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Canadiens’ Demidov Steals The Show Despite Loss

If the Bell Centre was pretty tame for the first game of the Prospect Showdown with a low attendance for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators game, it was absolutely electric for the evening game featuring the Montreal Canadiens and the Winnipeg Jets. Straight from the moment the starting lineup was announced, it felt like a regular-season night in the Mecca of hockey.

While the Canadiens had a talented roster on the ice, the players still came out ready for a physical game, throwing hits whenever they had the opportunity. Even Ivan Demidov joined in; he leaned into a hit he saw coming and stayed up after impact. The hit of the night, however, belonged to Owen Protz, who ran Kieron Walton over like a train would have.

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Much like in Brossard, Demidov’s talent was once again apparent; his stickhandling is second to none, and he was the source of the first goal of the game when he brought the puck to the net, and Florian Xhekaj reaped the reward of his hard work. Oliver Kapanen also had an assist on the play.

Like any player of that caliber, though, Demidov must be careful not to try to do too much. On the Canadiens’ first power play, he tried to be too cute, attempting to fool two Jets and losing possession; that wasn’t a regular occurrence, however.

The first power play unit featuring the top line of Xhekaj, Kapanen, and Demidov, joined by Owen Beck and David Reinbacher, had fantastic puck movement, moving the Winnipeg penalty killers from side to side, and twice they nearly realized a perfect play. Still, it ended up being a tic-tac-stop with Domenic Divincentiis denying them. After 20 minutes, it was 1-0 Montreal, and shots were 14-7 for Pascal Vincent’s men.

The Jets’ goaltender was powerless when Montreal got back on the power play in the second frame, and Kapanen completed the tic-tac-toe started by Demidov and Reinbacher with a powerful one-timer. The Austrian played a solid game and didn’t pass on a single opportunity to join the attack.

While the Canadiens’ defensemen struggled to get out of their zone at times, it wasn’t when the Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom pairing was on the ice. The former fifth-overall pick had a great game offensively, although at times defensively, he did look a bit rusty, but that’s to be expected from someone who missed so many games last season.

After Vincent sent Mikus Vecvanags in goal in relief of Jacob Fowler, who had not given up a single goal, the Jets quickly struck twice through Danny Zhilkin on the power play and then Chase Yoder on a breakaway to tie up the score at 2-2 even though the Canadiens had a 22-12 edge in shots at the time.

The second frame ended in a 2-2 tie, and Tyler Thorpe tried to start something up with a rival after the whistle, but he only managed to buy himself a front row seat to the first two minutes of the third frame.

Winnipeg seemed to have more energy in the third frame and battled hard to take a 3-2 lead with less than four minutes left in the game, but Demidov was not about to let his team lose in that manner. In his next shift, he got a nice feed from Oliver Kapanen and took off on a breakaway. Even with the kind of night Divincentiis was having, he was powerless against the Russian’s silky hands, and the Bell Centre erupted in a deafening cheer when he tied it up at 3-3.

The Jets weren’t done, though, and Zhilkin found a way to score his second of the game to steal the win despite the Canadiens dominating 41-25 in shots. In the end, the result matters very little at this stage, but what does matter is just how dominant Demidov was. After the game, Vincent raved about him:

The goal he scored, as well as his overall offensive contributions on the ice…I've seen it in practice for two days, but to see what he can do on the ice at such high speed is truly impressive. But I spoke about it earlier, it’s his passion, his desire to be the difference maker. […] Every time you send him on the ice, you have the feeling something’s going to happen, and it does. We had a lot of scoring chances tonight, and he’s part of that in the vast majority. What he can do on the ice isn’t luck; it’s a guy who has worked on his game. He’s still very young, and he’ll get even better, but you get an idea of the kind of difference maker you can have on each of his shifts. For a coach, it’s fun to have.
- Vincent on Demidov

The Bell Centre crowd also shone brightly tonight, on September 13, for a meaningless game in a prospect tournament, the building was absolutely rocking. In the last period, the wave went around the arena many times, and it got so loud that it actually reminded me of the atmosphere from last year’s playoffs race, which is quite something given the circumstances. Asked to comment on that, Vincent explained:

It's amazing, it’s hard to describe…I’m 53 years old, I’m an older man, and I feel the energy from those people, and I can only imagine, and I’ve been in the NHL for years, in the playoffs. I feel, and for some guys, unfortunately, it’s the only time they’re going to wear an NHL jersey, just to experience that is a story you’re going to tell your kids and grandkids. At the same time, for us, I feel like we can evaluate players on how they react when they are on the big stage. So there are a lot of components to it.
- Vincent on the Bell Centre atmosphere

The Canadiens’ prospects will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they’ll take on the Maple Leafs at 3:00 PM and if the game is as spectacular as tonight’s the fans will be going home happy.

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Flyers trade Fedotov to Blue Jackets for draft pick

Flyers trade Fedotov to Blue Jackets for draft pick originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

With a crowded goalie picture, the Flyers traded Ivan Fedotov to the Blue Jackets on Sunday for a 2026 sixth-round draft pick.

The Flyers have Samuel Ersson and Dan Vladar as their goaltending tandem, with 2021 third-rounder Aleksei Kolosov and 2023 second-rounder Carson Bjarnason projected to compete at AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

Fedotov, who turns 29 years old in November, was in the final year of a two-year, $6.5 million contract, so the Flyers cleared around $3.25 million in cap space.

The 6-foot-7 Russian struggled last season in his first full NHL campaign. He battled some early bumps and also went about a month without playing when he was relegated to No. 3 on the depth chart.

He finished the season 6-13-4 with a 3.15 goals-against average and an .880 save percentage. Ersson, Fedotov and Kolosov combined for an .872 save percentage, the worst mark in the NHL, which prompted general manager Danny Briere to add Vladar this offseason on a two-year deal.

“He has a chance to become our No. 1, depending on how he plays, how our other guys play,” Briere said in July. “And one thing at the end of the year, when I met with our group of goalies, I told them, ‘You have to be ready at training camp.’ I said, ‘This wasn’t good enough last season, we’re probably going to go out and bring in some reinforcements, and you’re going to be in a battle, all of you guys.’ So it was really clear right from the get-go.”

Fedotov had to take a long and remarkable journey to the Flyers after being selected in the seventh round of the 2015 draft. He arrived suddenly in March 2024 and ended up playing parts of two seasons for the club.

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Broncos edge past Raiders with golden point field goal in thrilling NRL qualifying final

  • Brisbane defeat Canberra 29-28 to secure home preliminary

  • Reece Walsh goes from sin bin to leading unlikely comeback

Brisbane are within one win of the NRL grand final, after Ben Hunt slotted a 93rd-minute field goal to kick the Broncos to an epic 29-28 qualifying final victory over Canberra.

On a day of utter madness at GIO Stadium, Reece Walsh was sin-binned for a head-butt before engineering one of the most unlikely finals comebacks in memory.

Continue reading...
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McInnes has 'empathy' for 'fine man, fine manager' Martin

Derek McInnes described under-pressure Rangers counterpart Russell Martin as "a fine man, a fine manager" as his Hearts side ended an 11-year wait for a win at Ibrox amid chants from the stands for the home head coach to be sacked.

Martin insisted afterwards that he had no intention of quitting despite becoming the first Rangers team boss since 1978 to fail to win any of his first five league matches in charge.

Asked by BBC Scotland whether he had any sympathy for the former Rangers defender, McInnes said: "More than a bit, a huge lot. I didn't like that today. It's so unfair on a manager, I don't like it at all.

"He is a fine man, he's a fine manager and, when results don't always come at clubs, especially clubs this size, it's more than just the manager for me. That is tough on him.

"It's early on in the season. He's a new manager and, likewise with myself, I am just in at Hearts and, if we were still sitting towards the bottom end of the table and integrating loads of players and trying to kind of implement what we want to do, you'd be asking for that understanding. And, as managers, that's all we ask for."

While Rangers sit third bottom of the Scottish Premiership after the 2-0 defeat, Hearts are three points clear at the top before reigning champions Celtic face Kilmarnock on Sunday after taking 13 points from a possible 15.

"I enjoyed my team, but it was hard to ignore that and it was hard not to have empathy of course," former Rangers midfielder McInnes, who has been previously linked with a return to Ibrox as manager, added after a chorus of boos greeted Martin's exit up the Ibrox tunnel.

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Brewers become first MLB team to clinch playoff spot this season

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers have grown accustomed to outperforming forecasts every year, but this season might represent their most remarkable accomplishment yet.

During a season in which they have built the best record in the majors, the Brewers reached their latest milestone by becoming the first team to clinch a playoff berth.

According to MLB, the New York Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Saturday sealed at least a National League wild card for Milwaukee. The Brewers responded by displaying the tenacity that helped get them to this point, as they rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-8 in 10 innings Saturday night.

This marks the seventh time in the last eight seasons that the Brewers have qualified for the playoffs, though they haven’t won a postseason series since reaching Game 7 of the NL Championship Series in 2018. They had made a total of two postseason appearances from 1983-2017.

“It’s kind of the culture that we’ve developed here,” slugger Christian Yelich said Friday after the Brewers' 8-2 victory over the Cardinals. “It’s taken a lot of people to do that, a lot of consistency kind of at the top, guys that care about winning and winning players that have come up. A lot of young guys have done a really good job over the years. There’s been pieces that have come in and come out, but each year we kind of find our identity as a team and find ways to win.”

Milwaukee now will chase its third straight NL Central title as well as the top overall playoff seed.

The Brewers lead the division by 6 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs, who lost 5-4 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. The Cubs own the tiebreaker.

Milwaukee has a two-game lead over NL East-leading Philadelphia in the race for baseball's best record, and the Brewers hold that tiebreaker.

This was supposed to be the season in which the Brewers took a step back.

They traded two-time NL reliever of the year Devin Williams to the New York Yankees and lost one of their top position players when shortstop Willy Adames signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Giants. They were 25-28 and 6 1/2 games behind the Cubs on May 24, but they’ve gone 65-30 since.

The Brewers entered Saturday ranked second in the majors in runs and ERA. That combination has Milwaukee poised to challenge for the best record in franchise history. The Brewers already set a club mark with a 14-game win streak this summer.

Milwaukee’s top regular-season finish was 96-66 in 2011. The Brewers have made only one World Series apeparance, back when they were in the American League and lost to St. Louis in seven games in 1982.

A couple of early-season trades paid huge dividends.

Quinn Priester was pitching for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate at the start of the season when the Brewers acquired him. Priester, who had a 6-9 career major league record before the trade, has gone 13-2 with a 3.25 ERA for Milwaukee.

Priester won his 12th straight decision Friday, and the Brewers have won each of the last 18 games in which he’s appeared. According to Sportradar, the last pitcher to win at least 12 consecutive decisions within a single season was Gerrit Cole, who won 16 straight with the Houston Astros in 2019.

In mid-June, the Brewers traded pitcher Aaron Civale to the White Sox for first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who had been sent to the minors after hitting .189 in 48 games with Chicago. Vaughn entered Saturday with an .860 OPS in 54 games with Milwaukee.

Plenty of others also have contributed.

Brice Turang was the NL player of the month in August. Isaac Collins entered Saturday with a .372 on-base percentage as a 28-year-old rookie. William Contreras has surged since the All-Star Game and remains one of the game’s top-hitting catchers. Rookie Caleb Durbin, one of the players acquired in the Williams trade, has solidified Milwaukee’s third-base situation.

Freddy Peralta had a string of 30 straight scoreless innings. Yelich is on pace for a 30-homer, 100-RBI season. Brandon Woodruff made a successful return from the shoulder injury that sidelined the two-time All-Star pitcher for the entire 2024 season. Jacob Misiorowski, one of the game’s hardest throwers, made enough of an impression to earn an All-Star Game appearance after getting called up in mid-June. All-Star closer Trevor Megill and setup man Abner Uribe form one of the majors’ best bullpen duos.

They’ve all come together by living up to manager Pat Murphy’s season-long message: Win tonight. The idea is that it makes no sense to worry about what happened in the past or to look too far ahead. Just worry about taking care of business right now.

The plan has worked better than just about anyone outside of Milwaukee’s locker room could have expected.

“We’re not built like some of these championship teams are built,” Murphy said. “I can mention budgets if you want to. That oftentimes indicates superstar players. We’re not built like the Phillies. We’re not built like the Mets. We’re not built like even the Cubs. We’re not built like that. We’re built with a bunch of guys who want to go out and play with that ‘win tonight’ attitude.”

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Astros receive injury scare as 9-time All-Star Jose Altuve leaves game with right foot discomfort

ATLANTA — The Houston Astros received an injury scare in Saturday night's 6-2 win over the Atlanta Braves when nine-time All-Star Jose Altuve was pulled after complaining of right foot discomfort.

Altuve singled to right field in the third inning and then was forced out at second on a grounder hit by Jesús Sánchez.

“He came in and he said ‘My foot is bothering me,’” said Astros manager Joe Espada. “So I took him out, just being cautious.”

Altuve remained in the dugout during the game but was being checked by a team doctor after the game and was not available for comment.

“We want to keep an eye on it and see how it is tomorrow,” Espada said.

Altuve is a key for the Astros, who began Saturday night's schedule tied with Seattle for first place in the AL West.

Altuve is hitting .264 and leads Houston with 25 homers. Altuve, 35, has been durable, ranking first with 144 games played and 552 at-bats. He has driven in 70 runs to rank second on the team.

Altuve, in his 15th season with Houston, has 2,378 career hits, ranking behind only Hall of Famer Craig Biggio's 3,060 on the franchise records. Earlier this season, Altuve passed another Hall of Famer, Jeff Bagwell, for second place on the team's career hit list.