Resting on top of an audio speaker just inside the entrance to the Winnipeg Jets’ locker-room sits a reminder of what the NHL team is fighting for.
A blue board, complete with team logo and Stanley Cup in the background, has plastic slots for 16 hockey pucks — one for each post-season victory.
One slot was filled after Winnipeg split its first two home games against the Colorado Avalanche. The Jets will need to pick up their play on the road to make it a growing collection.
“I don’t think anyone expected this series to go four straight for either side, so here we are in Game 3,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “It’s 1-1, we know we have to win another game in this rink.”
Bowness ran his players through a firm one-hour practice Thursday at Denver’s Ball Arena. Winnipeg opened the best-of-seven series with a wild 7-6 victory but Colorado responded with a potent 5-2 win in Game 2.
Colorado has some momentum entering Friday’s Game 3 after converting on opportunities and using its forechecking prowess to prevent the Jets from building plays.
The Avalanche posted a league-best 31-9-1 home record in the regular season, although two of those nine losses came to the Jets.
“This is a team that finished ahead of us in the standings,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar.
“We consider ourselves a pretty good team. We know how deep they are. You have to have a full team commitment in order to win and then you’ve got to go and play your best hockey at the key times, which is now.
“Two games doesn’t cut it. It might take seven and we have to be committed to doing that.”
Hellebuyck ready for ‘big moments’: Bowness
There have been some surprises in the first-round matchup between clubs that were separated by just three points in the Central Division.
Few hockey observers expected a combined 20 goals over two games or for Avalanche netminder Alexandar Georgiev to have had the edge on Jets goalie and Vezina Trophy favourite Connor Hellebuyck.
“I never worry about his confidence,” Bowness said of his number 1 goaltender. “He’s very confident in himself. He knows he’s an elite goalie. He wants the ball. He loves being in there in these big moments.”
While not in stone, the Jets are expected to bring defenceman Nate Schmidt back into the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch. Schmidt skated with Dylan Samberg on Thursday.
“I think the last little bit here, he’s still hearing my voice in his ear, even when I wasn’t there,” Schmidt said. “That’s a crucial part of any [defence] pair. That has to be the foundation for him and I.
“I believe we’ve laid those bricks. Now it’s time to reap the rewards.”
Hellebuyck keeps his eyes on the puck as Colorado Avalanche right wing Brandon Duhaime looks for the rebound during Game 1 of the playoff series on April 21. (Fred Greenslade/Canadian Press)
Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Ball Arena with Game 5 set for Winnipeg on Tuesday. If a sixth game is necessary, it would be played May 2 in Denver.
“They’re really tough to play against,” said Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, who has three points in the series. “Big, heavy, fast, just a really good team. We knew it all season and we need our best tomorrow.”
The Jets are looking for bigger things this year after crashing out in a dispirited first-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last spring.
Winnipeg’s ability to roll four solid lines helped the team cap the regular season with eight straight victories. But there has been some inconsistency since, notably from the second line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli.
“It’s just a matter of going out and performing and playing up to our abilities,” Toffoli said.
The Jets delivered a statement win in their last visit here on April 13, rolling to an emphatic 7-0 victory. Now they want to do it again when it matters more.
“It’s exciting to be part of a series that has so much explosiveness, so much excitement that’s been around the game,” Schmidt said. “It should be a good one.”
Final call
Bowness was asked directly about whether Schmidt would return for Game 3, but wouldn’t confirm his lineup plans.
“The answer to that is that we have eight National Hockey League defencemen and 14 National Hockey League forwards ready to go and we’ll make final decisions tomorrow,” he said.
The Avalanche last won the Stanley Cup in 2022. The Jets have yet to win an NHL championship.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
