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Need to Know: Bruins at Panthers | Game 3

Published

2 years ago

April 22, 2023

SUNRISE, Fla. – As the Bruins’ opening-round series with the Panthers shifts to South Florida on Friday night for Game 3, the Black & Gold will remain without their captain as Patrice Bergeron did not make the trip and is not expected to return to the lineup before Game 5.

“We believe Game 5 is likely,” coach Jim Montgomery said when asked for a long-term prognosis on Bergeron, who left the regular-season finale against Montreal with an upper-body injury.

Montgomery added that the decision to play Bergeron against the Canadiens was part of a previously discussed plan that was put into effect to help the B’s top centerman ramp up for the postseason after sitting out a handful of games for rest down the stretch.

“Our hindsight is we don’t have any reservations about what we did,” said Montgomery. “Because we laid it out with where we were in the regular season with four weeks to play. We talked to sports science and then [Don Sweeney] and I talked about if we have a chance to rest people, we’re gonna rest them.

“And then we consulted with Bergy – and I think he missed [four] games. I wanted and Bergy wanted the last two games to ramp up to get into a rhythm for the playoffs. Life happens, unfortunately. He tweaked something in that last game.

“In hindsight, we would still do it exactly the same way. That’s how it’s easy to move forward when you have no regret with what you did because it was a well thought out plan.”

Video: Montgomery updates the media ahead of Game 3

While Bergeron remained around the dressing room with the team at home, the Bruins will need to find a way to press through without him being with the club in Florida. Matt Grzelcyk, who seems likely to make his series debut in Game 3, said the Bruins must take a collective approach in trying to fill the leadership void.

“He’s always there for us no matter what,” said Grzelcyk. “I think it’s our job to go out there and have his back. He’s had ours his whole career. We want to make sure we’re playing for him no matter what. We’ll miss his presence out there. He’s still a huge part of it vocally. We have a lot of leaders in this room. We can lead by example and pick up that way, speak up a little bit more. For sure it’s tough but we’ve got a job to do.

“We’re going to play the game no matter what. We’d rather have him out there but no matter what the case is we’re gonna play hard, compete hard, take his words very carefully and go from there.”

Montgomery added that Linus Ullmark, who did not take part in the pregame skate, would be a game-time decision. Jeremy Swayman and Brandon Bussi were the netminders on the ice on Friday morning.

Changes Could Be Coming

Defense

Based on the morning skate at FLA Live Arena, the Bruins could have a number of changes to the lineup for Game 3. Among them is the possibility that Grzelcyk subs in for Connor Clifton on the back end and reunites with Charlie McAvoy on the B’s top pair.

“It’s tough watching,” said Grzelcyk. “A lot more nerves that way. I’d rather be a part of it with the group and try to make sure that I’m staying engaged here and if I come back in, I’m playing with confidence.”

Grzelcyk said that him and McAvoy have strong chemistry, having played together for large portions of the last several seasons, and read off each other well when it comes to moving the puck out of the Bruins’ own end.

“I think we use each other, have a little bit of chemistry there,” said Grzelcyk. “We’re both pretty mobile and Charlie’s really good about closing plays off and allows me to come over. I think we just fast with one another. We’re able to get the puck in the forwards’ hands and make some plays, join the rush but also be responsible defensively at the same time.”

With Clifton coming out of the lineup, Dmitry Orlov is expected to shift down to play the right side on a pairing with Derek Forbort.

“The thing with Orlov is we found that with anyone he plays with, that guy plays well, and he plays well,” said Montgomery. “He just gives us the advantage of having a guy that can play the off side really well and I think you’re going to see the pairs mixed up just depending on how things go because we’re on the road as well.”

Video: Grzelcyk talks to the media before BOS @ FLA

Forwards

Up front, meanwhile, Montgomery’s lines looked quite different than the opening two games of the series in Boston with all four trios getting a tweak.

“We talked as a staff and I talked to Don Sweeney about what we think gives us the best opportunity on the road and we couldn’t come to a consensus, so you know when you do the lottery balls and how they come out, you just spit them out, and I liked how it came out,” Montgomery said with a smirk. “There’s a method to how we think the lines will help us for tonight.”

The most notable alteration, perhaps, was Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic being teamed up with Brad Marchand. Montgomery is hoping that Frederic getting to the hard ice in front of the net on a consistent basis will help the line have success.

“I think Trent’s a player that has had a real good regular season for us and has had moments in the playoffs where he’s been in the right areas, the hard areas,” said Montgomery. “We need to get more opportunities in those areas so we think that could be a real heavy line for us.”

Frederic echoed his coach’s sentiments while adding that he may have some extra jump after a heated moment in the closing minutes of Game 2. The winger confirmed some online speculation that he was “choked a little bit” by Florida’s Ryan Lomberg during a tussle that had both players wrestling on the ice.

“Couldn’t breathe, maybe panicked a little too early,” said Frederic. “But it was getting close there where the lights were gonna turn off there for a second. I’ve never seen that one. It is what it is… Just gonna play hard. It will give me a little extra motivation.

“Try not to react in a negative way and affect the team. Just go play hard and I think it will fuel me a little bit more. I’m excited to play tonight even more than I normally am.”

Video: Frederic talks from FLA Live Arena before Game 3

Boston could also get a spark from Jakub Lauko, who could be making his postseason debut as the fourth-line left wing alongside Tomas Nosek and Garnet Hathaway.

“If he plays, it’s gonna be just his speed,” Montgomery said of what Lauko could bring. “He draws penalties, he makes it hard on defensemen to have good gaps because they have to respect his speed. If they try and have a tight gap, he can spring for breakaways. A lot of times, that’s how he draws his penalties.

“He’s really tenacious on top of pucks. He’s a really good forechecker, he hits well, he creates turnovers. If he gets the opportunity, that’s where the line of thinking is there.”

Elsewhere up front, David Krejci was centering Taylor Hall and Jake DeBrusk, while Pavel Zacha was in the middle of Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak during the morning skate.

Friday’s Projected Lineup

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic

Tyler Bertuzzi – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall – David Krejci – Jake DeBrusk

Jakub Lauko – Tomas Nosek – Garnet Hathaway

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Dmitry Orlov

GOALIES

Linus Ullmark/Jeremy Swayman

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

21 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

2 days ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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