The Edmonton Oilers came up short against the St. Blues, losing 3-2 in a strange over-time game.
It was a weird one with two Oilers goals called back on video review and two St. Louis goals stopped by Oil d-men with last micro-second goal mouth clearances. Edmonton had more Grade A shots on the penalty kill than on the power play.
In total the Grade A shots were 15 for the Oilers, 15 for the Blues, with the subset of 5-alarm shots, five for the Oilers, seven for the Blues.
Connor McDavid, 6. He came alive at just the right moment late in the game to earn Edmonton one point. Super quiet in the first half of the game, getting little done until he got a shift with Draisaitl and Hyman more than half-way through the second. Brilliant rush created a 5-alarm shot late in the third, then he won the puck on the forecheck and set up Draisaitl for Edmonton’s second goal. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +5/-1; Special Teams +0/-0.
Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 7. He had a goal called back on an iffy video review, then almost scored on a short-handed rush. He made a solid clearance on St. Lou’s second period 5-on-3, the key moment on that big kill. Almost drained a one-timer that same period. His bobbled puck led to a dangerous St. Lou break-in. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST +1/-0.
Zach Hyman, 8. The most dangerous forward, he had his feet moving fast all game. His hard charge to the net led to a Grade A shot for him, but his slight contact with the St. Louis goalie saw RNH’s goal called back. He charged hard up the ice to set up an RNH one-timer, and almost jammed in a goal late in the third. He got off a decent shot in OT as well. GAS: ES +6/-1; ST +0/-0.
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Leon Draisaitl 7. Made his everyday, ordinary brilliant backhand pass to set up Henrique in the slot in the second. He took an ill-advised tripping penalty while killing a penalty in the second. He got a breakaway as soon as it was over, but failed to cash in. A moment later he set up Bouch for a Grade A slotter, then took a second penalty, hauling down Robert Thomas. He pounded in Edmonton’s second goal off McD’s pass. GAS: ES +5/-1; ST +0/-0.
Adam Henrique, 6. He almost scored on a bullet shot from the slot in the second. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST +1/-0.
Corey Perry, 4. Quiet game from a noisy player. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Ryan McLeod, 5. Some good checking in this one, including a great backcheck to stop a slot shot late in the second. He lost a board battle on the winning goal. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST +0/-0.
Warren Foegele, 5. He drove hard to the net on an outside shot early in the third and almost created a goal. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Evander Kane, 6. Had a goal disallowed in the first, a tough call where he batted a high shot off his foot into the net. He beat the hell out of Blues tough guy Tyler Tucker in a second period fight. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Connor Brown, 7. He was buzzing all game. Has he earned a promotion to one of the top lines for a game or two? He won a key board battle to kick off the Virtuous Cycle on Ekholm’s blast. GAS: ES +2-0; ST +1/-0.
Sam Carrick, 5. Was part of the passing sequence on Edmonton’s first goal. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST +0/-0.
Mattias Janmark, 6. Executed a great screen on the Ek-hammer, Ekholm’s first period goal. Had a great rush in the third. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST +1/-0.
Evan Bouchard, 4. High event with one ugly and consequential mistake but one huge positive play. Involved with some nice combo plays with Draisaitl. He may have saved a goal with a solid defensive stop on a scramble play late in the second. But his fumble of the puck at the offensive blueline led to the second Blues goal. A missed pass a moment later led to another Blues 2-on-1, then he broke his stick as Jake Neighbours broke in for a 5-alarm shot. GAS: ES +5/-4; ST +0/-0.
Mattias Ekholm, 8. Such a great game until his last shift. He got beat on the deke by Neighbors early on for a 5-alarm shot. But he drilled a slapper in early in the game. We’ve got the Bouch Bomb. How about the Ek-hammer? If he keeps shooting it like that we’ll have to come up with something. He sent Drai in on his second period breakaway. Almost won it in OT with a hard slapper, but then allowed the winning goal on a bad read and a St. Lou breakaway. GAS: ES +6/-2; ST +0/-0.
Darnell Nurse, 3. Had some good moments. But a super iffy start to the game. He got wandering on an early Blues Grade A shot, then allowed a 2-on-1 rush next shift, then a scary opportunity a few moments later, and finally a dangerous goal mouth scramble, much of it due to over-aggressive reads. He was caught up ice again when Toropchenko broke in for two dangerous shots late in the second. He led the team with six shots on net, but none of them too dangerous. GAS: ES +0/-4; ST +0/-0.
Cody Ceci, 5. Solid enough. He cleaned up an ugly goal mouth scramble in the first, batting away the puck. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +0/-0.
Vincent Desharnais, 6. Some sound work on the PK and even strength on defence. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST +0/-1.
Brett Kulak, 5. Solid enough game, but allowed the pass across on the second St. Lou goal. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST +0/-0.
Stuart Skinner, 7. Good game. Fine stop on Neighbours’ break-in chance early on, then Kyrou on a 2-on-1. He got beat by Schenn’s harpoon, then came up big on Faulk’s one-timer and Kyrou’s scramble shot. Not much chance on the second Blues goal after the Bouch bobble. But thwarted Hayes on a 2-on-1. Stopped a Neighbours break-in shot late in the third. Could not come up big in OT, tho.
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
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