TAMPA, Fla. — Corey Perry became the 103rd NHL player to reach 400 goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Wednesday night.
Perry had a nifty deflection of Mikhail Sergachev’s shot from the left circle during a power play that put Tampa Bay up 4-1 with 4:36 remaining in the second period.
“It’s exciting,” Perry said. “It’s a great personal accomplishment. I have to give a lot of credit to the guys I’ve played with. I never thought growing up that I’d get 400 goals in the NHL.”
The 36-year-old Perry scored his first career goal for Anaheim against Edmonton in his third NHL game on Oct. 1, 2005.
“Four-hundred goals, it’s amazing,” said Lightning forward Pat Maroon, who had the second assist on Perry’s goal.
Maroon, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who were coming off a seven-day break. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game but we found a way to get the job done,” Maroon said. “We stuck with it.”
Connor McDavid had two goals for Edmonton, Zach Hyman scored in his fifth straight game and Leon Draisaitl added three assists. Mike Smith, pulled from a start Sunday against Minnesota after allowing four goals on seven shots, made 18 saves.
“We generated lots of chances,” McDavid said. “I thought we did an alright job keeping them in check, but they’re a great team. They just find ways to win games, and that’s what they did tonight.”
Hyman had a breakaway goal at 17:12 of the second before McDavid cut the deficit to 4-3 skating down the slot 9:39 into the third. Draisaitl hit the post with just over a minute to play.
The last Edmonton player to have goals in at least six consecutive games was a seven-game run by Jimmy Carson in 1988-89.
Kucherov iced the win after stealing the puck in the Edmonton zone and scoring an empty-netter with 3.6 seconds left.
McDavid and Draisaitl are tied for the NHL lead in points with 73.
After winning five straight games under new coach Jay Woodcroft, the Oilers have lost two in a row. Edmonton played for the sixth time in 10 days.
“Are there some things we can do better? Yeah,” Woodcroft said. “In terms of the compete level of our team coming into a tough environment, there were some real good signs.”
Point made it 3-1 at 10:48 of the second when he scored from in close after it appeared Kucherov lost control of the puck skating down the slot.
After McDavid had a power-play goal at 18:10, Stamkos gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead with a spin-around shot from the left circle with 14.4 seconds left in the first.
Maroon opened the scoring 11:57 in after his backhander was stopped by Smith but the rebound went off an Oilers defender and into the net.
The Lightning have won nine straight home games against Edmonton. The Oilers haven’t won in Tampa since Dec. 9, 2009.
NUMBERS
Perry became the fifth NHL player to score both his first and 400th goals against the same opponent. The others are Jeff Carter (against Florida), Doug Gilmour (Detroit), Steve Larmer (Toronto) and Bobby Hull (Boston). Carter got his 400th last Oct. 14. … McDavid has a goal in six consecutive road games. ? Kucherov has 11 assists and 21 points in 11 games against Edmonton. ? Draisaitl extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists).
UP NEXT
Oilers: Play on Saturday night at Florida.
Lightning: Will take part in the Stadium Series in Nashville against the Predators on Saturday night. It is Tampa Bay’s first outdoor game.
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.”
—
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.
