Browsing: HardFought

VANCOUVER — At the end of seven games in six cities over 11 days, with seven players injured and as much downtime as, well, 7-Eleven, the last thing the Vancouver Canucks needed on Sunday night was some overtime. Against Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

But after losing a two-goal lead for the second time in 27 hours, the Canucks survived the Edmonton Oilers†superstars — probably the best two players on this planet — on the first three-on-three shift and then played keep-away with the puck on the next one until Brock Boeserâ€s purposeful shot was tipped in by Kiefer Sherwood at 1:42 of OT for a 4-3 win Vancouver desperately needed.

On Monday, the Canucks will rest.

Before playing the New York Rangers on Tuesday when J.T. Miller visits Vancouver for the first time since his blockbuster trade across the continent last January.

After all they endured the last 11 days, including the loss of captain Quinn Hughes on Saturday, the Canucks emerged Sunday night from their first National Hockey League torture test with four wins from the seven games and 5-5-0 record for the season.

Itâ€s not what they were hoping for, but better than it might have been under the circumstances.

“Weâ€re battling our asses off in here,†goalie Thatcher Demko said after getting mobbed on the ice by teammates. “I’m really proud of the group today. It’s a hard game against a really good team, and coming off losing three in a row. And to give that effort, you know, it’s really inspiring.

“Obviously we know the injury situation we’re in right now. But I think it’s not something you can dwell on. You start feeling bad for yourself, it’s easy to let even more games slip away.â€

The Canucks fought back to .500 after Hughes, their best player, was added to the injured list following Saturdayâ€s 4-3 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit and won a game Vancouver dominated at even-strength.

Naturally, Hughes†replacement on defence, minor-league callup Victor Mancini, left Sundayâ€s game late in the second period. Coach Adam Foote told reporters after the game that Mancini was being evaluated.

Foote announced Hughes†lower-body injury about three hours before faceoff, calling it “day-to-day,†although the 2024 Norris Trophy winner is not expected to play Tuesday.

Acquired Friday from the Chicago Blackhawks in the wake of injuries last Sunday to centres Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger, Lukas Reichel played his second game of the weekend for Vancouver and looked dangerous, registering two shots amid several scoring chances and going 8-5 on faceoffs.

Boeser, who missed two games last week after he was granted a leave for personal reasons, finished with a goal and two assists on Sunday. Other top Canucks, like Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson and defencemen Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek, also elevated their games.

“You just trust the process and, you know, stick to the blue-collar mentality that we’re trying to build,†Sherwood told reporters. “I mean, the games are coming fast here so weâ€ve just got to dig in. Every day is a new day. It would be nice, you know, if we can just keep rolling and get on a nice streak, but it starts with one. Weâ€ve got a big game against New York coming up, so weâ€ve got to buckle in and stay ready.â€

“We had some tough injuries, especially at a premium position (centre), but we fought hard,†Garland said. “You know, most of the season is going to be like this. I know it’s a tough stretch with a lot of travel but, you know, we’re not blessed with a lot of teams surrounding us (geographically). So we’ll travel a lot, and we’ll have stretches like this throughout the year — kind of crazy until February (and the Olympic break). So weâ€ve just got to be taking care of our bodies, be pros, be smart and work at your craft when you can.â€

On the winning shift in OT, the Canucks controlled the puck for nearly a minute after Jake DeBrusk won a battle for it in the defensive zone while Draisaitl and McDavid were buzzing. Without Hughes and Mancini — and after Hronek played the opening shift — Foote deployed three forwards for the winning goal: Sherwood, Boeser and Garland.

“I thought it was a great overtime shift,†Garland said. “Great play by Jake on the wall to get the puck to Petey. Having those guys (McDavid and Draisaitl) out there in the O-zone for an extended period doesn’t really bode well, so it was good to get them off, and then we could attack their second group.â€

Like most teams 10 games into the condensed Olympic season, the Canucks could use some practices. But those roll around about as frequently as full moons these days.

As Demko said, the Canucks†effort on the weekend was outstanding. The team is pulling together its five-on-five game. The special teams still need work, but at least the Canucks tied the Oilers on power-play goals, Petterssonâ€s blistering one-timer that made it 2-0 offsetting Draisaitlâ€s tying goal on the power play with 5:03 remaining in the third period.

“I think the work that we put in in the pre-season is probably going to start becoming second nature for us,†Demko said. “At the end of the day, it was a new coach (and) we have a lot of younger guys. I wouldn’t expect us to be firing on all cylinders the first 10 games of the year.

“But I think we’ve shown some glimpses of it at times, and we’ve played some good games, too. Weâ€ve put together a good 60 minutes a few times now. So I think it’s just going to get smoother as you build those habits, and get that repetition over time.â€

Source link

With two wins each and the AEW TNT Championship on the line, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Briscoe locked horns for a fifth time at AEW WrestleDream 2025. Despite being hit with everything Briscoe could throw at him, it was “The Protostar” who left St. Louis, Missouri with gold around his waist.

With both men knowing each other so well, the match started very evenly, trading holds and jockeying for position. Despite creating distance to stop Briscoe from gaining control, Briscoe took advantage of Fletcher’s showboating and eventually took control of the match on the outside. Referee Paul Turner caught a chair that Briscoe threw into the ring, which he would attempt to use as a springboard, but Fletcher moved it out of the way. However, Briscoe put Fletcher on the chair and hit a Tope to the outside, firmly putting himself in the driver’s seat.

That control didn’t last long as Fletcher ducked as Briscoe went for a flipping Senton off the apron, and the champion hit a nasty powerbomb onto the side of the ring steps in the hopes of Briscoe losing via count out. Briscoe returned to the ring, but Fletcher wore him down for several minutes, and even though Briscoe tried to fight back, Fletcher hit a Michinoku Driver and a Suplex for a pair of near falls. Briscoe got back into the match after a strike exchange, but couldn’t take control as both men hit each other with a Lariat at the same time for a double-down.

Once they got up, another strike exchange ensued with Briscoe coming out on top, who landed a Fisherman’s Buster for a two count. Briscoe looked to end it with a Jay Driller but Fletcher countered with a Half-and-Half Suplex, a big boot, and a Powerbomb for another two count. Fletcher landed another pair of big boots, but after going for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster, Briscoe looked to escape. However, he couldn’t escape a Superplex for another double-down. Both men ended up on the apron for another strike exchange, but Briscoe came out on top as hit the Jay Driller on the apron.

Briscoe once again went for the finish after rolling Fletcher back into the ring, but missed the Froggy Bow, which allowed Fletcher to hit another big boot. Fletcher took Briscoe back up to the turnbuckle, but Briscoe hit the Froggy Bow on the top rope and again to the outside. Briscoe hit a third Froggy Bow in the ring, but couldn’t get the win, which led to a series of roll ups and Briscoe finally hit the Jay Driller. However, Fletcher broke the count by getting one finger on the bottom rope.

Briscoe went to hit the Cutthroat Driver, but Fletcher grabbed the referee for a distraction and hit a Low Blow and a Brainbuster which didn’t get the job done. However, a big boot and a turnbuckle Brainbuster did get the job done, and Fletcher retained his title.

Source link

Oct 14, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Nashville Predators forward Michael McCarron (47) celebrates with forward Cole Smith (36) after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

After a 4-1 victory in Ottawa against the Senators Monday afternoon, the Nashville Predators faced their first test of finishing a back-to-back on the road.

Tuesday night, the Preds traveled to Toronto for the second of a four-game swing through Canada. They fought hard, but came up short in a 7-4 loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Tavares, Bobby McMann, Auston Matthews (2) and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs.

Michael McCarron, Erik Haula, Roman Josi and Nick Perbix tallied the Preds’ goals. Josi scored his first goal in nine months after coming back from an upper-body injury and a POTS diagnosis.

HAULLLLAAAAAAAA pic.twitter.com/HEhtxpURC7

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) October 15, 2025

The Maple Leafs were coming off two consecutive losses to the Detroit Red Wings, and took out their frustrations on the Predators. They built a 2-0 lead before the Preds roared back early in the second with two goals in 44 seconds to tie the score.

The Leafs answered with three goals of their own and staved off a spirited comeback by the Predators, who suffered their first loss in regulation and fall to 2-1-1 for the season.

“A little bit slow early, but we got to our game in the second period,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said during his media availability after the game. “I thought we played fast, thought we got in there, and we had some opportunities.”

Brunette scratched Brady Martin for the second game in a row. He told reporters earlier in the day this was part of Martin’s development plan.

With Martin sitting, Tyson Jost skated on a line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly. Ozzy Wiesblatt made his season debut and collected two assists on the night.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

The Preds Showed A Lot Of Heart

Toronto was desperate to play well in front of the home crowd, and showed it in the opening period.

The Preds couldn’t register a shot through the first six minutes, but finally began narrowing the gap and ended the frame with eight shots to Toronto’s nine. Problem was, two of the Leafs’ shots went into the net, and built a 2-0 lead.

The second period saw the Preds outshoot the Leafs 14-6, with McCarron and Haula bringing them even 2-2 with goals just 44 seconds apart.

Once again, Toronto refused to give in, and the Preds found themselves sinking in quicksand despite showing grit throughout the game.

“Probably gave up a little bit more than we wanted to…a couple weird bounces for them, but in saying that, we maybe shot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” McCarron said. “We gave up too many chances against. At the same time, we scored four goals, good PK. You’re going to run into some good teams here.”

The two teams traded a total of four goals in the final four minutes of the game. The Preds tallied eight goals in their first two road games, twice the number they scored in the first two home games combined. They left Toronto without a win, but didn’t allow the Leafs to run away from them.

Big Juice Was Outdueled

It was a battle of the backup goalies, with Justus Annunen getting his first start of the young season. Cayden Primeau was in net for the Leafs.

It was Primeau who came out on top, stopping 22 of 26 shots. Annunen saved 18 of 23 Leafs shots.

While Annunen kept the game from getting completely out of hand, he was out of position on McMann’s goal after Brady Skjei made a great defensive play on the initial shot. That gave the Leafs their two-goal lead back after the Predators had worked hard to get back in the game.

“There were times when I thought we carried the play and we looked great,” Perbix said. “We were pressing on them, leaning on them, and then we just kind of gave something up. There’s a team over there (that will) capitalize on almost every opportunity you give them. So we’ve got to tighten that up.”

Juuse Saros has been virtually unstoppable through his first three games, posting a 2-0-1 with a 1.64 goals-against average and .947 save percentage. No one is expecting Annunen to be Saros’s equal, and the No. 1 guy has to be rested once in a while.

One game is too small a sample size to judge, but Big Juice will need to have some big games to keep hopes of a turnaround season alive for the Preds.

The Power Play Has Lost Power

Stop us if you’ve read this before: the Preds’ power play was stalled again.

The unit seems to be more inclined to pass rather than take a shoot-first approach. They’re failing to get penetration and find consistent chances to score.

Nashville came into the game a paltry 1-for-15 with the man advantage, an Tuesday did nothing to raise that percentage. They didn’t have as many opportunities as they did against the Sens the day before, but failed in both their tries against the Leafs.

“You just got to flush it, got to move on from this one,” Perbix said. “Obviously, we’ll do some video, learn from this, from the mistakes we made, and build off the stuff that we did good, because I do believe there was plenty of good that we did out there.”

The penalty-kill unit didn’t have to work as hard, either, compared to the penalty fest in Ottawa. They successfully killed off both penalties and are now 11-of-12 through four games.

Their only blemish on the young season came Monday against Ottawa, when they gave up an empty-net goal on a 6-on-4. Otherwise, they are perfect in 5-on-4.

Source link

Wwe/Getty Images Three months ago, Logan Paul and John Cena…