EDMONTON — Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner had the Vancouver Canucks’ number again Saturday, stopping 32 shots for his second shutout of their NHL playoff series.
Lehner backstopped the Golden Knights to a 3-0 win, giving them a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven second-round series, with Game 4 set, on a short turnaround, for Sunday night.
Lehner, acquired at the trade deadline in a three-team deal including the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks, stopped 26 shots for a 5-0 win in the series opener.
Vancouver came out flying in the first period, outshooting Vegas 16-10 and enjoying a 78-second 5-on-3 power play. Lehner turned aside a wealth of high-quality scoring chances: point-blank one-timers, blasts off the transition, redirects, and loose pucks bouncing through the blue paint.
“We dug in and got some big saves from Robin. I thought he was our best player in the first 10 minutes,” said Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer.
“They did get some looks (all game) and when they did Robin was right on it. He didn’t leave any pucks laying around. There was no rebounds. He was swallowing up everything.”
Lehner said it was a group effort.
“I thought everyone did a great job of pitching in and working hard and blocking shots and doing all the right things,” he said.
“It was really important for the momentum of the game to try to get out ahead and not chase the game.
“They had a little bit of a push in the first period, but I thought we took over the game after that.”
While Lehner shut the door, Alex Tuch, with his seventh goal of the post-season, Mark Stone, and Zack Whitecloud scored for Vegas.
Jacob Markstrom, in his 13th start of the playoffs, made 31 saves for Vancouver.
Tuch scored first at 4:05 of the first period. Racing in full flight through the neutral zone, he split the defence, settled down a bouncing stretch pass from Nicolas Roy and delivered a rocket shot past Markstrom into the top corner.
Just 83 seconds later, it was 2-0 when Whitecloud pounced on a loose puck at the right face-off circle, fired it through traffic and in. Early in the third, Stone roofed a fluttering puck from the faceoff circle on the power play for a 3-0 advantage. It was his second goal of the series and sixth of the playoffs.
Vancouver forward J.T. Miller said coming up empty on the 5-on-3 was a difference maker.
“We executed about as well as we could, I think. Goalie made some nice saves,” said Miller. “Easily we could have tied the game or got back to close.”
The Canucks bounced back from the Game 1 shutout to beat Vegas 5-2 in Game 2. Vancouver forward Tanner Pearson said they need to return to that game plan.
“I think there were spurts of the game where we went a few minutes without a shot on net. That kind of changes the momentum a bit,” said Pearson.
He said they can’t overpass the puck: “You look at the game we won, we shoot a lot of pucks in and chased it that way and got on our forecheck and it worked out for us. When we’re down we’ve got to keep it simple and keep to our game and not try to force too much.”
The teams had not played since Tuesday. The NHL did not play its scheduled games Thursday or Friday after players in the Edmonton and Toronto playoff sites wanted to make a statement to highlight the issues of social injustice, systemic racism and police brutality.
NBA players triggered a series of postponed games across the sports world when the Milwaukee Bucks declined to play their playoff game against Orlando on Wednesday in the aftermath of the shooting by police of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Wisconsin last weekend.
The Golden Knights can gain a 3-1 stranglehold on the series with a win Sunday.
For Vancouver, the concern will be Markstrom and puck fatigue. The 30-year-old Swede is expected to start Sunday, which will be his 14th game in 29 days and his third back-to-back contest. He has been the backbone of the Canucks’ playoff success but has regularly been facing more than 30 shots a night in the post-season.
His backup is Thatcher Demko. Demko has started just 34 games over his first three seasons and has not played in the playoffs except for some mop-up time in the third period in the 5-0 loss.
Vegas has experienced veteran Marc-Andre Fleury in reserve. Fleury has spelled off Lehner once in the round-robin series and again for one game in the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks. DeBoer has said the plan is to play both.
All games are being played in front of empty seats at Rogers Place. The players are kept in isolation between contests to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2020.
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.