EDMONTON — These are the moments. The small windows where you can say, ‘OK, we see something different here. It’s not the same as before.”
The Edmonton Oilers walked out of the dressing room after 40 minutes leading the St. Louis Blues 2-1, with visions of closing out a hard, gritty win over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Well, that lead lasted a mere two minutes and 12 seconds.
The reflex reaction in any matchup between the Oilers and the Blues was, “Hmmm, how many more will St. Louis get this period?”
But something funny happened on the way to St. Louis’ come-from-behind victory.
Leon Draisaitl scored a beastly goal just 121 seconds later — goal No. 29 for No. 29 — and the Oilers took the rest of the period away from the Blues, outshooting them until the final moments when the St. Louis pulled goalie Jake Allen.
When it was done, Draisaitl was celebrating a two-goal night, Josh Archibald a crucial empty-netter, and the Oilers a 4-2 win in a game they simply have not won many of over the past decade of mediocre hockey.
And they looked confident and comfortable while doing it.
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“That team over there, they know how to win hockey games,” Draisaitl said afterwards. “For them to tie it up, and for us to come back and win the game, it’s a big confidence boost for us.”
Head coach Dave Tippett was without James Neal (foot), Joakim Nygard (broken hand) and Kris Russel (concussion), in a game against a lineup that plays hard, heavy hockey with some of the best structure in the NHL today.
“These are games where you learn a lot about your team,” Tippett said, “because that is a good, deep team. Especially losing Nygard, Neal and Russell out of our lineup. There were opportunities for other people.”
Caleb Jones slotted in for Russell, scored a goal and showed poise in his own zone. Archibald, who has proven to be a nice platoon player on Connor McDavid’s left side, stepped in and played well. And Mikko Koskinen was excellent in just his second start in nine games, making a series of huge saves. He was simply better than Allen, and that’s the difference in what was essentially a one-goal game.
St. Louis reduces the game to a calculated series of puck battles, because they know they’re going to win 75 per cent of them. They’re big, strong, and even their few smaller players have the market cornered on that hockey commodity known as battle level.
“They’re so structurally managed that they’re doing the same thing every single night,” said Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson, who thrives playing this kind of hockey. “It doesn’t matter if it’s early November or late January, February, they’re doing the same thing and have a really structured team play. That’s where we’re getting at.”
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This was a prime example of why the Oilers are a far more dangerous team when McDavid and Draisaitl are deployed on separate lines. Since they’ve been separated the team is 7-1-2 and has outscored the opposition 44-28, by far the longest stretch of games they’ve ever played apart.
Draisaitl wasn’t great in a 4-3 shootout loss to Calgary on Wednesday, and against the Blues the Colton Parayko-Jay Bouwmeester pair did a pretty good job on McDavid and his line.
But against St. Louis Draisaitl, with Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on his wings, was the difference-maker. His second goal was a great solo effort after a sneaky good pass from Yamamoto.
“It was a big man’s game and he played well in it,” Tippett said of Draisaitl. “Both of his goals were good goals, well-earned goals. That line has played well for us. It is good to see that Leo, he has his game turned back the other way and is playing very well.”
Coming out of their All-Star break, Edmonton lined up against the Calgary Flames, St. Louis, and the Flames again in Calgary on Saturday night. Snaring four points in those three tough games is what a playoff-bound team should do, and this morning the Oilers awake with three points in the bank and a chance for five with a win on Hockey Night in Canada.
“Every game is huge. Standings are tight, points are tight,” said Draisaitl. “Just have to keep grinding away, keep getting points.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
