EDMONTON — Sometimes you get sick of watching two teams play each other in this new NHL schedule. Personally, I never need to see Arizona and St. Louis play each other ever again.
There is something about these two teams that makes for fabulously watchable hockey, whether they’re playing a 6-5 game like the Jets won on Monday, or a 3-2 nail-biter like the one Edmonton gutted out on Wednesday.
“Those are the playoff-type of games we have to learn how to win,” said Leon Draisaitl, who had two goals. “I don’t know if I’d consider tonight a playoff game, with all the penalties, but those are the tough ones to win. The ones we want to win, 3-2, 2-1. We did a good job.”
This game overcame the officiating, as referees Michael Markovic and Brad Meier blew a few calls, then got caught over-managing the game. In the end, Edmonton had six power plays to Winnipeg’s five, and no one left the building happy with the zebras.
Nice Round Numbers
On the night that was all about Connor McDavid scoring his 500th career point in game No. 369 — exactly as fast as Sidney Crosby conquered the same feat — Draisaitl also nabbed career point No. 450, while Dave Tippett won his 600th career game as an NHL head coach.
“It’s a little milestone I guess. A little thing along the way here, which is nice,” said McDavid. “To feel some of the reaction from my teammates, friends and family, it’s always special. I appreciate the support… And, onward.”
Tippett was asked if he ever steps back and smells the roses of having a front row seat to watch the game’s next legendary performer make his way through what will be a Hall of Fame career. Here in Edmonton, many accuse themselves of getting a little blasé to all of Wayne Gretzky’s accomplishments back in the ‘80s. Tippett says he appreciates McDavid’s superiority every day — when he calculates the stats that he keeps.
“I’ve been doing these different kind of stats for a long time,” Tippett began. “I’ve had some pretty good teams. In Dallas we had Mike Modano, with (Bill) Guerin, (Jason) Arnott and (Pierre) Turgeon — some real good players. And I’ve never seen anything like it in the stats that I keep. Not even close.
“And the players who play with him? They seem like they do a little better (also).”
McDavid opened the scoring with a feed to Jesse Puljujarvi, who sniped a wicked puck past Connor Hellebuyck for McDavid’s 500th, and Puljujarvi’s fourth in his past six games. Then McDavid got an assist on Draisaitl’s power-play game-winner.
“It’s been a pleasure to be a part of it for the last two years,” goalie Mike Smith said of the Connor McDavid Show here in Edmonton. “I’ve played against him for a few years now. It’s nice to be on this side of the highlight-reel goals.”
What makes McDavid McDavid?
“His speed, the way he can change directions,” began Smith. “Every game there’s a highlight-reel something, where you look down the bench, or shake your head when you’re playing. ‘Did you see that?’”
McDavid would prefer a root canal to talking about his latest accomplishment, though he did say he’d call his Mom on Thursday, and likely debrief on the win with his Dad over the phone Wednesday night.
“I know he doesn’t look at milestones like that much,” said Tippett, “but later on in life he’ll look back and be proud. He wants the team milestone ahead of the individual milestone. That’s what he’s striving for.”
Betcha Lost
“Take the over,” they said.
“The over/under is set at 6.5,” they advised. “These two teams have combined for 28 goals scored in the three games they’ve played this season. That’s a 5-4 game every night!”
Well, for the first time this season the Jets and Oilers produced less than seven goals in a game. And that, folks, is how Vegas was built.
Deflecting Criticism
Players are going to make mistakes, and every game isn’t going to be a defensive gem. Coaches realize that, and so do we.
But an issue in Edmonton — going back to their Qualifying Round ouster at the hands of Chicago — is net-front play, especially when it comes to deflection goals. It’s been too easy to stand there and tip pucks past the Oilers’ goalies, as Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler did in Monday’s 6-5 Jets win, and the Blackhawks did seemingly at will in the summer.
The Oilers cleaned that up in Wednesday’s rematch, but it will be a focus for a while yet.
“We need to be harder in front of our net. There are some goals goin’ in where we’re in the right position… We’re there, but we’re not there,” Tippett said. “There just has to be a more physical element to compete in front of our net, and I think we’ll take some goals against away.”
The Jets scored two deflection goals Monday that made Tippett’s point. “On both of those deflections we’ve got a guy standing right next to the guy that’s deflecting the puck,” he said.
Kyle Turris was derelict on Perreault’s high-slot tip, while rookie Evan Bouchard stood by as Wheeler deflected home the winner just above Mikko Koskinen’s crease.
So what does a D-man do? You can’t just cross-check guys, like it’s 20 years ago.
“Well, you can crosscheck a little bit still. They still let you get away with a little bit,” allowed Darnell Nurse. “It’s hard, but … you know when pucks are coming from the point. If they get through clean, our goalies are going to take care of it 90 per cent of the time.
“It’s important to find that stick and get under them,” he said. “A light tap on the stick can go a long way when trying to take away a guy’s tipping options. There are times when they’re tipping pucks and we’re standing beside guys. We have to be better in that department.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
