
Canadiens scored twice in 2nd to push past Predators
April 7 - The Montreal Canadiens strengthened their hold on the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot with a 2-1 road victory over the slumping Nashville Predators on Sunday.
Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine scored second-period goals to pace the Canadiens (38-30-9, 85 points) to their fifth consecutive victory.
Goaltender Jakub Dobes made 36 saves, including a couple in the final minute to preserve the win.
The Canadiens are six points ahead of both the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings in the chase for the final playoff position. Montreal has five games remaining in the regular season and the pursuers have six contests on the docket.
Steven Stamkos opened the game's scoring for the Predators (27-42-8, 62 points), who have lost six consecutive games -- all in regulation time.
Goalie Juuse Saros stopped 15 shots behind Nashville's league-worst offense.
After a disappointing first period in which they were outplayed, with Stamkos' score giving Nashville a 1-0 lead, Montreal took control in the middle frame.
Caufield tied the clash 100 seconds into the second period after receiving a pass from Nick Suzuki at the blue line, working his way deep toward the left circle and wiring a low shot for his 36th goal of the campaign and a career-high 66th point.
Suzuki's assist extended his point-scoring streak to five games, in which he has netted five goals and dished out five assists.
Laine put the Canadiens ahead 2-1 at 5:47 with his 20th goal of the season, a top-corner shot over the glove hand to finish a rush up the ice.
With an assist on the goal, Lane Hutson tied Chris Chelios for the franchise record for most points by a rookie defenseman with 64.
The Predators, who pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with more than two minutes remaining in regulation, had a late push but never found a tying tally, wasting another game they led.
Stamkos gave the Predators an early boost when he opened the scoring at 4:19. Filip Forsberg created a turnover deep in Montreal territory, and Stamkos recovered the puck before slipping home his 25th goal of the season.

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BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Norris on 'doing it my way' and finding it hard to say he is 'the best'
"I want to do it my way," Lando Norris says. It's a comment that encapsulates where he is, just over a third of the way through a Formula 1 season that could end with him as world McLaren driver is talking at the team's factory, before this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, and he's contemplating a number of the in-house title battle with team-mate Oscar Piastri; the way to approach racing with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, still in the championship picture himself, despite his apparent moment of madness at the last race in Spain; and Norris' own struggles to make the most of a McLaren car that is the class of the field but with which the 25-year-old Briton has admitted to struggling a little this right now, he's exploring his and his team's approach to having two extremely closely matched drivers in the fastest car in the field, allowing them to race each other and trying to stop their egos tearing the team apart, as has tended to happen in F1 in the are asking Norris and Piastri to put the team first while chasing the individual dream they have both held since they were little boys. And so far it has worked."I think it's because I'm a great team-mate," Norris says. He's smiling, as he so often does. He's a smiley guy. But he means it."That's not saying anything in the wrong way," he adds. "Even though your team-mate's always your biggest competitor, and the guy you want to beat and need to beat more than anyone, I've always wanted to have a good time, and have laughs and make jokes, and enjoy my life."That's what I'm here to do at the end of the day, enjoy my life. And we want to do that together."We are different people, different characters, but both guys who know deep down we want to beat each other. But we also want to enjoy our journey." Usually in F1, expecting team-mates to remain on friendly, or even cordial, terms while competing for the biggest prize in their sport never drivers by their nature are selfish. Sooner or later, the pursuit of the individual goal takes over, and the relationship ends up going sour. Usually as a result of some on-track incident; sometimes just through the intensity of the Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, Hamilton and Nico are tying to pull off something more or less unique in modern F1 history. They say they expect their drivers to come together at some point, but they also believe they can manage that, thanks to their transparent approach with them from the sounds like an impossible dream. But there's something about the personalities of Norris and Piastri that makes you think that maybe, just maybe, it might are so different in some ways. Norris wears his heart on his sleeve; Piastri is as cool and reserved as they come. Yet, as a pair, they seem to get why this is important."I'm employed by the team, and I have to drive and race for them," Norris says. "As a number one, it is a constructor. That's what we have to win in the end of the season. But then there's the individual championship."Everyone's seen plenty of championships as team-mates turn sour and go in the wrong direction. And that normally leads to many things, like a domino effect of things starting to fail. And that's what we don't want."We know we still want to race. We're free to race against each other as individuals, but we also know our sole purpose is to race for McLaren, the team, the name we race under. And that's something we're both very proud of doing."McLaren believe that operating this way, rather than having one driver who is both usually faster than the other and also has priority in the team, raises their collective level says there are "pros and cons" to having the guy in the same car as you being your main rival."The thing that makes it good is also the the thing that makes it bad," he says. "Which is that you can see everything the other one is doing. You can learn from each other very easily."But the positive is, as a team, that brings us to performing at a very, very high level, and that's only a benefit for the team." Not the 'perfect or dream start' but Norris 'still happy' Last year, Norris was the leading McLaren driver. Once the team were competitive, a few races into the season, it was him who took the title fight to Verstappen, was quicker much more often than not in qualifying, and won twice as many races as year, the Australian has turned the tables. Six wins to Norris' two; four poles to two; 7-4 ahead across all qualifying sessions; 10 points ahead in the says it has "maybe not been the perfect or dream start", but he says he's "still happy" with his performances so far. "It's been the start that is needed in order to fight for a championship," he upturn in form is one of the stories of the season. But ask Norris whether it has surprised him, and he says: "I wouldn't say so. If I was on the outside, 100% I would agree. I'm not surprised, because I know the kind of driver he is. I know what he's capable of doing. I know the talent he has. And I guess I see it more than anyone else."I'm the guy looking at what he does with his feet and with his hands, and how he drives the car. And I'm able to give probably a more accurate answer than anyone else on the outside."Norris and McLaren have been open about how a certain characteristic of their car has affected him. Team principal Andrea Stella explains this by saying: "The feeling coming from the front axle is relatively numb."Norris explains why this is a particular problem for him. "I can only say how I drive, and what I rely on, and it's very much feeling through the steering wheel. That's my primary source of feelings of how I can drive a car quickly."When I'm competing against the best in the world, you need everything to be giving you those cues, the best feelings, in order to be most accurate. If you're missing that little thing, then it's tough to be the best."I've had to work on exploring other ways to get the lap time out of myself, whether that's more my feeling through my body or feet, to trying to work with the team on ways to kinda bring that feeling back through the steering wheel. That's all part of the job." The challenge of racing Verstappen Norris is talking a matter of days after he likened Verstappen's controversial collision with Mercedes' George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix to something out of the Mario Kart comment was made in the green room before the podium while chatting to Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. He did not want to expand on it to the media, and he still does not now, joking: "I don't remember saying it."But he will talk about the challenge of racing Verstappen. The two are friends off track, but Spain was not the first time Norris had expressed public criticism of the way Verstappen goes is asked how the on-track stuff does not blur into their off-track relationship."I don't think he's done anything untoward towards me," Norris says. "He's raced against me very, very toughly, as he has the right to do. He's made my life very, very tough at times. And he has the right to do that."I've said it many times, I have a lot of respect for Max. The driver he is, the person he is, what he stands for all of the time. And what he's achieved, his four world championships. That's four more than me, and he's had a lot more race wins than me."I admire those stats, those performances. But at the same time, everyone does what they believe is best. Everyone does what they believe is right. And they race for themselves."Some may be more aggressive than others. But everyone has flaws. I have them. Maybe he has them."I race in the aggressive way I believe is correct, and he does the same. The stewards are the ones who decide what is right and wrong."I ask how he races with someone whose philosophy of racing, as Verstappen expressed in a BBC Sport interview in November, is: "When I race with someone, he will not be able to overtake me around the outside."Norris says: "When you're racing for wins, championships, against the best in the world, you can never expect things to be easy. You learn in go-karting that you can't at all easily overtake around the outside. That is like a rule number one."But it can be done, and it will be done. But the number one goal for us is always to finish. Sometimes, when you try too hard, things can go wrong. You might end up not finishing the race, even though you might be in the right. So sometimes you've got to take the safer approach."Over his time in F1, Norris has been open about his struggles with self-belief. Verstappen transparently believes he's the best. Does Norris believe that of himself?"It's a tricky question," he says. "I do believe I'm the best driver. Maybe not on every given day, and every single day."I do believe that I can drive quicker and perform better than everyone else on the grid. But to perform at that level consistently is a very, very difficult thing, no matter what the conditions are, what car you're in, who you're against."That can be a more defining question. Maybe sometimes I find it hard to admit and just say. But I wouldn't be racing in Formula 1, I wouldn't be fighting for a world championship, if I didn't believe deep down that I could be the best in the world."


Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
Report: Rockets, Wolves rebuff Knicks' request to poach coaches
June 11 - The New York Knicks' coaching search is reportedly off to a sputtering start. The Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves refused the Knicks' request to speak with head coaches Ime Udoka and Chris Finch, respectively, ESPN reported Tuesday night. The news comes a week after former Villanova coach Jay Wright reportedly stated that he would not be a candidate to take over for the fired Tom Thibodeau. According to multiple media reports, the Knicks also are eyeing Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. However, The Athletic reported Tuesday that the Mavericks expect Kidd, 52, to remain with them. According to ESPN and The Athletic, the Knicks have not yet asked the Mavericks if they can talk to Kidd, whose contract runs two more seasons. Thibodeau was ousted days after the Knicks made the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000, with their playoff run including a six-game second-round victory over the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics. In five seasons with New York, Thibodeau, 67, compiled a 226-174 record, leading the team to the playoffs four teams. He also was head coach of the Chicago Bulls (2010-11 to 2014-15) and the Timberwolves (2016-17 to 2018-19) and owns a career mark of 578-420 during the regular season. Udoka, 47, led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his lone season as Boston's head coach in 2021-22. He was suspended by the team for the following season due to a violation of team policy after allegedly having an improper relationship with a female staffer and ultimately was fired. Udoka coached the Rockets the past two seasons, producing a combined 93-71 regular-season record. Finch, 55, just finished his fifth season in charge in Minnesota and led the Timberwolves to the postseason for the fourth year in a row, including Western Conference finals appearances the past two years. He has a 209-160 regular-season coaching record. --Field Level Media


Reuters
19 hours ago
- Reuters
Canadiens D Lane Hutson claims Calder Trophy
June 10 - Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson was named the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy on Tuesday. The trophy is awarded annually "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League." The award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Hutson earned 165 of a possible 191 first-place votes and totaled 1,832 points, finishing well ahead of Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (15, 1,169) and San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (11, 1,104). The 21-year-old Hutson received the trophy at a surprise party his family had organized to celebrate his selection as a finalist. Hutson led all rookies with 66 points, and his 60 assists tied the single-season NHL record for most by a rookie defenseman alongside Larry Murphy. Celebrini, 18, played 70 games and scored 25 goals -- second among rookies behind the Philadelphia Flyers' Matvei Michkov -- and his 63 points tied with Michkov for second. Wolf, 24, was 29-16-8 with a 2.64 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and three shutouts for the Flames, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. --Field Level Media