Sports
Player grades: Leon Draisaitl leads the charge as Oilers snipers down Ducks, clinch playoff berth
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The Oilers outshot the Ducks 45-36 in the wide-open affair, and held more convincing 27-13 margin in the Cult of Hockey‘s tally of Grade A shots, including 11-5 in the subset of 5-alarm shots (running count).In our recent custom, we will include each skater’s count of contributions to Grade A shots (GAS), both for and against and in all manpower situations, at the end of each player comment.
Player grades
#2 Evan Bouchard, 7. Quiet but efficient. Earned an assist on McDavid’s third-period beauty, kept things tidy at the other end of the ice. GAS: +2/-0.
#5 Cody Ceci, 5. Struggled to move the puck in his own end at times, especially during a difficult opening 20. Settled down thereafter. 21:17 TOI including 1:50 on the penalty kill. 0 shots, 1 hit, 2 giveaways. GAS: +1/-5.
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 8. Another superb game from the bearded Swede, refelcted in his boxcars of 0-2-2, +3. His point shot was tipped home by Hyman for the game winner. He chipped in on McDavid’s around-the-world beauty by posting up at the near-side post and occupying 2 defenders and the goalie while McD circled the wagons. Then he made a strong d-zone play and head-man pass to Draisaitl for the shorty that brought the hats down. Strong in defence, including a team-leading 2:53 on the penalty kill. GAS: +5/-0, truly outstanding for a d-man.
#19 Devin Shore, 6. Played a shade under 10 minutes centring a fourth line that controlled its part of the game, even as it couldn’t break through with a goal. Zero issues defensively. GAS: +3/-0, setting up each of his linemates for a dangerous shot and producing a third off his own stick.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 8. Another dynamic game from the big rearguard. Scored his 11th of the season on a good shot through Yamamoto’s screen, in the process achieving a new career high with his 42nd point of the season. Made a fine cross-seam pass to Draisaitl for a one-timer that nearly produced #50. A couple of minor defensive issues, but put out a few fires along the way. Led the d-corps in ice time (22:57), shots (7), blocks (2) and hits (2). Was shoved into the path of a high hard blast and was very fortunate to come away from it unscathed. GAS: +4/-3.
#27 Brett Kulak, 5. Skated well, but had a few issues handling/clearing the puck. 3 giveaways on the night. GAS: +0/-1.
Now has achieved 50 goals and 50 assists in the same season 3 different times, and was on pace for same in his MVP season of 2019-20 before COVID shut it down with 11 games still on the slate. To put that in perspective, the feat has only been accomplished 1 other time league-wide in Draisaitl’s 9-year career… that being by Connor McDavid in 2022-23. I hope Oil fans realize how good we have it. GAS: +15 (!)/-4.
#37 Warren Foegele, 4. Struggled on a third line that spent way too much time in its own end, in large part due to sloppy puck management. Foegele’s 3 giveaways were part of that, notably a pair of consecutive turnovers inside his own blueline in the last minute of the first. Did get a breakaway late in the second but couldn’t cash. Oilers were outshot 11-4 during his 10½ minutes at even strength. GAS: +1/-0.
#72 Nick Bjugstad, 4. The big man wasn’t moving well on this night and seemed a step behind the play at times. The only forward without a shot, but 3 giveaways and 5/14 on the dot. Oilers were outshot 11-3 on his watch. Did chip in to a couple of Grade A shots by the second powerplay unit. GAS: +3/-1.
#73 Vincent Desharnais, 5. Low-event, which fits his job description. Blocked 2 shots, created his usual roadblock in front of Oilers’ net. GAS: +1/-1.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. A relatively quiet night for the red-hot forward, though he did manage a point, his 97th of the season, on McDavid’s show-stopper. GAS: +4/-3.
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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.
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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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