Canada Sports News

1. Can Oilers break same vicious cycle that has sunk them before?  Sportsnet.ca
2. Letters, May 14: Edmonton Oilers need to wake up, shake up  Edmonton Sun
3. Connor McDavid Edmonton Oilers  Edmonton Journal

1. Oilers' Stuart Skinner apologizes for Game 3 performance: 'The emotions caught up with me'  Oilers Nation
2. Oilers searching for answers in net after Game 3 loss to Canucks  NHL.com
3. 7-Eleven That's Hockey: Can the Oilers trust Pickard despite no playoff experience? - Video  TSN
4. Oilers' Stanley Cup hopes are swirling with Stuart Skinner cracking under pressure  Daily Faceoff
5. Trailing 2-1, Edmonton Oilers facing goaltender decision  ESPN

Mavrik Bourque et Zachary L'Heureux mènent la LAH pour les points en séries  DansLesCoulisses

The Jays send out José Berríos to face the Orioles, winners of seven of their past nine games. You can watch the game at 6:35 p.m. ET / 3:35 p.m. PT on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+ or follow along with our live MLB tracker.

Kori Cheverie heard the jubilation coming from the visitors' locker room loud and clear Saturday night. The PWHL Montreal head coach is eager for her team to prove it was premature.

1. Slovakia survives U.S. rally  IIHF
2. World Championship Recap - 13.05.24 | Calgary Flames  NHL.com
3. Slovakia upsets U.S. in OT at world hockey championship  Sportsnet.ca
4. 2024 IIHF World Championship Roundup: Standouts from Day 4  Daily Faceoff
5. Devils' Hughes and Nemec Battle It Out In Overtime Classic, Hischier And Siegenthaler Beat Palat In A Shootout  The Hockey News

1. Do Edmonton Oilers have Vancouver Canucks right where they want them?  Edmonton Journal
2. Off The Post: Are the Oilers in trouble against the Canucks?  Toronto Sun
3. Canucks vs. Oilers playoff picks Game 4: Take the over in pivotal game  Toronto Star
4. BLOG: Oilers, Canucks hope to limit mistakes & manage momentum swings | Edmonton Oilers  NHL.com
5. Boeser scores twice; Canucks lead Oilers after first period in Game 3  TSN

After missing the last two games of the New York Knicks‘ second-round series against the Indiana Pacers, OG Anunoby has been ruled out for Game 5 due to a hamstring strain.

The Knicks listed the 26-year-old forward out on the NBA injury report on Monday as the series heads back to New York all tied at two.

NBA Playoffs on Sportsnet

The chase for the NBA’s ultimate crown is on. Watch select games from the NBA Playoffs on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

Anunoby came out of Game 2 at the 3:47 mark of the third quarter after running a fastbreak. He appeared to come up awkwardly after going for a lay-up and instead opted to toss the ball off the backboard. He wound up on the baseline, took some time to get up and went back to the team’s locker room.

He was in the midst of the best post-season game of his career, as he scored 28 points in 27 minutes on 10-for-19 shooting from the field and four-for-seven shooting from three-point range. He also had four rebounds, three assists and a block.

The Knicks have lost both games without the former Toronto Raptor this series. Anunoby is averaging 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.1 blocks per game so far in the playoffs.

Star Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton was listed as questionable for Tuesday night’s contest.

More from Sportsnet

AP source: Bronny James medically cleared to play in NBA

Haliburton, Pacers take advantage of short-handed Knicks to even series with rout in Game 4

1. Edmonton Oilers vs Vancouver Canucks Prediction 5-14-24 Picks | Sports Chat Place  Sports Chat Place
2. 3 Keys: Canucks at Oilers, Game 4 of Western 2nd Round  NHL.com
3. How to watch the Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers NHL Playoffs game tonight: Game 5 livestream options, more  CBS News
4. bet365 Daily Bets: Oilers vs. Canucks O6.5  Daily Faceoff
5. Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Game 4 Prediction  The Hockey News

American Jesse Marsch, whose coaching resume include stints in England's Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and Major League Soccer, has been named coach of the Canadian men's soccer team.

1. Au diable la NFL, Geoffrey Cantin-Arku s’amène avec les Alouettes  TVA Sports
2. Les Alouettes | Geoffrey Cantin-Arku rejoint officiellement l'équipe  La Presse
3. LCF: Geoffrey Cantin-Arku signe avec les Alouettes  RDS
4. Geoffrey Cantin-Arku maintenant un membre des Alouettes  Le Soleil
5. Le demi défensif Geoffrey Cantin-Arku rejoint officiellement les Alouettes  MSN

1. NHL suspends Canucks' Carson Soucy for shot to Connor McDavid  ESPN
2. Though Soucy will be missed, Canucks' defence can withstand one-game suspension  Sportsnet.ca
3. Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid  CTV News Vancouver
4. McDavid OK after cross-checks, calls incident 'part of a heated series'  TSN
5. Soucy of Canucks suspended 1 game for actions in Game 3 of Western 2nd Round  NHL.com

1. NHL mock draft roundup: Projecting Sharks, Blackhawks, more top picks  USA TODAY
2. Atlanta Hawks win 2024 NBA Draft Lottery  NBA.com
3. Introducing Three Forward Prospects the Red Wings Could Land at No. 15  The Hockey News
4. Sharks win NHL draft lottery, earn No. 1 overall pick  CTV News
5. Elite Prospects' post-lottery 2024 NHL Mock Draft  EP Rinkside

Sanoa Dempfle-Olin has become the first-ever surfing athlete named to the Canadian Olympic Team, CSA Surf Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced in a press release Monday.

Derrick Lewis added to his UFC-leading knockout total this past weekend, dispatching opponent Rodrigo Nascimento inside three rounds in their heavyweight main event.

“The Black Beast” widened the gap atop the leaderboard after earning his 15th career victory by knockout or technical knockout under the UFC banner since debuting with the organization 10 years ago. 

Lewis is 39 and fell short on two previous title shot opportunities – a submission loss to Daniel Cormier in 2018 and a TKO loss to Ciryl Gane in 2021 with an interim belt on the line – but has since carved out a nice role as a heavyweight gatekeeper who tends to shut the door violently and celebrate ruthlessly.

Ranked outside the top 10, Lewis hasn’t fared well in his recent outings when facing top-10 competition yet has knocked out anyone ranked in the 10-15 range looking to get a single-digit number next to their name like we saw in his wins over Nascimento, Marcos Rogério de Lima and Chris Daukaus

“I’m durable, and I still have that power later in the rounds,” Lewis said after his latest victory over an opponent he had not previously heard of. “Hopefully, if they have any more taxicab drivers like that I’d love to fight them.”

Lewis has been featured in a whopping 11 main events since 2017 and is an ideal candidate to headline Fight Night cards in front of a crowd similar to what went down in St. Louis. And if he is fed more of these types of aspiring heavyweights there’s no reason to think he won’t add at least a couple more knockouts to his résumé.

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Even if, hypothetically, Lewis’s most recent win was the last time he gets a KO or TKO in the UFC, he will hold his record and maintain his spot at No. 1 for a while.

The No. 2 fighter with 13 career knockout wins is Matt Brown, who recently announced his retirement from competition.

Below Brown are stars Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway, who are tied with the retired Anderson Silva, the late Anthony Johnson and Thiago Santos, who’s at the end of his career in the PFL, for third all-time with 11 knockout wins.

Holloway, the current “BMF” of the UFC, is only 32 years old despite all his experience and still fighting at an elite level. He is coming off a Knockout of the Year candidate against Justin Gaethje in April at UFC 300, while Poirier, 35, added to his KO totals at the PPV prior with his vicious stoppage of Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March.

Poirier’s next bout will be for the undisputed lightweight title at UFC 302 against Islam Makhachev. Poirier, a former interim titleholder at 155 pounds, is a huge betting underdog heading into the June 1 event. The current champion is 25-1 in mixed martial arts and has won 13 in a row since being knocked out by Adriano Martins in 2015 in his second UFC appearance.

There’s no guarantee Poirier fights four more times in the UFC, let alone gets another four KO/TKO wins to tie Lewis’ current mark.

Holloway, between his age and the fact he’s coming off back-to-back highlight-reel knockouts over notoriously durable opponents – before beating Gaethje he put away the Korean Zombie brutally with a right hand – could be the leading contender at the moment to one day catch Lewis, but he is by no means the only potential contender. Also, keep in mind Holloway had gone the distance in eight consecutive bouts prior to his current two-fight KO streak. 

Former heavyweight champion and a past opponent of Lewis, Francis Ngannou, racked up 10 KO wins in the UFC between 2015 and 2021 before leaving the organization, which means Lewis, Holloway and Poirier are the only active fighters with double-digit KO/TKO wins in the UFC.  

Fellow former heavyweight champs Stipe Miocic and Andrei Arlovski are tied with nine and still technically active but neither has added to their respective totals in quite a while with Miocic last finishing an opponent in 2019 and Arlovski way back in 2015.

Beneath those two legends, are two potential challengers in the back half of their careers.

Live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword lightweight Drew Dober has nine and is one of those fighters like Brown and Lewis who may never reach the heights of being a champion but will always be a knockout threat whose first priority is landing a KO shot of his own.

Same goes for fan favourite featherweight Edson Barboza, who headlines a UFC Fight Night event at the Apex later this week. Barboza can become the fourth active fighter to earn double-digit KOs if he becomes the first fighter to defeat Lerone Murphy.

UFC Fight Night

Watch UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Murphy on SN360 and Sportsnet+, with coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 18.

UFC Fight Night on Sportsnet

Barboza and Dober are one spot ahead of a group of fighters tied with eight KO/TKOs, including Conor McGregor, who returns at UFC 303 later this year, plus Lewis’ heavyweight contemporaries Curtis Blaydes and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Lewis sent Blaydes to the shadow realm, as the youths say, when they met three years ago but somehow Lewis and Rozenstruik have not yet crossed paths. In terms of who has the heaviest hands in the entire UFC, Lewis and Rozenstruik are both firmly on the short list of contenders.

Rozenstruik is 8-5 in the UFC and all his wins have been via strikes inside the distance. It seems like it should be only a matter of time before these two power punchers face each other, but until that actually happens, it wouldn’t be entirely shocking to see both fighters continue putting away the rising contenders placed in front of them. Rozenstruik is three years younger than Lewis which leaves him some room to catch up. Granted, he’ll have to keep winning at a relatively high level to warrant his spot on the roster long-term. The 36-year-old hasn’t strung together consecutive wins since beginning his UFC career 4-0.

Sticking at heavyweight, Tom Aspinall is 31 which is relatively young for the weight class and already has five KO/TKO wins in eight UFC appearances. As fight fans saw at UFC 295 when he traded with Sergei Pavlovich, the current interim champ can come out on top in a brawl where both fighters’ chins get tested. Keeping gold around his waist is a more pressing priority than this Lewis record is, although Aspinall will naturally begin to close the gap if he keeps extending his winning streak and his striking continues improving each time he competes.

Aspinall (2:10) and Pavlovich (2:13) still hold the shortest average fight times among active fighters and the power to put anyone to sleep.

Joaquin Buckley was also victorious this past Saturday. He’s only 30, has six total KO/TKO wins to his name and is on a nice streak at welterweight right now.

The lightweight-heavyweight division packs plenty of punching power and one of the rising stars at 205 pounds showed off his mean left hook in Saturday’s bout that preceded both Buckley’s and Lewis’s wins. 

Carlos Ulberg has four knockouts in his past five fights, and if he keeps getting favourable matchups, he will simultaneously keep rising up the LHW rankings and up the all-time KO wins list. He’s 33 but only has 11 MMA bouts and one loss to his name. Khalil Rountree Jr. has been rounding into former in this division, too; he’s the active leader in the weight class with seven KO/TKO wins, and he’s preparing for a matchup with fellow knockout artist Jamahal Hill at UFC 303, where it’s likely someone gets put out.

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Middleweight has been producing some beasts lately and Brazil’s Gregory Rodrigues has been showing off his finishing prowess since 2021. The 32-year-old rising contender at 185 pounds is 6-2 in the UFC with his five most recent wins coming by KO/TKO. In fact, Rodrigues is already tied with former champ Israel Adesanya for most KO wins among active middleweights.

Men’s bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley already has six to his name, which is tied with Rob Font and Marlon Vera for most among active bantamweights. Song Yadong has shown his KO power on five occasions thus far in his young career and the Chinese fighter is only 26.

Elite knockout artists are rarer within the women’s divisions so it’s unlikely we see a fighter from those weight classes rise up the knockout list at a rapid rate. Former two-weight champ Amanda Nunes has a record seven KO/TKO wins in the UFC and will only add to those totals if she comes out of retirement. Former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade is 32 with six total KO/TKO wins in the UFC. She has a realistic shot at passing Nunes on the female side but if she doubles her current total she’d still be behind Brown.

So much of accumulating knockout wins depends on style matchups and the various levels of difficulty at which a fighter competes, but all this above is to highlight what an accomplishment is it for Lewis to have amassed the totals he has so far, and how difficult it will be for any fighter to catch up to the popular heavyweight star anytime soon.

More from Sportsnet

Lewis adds to KO legacy in win over Nascimento, remains heavyweight gatekeeper

UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Nascimento complete results

Football’s “prevent” defence is often referenced in other sports, having found itself tied to the running joke that all it does is “prevent you from winning.”

The idea is simple: late in games the leading team eliminates the possibility of big plays downfield by backing their defence off and keeping the game in front of their defending players. They may allow some plays underneath, but are content taking away the possibility of “home run”-type plays behind them. The defence encourages “successful” plays of smaller yardages that run the clock, forces the offence to use their timeouts, and essentially tries to bleed them of their time before they can piece their way downfield.

The gag that the prevent defence “prevents you from winning” comes from the fact that sometimes the offensive team can bite off chunks of 15-20 yards in successive plays “underneath” the ultra-passive defence, and find itself in scoring territory fairly quickly.

As John Tortorella once said about hockey: “safe is death.” And sometimes – like when your opponent has an elite offence – it certainly can be.

Watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet

It all comes down to this: 16 teams, one trophy. Watch every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs live on Sportsnet+, beginning on April 20.

Broadcast schedule

But in truth, football’s prevent defence is more like the drop play on NHL power plays: everybody hates watching it so when it fails they highlight it. But teams keep doing it because it works more often than any other commonly used strategy to date.

It’s with this in mind I bring to you the latest update on Ice Tilt, a metric that uses NHL EDGE IQ data to show us where the players are on the rink over a rolling period of two minutes to highlight in-game momentum. Where has the actual hockey been played on the rink over the course of a game? And what does that tell us about that game?

The Edmonton Oilers have heavily controlled the tilt in their series versus the Vancouver Canucks, yet find themselves trailing in the series two games to one.

How does that happen?

Hockey’s version of the “prevent” is simple. When you’re forechecking or defending in the neutral zone and a 50/50 puck pops loose, you simply back off rather than race at it and risk getting beat clean. You allow your opponent to get to it, but you stay between them and your own net. You’re OK with them having the puck, but you’re not OK with them having an odd-man rush or fast break of any kind, so you stop taking risks.

When you’re in the defensive zone, that means you’re OK with your opponent having the puck out by the yellow paint, but the second they start to come into the danger areas, your team acts like the slot is a hornet nest and attacks aggressively.

Let’s take a look at the teams that have controlled the Ice Tilt in their series so far. You’ll see that three of the trailing teams have controlled tilt as they chase games, with Florida being the outlier, both winning the series and leading in time with tilt.

The percentage on the bars simply refers to how deep past the centre red line the players have been during their “tilt,” so a higher percentage past centre means they’re closer to the offensive net. (If half the rink is 50 per cent, I like to add that to the total. The average player on Edmonton has been 57.91 per cent of the way up the rink from their own net, for example.)

As mentioned, Florida is the only team in the second round that both controls tilt and is ahead in their series. It’s worth noting, though, that the Panthers were chasing the scoreboard for a lot of Game 4 before coming back, tying it, and eventually winning the game. Even with that Ice Tilt help they have controlled their series against the Bruins, and are prohibitive favourites to finish the job quickly.

What we’re talking about here, with losing teams having tilt, is a concept that’s been accepted in advanced analytics for a long time: score effects. Teams change how they play based on the scoreboard.

I’ve seen Canucks fans upset at the notion that they’re fluking their way to victories based on the difference in goaltending, rather than just strategically playing to their leads, and they have a point.

In the third period of Game 3 in the Canucks-Oilers series, tilt swung heavily in favour of Edmonton and the rolling average of tilt over two minute chunks only swung in Vancouver’s favour for seven seconds of the period, leaving 19:53 for the Oilers. That led to a third period shot count of 22-3. Looking at where the centre red line is here, you can see the third period isn’t exactly a tennis match of back-and-forth play.

This is where I loop it back to the concept of “prevent” defence. At even strength I’ve seen “high danger chances” recorded as either 1-1 or 2-1 Edmonton in that third period, which is staggering considering where the players were located.

If you’re the Vancouver Canucks, is that not exactly the desired outcome? You trust that your goalie can handle the lower danger stuff from distance (at this point every goalie in the NHL should be able to confidently do that) and the rest of the job is keeping the other team’s high danger chances down.

You can quibble with the logic – many fans will say “just go score yourself and put the game out of reach,” and I’m fine with having that philosophical debate. But as of right now, Ice Tilt really highlights the degree to which NHL coaches disagree with that line of thinking, and prefer to pack it in with a lead.

Teams that are trailing a game open it up and chase the score. Teams leading want to take away the deep touchdown pass and keep the opposing offence in front of them.

This just goes to show how important early leads are. The Oilers are one of the best offensive teams in the NHL, but when the Canucks pack it in in front of Arturs Silovs, the surprising Latvian suddenly looks like prime Patrick Roy, and scoring at 5-on-5 becomes an uphill climb, even with the ice tilted the right direction.

More from Sportsnet

How ‘Ice Tilt’ shows Carolina to be an Eastern Conference favourite

Introducing ‘Ice Tilt’: A fresh look at where the action actually takes place

Ice Tilt: When the Canucks are OK with Oilers controlling play  Sportsnet.ca

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5. World Championship Recap - 13.05.24 | Calgary Flames  NHL.com

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