Canada

After digging themselves into a hole, the Montreal Canadiens nearly completely an improbable third-period comeback before falling short. The Canadiens could not overcome two separate two-goal deficits in the third period in a narrow 4-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon. Montreal remains eight points out of a playoff spot with 28

Justin Williams scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift the Carolina Hurricanes over the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. Williams wristed a shot inside the post to the right of Thatcher Demko, giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 edge in the shootout. Carolina goalie James Reimer then used his left pad to stop

Tasked with coaching the Canadian women’s hockey team back to supremacy, Troy Ryan sought guidance from experts in a different sport. Ryan was promoted from associate to head coach of the women’s team in early January, after Perry Pearn was dismissed. He’ll step behind Canada’s bench Monday night in Victoria, where the host team will

Goalie Mike Smith calmly skated to centre ice and watched the line brawl unfold between his Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames. Unhappy with Calgary goalie Cam Talbot hitting his mates, Smith tossed aside his paddle, sloughed off his blocker and glove, and flipped off his mask. He waited menacingly until Talbot skated across the

CENTRE ROBERT-GUERTIN, GATINEAU — Rémi Poirier made 20 saves leading the Gatineau Olympiques to a 5-0 victory over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The Olympiques led 3-0 at the end of the first period led by a goal from Manix Landry and a pair from Jérémy Rainville. After a scoreless second, Gatineau added on in the third,

CENTRE ROBERT-GUERTIN, GATINEAU — Thimo Nickl had a goal and an assist leading the Drummondville Voltigeurs to a 4-1 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques. Francesco Lapenna made 21 saves for the Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs led 2-0 at the end of the first period after goals from Kaylen Gauthier and William Dufour. The Voltigeurs led 3-1

Carey Price made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season as Montreal beat the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Saturday afternoon in the first of back-to-back matinee games for the Canadiens. Nick Suzuki, Artturi Lehkonen, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens (24-22-7), who have won six of their last eight. Defenceman Jeff

The Edmonton Oilers continue to find ways to pick up important points. Leon Draisaitl scored a pair of goals as the Oilers rallied to a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday. The two goals moved Draisaitl into sole possession of top spot in the NHL scoring race with 79 points, two ahead

CENTRE D’EXCELLENCE SPORTS ROUSSEAU, BLAINVILLE-BOISBRIAND — Alex Beaucage had two goals and an assist leading the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies to a 5-3 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. The Huskies led 4-1 at the end of the first period led by a goal from Louis-Filip Côté, a pair from Beaucage and Oleksii Myklukha. Antoine Demers scored for

EASTLINK CENTRE, CHARLOTTETOWN — Brett Budgell had three assists leading the Charlottetown Islanders to a 6-5 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Liam Peyton scored two goals for the Islanders. Xavier Bourgault had a goal and an assist for Shawinigan. The Cataractes took an early 3-2 lead in the

William Nylander was in uncharted territory around this time last season. And not in a good way. His contract impasse with the Toronto Maples finally came to a conclusion when he put pen to paper on a big-money deal minutes before an early December deadline. But despite doing his best to stay in shape on

CENTRE MARCEL DIONNE, DRUMMONDVILLE — Édouard Charron scored two goals leading the Drummondville Voltigeurs to a 4-0 victory over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Jacob Dion added a goal for the Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs led 1-0 at the end of the first period after Charron scored. The Voltigeurs jumped ahead

Ilya Kovalchuk and Brendan Gallagher scored in a span of 2:16 early in the second period, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Thursday night. Carey Price stopped 20 shots to improve to 5-1 in his last six starts, a stretch in which he’s allowed just 10 goals. For Gallagher, the goal

Tomas Hertl will miss the rest of the season for the San Jose Sharks with a serious knee injury. The Sharks said Thursday that Hertl tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during the first period of a loss the previous night against the Vancouver Canucks. Hertl, who scored the winner for the

The St. Louis Blues were the NHL’s Cinderella story last season. Following the script of a feel-good Hollywood movie, the team climbed from last place before Christmas to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Centre Ryan O’Reilly played a starring role in the rags-to-riches tale. He led the Blues with 77 points, including

Bruce Cassidy watched from afar as coach after NHL coach was shown the door. A lot of good ones, too. All in the span of eight weeks. It started when the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Mike Babcock on Nov. 20 and culminated with the Vegas Golden Knights axing Gerard Gallant — the man responsible for

There’s guarded optimism in Vancouver and Edmonton. Degrees of disappointment in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Continued delusion in Montreal. Acceptance in Ottawa. This is the state of the national hockey psyche at the NHL all-star break. Despite the NHL’s efforts to add meaning by the inclusion of female players in the mid-season classic, all-star weekend

Buffalo Sabres starting goalie Linus Ullmark will miss three to four weeks with an injury to his right leg. The team issued the update without revealing the nature of the injury Wednesday, a day after Ullmark was hurt in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa. Ullmark was untouched in his crease while tracking Ottawa forward Artem