Tag: Montreal Canadiens

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Jets Ford scores first NHL goal; Wild goalie Fleury shuts out Habs 4-0; plus more NHL news

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Winnipeg Jets center Vladislav Namestnkov (7) puts a backhanded shot in the net past the Boston Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo (70) in the first period at TD Garden in Boston on Thu Jan 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Winnipeg Jets Parker Ford who grew up rooting for the Boston Bruins as a kid scored in his NHL debut against the Bruins as well as the Jets scoring a total of four straight goals in the third period in a four goal 6-2 win over the Bruins.

#2  Minnesota Wild goaltender 40 year Mark Andre Fleury stopped 19 shots and recorded his 76th NHL shutout for the Wild’s third straight win 4-0 over the Montreal Canadiens. Fleury picked up his first shutout since March 14th. This could very well be Fleury’s last game in Montreal as he is retiring after this season. Fleury who grew up a Canadiens fan lived in Sorel, Quebec just an hour from Montreal.

#3 The Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin scored his career 876th goal and needs 19 to surpass former Los Angeles Kings NHL goal leader Wayne Gretzky who has 894 career goals. Despite the Ovechkin goal the Caps lost to the Ottawa Senators 5-4 at Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa on Thursday.

#4 Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andre Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots in the Lightning’s 3-0 shutout over the Los Angeles Kings at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. For Vasilevskiy this was his third shutout for the season and his 37th career shutout. The Lightning got two goals from Brandon Hagel and a goal from Anthony Cirelli.

#5 Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal since joining the Carolina Hurricanes in their 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at Lenovo Center on Thursday night. Rantanen who came over to Carolina from the Colorado Avalanche that involved a three trade deal that included the Blackhawks forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury and a 2025 second round NHL draft pick.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Guenther scores twice to give Utah 2-1 win; Caps Lindgren stops 24 shots for 3-1 win over Wild; plus more NHL news

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The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther is congratulated from the Utah bench after scoring a goal in the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis on Fri Dec 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored twice and got a go ahead goal at 10:01 in the third period. Guenther extended his point streak to seven games in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Energy Center in Minneapolis.

#2 The Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots and the Caps got a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the Capital One Center on Friday. The Capitals Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Jakob Vranda all scored a goal and an assist.

#3 The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray stopped 25 shots in his first NHL game back since Apr 2, 2023 getting the win over the Buffalo Sabres at Key Bank Center in Buffalo on Friday 6-3. it was also Murray’s first NHL win since March 23, 2023. Sabres have lost 12 straight games and have 0-9-3 during the losing streak and are 11-18-4 overall.

#4 The Montreal Canadiens Patrik Laine scored the go ahead goal at 7:58 to lead the Habs to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Pizza Arena in Detroit on Friday. Emil Heineman and Jake Evans each scored and got an assist for Montreal. Habs goaltender Cam Talbot save 24 shots.

#5 Aleksander Barkov scored with 17 seconds remaining in overtime that gave the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win over the the St Louis Blues at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Friday. Barkov got a wrist shot from the right circle during a power play right after he was sent to the penalty box for tripping the Blues Brayden Schenn at 4:17.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Pacioretty’s two goals lifts Leafs over Ducks 3-2; Pens bowl over Habs in Montreal 9-2; plus more NHL news

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Toronto Maple Leaf left winger Max Pacioretty gets some congratulations from teammates after scoring a first period goal against the Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thu Dec 12, 2024 (AP News photo)

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Max Pacioretty scored two goals and had three points for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks Thursday in Toronto. The Leafs William Nylander scored and John Taveras had two assists as the Maple Leafs improved their record to 18-9-2.

#2 It wasn’t even a contest as the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled over the Montreal Canadiens 9-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Penguins got a hat trick and one assist out of Bryan Rust. Rust and Richard Rakell each had four points. It was a landslide for the Habs over the Pens.

#3 The New Jersey Devils Jack Hughes scored a goal and got two assists to help pace New Jersey over the the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 at Newark New Jersey. The win gives New Jersey their second win on the five game homestand. The Devils Jordan Spence scored and goaltender David Rittch stopped 23 shots. The Kings had a six game win streak snapped by New Jersey.

#4 Aliaksei Protas of the Washington Capitals scored a game winning overtime goal to help defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus 2-1. The goal by Protas came at 2:23 and it gave the Capitals their tenth straight win on the road for the season.

#5 The Philadelphia Flyers Scott Laughton did all the heavy lifting for the Flyers scoring all four goals in the Flyers 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. It’s the first time a Flyer had scored all four goals in a game since John LeClair did it on Oct 15, 2002.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks hope to keep winning going in Ottawa today at Canadian Tire Arena

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The San Jose Sharks Luke Kunin (11) is stoked after scoring on the Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) as the Sharks Justin Bailey (90) looks on at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Fri Jan 12, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Mary Lisa, the San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn has to be relieved that the 12 game losing streak came to an end on Thursday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

#2 Close game against the Canadiens in a one goal 3-2 win. The Sharks put 35 shots of which three were for goals against Habs goaltender Sam Montembeault.

#3 The Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood had to play some great defense to keep the Canadiens out of the net facing 35 shots and stopped two goals this is how close these two teams played.

#4 Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund, Nikita Okhotiuk also scored for San Jose. The Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said the win took some weight off their shoulders.

#5 The Sharks head to Ottawa and the Canadian Tire Centre to face off against the Senators today. The Sens are last in the NHL Atlantic at 14-23-0 and have lost seven of their last ten. This could be another good opportunity for the Sharks to pick up another win.

Join Mary Lisa for the SJ Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Defeat Canadiens 3-2, Blackwood’s 1st Road Win of Season;12 game skid finally comes to an end

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San Jose Sharks Filip Zadina (18) raises arms to join teammates in celebration after snapping their 12 game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thu Jan 11, 2024 (San Jose Sharks photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Thursday, ending a 12-game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nick Okhotiuk scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for his first road win of the season. Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens. Sam Montembeault made 32 saves in the loss.

Sharks defenseman, Mario Ferraro, said that the team felt good going into the game. The Sharks had a good practice and a team dinner the night before. Ferraro explained how those helped the team:

“What happened on the ice was a reflection of how we were feeling prior to the game. And that was more positive, leaning on each other a little bit more and finding the love in this game a little bit more. Obviously being on that little losing streak that we had, … you kind of forget about the reason why you play. We brought that back, we brought some light back to the locker room.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“As we’ve touched on, we’ve been digging ourselves out of a mental hole. And I thought our start was just okay and then I thought we got better and better as the game went on. You don’t go through what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourselves. You’ve got to earn it and we started earning it shift after shift. And that’s how we have to get out of this and we took a big step today.”

The first period saw the Sharks take a two goal lead. Luke Kunin started the scoring with a goal at 5:19 of the first. Kunin intercepted a pass in front of the net for his sixth of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 2-0 for the Sharks at 17:25. On his way behind the net, Tomas Hertl made a backhand pass right to Zetterlund on the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Hertl and Filip Zadina.

Just 21 seconds later, Brendan Gallagher got one back for the Canadiens. Mike Matheson made a pass into traffic in the slot and found Gallagher who scored with a snap shot. Assists went to Matheson and David Savard.

Montreal out-shot the Sharks 11-7 in the first period but the Sharks had a good first in the faceoff circle, winning 65.4% of the draws.

Nick Okhotiuk made it 3-1 for the Sharks late in the second period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck around behind the net, battling defenders. Continuing to the top of the faceoff circle, he spotted Okhotiuk on his way down from the point. The defenseman was almost at the net when he caught Granlund’s pass for a snap shot. Assists went to Granlund and William Eklund. It was Okhotiuk’s first goal with the Sharks, and he also became the youngest Sharks defenseman to score a goal in Montreal.

The Sharks pulled ahead on the shot clock with 17 shots to Montreal’s 9 in the second period.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender with more than five minutes left in the third. 90 seconds later, the Sharks had not been able to push the puck out of the zone even once. The gambit paid off for Montreal. Mike Matheson scored with a slap shot from the middle of the blue line to make it 3-2. Assists went to Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender again with a minute left and again hemmed the Sharks in the defensive zone. The Sharks did finally clear the puck out with less than a second remaining. The final shot count was 36-35 Canadiens. The Canadiens improved in the faceoff circle as the game went on, so that the Sharks’ advantage slipped to 54.4% by the end. Both teams had perfect penalty kills.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup Thursday. He played just under 21 minutes and had two shots on goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 1:00 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Canadiens overcome deficit defeat CBJ’s 4-2; Rangers two goal third period defeats Wings 3-2; plus more news

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The Montreal Canadiens forward Joel Armia (right) scores on the Columbus Blue Jackets Elvis goaltender Merzlikins (left) and defenseman Erik Gudbranson in third period in Columbus on Wed Nov 29, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 Len, the Montreal Canadiens got the hot hand and scored twice in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-2 win in Columbus. The Habs Joel Armia got the go ahead goal at 17:03 to make it 3-2 for what would be later the game winning goal.

#2 The New York Rangers erased a 2-1 lead against the Detroit Red Wings scoring two goals in the third period to catch the Rangers and get the win 3-2. The Rangers Jimmy Vesey got a rebound and shot a backhanded goal at 4:15 against the Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso for the winner.

#3 The Los Angeles Kings five game win streak came to an end on Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals losing it 2-1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Capitals got goals from Connor McMichael and Anthony Mantha and Caps goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 37 shots.

#4 The Vancouver Canucks dealt Anthony Beauvillier to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. Beauvillier had eight points on the season for the Canucks. Beauvillier was dealt to Chciago for a fifth round draft pick going to Vancouver.

#5 The Minnesota Wild acquired defenseman Zach Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh round draft pick, the Lightning traded Calen Anderson to the San Jose Sharks for Adam Raska and a 2026 fifth round draft pick.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks lose in shootout to Montreal 3-2; Sharks host Canucks tonight

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Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau (30) defends against a shot attempt by San Jose Sharks center Luke Kunin (11) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 William Eklund scored a shootout goal for the San Jose Sharks (3-15-2) against the Montreal Canadiens (9-9-2) at SAP Center on Friday afternoon it wasn’t enough as the Canadiens Nick Suzuki and Jesse Ylonen scored on Sharks goalie MacKenzie Blackwood for the win 3-2.

#2 The Canadiens Cole Caufield attempted to score on Blackwood in the shootout but Blackwood made a save and had 22 saves for the game.

#2 It was Caufield in the third period who tied up the game 2-2 beating Blackwood at 3:25 with a wrist shot to send the game into the shootout.

#3 The Sharks were hoping to get back in the win column after getting crushed by the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday in Seattle 7-1. The Sharks head coach David Quinn said despite the loss the veteran players led by example making it a much closer game this time around against the Habs.

#4 For the Sharks Mike Hoffman scored his fifth goal in five games, Eklund’s goal was a power play goal so the scoring has improved over the last two games. Hoffman’s goal came from an assist from Eklund 5:06 in the second period.

#5 The Sharks host the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night at 7:30pm. The Sharks lost to the Canucks 3-1 last Monday. The Canucks have lost three of their four games their last game coming against the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Wednesday.

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 3-2 in SO to Canadiens; Habs Jlonen scores game winner in sixth round of shootout

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Montreal Canadiens right winger Jesse Ylonen (56) scored the game winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout against San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) at SAP Center in San Jose on Fri Nov 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in a shoot out to the Montreal Canadiens Friday at SAP Center in San Jose. Johnathan Kovacevic and Cole Caulfield scored for Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Jesse Ylönen scored in the shootout and Cayden Primeau made 31 saves for the win. Mike Hoffman and William Eklund scored for San Jose, with a shootout goal from Eklund as well. Tomas Hertl assisted on both regulation goals. Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves in the loss.

It was just two days ago that the Sharks turned in possibly their worst performance this season, in the 7-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken. After Friday’s game, Head Coach David Quinn said the Sharks “certainly looked a lot more like a hockey team tonight than we did against Seattle.”

For the first time this season, the Sharks out-shot their opponent for a final count of 33-24 Sharks. San Jose forward Tomas Hertl described Friday’s game as “A pretty good hockey game. I don’t think we gave them much but the chances we gave them they just cashed in, you know, so it’s tough because we deserved two points tonight.”

Mike Hoffman scored the first of the game at 5:06 of the second period. William Eklund held the puck behind the net after catching a pass from Tomas Hertl. Eklund found Hoffman drifting to the net for the shot.

Eklund made it 2-0 at 12:30 with a power play goal. Right off the offensive zone face-off, Calen Addison passed the puck to Eklund across the ice for a slap shot into the far side of the net. Assists went to Addison and Hertl.

Johnathan Kovacevic cut the lead to 2-1 at 18:02 of the second. His wrist shot from high in the slot went over Blackwood’s outstretched right arm and into the net. Assists went to Jayden Struble and Cole Caufield.

Caufield tied the game 3:26 into the third period. Skating into the zone two-on-one with Christian Dvorak against Nikita Okhotiuk, Caufield opted for the shot and found the top corner. Assists went to Juraj Slafkovsky and goaltender Cayden Primeau.

The Sharks had three shots to the Canadiens’ two shots in the overtime frame. In the shootout, Primeau stopped shots from Fabian Zetterlund, Mike Hoffman, Mikael Granlund. Tomas Hertl and Anthoney Duclair. Blackwood stopped shots from Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Christian Dvorak and Sean Monahan.

With forward Nico Sturm back in the lineup, the Sharks only used seven defensemen. Filip Zadina left the game at the end of the first period, leaving the team with just ten forwards. Regarding Zadina’s injury, Quinn said: “Upper body injury, so not sure where he stands right now.” The injury did not seem to be a result of a specific event in the first period. Quinn said it was “just something that’s been bothering him and it just acted up.”

The Sharks were bested again in the face-off circle, winning just 43.8% of the draws. The penalties were low in the game, with just two penalties called on each team. The Sharks scored the only power play goal.

The Sharks next play Saturday night at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the Vancouver Canucks.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bettman says $1 mil cap increase considered due to league profits; Habs Dvorak out for rest of season; plus much more

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NHL top prospect Connor Bedard is top candidate for number one draft pick as the San Jose Sharks and the Columbus Blue Jackets could be the winner of the Bedard draft sweepstakes by season’s end. (photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says that the salary cap could increase by one million it may not sound like much but it could make a huge difference for club trying to make a trade, draft a player or just make it budget for that free agent. Bettman says revenues have exceeded expectations and an uptick just might be in the works.

#2 Gary Bettman said he’s not ready to reveal who will be the next owner of the Ottawa Senators. Bettman said there are multiple buyers vying for ownership of the Senators but Bettman did say there are bidders of magnitude of interest. Bettman said the sale is not tied to any future downtown arena as the Senators have played in the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata Ottawa since 1996.

#3 Montreal Canadiens Christian Dvorak will miss the rest of the 2022-23 season. Dvorak had knee surgery Wednesday. When it rains it pours Dvorak has not played since Mar 7th when the Canadiens lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 suffered a lower body injury.

#4 While you don’t see too much NHL coverage on ESPN during daily programming and a lot of the talk shows and sports reports don’t discuss game recaps but one thing ESPN, ABC and TNT are acknowledging that viewership of NHL hockey is is averaging 1.1 million a 19 percent bump up. The networks are in their second year of their seven year deal with the NHL. That’s pretty good considering the league gets very little mention on ESPN’s daily schedule programming.

#5 Len, the race to the bottom might prove to be fruitful for either the San Jose Sharks 51 points and the Columbus Blue Jackets 49 points in their bid for NHL number one draft pick Conner Bedard. The Sharks just lost in overtime in San Jose to the visiting Blue Jackets on Tuesday night 6-5.

Join Len for the NHL podcasts Thursday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com


NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Flyers DeAngelo suspended two games for spearing; Oilers Kane back tonight in Boston; plus more news

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Edmonton Oilers Evander Kane returned to the Oilers line up tonight against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in Boston. Kane is made his first appearance after missing nine games. (file photo from nhl.com

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo was hit with a two game suspension for spearing Tampa Bay Lightning Corey Perry in Tampa Bay on Tue Mar 7. The penalty was assessed at 17:20 of the third period a major penalty and a misconduct for spearing.

#2 Edmonton Oilers star Evander Kane has finally returned to the line up after missing nine games he played in tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Kane had got his wrist cut by a skate on Feb 17th returned on line changes with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.

#3 Len, the Carolina Hurricanes recalled goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov AHL affiliate Chicago on Wednesday. Kochetkov will replace Antti Raanta who suffered a groin injury on Tuesday in a Hurricanes 4-3 overtime shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said that Raanta tweeted his groin and hoped that it’s not too serious.

#4 The Oilers and Bruins game was nationally televised in order to highlight Oilers superstar Connor McDavid and the Boston Bruins David Pastrnak. The Oilers and Bruins are favorites to represent in the NHL Finals for the post season.

#5 San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn has been fined $25,000 for demeaning officials on Sat Mar 4th at SAP Center in San Jose in a game against the Washington Capitals. Quinn blew his top after on ice official Gord Dwyer had called Kevin LaBanc for hooking in the third period. Quinn was seen using colorful language and got the boot for a game misconduct abuse on an official.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts Thursday nights on http://www.sportsradioservice.com