Stuart Skinner came up big, first outplaying Cam Talbot in regular and over-time, then in the shoot-out, as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2.
The Kings dominated the first period, scoring twice. The Oil were superior in the second, scoring twice.
In total, the Oilers had 11 Grade A shots, the Kings 13, with the subset of most dangerous 5-alarm shots being Edmonton five, Los Angeles eight. Grade A shots on in on average 25 per cent of the time, 5-alarmers 33 per cent of the time.
Zach Hyman, 5. Not his best game. McD set him up in the second for a wide-open slot shot, but Hyman failed to score. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST +0/-0.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. He did strong work on the PK early on. He won a n-zone battle to set up McDavid’s rush chance in the second. In OT he saved the day with a huge stop on Kopitar’s wrap-around try. He scored in the shootout. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST +01-0.
Ryan McLeod, 4. He looked a bit out of sorts against the tough-checking Kings early on, was a bit better in the third. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Warren Foegele, 4. He stole a puck on the PK early in the second and fired on net, a rare early sign of life from the Oilers. He got beat by Dubois on a rush chance late in the second. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST +0/-1.
Derek Ryan, 8. Good game even before the shootout. Solid work on the PK and some good hustle at even strength. He won the game with the Oilers were a shootout goal. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST +0/-0.
Connor Brown, 7. Excellent effort, not bad results. He got off a hard high slot shot, then a Grade A one-timer, in the third after his line worked the Kings with hard forechecking. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST +0/-1.
Mattias Janmark, 6. Good work on the PK and fine hustle all game. He won a puck at the blueline in the sequence where Brown got off his Grade A. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST +0/-1.
James Hamblin, 6. Finds a way to help out. He charged back hard to break up a dangerous Kings rush in the first. He almost cashed in Lavoie’s board crashing shot at the side of the net in the third. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +1/-0.
Raphael Lavoie, 5. He followed McDavid to the net in the second and almost jammed in a rebound goal. The refs gave him a ridiculous penalty when Kempe ran into him, and that marked the first time I’ve seen Coach K get upset on the Oilers bench. He got caught out of position on an L.A. 5-alarmer early in the third. But followed up with a hard-working shift where he drilled two shot on net. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST +0/-0.
Adam Erne, 5. He came to the defence of Ryan after #10 took a dirty hit from Doughty. Quiet game otherwise. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Evan Bouchard, 7. Moved the puck well in 29:01 of icetime. He got beat by Grunsdtrom behind the net on the 5-alarm shot by Lewis in the first. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST +0/-0.
Cody Ceci, 7. Quiet game, good game. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST +0/-1.
Darnell Nurse, 6. He got caught out of position on Kempe’s goal, not playing it cautious enough at the offensive blueline. Was otherwise hard, tough and effective. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +0/-0.
Vincent Desharnais, 4. He struggled in this one. He got beat out of the corner early on, leading to one Grade A and one 5-alarm shots in bang-bang fashion. A moment later he and Ekholm allowed a pass out to the slot to Kevin Fiala, who ripped in the first L.A. goal. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +0/-1.
Brett Kulak, 7. Another good game from the veteran. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-0.
Stuart Skinner, 9. He held his team in the game early on, then won it for them in overtime and the shootout. He gave up a big rebound but made an even bigger save off Kopitar early on. A moment later he sprawled to thwart Dubois on a wide-open net. He had little chance on Fiala’s one-timer goal. He thwarted a 5-alarm shot in a from Lewis. Kempe has a great shot, but his scoring snipe was far enough out that Skinner might well have stopped it. Huge save early in the second on a Doughty-to-Kopitar slap pass and tip shot, then another one on a rebound that fell to Lizotte in the slot., and yet again on a Doughty one-timer early in the third.
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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