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Vancouver Canucks look out of their depth against Vegas Golden Knights – TSN

Published

4 years ago

August 31, 2020

No team has been a more pleasant surprise during the Stanley Cup Playoffs than the Vancouver Canucks – a young, entertaining team whose franchise players have generally looked fantastic against tough competition.

And no organization has endured a more compelling lesson than those same Canucks, a team on the brink of elimination after Vegas’ furious Game 4 comeback on Sunday night.

For the Canucks, this series is something of found money. The roster is still transitioning under general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green, and the thought of this team winning a playoff series – let alone two – last October would have been hard to believe.

But their younger players have been a step ahead of the development curve for some time, and it’s fostered serious excitement about what the next few years could look like in British Colombia.

It’s easy to forget that this team is very much a work in progress – a team still trying to navigate muddy salary cap water, and one in need of a skill influx further down the lineup. Vancouver’s depth players were able to tread water against Minnesota and St. Louis, while their stars exploded in the offensive end of the rink. But it has been a very different story against Vegas.

While the Canucks continue to try and squeeze every drop of production possible from their stars, the Golden Knights run four seemingly interchangeable lines and three interchangeable defensive pairings that play a fast, physical north-south type of game.

That depth advantage has manifested itself emphatically in the series. From time to time, you will see painfully long Vancouver shifts where the Canucks are bottled up in the defensive zone (like defenceman Tyler Myers’ 2:18 second-period shift in Game 4), usually the result of fatigued top lines or overpowered depth players who can’t break out of the zone.

The ice has been, in one word, tilted: the Golden Knights have 60 more shot attempts and 28 more scoring chances at even strength this series, and have outscored the Canucks there 11 to five.

For Vegas, tremendous depth diminishes the pressure on any one line to deliver. Play most of your shift in the offensive zone – regardless of who is on the ice and who you are playing against – and the numbers are going to win out.

At a matchup level, that just keeps happening over and over in this series:

It’s easy to draw your eyes to what the Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and William Karlsson trio is doing to some of Vancouver’s best non-Elias Pettersson forwards. Running up a nearly 30-shot advantage in 25 minutes of head-to-head ice time is domination, and it’s hard to win games when your best players spend so much time defending the run of play.

But the more important point – and the reason why Vegas just looks a superior team in this series – is that Vegas doesn’t really mind any matchup in this series.

By way of example: Chandler Stephenson and Nick Cousins are leading Vegas in even-strength ice time, and superstar winger Stone has played all of three minutes more than fourth-line quasi-enforcer Ryan Reaves. In fact, Vegas’ depth players have been dominant against any combination of Vancouver forwards.

I think most of this is just a math problem. There is not a single shift where the Pettersson line is catching a break – they are either dealing with an equally capable top six, or have to work through a combination of hyper-aggressive forechecking and a counterattacking speed game from the Golden Knights’ bottom six.

The opposite side of the coin is also problematic: the Stone line against Vancouver’s depth forwards is a nightmare, and Green knows it.

So what happens? Green shields his depth players as much as he can. Series-to-date, skaters like Tyler Motte, Tyler Toffoli, Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Adam Gaudette and Antoine Roussel have averaged just four minutes of ice time against Vegas’ top line.

For frame of reference, Golden Knights depth winger Cousins has seen 17 minutes head-to-head with Pettersson.

It would be premature to print the death certificate on Vancouver’s season – if we have learned anything from the young core and goaltender Jacob Markstrom, it’s that they are game in times of adversity. But regardless of how the series concludes, Vegas has taught Vancouver an important lesson about how vital depth is in the modern era of hockey.

This Canucks team can become the next big thing in hockey. But it’s going to require a bit of an overhauling of the bottom half of the lineup in order to get there.

Data via NHL.com, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, Evolving Hockey

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

4 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.

The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.

Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.

“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”

Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.

Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.

Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.

Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.

Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.

Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Penguins re-sign Crosby to two-year extension that runs through 2026-27 season

Published

4 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.

The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.

Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.

At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.

The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.

Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

Published

15 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.

Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.

The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.

“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.

“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”

Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.

The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.

“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”

It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.

“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”

Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.

He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.

Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.

“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”

Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.

“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.

Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.

Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.

“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”

Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.

Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.

Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.

Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.

Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.

“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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