The Edmonton Oilers did not bring their “A” game to Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
On the other hand, the Montreal Canadiens showed up game for a battle and gave the Oilers all they could handle in a 3-2 OT win for Edmonton. Leon Draisaitl drilled home the winner from his familiar spot, on a 1-timer on the Power Play (a 4-minute one that started late in the 3rd).
CALVIN PICKARD. 8. Two strong, early saves on Armia. Got a piece of one on the Habs’ PP before it clinked off the post and out. Blocker-ed away a dangerous shot from Anderson in the 2nd. A well-timed poke check kept a loose puck away from Gallagher. Big pad save on Harvey-Pinard in the 2nd. A solid block on Roy to end the 2nd. Little chance on Montreal’s greasy 2-1 goal early in the 3rd. Got a piece of the 2-2 goal but Guhle was bearing down on him with no Oilers in sight. Stopped Anderson after a turnover deep in the 3rd Period. Pickard and Mattias Ekholm were Edmonton’s two best players.
CONNOR McDAVID. 7. Picked up a puck knocked loose by Ekholm along the wall, beat a man clean then deked the goaltender right-to-left for the 1-0. Looked like he may have had the 2-0 as well as his shot slipped through 5-hole, but the Habs’ defender Guhle swept it to safety. Circled the wagons in the 2nd then fed Ekholm for a chance. Hustled back (without one glove which had been “removed” by an attacker) to ultimately stymie a Montreal 3-on-1 after the puck his skate and cleared the zone. Terrific O-zone retrieval in OT, dished to Nurse and then again to Draisaitl for the game winner. 9 (yes, 9!) shots.
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ZACH HYMAN. 5. Nice pass in front to Kane early. Had a chance at a loose puck in front on a 2nd Period PP. hammered one off the post late in the 3rd. 4 shots,+1. Not as noticeable as he normally is.
DARNELL NURSE. 7. Strong performance. Called for a weak tripping call in the 1st made by the back referee. But Nurse’s mates killed it off. Strong stick at his own blueline on a 2nd Period PK. Swallowed up a loose puck after a turnover by his own goalie. Excellent pass to McDavid in the high slot on the OT winner, Nurse earning the secondary assist. Only allowed one 5v5 Grade A chance against on his watch.
TROY STECHER. 5. Solid. The zone entry on the eventual 2-0. 2 hits. Only a single Grade A against 5v5.
LEON DRAISAITL. 6. Leon Draisaitl was the better of this trio which over-all struggled tonight. But he too was off a half-turn. Split two defenders as he was bearing down on the Montreal net in the 2nd, but the puck chipped off his stick at the last second. 2nd Period shot off a McDavid pass. Took a hooking call, erasing a 3rd Period 4v4. Slick pass to Hyman late in the 3rd by Hyman hit the post. Hammered home the Overtime winner from just a stride or two above the goal line off a fine feed from McDavid. A rare night below 50% on the dot.
WARREN FOEGELE. 4. Struggled. Turned the puck over up the wall in the 3rd leading to a chance against. A microcosm of an off night for him as well.
MATTIAS EKHOLM. 9. Played just a tremendous game. His aggressive pinch up the left side jarred the puck loose and McDavid did the rest on the 1-0. Excellent 2nd Period chance off a long developing set-up from McDavid. Activated from the blueline then filtered a terrific pass back-door to Henrique in the slot for the 2-0. High Dangers 4-2 5v5. 2 hits, +2 in 21:07. Edmonton’s best skater tonight.
EVAN BOUCHARD. 7. Hard back-check erased a break when he was pick-pocketed at the attacking blueline. Sharp cross-ice pass for a secondary assist on the 2-0. That was his 50th assist of the season, only he and the great Paul Coffey have hit that mark in Oilers silks. 2 good shots on a 2nd Period PP. Late to release his man in the middle, leaving all of the left-hand side of the ice on the 3rd period 4v4 and Montreal capitalized on the open ice with the 2-2. On balance, though, he was quite good.
ADAM HENRIQUE. 6. Good feed in front to Nugent-Hopkins who chipped it wide. Scored his 1st as an Oiler by getting superior positioning on his man in front and then backhanding a terrific pass from Ekholm home for the 2-0. Drew the Montreal double minor which eventually produced the game winner. 50% on draws. 3 hits.
DEREK RYAN 4. Drew a roughing call in the 2nd. Credited with 3 hits. -1.
BRETT KULAK. 6. Strong, hard play on Gallagher right in front. Sharp pick-off & clear in the 2nd. Caught in no-man’s land after Ceci went on a walk-about on the 2-1 goal. Drew a 3rd Period trip with some challenging work deep in his own zone. By far the better of the two on this pair tonight.
CODY CECI. 4. Rough game. Over-committed on a Montreal rush early in the 3rd, then did not track down his man until a split-second after the puck had pinballed into the net for the 2-1. 3rd Period blocked shot. A miserable 6-21, 22% 5v5. Did have 6 hits.
MATTIAS JANMARK. 4. Quiet, quiet game. Crushed in shot shares (5v5 CF 5-13, 28%).
COREY PERRY. 4. Good defensive stick in the 1st. Made some good things happen along the walls late in the 3rd. But a generally quiet night.
Edmonton’s record now sits at 41-21-4, 86 points. They are 2nd in the Pacific, 8 back of Vancouver with 3 games in hand.
Find me on Threads @kleavins, on Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social, and X @KurtLeavins.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Chiefs: Host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
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AP NFL:
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