Tag: Spencer Martin

Carolina Hurricanes down Chicago. How the Canes beat the Hawks for third straight win

[ad_1]

Feb 19, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) celebrates his goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

James Guillory

James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Raleigh

After a morning skate at PNC Arena, Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was asked about the Carolina Hurricanes and what impressed him most about their style of play.

“They are fast,” he said. “Not every single one of them is lightning-speed fast, but the way they play together is really fast,” he added. “They don’t give you a lot of room to breathe. They’re intense.”

The Hurricanes, playing their third game in four days, were fast and intense enough later in taking a 6-3 victory over the Blackhawks at PNC Arena.

Martin Necas and Sebastian Aho each had a goal and assist as the Canes (33-17-5) returned to their home rink after a pair of road wins against Arizona and Vegas. Goalie Spencer Martin, making a second straight start, earned his third win.

The Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard, playing his third game since returning from a broken jaw, had a power-play goal and added two assists, showing off the skills that made him the No. 1 pick of the 2023 NHL draft. Bedard fueled a push by Chicago (15-38-7), which trailed 5-1 before making the Canes squirm a little in the third.

Martin was the winner Saturday against the Golden Knights and was the starter again Monday as Pyotr Kochetkov was feeling ill and missed the morning skate.

Chicago had a familiar face in net: former Canes goalie Petr Mrazek. But Necas, one of his good friends in the league, had a big hand in beating the fellow Czech.

Necas set up Michael Bunting for a goal in the first period, then used some nifty puck-handling to slip in and snipe one past Mrazek for a 2-0 lead.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first goal in 23 games, and Aho got his 20th of the season as the Canes added three goals in the second. Defenseman Brent Burns added a power-play goal in the third and Jordan Martinook an empty-netter.

Chicago’s Nick Foligno got the Hawks on the board in the second with a backhander. Tyler Johnson scored a power-play goal in the third as the Blackhawks struck twice against a team that was third in the NHL in penalty killing.

Claimed on waivers Jan. 19 from the Columbus Blue Jackets, unsure of how long he might be needed or with the Canes, Martin won his first start for Carolina at Boston and then against the Golden Knights.

Martin went 24 days between his first two starts. But with Kochetkov “under the weather” Monday, according to Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, Martin was given the net for a second straight game, allowing him to make his first start at PNC Arena.

Feb 19, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Taylor Raddysh (11) misses his tip attempt against Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Spencer Martin (41) during the second period at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports James Guillory James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Andersen causes doubletakes

The Canes had an interesting morning skate Monday, turning heads.

Kochetkov was not on the ice but Frederik Andersen was — in the starter’s crease.

But the word quickly was passed that Andersen, who now has missed the past 43 games, was just getting in more practice time and taking shots. He would not play or serve as a backup Monday.

Brind’Amour said having Andersen participate in another practice was “encouraging.”

“I think it’s good for him just to get back into some sort of normal flow,” Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, he’s not ready to go yet, but every day that he practices is hopefully a step closer to getting him in there.”

First look at Bedard

When the Blackhawks’ Bedard suffered a broken jaw on Jan. 5, taking an open-ice hit from the Devils’ Brendan Smith, it seemed unlikely he would be back in time for the game at PNC Arena.

But Bedard, called a generational talent by many NHL observers. had a quicker-than-expected return and was playing his third game in his first PNC Arena appearance. He had a goal and two assists, and had another goal overturned by an offside call.

“Special player,” Brind’Amour said after Monday’s morning skate. “When you watch him play, he’s dynamic and exciting. He’s one of those rare talents that comes along that when they get the puck on their stick, there’s always something happening.”

Bedard, who has been playing with a full shield, said his first year in the league has been a “lot of fun” other than the injury and losing more games than he or the Hawks have wanted.

Bedard leads NHL rookies in goals (16) and points (36) despite missing 14 games, and was named to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game.

In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.

[ad_2]

Chip Alexander

Source link

February 19, 2024
Barzal, Pageau send Islanders to 6-2 win over Canucks

[ad_1]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists as the New York Islanders beat the struggling Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored twice — once on a power play and then shorthanded late into an empty net. Aatu Raty, Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas also had goals for the Islanders. Barzal has scored in four straight games.

“He’s skating, he’s making the right decision and he’s shooting the puck more,” Pageau said. “He’s got a great shot. When he’s playing with confidence like that, he’s a player that can make a difference. He’s a key player for us and we’re lucky to have him.”

Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots in his 14th win.

The Canucks got a pair of goals from Bo Horvat as they dropped their third game in a row. Vancouver’s captain is tied with Alex Ovechkin for third in the NHL with 28 goals.

“We want to make the playoffs and we want to be in contention and obviously I’m trying to do whatever I can to help make that happen,” Horvat said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not good enough.”

Defensive mistakes have plagued the Canucks all season, and this marked the 16th time in 37 games that they’ve given up at least five goals.

Spencer Martin made 23 saves for Vancouver.

Boos rained down as the final horn sounded and the Canucks fell to 7-10-1 at home.

“It’s kind of been a similar story for too long now,” defenseman Tyler Myers said. “We talk about our consistency — we had a really good first period and then we came off the gas a bit to start the second. We’ve got to find a way.”

Cizikas made it 5-2 with his third goal of the season 9:44 into the third period, sending a wrist shot over Martin’s glove from the faceoff dot.

Islanders rookie Parker Wotherspoon, who grew up a Canucks fan in British Columbia, assisted on the play for his first NHL point.

New York regained a two-goal cushion 1:46 into the third after Vancouver’s Ethan Bear turned over the puck deep in the Canucks zone.

Brock Nelson picked it up, spun to keep it on his stick and then sent it to Lee, who put a wrist shot past Martin to make it 4-2 with his 14th goal of the season.

Vancouver cut its deficit to one late in the second with a power-play goal after Matt Martin was called for hooking.

Seconds into the man advantage, J.T. Miller sent a pass to Horvat in the slot and he fired a shot past Sorokin to make it 3-2 with his 28th goal.

Another ugly giveaway quickly turned into an Islanders goal earlier in the second.

Myers coughed up the puck in the corner and Barzal took advantage, sailing a shot into the top corner to make it 3-1 at the 16:28 mark.

Barzal has 10 goals this season and five in his last four games.

Pageau gave New York the lead with a power-play goal 12:56 into the second after Myers was sent to the box for slashing.

“It’s like as soon as something bad happens to this team, the adversity, we cannot handle it. And it seems like, ‘Oh, here we go.’ And then that’s it,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “As long as we’ve got the lead, we’re fine. But when we get behind, it’s not a good thing. It just seems like the wind goes out of everybody’s sails.”

HOMETOWN FEAST

Barzal, from the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, has hit the scoresheet in all 10 career matchups against his hometown team, amassing 12 points (two goals, 10 assists).

MILESTONE

Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn played in his 900th regular-season NHL game.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Continue a four-game trip Thursday at Edmonton.

Canucks: Host the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

———

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

[ad_2]

Source link

January 3, 2023
Weegar gets 1st goal with Flames in 3-2 win over Canucks

[ad_1]

CALGARY, Alberta — Flames defenseman Mackenzie Weegar scored his first goal with Calgary and added an assist Saturday night in a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Elias Lindholm and Blake Coleman also scored for Calgary (18-13-7), which has points in 12 of its last 15 games (8-3-4).

“We’re on the right track,” Lindholm said.

It was Weegar’s first multipoint game since opening night.

“It feels great. Even better with the two points, obviously,” said Weegar, who scored a career-high eight goals last season with Florida.

Sheldon Dries and Elias Pettersson scored for Vancouver (16-17-3), which has dropped two straight on the road after winning seven in a row in opposition rinks.

“I don’t think our first two periods were good. Especially me. I made too many turnovers, too many simple mistakes,” Pettersson said. “Always try to make the hard play, so I’ve got to definitely be better.”

Jacob Markstrom made 22 stops against his former team to improve to 12-9-4. He is 9-3-1 versus Vancouver with a .921 save percentage.

Markstrom spent seven seasons with the Canucks before signing with Calgary as a free agent in 2020.

At the other end, Spencer Martin had 27 saves. His record slipped to 11-6-1.

“We’ve been playing great on the road so it’s disappointing that we didn’t come home with any points on this trip,” Martin said. “We’re going to have to bounce back and make it really hard to play in Vancouver.”

After a scoreless first period, Calgary surged in front 1:21 into the second when Lindholm kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot past Martin.

The Flames made it 2-0 on a short-handed goal at 9:32 of the second on a sequence set up by a superb outlet pass from Weegar.

Weegar made it 3-0 at 14:17 when his point shot eluded Martin. And even though it was his first goal, the defenseman’s celebration was muted.

“It was a weird play. I honestly thought that it was going to be offside. (Chris Tanev) kept a good puck in and I didn’t want to jinx it by over-cellying,” Weegar said.

He also helped orchestrate Coleman’s short-handed goal five minutes earlier, springing Rasmus Andersson, who set up Coleman on a 2-on-1.

“It was a turnover at the blue line. I knew that they were kind of tired. I heard the coaches yelling at them to change, so I hung onto the puck a bit,” Weegar said. “I was actually looking for (Coleman) to go for a breakaway. But Ras was yelling at me and I just got it to him.”

Weegar came over to Calgary with Jonathan Huberdeau in the offseason deal that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.

“Weegs is the best, man. He’s a great guy, great teammate. We joked about it this morning — we thought he was gonna get one and he did,” Coleman said. “We’re happy for him. He’s a big part of our team. It’s going to be the first of many. Sometimes it’s just funny how it works like that.”

Dries got one back for Vancouver at 15:28 on a strange one, knocking a puck in from waist level after it had fluttered into the air on one side of the net and came down on the other side where Dries was the first to spot it.

The Canucks climbed within one at 4:06 of the third when Pettersson buried a rebound, but Vancouver could not score the tying goal despite pushing hard.

“Sometimes your best players have to be your best players, and I didn’t think our best players in that second period were our best players,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Consequently when that happens, you get behind the 8-ball.”

Calgary played the second half of the game with 11 forwards after Brett Ritchie left early in the second period after appearing to injure his hand or arm in a collision along the boards.

UP NEXT

Vancouver: Hosts the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Calgary: At the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

———

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

[ad_2]

Source link

January 1, 2023
Horvat has 2 goals and 2 assists, Canucks beat Sharks 6-2

[ad_1]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Bo Horvat had two goals and two assists, Spencer Martin stopped 24 shots and the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 on Tuesday night for their third straight victory.

Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and three assists, and Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes, with his first of the season, also scored for the Canucks. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, with all three losses at home, and 16-15-3 overall.

“I feel like we’ve been playing the right way,” Boeser said. “We’re kind of getting that swagger back. That’s a big part of our team. When we don’t have that swagger, sometimes (things) get kind of dead. We’ve just got to keep playing the right way.”

Coach Bruce Boudreau hesitated when asked about the Canucks’ swagger.

“I don’t like that word,” he said. “I think the team is starting to believe in themselves a little bit and I think that’s important.”

Horvat has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in his last 10 games.

“It’s awesome,” Boeser said about Horvat. “It’s really fun to watch.”

Timo Meir scored twice for San Jose and James Reimer made 19 saves. Reimer is a victory short of 200 in his NHL career.

“I thought we had chances to climb back in,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I don’t like what went on in our own end. We’ve got to fix that in practice and get back to playing good structural defence.”

Vancouver took control of the game with goals from Mikheyev and Hughes 1:40 apart in the second period.

Mikheyev gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead just seconds after the Sharks killed a Vancouver power play. He scored his 12th of the season at 4:36, taking a pass from Andrei Kuzmenko and putting it over Reimer’s shoulder. Hughes scored at 6:16 with a shot from the faceoff circle that found the top of the net.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Host Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Canucks: At Winnipeg on Thursday night.

———

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

[ad_2]

Source link

December 27, 2022
Pettersson has 5-point night, adds SO winner for Canucks

[ad_1]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Elias Pettersson scored his second goal of the game to tie it with 1:20 left in regulation and added the shootout winner in the Vancouver Canucks’ 6-5 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.

Pettersson, who also had three assists, drilled a hard shot from above the faceoff circle to tie it with goalie Spencer Martin off for an extra attacker.

Pettersson returned to the lineup after missing two games because of a non-COVID-19 illness.

“I was running on no energy, just wanting the puck to go in,” Pettersson said.

Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau heaped praise on Pettersson.

“That’s six days off the ice and then he came in and did what he did tonight,” Boudreau said. “Pretty amazing. I don’t think you guys realize how much of an anomaly that is, being off six days and then playing that great. It defies logic.”

The Canucks had a power play with a minute left in the 3-on-3 overtime after Seattle’s Jordan Eberle was called for holding, but couldn’t score.

Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists for Vancouver, Lane Pederson scored his first goal in his third NHL game and added an assist, and Brock Boeser also connected. The Canucks have beaten the Kraken all six times they’ve met.

Martin stopped 31 shots for Vancouver.

Daniel Sprong scored twice for Seattle, and Jared McCann, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alex Wennberg also had goals. Bjorkstrand and Sprong struck 10 seconds apart in the second to give Seattle a 3-1 lead.

“The result is disappointing,” Wennberg said. “We just worked really hard. “I feel like we emptied the tank today and unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

The Canucks erased three, two-goal deficits.

“We don’t do anything the easy way,” Boudreau said. “Give the team credit for not quitting. That’s a testament to the boys in the room.”

Kuzmenko cut it to 4-3 at 5:13, scoring off the rebound of Pederson’s shot.

Sprong scored his second of the night just over a minute later, tipping in a pass from Brandon Tanev. Boeser got Vancouver back within one, redirecting Pettersson shot past goalie Martin Jones on a power play at 8:52.

Jones made 32 saves.

“We’re here to win a hockey game and we didn’t do that,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We have to do better when we’ve got a two-goal lead. That’s a game we feel like we should be able to close out.”

UP NEXT

Kraken: Host Calgary on Wednesday night.

Canucks: At Edmonton on Friday night.

———

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

[ad_2]

Source link

December 22, 2022
Kuzmenko scores in SO to give Canucks 4-3 win over Flames

[ad_1]

CALGARY, Alberta — Andrei Kuzmenko scored the only goal of the shootout and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 Wednesday night for their sixth straight road win.

Bo Horvat, Conor Garland and Sheldon Dries scored in regulation for the Canucks who gave up an early two-goal lead and had to come back to tie the score. Nils Hoglander had two assists and Spencer Martin stopped 35 shots to improve to 9-3-1.

“I was proud of the way we played tonight,” Horvat said. “It’s a tough building to come into, they got a good team over there. Obviously, I’d like to not give up a two-goal lead but at the same time we didn’t panic. In previous games or early in the year, we might have a little panic in our game, Dries scored a big goal and I thought we did a good job after that, kind of limiting their Grade-As. Overall, it was a great game and Marty was fantastic.”

Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane and Trevor Lewis scored for Calgary, which lost its fourth straight overall — third straight beyond regulation — and fell to 6-1-1 in its last eight at home. Dillon Dube had two assists and Jacob Markstrom finished with 24 saves.

“Big point for us,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “A little bad luck early. I thought we had a really good start and they scored a deflection goal and a lost-coverage goal quick. I thought we were pretty resilient and battled back.”

Kuzmenko scored on the Canucks’ first attempt of the tiebreaker, firing a shot over Markstrom’s glove. Dube and Backlund both missed on Flames’ final two attempts to give Vancouver the win.

“Just trying to time it depth-wise and meet them at their decision point and let them make a move and hold my edges,” Martin said of Calgary’s three tries in the shootout.

In overtime, Markstrom denied Ilya Mikheyev on a breakaway with a minute remaining to keep it tied.

Horvat and Garland scored 34 seconds apart to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead less than 2 minutes into the game. Horvat deflected a Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the left point past Markstrom at 1:14 for his 21st to get the Canucks on the board. Garland got the puck near the left corner and beat Markstrom from the left circle for his fifth at 1:48.

With the Flames on the power play, Backlund redirected a feed from Dube at 9:40 for his sixth to make it 2-1.

Mangiapane tied it with 3:51 remaining in the first as he quickly scored from the left circle off a pass from Nazem Kadri from behind the goal. It was Mangiapane’s seventh.

“Obviously not ideal to be down 2-0 right away,” Markstrom said. “Leaving the first period tied hockey game was a great effort by us and unfortunately we can’t get the win.”

Lewis put the Flames ahead 3-2 at 3:51 of the second as he banked his own rebound from a sharp angle off Martin’s glove and in for his sixth.

Dries tied it from the left circle on a Canucks rush off a pass from Hoglander to tie it at 5:31 of the middle period with his third.

PENALTY PARADE

After a road trip in which Calgary was short-handed 20 times in three games, the parade to the penalty box continued in the first period. The Canucks went on the power play twice. The Flames have been short-handed 115 times, tied for second-most behind Edmonton (116). St. Louis has been short-handed the fewest times at 65.

LINEUP SHUFFLES

Flames D MacKenzie Weegar (non-COVID illness) returned after missing one game while D Chris Tanev (upper body) sat out after taking a shot to the side of the head in Montreal on Monday. Calgary also got C Elias Lindholm (upper body) back after a one-game absence and inserted RW Brett Ritchie for rookie forward Matthew Phillips. … For the Canucks, F Brock Boeser (non-COVID illness) did not play, which opened up a spot for Dries’ return.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host Winnipeg on Saturday night to open a three-game homestand.

Flames: Host St. Louis on Friday night to wrap up a two-game homestand.

———

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://www.twitter.com/AP—NHL

[ad_2]

Source link

December 15, 2022