Nazem Kadri scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist to lead the host Calgary Flames to a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.
Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won for the 13th time in 20 home games (13-4-3) and 4-1-2 in its past seven games overall. Flames goalie Dustin Wolf made 23 saves to improve to 10-1-1 at home this season.
Brock Boeser scored and Kevin Lankinen finished with 26 saves for Vancouver, which took its fifth loss in the past six games (1-2-3).
Three minutes after the Canucks tied the game 1-1, Kadri scored at 9:18 of the third. His wrist shot from the edge of the left circle got past Lankinen's blocker side after a crossing pass from Huberdeau.
The Canucks pulled Lankinen with 1:50 left for an extra attacker, and Huberdeau sealed the win by producing an empty-net goal from center ice with 1:02 to go.
Calgary took a 1-0 lead at the 14:31 mark of the first period. Jakob Pelletier broke in on a breakaway that Lankinen stopped, but Yegor Sharangovich picked up the rebound and then passed to Zary driving into the crease, where he shoveled a shot into a vacated net.
Things got chippy during a hard-hitting second period that saw three fights resulting in six majors, including a pair by Flames forward Ryan Lomberg, as well as a handful of other skirmishes. At one time Vancouver had five players in the penalty box, but the Canucks' penalty kill came up big, including killing off more than a minute a two-man five-on-three advantage for Calgary.
Vancouver tied it 1-1 at 6:15 of the third period on a power-play goal by Boeser. He redirected a shot from the left point by J.T. Miller inside the far right post.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to explore ways to upgrade the roster following Mitch Marner's departure in free agency. The Leafs front office has been trying to fill in the gaps along the roster, and they have been searching on the trade front. One name that has been heavily connected to the Maple Leafs in recent weeks is Calgary Flames star Nazem Kadri. Kadri could replace Marner very well in the lineup, but it seems that a deal could be complicated to complete. According to NHL insider Nick Kypreos of SportsNet, Toronto has tried to land Kadri multiple times this summer, only to be rebuffed each time. Kypreos believes that a deal involving Kadri returning to the Maple Leafs could be unlikely at this point in the summer. Last season, Kadri posted 35 goals and 32 assists for the Flames. His presence has been steady on the ice for years, and Calgary could probably get a lot on the trade market for him. The Maple Leafs will likely continue to explore ways to pry Kadri from the Flames. But Calgary likely won't trade him unless it receives an offer that it deems too good to be true. But Kadri is the leader of this team, and he was the best player for them last season. Toronto doesn't have a lot of tradable assets to work with, which could be what is holding things up between the two sides. The veteran could give Toronto a nice boost, but unless the Maple Leafs up the offer, he isn't returning to town.
There is no ramp-up period for the Chicago Bears at training camp this year. Head coach Ben Johnson brought the same intensity he harbored during OTAs at the Bears’ first practice of training camp Wednesday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois. Adam Hoge of CHGO Bears said that Johnson was upset with Williams and the offense multiple times on Wednesday. He got into the face of the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft during a seven-on-seven drill. “Accountability is what I’m talking about, though, because, look, it was like a three-strike thing, let’s call three strikes, and you’re out all right,” Hoge said on the CHGO podcast. “Because we saw Ben get in Caleb’s, you know what, during seven-on-sevens about something. I don’t know what it was about, but he wasn’t happy, and he was screaming at him, alright.” Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson tried to show patience Johnson tried to show patience with the second mistake, when there was a miscommunication with the wide receivers getting lined up. He let Williams and the receivers sort the issue out before the play. But Johnson didn’t stand idly on the third pre-snap mistake; another miscommunication between Williams and the receivers. Johnson pulled the entire first-team off the field in favor of the second-team led by veteran quarterback Case Keenum. Caleb Williams is picking up where he left off in OTAs Per multiple reports, the Bears’ offense had a poor day. Mark Carman called Williams’ performance on Wednesday the worst part of practice. “Today was just bad,” Carman said. “They had to pull the offense off the field. (Williams) wasn’t getting them lined up. It might not have been his fault every single time he’s his first pass was picked off (by linebacker Tremaine Edmunds). “He rolled right on long play, Cold Kmet’s wide open right in front of him. He ended up running out of bounds. It just wasn’t a good day for the quarterback.” Williams didn’t have a great spring. He struggled with every duty from calling the play in the huddle to getting the cadence right to throwing the ball into the middle of the field or further than 10 yards. As of Day 1 at camp, all of those things are still problems. But at least the $13 million per year head coach is mad.
The Milwaukee Brewers might surprise people at the deadline, but not in the way that you expect. A splash trade for a star like Eugenio Suárez is what a lot of Brewers fans want to see, but Milwaukee might be wiser to prioritize bullpen reinforcements between now and July 31. In discussing potential moves for the Brew Crew, Brewer Fanatic’s Jason Wang emphasized the bullpen and named a target that no one’s talking about. “The bullpen … is one place where there could be real upgrades made,” Wang wrote. “The Brewers already have Trevor Megill, so it’s unlikely they’ll be willing to match the bids of other teams for high-leverage talent like Emmanuel Clase or Jhoan Duran.” Wang is accurate on that point, which is also why the Brewers are highly unlikely to land a guy like St. Louis Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley. That shouldn’t stop Milwaukee’s general manager, Matt Arnold, from shopping for arms, however, as Wang noted. “If anything, the organization’s M.O. is to find a funky guy with an unassuming profile but one or two knockout qualities, and shape him in their own image,” Wang continued. "If Milwaukee wanted to get really spicy, they could go for someone like the (Tampa Bay) Rays’ Mason Montgomery … his Stuff+ metrics are outstanding, with top-notch grades on his four-seam fastball and slider. He was shaky enough at the big-league level to get optioned in early July, but he could be exactly the type of project the Brewers excel at developing.” Could Montgomery become the next hurler to improve dramatically after getting traded to the Brewers? We’ve seen that happen with Quinn Priester this season. Still only 25, Montgomery was selected at No. 191 overall in the 2021 MLB draft by Tampa Bay. He’s 1-2 this season with a 5.74 ERA and 1.66 WHIP to go along with 41 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings pitched for the Rays.
There’s a familiar face back on the sidelines alongside head coach Matt LafLeur, as the Packers open training camp. According to a report from Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Packers have brought back Nathaniel Hackett in an advisory role for LaFleur and the offense. What Nathaniel Hackett Brings to the Packers’ Staff Hackett’s return comes on the heels of Robert Saleh joining the staff after his dismissal as New York Jets head coach last season, when he served as a special advisor to defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, and Hackett will likely occupy a similar role for Green Bay in 2025. LaFleur’s former offensive coordinator with the Packers from 2019 through the 2022 season, when he was hired as the Denver Broncos’ head coach before being dismissed after just one season and ultimately landing with Aaron Rodgers as the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator for one-plus seasons from 2023 into the 2024 campaign. Adding a veteran coach with previous ties to LaFleur has to be an asset for the Packers as Green Bay looks to make some big strides on that side of the ball in 2025.
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