak come to an end as they played their final game before going into a nine-day break.

“We felt great about ourselves after the Toronto one — as we should have — I thought we played really well there,” said Matthew, who had scored the shootout winner in a 2-1 victory. “If we get this one tonight we go into the break feeling really good about ourselves and try to gather some momentum for the last 32 games but this didn’t allow us to feel that way (Saturday).”

David Rittich turned aside just 16-of-20 shots.

Despite outshooting the Senators, the Flames felt they made far too many mistakes which cost them in the end.

“We had a few breakdowns and they took advantage of it,” said Flames coach Geoff Ward. “At the end of the day it’s not enough when you need to catch up.”

Colin White gave Ottawa a 4-0 lead with his third-period goal by scoring on a Mikkel Boedker rebound and Vladislav Namestnikov added an empty net goal.

Mark Jankowski snapped Hogberg’s shutout bid with just under six minutes remaining in the third with his first of the season and Noah Hanifin scored late in the period.

The Senators were able to take a 2-0 lead in the second as Chris Tierney picked up a loose puck in front and backhanded it past Rittich. Connor Brown then scored on the powerplay as he dug at a puck under Rittich and was able to push it over the goal line.

Hogberg made a huge stick save on Sam Bennett midway through the second to keep the Flames off the board.

Despite getting outshot 15-3 in the first period — it was the Senators who held a 1-0 lead.

Brady Tkachuk scored his 15th of the season when he looked to pass to Anthony Duclair, but instead saw the puck deflect off Travis Harmonic’s stick before it went into the net.

This was the Senators’ final home game before their eight-day break.

Notes: Jean-Gabriel Pageau missed his second straight game with a sore neck… Rudolfs Balcers was a healthy scratch.

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

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

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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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.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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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.”

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