MONTREAL — Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson each scored twice, and the Montreal Canadiens celebrated captain Shea Weber’s 1,000th game with a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Toffoli continued to haunt his old team as the Canadiens swept a two-game series with Vancouver and improved to 7-1-2 to move a point ahead of idle Toronto into first place in the North Division. Eight of Toffoli’s nine goals this season have come against the Canucks.
Toffoli added an assist on Jeff Petry’s empty-net goal to cap the scoring.
Montreal forward Nick Suzuki had two assists. Weber had an assist on Toffoli’s second goal, giving the 35-year-old bruising defenceman seven points (two goals, five assists) in 10 games this season.
Antoine Roussel, Elias Pettersson and Tanner Pearson scored for the Canucks (6-7-0).
Jake Allen made 36 saves for Montreal, while Thatcher Demko stopped 28 shots for Vancouver.
Montreal, which kicked off the two-game series between the teams with a 6-2 win on Monday, improved to 4-0-1 against the Canucks, outscoring them them 28-15 over those five games.
Anderson, acquired from Columbus in an off-season trade that sent forward Max Domi to the Blue Jackets, is proving to be every bit the power forward the Canadiens have been craving for years. He scored the first two goals of the game and now has six on the season. He had just one goal in 26 games last year with Columbus.
The big winger opened the scoring at 14:53 of the first period. Ben Chiarot sent the puck toward the Vancouver goal and it wound up in front of Anderson, who outmuscled Canucks defenceman Jalen Chatfield and put the puck past Demko.
Montreal went up 2-0 with three minutes left in the opening period after Suzuki picked off a bad outlet pass in the Canucks zone. Suzuki’s shot was blocked by Tyler Myers but the puck went right to Brett Kulak, whose shot was tipped in by Anderson.
The Canadiens rode their momentum into the second period and had a couple of chances to score on an early power play, but Demko made a couple of big saves on veteran Habs forward Corey Perry.
That seemed to give the Canucks some life, and Roussel scored his first of the season when picked up a rebound and beat Allen at 4:20 of the second.
Toffoli restored Montreal’s two-goal lead when he tipped in a Joel Edmundson shot at 12:29 of the second, then put the Canadiens up 4-1 around three minutes later when he outmaneuvered former Hab Jordie Benn and fired a backhand past Demko.
Toffoli played 10 regular-season games and seven post-season games with the Canucks last season after Vancouver acquired him in a trade with Los Angeles. He signed a four-year, US$17 million contract with the Canadiens in October.
Pettersson scored his fourth of the year on a power play 53 seconds into the third period with a slick wrist shot over Allen form the right face-off circle.
The Canucks sent Demko to the bench for an extra attacker and were rewarded for late pressure when Pearson scored with 42 second left. But Petry put the game away with an empty-netter.
Vancouver was 1-for-3 on the power play, while Montreal was 0-for-4.
Weber’s 1,000th game was acknowledged at a stoppage in play halfway through the first period. Players from both teams tapped their sticks on the ice and Weber waved as crowd noise was piped into the empty Bell Centre.
Weber was toasted by members of the Canadiens and his former team, the Nashville Predators, in video messages during breaks in the action.
NOTES: The Canadiens will show a video tribute during Montreal’s game Thursday against Ottawa as part of ceremony with Weber’s family present. Additionally, a painting of Weber will be unveiled and he will be presented with a silver stick by Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. … Weber has 220 goals and 357 assists over his 1,000 games. … Roussel returned to the Canucks’ lineup after being held out as a healthy scratch on Monday. … The Canucks open up the first of three games in Toronto on Thursday.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
