Leon Draisaitl returned to his favourite stomping grounds, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville TN, and once again it was his Edmonton Oilers doing the stomping. The Oil pounded home 4 goals in the first period to drive star goalie Juuse Saros from the net, survived a brief blip early in the middle frame, then stretched their lead to 6-1 before playing out the string in mostly controlled fashion.
The underlying numbers suggest this was a close game, though score effects (Edmonton’s large lead) surely played a role in the flow of play. The Preds outshot the Oil by 43-30, while different measures of dangerous shots suggested it was dead even: Natural Stat Trick had high-danger chances at 9-8 Nashville and expected goals at 2.99 to 2.97 Edmonton, while we at the Cult of Hockey had Grade A shots dead even at 16-16 and 5-alarm shots at 8-7 Preds (running count).
The difference? This time around, Edmonton made their shots and got a bunch of saves. With both of those things, they also got their first win of the new season and none too soon after a pair of unsettling losses to Vancouver.
#2 Evan Bouchard, 7. A primary assist at even strength, a primary assist on the powerplay after first drawing the penalty. +2/-0 in 5v5 goals with excellent shot shares. A couple of fine stretch passes. A few dicey moments but that’s part of the package. Grade A shots: ES +3/-1; ST +2/-0,
#10 Derek Ryan, 6. Oilers fourth line spent a bit too much time in their own end, but produced a couple of solid shifts at important moments Set up Erne’s one-timer on a 2-on-1. Grade A shots: ES +2/-1; ST 0.
#13 Mattias Janmark, 6. Played 13 minutes at evens and 1:53 on the penalty kill to lead all forwards in that dept. Did some good work taking the puck deep into Nashville territory, then pinning it to the end wall while mates changed up and the penalty clock ticked down. Was sneaky good along the walls, winning and advancing the puck to good spots. Grade A shots: ES +3/-0; ST +0/-1.
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 7. A fine showing in his return to the arena he called home for a decade. Involved at both ends of the sheet, firing 3 shots on net and landing 3 hits. Was part of the problem on the lone Preds tally when he couldn’t clear the puck on the kill under heavy pressure. But put out way more fires than he started. Drew a penalty when he was dumped by his old buddy Filip Forsberg, with whom he’d had dinner the night before. Grade A shots: ES +1/-1; ST +0/-1.
#21 Adam Erne, 5. Up and down night for the newest Oiler. Some robust play with 3 hits, also dropped the mitts with Cole Smith late in the first. Had a couple of defensive lapses. A fine chance of his own when he broke in with Ryan 2-on-1, but couldn’t solve Preds backup Kevin Lankinen. Grade A shots: ES +1/-2; ST +1/-0.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Played a team-high 25:30, with the Oilers “winning” his portion of the game 1-0. Some strong defensive plays, a couple of iffy moments with the most noticeable being a bad pinch that led fairly directly to a ten-bell chance, mere seconds after the one Nashville goal. 3 shots, 2 hits, 1 block. His greasy hit behind the Edmonton net rightfully earned a penalty; he plays a hard game and crosses the line at times. Grade A shots: ES +0/-3; ST 0.
#28 Connor Brown, 6. Fit in nicely with his new linemates McLeod and Holloway, using their speed to his advantage in terms of finding good spaces in their wake. Also clicked in the centre of a give-and-go with Foegele, presumably during a line change. Did a nice job controlling the puck in his skates. Some creative puck movement and sound positional play. Grade A shots: ES +1/-0; ST 0.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 9. Dominant game, firing home 2 powerplay goals and adding a pair of helpers at even strength while putting on a passing clinic in all 3 zones. His 5 shots on net led all Oilers, but as is frequently the case it was his passing game that was especially eye-catching. On the 2-0 Drai made a gorgeous pass on the zone exit to tuck the disc through a narrow lane to RNH who broke in 2-on-1, then a terrific puck recovery and pass under heavy pressure to find Broberg right on the blueline in the o-zone to keep the play alive, finally feeding Bouchard in a dangeous spot for the shot that led to Hyman goal. Ended one extended d-zone pressure by corralling and instantly protecting the puck, holding his opponent at bay as he surveyed the scene, found the passing lane, and made a short safe dish to Nurse who walked it out. Made an incredible backhand pass right on McDavid’s tape that didn’t lead to a shot let alone the highlight reel, other than getting a few bumps of my personal 7-second rewind. Led Oilers forwards with 21:00 TOI and 7/11=64% on the dot. Became the Oilers’ all-time leader in powerplay goals with 128, needing just 641 games to surpass the old mark it took Glenn Anderson 845 games to reach and Ryan Smyth 971 to equal. Leon’s a stone cold killer on the PP, and that’s a fact. Grade A shots: ES +5/-2; ST: +3/-0.
#37 Warren Foegele, 8. Promoted to the second line, he responded in the best way possible with perhaps his finest game as an Oiler. Made a splendid defensive play not a minute in, with a full length dive to hook the puck out of danger from a possible breakaway. Wonderful cross-crease pass to RNH off the backhand side for the 3-0. Received a pass from the same player and wired home a well-placed wrist shot for the 6-1. Rang another bullet off the post early in the third. Flying all night. Grade A shots: ES +3/-0; ST 0.
#71 Ryan McLeod, 5. His stat sheet doesn’t show much — a missed shot, 2 giveaways, 5/9=56% on the dot. By eye he skated miles, the puck on his blade at times and generally going in the right direction. Made a good decision to shoot on a 2-on-1 opportunity, but missed the target. Was among those beaten on the lone Nashville (PP) goal. Grade A shots: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-1.
#86 Philip Broberg, 6. Some good moments, some not-so-good ones, with the former comfortably outweighing the latter. Got a bit sloppy in the late going. Showed some very nice skills on the breakout and along the offensive blueline. Played a tick short of 15:00, including a chunk of time on each special team. He appears increasingly fluid in his offensive movements, still picking his spots in terms of when to activate. Fired an excellent wrist shot through traffic from the top of the right circle. Grade A shots: ES +1/-3; ST 0.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Showed well at centre between the effective Hyman and Foegele. Earned 1-2-3 on the night, earning a powerplay assist on the 1-0 (after first drawing the penalty), scoring the 3-0 himself with a sharp finish of Foegele’s feed from a tough angle, and a fine pass to that same mate for the 6-1. Even managed to go 6/11=55% on the faceoff dot. Grade A shots: ES +4/-1; ST +1/-1.
#97 Connor McDavid, 8. His determination was on display early, when he overwhelmed Jusso Parssinen in the defensive corner with a crunching check, then made a splendid one-handed play to handle and then chip the puck up the boards to Draisaitl who walked it out. Scored a brilliant goal where he was knocked to one knee at the offensive blueline, did a 360° spin in the pike position, only to somehow come out of the crowd with the puck and promptly laser a precise shot just inside the far post. Took a cross-checking penalty in the first minute of the middle frame, leading to Nashville’s lone goal. Did some fine PK work of his own, where his 1:23 trailed only Janmark among Oilers forwards, and he was not only effective but extraordinarily dangerous. The sequence where he chased the puck the length of the ice and somehow emerged from the corner with it on his stick was breathtaking. Grade A shots: ES +4/-1; ST +2/-0.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
Kings: Host the Clippers on Friday night.
___
AP NBA:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League has revealed the jersey designs for its six newly named teams.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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