Leon Draisaitl offers his condolences to defencemen on the other six Canadian teams forced to contend with the foot speed of Connor McDavid this shortened NHL season. “It’s so hard to defend,” Draisaitl says of the Edmonton Oilers captain’s burst up ice. “I wouldn’t want to be that guy standing at the blue-line with him
Canada
PITTSBURGH – Jake Guentzel beat Ilya Samsonov in the fourth round of a shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Sunday for their first victory of the season. Casey DeSmith stopped 20 shots in regulation and overtime, then turned aside T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin in the
The Toronto Maple Leafs placed veteran forward Jason Spezza and goaltender Aaron Dell on waivers Sunday. Spezza, 37, skated in all three games so far this season and registered one assist while averaging 7:44 of ice time. He signed a one-year deal for the league minimum of $700,000 USin October, hoping for one more shot
DÜSSELDORF, Germany – The International Ice Hockey Federation will make a decision in the coming days on whether to pull its world championship from Belarus as pressure increases from sponsors over a crackdown on opposition groups in the country. German motor oil manufacturer Liqui Moly said Sunday it would cancel its sponsorship deal if the
The Winnipeg Jets have returned to practice a day after suspending workouts due to a possible exposure to COVID-19. The Jets took to the ice at Bell MTS Place this morning before leaving for Toronto for a game Monday against the Maple Leafs. Winnipeg cancelled its practice Saturday over what the team called “an abundance
LAS VEGAS – Max Pacioretty scored 7 seconds into overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night. Vegas rallied for the win after William Karlsson tied it with 1:22 left in regulation. After winning the opening faceoff of overtime, Pacioretty raced up ice while Mark Stone
Youth and age proved to be a winning combination for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Veteran forward Joe Thornton and young linemates Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner had a goal apiece as Toronto edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Canadian Tire Centre. Marner added two assists as the line broke out with seven
SUNRISE, Fla. – Chris Driedger will be Florida’s starting goaltender when the Panthers play their delayed season-opener Sunday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. Driedger becomes the 11th opening-night starter in Panthers history. Regular starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed most of Panthers’ training camp, is in line to start Florida’s second game against Chicago on Tuesday.
Czech carmaker Skoda has warned that it will withdraw its sponsorship of the ice hockey world championship if Belarus remains as co-host amid calls to move the event following mass protests against authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Skoda, which belongs to Germany’s Volkswagen Group, said Saturday on Twitter that it has been a “a proud partner”
DENVER – Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals to reach 200 for his career, helping the Colorado Avalanche rebound from an opening-night loss with an 8-0 rout of the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen scored the 100th goal of his career and added an assist, and
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut, and the Senators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Friday in their first game in more than 10 months. Thomas Chabot, Austin Watson, Derek Stepan and Chris Tierney also scored for Ottawa. Josh Norris, with his first
Anaheim Ducks (0-1-0, seventh in the West Division) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (1-0-0, first in the West Division) Paradise, Nevada; Saturday, 10 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The Vegas Golden Knights host Anaheim after Maxime Comtois scored two goals in the Ducks’ 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights. Vegas went 39-24-8 overall and 15-6-2 in division
Patrik Laine let his play on the ice speak volumes Thursday night with a three-point performance that should squash questions about his committment to the Winnipeg Jets. After registering a goal and an assist in regulation, the 22-year-old Finnish winger scored the overtime winner, leading the Jets to a season-opening 4-3 win over the Calgary
LOS ANGELES – Kirill Kaprizov scored his first NHL goal with 1:13 remaining in overtime and finished with three points as the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in the season opener for both teams Thursday night. The 23-year-old Russian scored on a breakaway, putting the puck past Los
Connor McDavid and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers big guns, embarrassed in their home opener, feasted Thursday on the Vancouver Canucks. McDavid scored a hat trick and added an assist as the Oilers beat the Canucks 5-2 for their first win of the NHL season. Leon Draisaitl, the NHL’s top scorer last season, added
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators Ottawa, Ontario; Friday, 7 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The Ottawa Senators open the season at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday. Ottawa finished 9-9-5 in division action and 18-13-6 at home in the 2019-20 season. The Senators were called for 276 penalties last season averaging 3.9 penalties
Morgan Rielly scored at 3:24 of overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 to raise the curtain on the NHL’s abbreviated 56-game season Wednesday night. The defenceman took a feed from Toronto captain John Tavares on a 2-on-1 to beat Montreal goalie Carey Price and end a chaotic extra period where
DENVER – Oskar Sundqvist scored twice and blocked four shots, Jordan Binnington made 26 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams. Jordan Kyrou also found the net after being recalled from the taxi squad, and new addition Kyle Clifford added another