The Washington Post - 24.10.2019

T H U R S D A Y , O C T O B E R  2 4,  2 0 1 9 .  T H E  W A S H I N G T O N  P O S T EZ SU D3

won’t be a “four-to-six-week inju-

ry. We’re hoping he’s going to be

back significantly sooner than

that.”

The right winger from Finland

is tied with Nathan MacKinnon

for most points on the team this

season. Both have five goals and

seven assists.

Rantanen, who turns 23 next

week, agreed to terms on a six-

year, $55.5 million contract just

before the start of the season.

l BLACKHAWKS: Chicago

placed defenseman Connor Mur-

phy on long-term injured reserve.

Murphy hurt his groin Tuesday

night in a 2-1 shootout loss to the

Vegas Golden Knights. He has no

points in six games this season.

The Blackhawks also recalled

defenseman Dennis Gilbert from

the minors Wednesday. Gilbert, a

third-round pick in the 2015

draft, played in Chicago’s season-

opening loss to Philadelphia on

Oct. 4.

iecki tied it at 3:15 and Pageau

made it a two-goal game with a

shorthanded goal at 5:27. Duclair

scored late in the second and

added an empty-netter in the

third.

Earlier in the day, the Senators

placed Colin White and Artem

Anisomov on injured reserve.

White will miss three to five

weeks with a sore hip flexor, and

Anisimov is expected to be out up

to two weeks with a lower-body

injury.

Colorado’s Rantanen ailing

Colorado Avalanche forward

Mikko Rantanen is week to week

with a lower-body injury.

The 2019 all-star caught an

edge in the ice and awkwardly

twisted his left skate during the

second period of Monday night’s

loss in St. Louis. He didn’t return.

Avalanche Coach Jared Bednar

said Wednesday after practice

that he’s optimistic Rantanen

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Anthony Duclair scored twice,
and the Ottawa Senators beat
visiting Detroit, 5-2, on Wednes-
day night to snap a four-game
skid and extend the Red Wings’
losing streak to six.
Chris Tierney, Mark Borow-
iecki and Jean-Gabriel Pageau
also scored to help the Senators
improve to 2-6-1. Anders Nilsson
made 34 saves for his first victory
of the season.
Darren Helm and Tyler Ber-
tuzzi scored for Detroit, and
Jonathan Bernier stopped
33 shots. The Red Wings are
3-7-0.
After Detroit scored twice in a
1:40 span early in the second
period to take a 2-1 lead, Borow-

Oklahoma. After that, Texas

comes to town.

“The wins over Oklahoma and

Texas Christian two years ago

really springboarded us to a

different level,” Campbell said.

“They created a belief in

everyone. This time of year,

when teams have had success,

some take their eye off the

process and worry about results.

The ones that don’t do that are

the ones that succeed. We’ll see.

That’s what I tell the players all

the time: ‘Let’s see what we can

do.’ ”

Campbell will turn 40 the day

after Thanksgiving. His name

already has been mentioned for

more prominent jobs in the past.

It no doubt will be again as his

milestone birthday approaches.

He isn’t going to say, “I’ll never

leave Iowa State,” because that

would be foolish. But he’s clearly

happy where he is and proud of

what the program has become

since his arrival. But he knows

this team can rise even further.

“I’ve been around football and

coaching my whole life [his dad

was a high school coach], and if

there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s

that the cliche coaches use about

staying in the present all the

time is true,” he said. “If you

don’t, you get humbled pretty

quickly, and there’s no avoiding

the spotlight when that

happens.”

The present goes to another

level at Iowa State on Saturday.

sports@washpost.com

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played a game at Iowa State the

previous season. “They were

having a tough year,” Campbell

said of a team that would finish

2-10. “But the atmosphere was

amazing. That stayed in my

mind. Plus, even though it wasn’t

Ohio, it was still the Midwest,

and our staff knew how to

recruit the Midwest.”

The Cyclones went 3-9 in

Campbell’s first season, but wins

in two of their final three games

provided momentum. There’s no

doubting where the turning

point came the next fall: at

Oklahoma in their fifth game.

The Sooners were undefeated

and ranked third, led by Baker

Mayfield, who went on to win

the Heisman Trophy. Iowa State

quarterback Jacob Park had just

taken a leave of absence, so the

Cyclones’ starter was fifth-year

walk-on Kyle Kempt, who

arrived after stops at Oregon

State and Hutchinson Junior

College. He did have a

remarkable college completion

percentage: He was 2 for 2.

Iowa State came from two

touchdowns down to win, 38-31,

with Kempt throwing for

343 yards and three touchdowns.

Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke,

the Cyclones beat then-fourth-

ranked TCU two weeks later.

They finished the season 8-5.

They were 8-5 again a year ago.

Now, at 5-2 with a No. 23

ranking, they face three weeks

that will tell them whether 8-5

and second-tier bowls are the

ceiling. Oklahoma State will

come to Ames on Saturday,

followed by a trip back to

college at Pittsburgh. “We were

very much going in the right

direction at Toledo, and my

thought was the next step for us

was the Boise State step, which I

thought was possible. I met with

Jamie, really, as a courtesy. When

Erica and I left the house, we

told the babysitter we’d be back

in half an hour.

“Three-and-a-half hours later,

Jamie pretty much had me

convinced. He didn’t sugarcoat

anything. He said this is square

one and it’s going to be hard. But

he convinced me winning wasn’t

a pipe dream. He sold me.”

It helped that Toledo had

that futility when he got a phone

call from Iowa State Athletic

Director Jamie Pollard in

November 2015. Campbell was

just about to turn 36 and had

just completed a 9-2 regular

season at Toledo that gave him a

35-15 record in four seasons (plus

one bowl win after he had taken

over at the end of the 2011

season).

Pollard wanted to fly to Toledo

to meet with Campbell and his

wife, Erica. “I really had no

serious thoughts about taking

the job,” said Campbell, who had

spent his entire life in Ohio

except for his freshman year of

begin preparing for the following

week’s game against TCU.

“I wanted to hear their ideas

even before I talked to my

coaches,” he said. “I wanted them

to understand that I loved the

effort I was getting from the

entire group, but we needed to

find a way to look at the games

as something to enjoy, not

something that would cause

everyone to feel pressure. We

needed a way to be ourselves

without getting down 20-0.”

One of the oldest cliches in

sports is “try easier.” It can be

very difficult to achieve in big-

time college football because so

many people are judging you

every week, every play. But

Campbell knew that trying easier

was exactly what his team

needed to do. His captains

agreed.

In the three weeks since that

meeting, Iowa State has beaten

TCU, West Virginia and Texas

Tech by a combined 59 points.

The fact that the three-game

winning streak isn’t all that

stunning is a measure of how far

the program has come since

Campbell arrived in 2016.

Campbell replaced Paul

Rhoads, who went 8-28 in the

last three of his seven seasons on

the job to end up with an overall

record of 32-55. That made

Rhoads the 20th of 21 Cyclones

coaches since 1919 to leave the

program with a losing record;

the only exception was Hall of

Famer Earle Bruce, who went 36-

32 in Ames between 1973 and

1978.

Campbell was well aware of

On the Sunday
morning in late
September after
Iowa State had
suffered what he
called a “gut-
wrenching” loss
to Baylor,
Cyclones Coach
Matt Campbell asked his five
captains to come in early to meet
with him.
Iowa State was 2-2, and both
losses had been eminently
winnable games: an 18-17 defeat
to archrival Iowa the second
week of the season and the loss
at Baylor, in which Campbell’s
team came from 20 points down
in the fourth quarter to lead by
one before a field goal with
21 seconds to go made them 23-
21 losers.
“Standing on the sideline at
Baylor when we got down 20-0,
it occurred to me that getting to
the finish line on Saturdays had
become a relief for the players,
that they weren’t enjoying the
experience of getting to compete
for those 60 minutes,” Campbell
said. “That had to start with me.
I had to look in the mirror. I’ve
never had a group that’s worked
harder or been more close-knit,
but they were putting too much
pressure on themselves. We
needed to figure out a way not to
do that.”
And so Campbell asked the
five players — Brock Purdy and
Josh Knipfel from the offense
and Ray Lima, Marcel Spears Jr.
and Greg Eisworth from the
defense — to come see him even
before he met with his coaches to

BY SAMANTHA PELL

calgary — Washington Capi-
tals captain Alex Ovechkin
couldn’t help but yell over the
scrum of reporters headed
toward John Carlson after the
team’s 5-3 win Tuesday over the
Calgary Flames at Scotiabank
Saddledome.
“Johnny for Norris!” Ovechkin
hollered, cracking a grin.
Just 11 games into the season,
it might be a little premature for
Carlson’s teammates to be talk-
ing about his worthiness for the
Norris Trophy, awarded annually
to the NHL’s best defenseman,
but Ovechkin made sure to an-
nounce it a few more times just
for good measure.
“It seems like anything he
wants, it goes in — passes, shots,
plays — and it is good for us,”
Ovechkin said.
As of Wednesday morning,
Carlson led the league in points
with 20 (five goals, 15 assists in
11 games) after scoring twice
Tuesday against the Flames.
The 29-year-old extended his
point streak to eight games,
matching his career high. He
became the fourth defenseman
in NHL history to record 20-plus
points in October and is the
fastest defenseman to 20 since
Paul Coffey did it in 10 games in
1988-89. Carlson is the third
defenseman to lead the league in
scoring through the first 20 days
of the season (Baldy Northcott,
1932-33; Bobby Orr, 1969-70 and
1974-75).
Asked how it felt to be in the
company of players such as Orr
and Coffey, Carlson responded,
“Yeah, that they are a lot better
players than me. But it’s pretty
cool, obviously great players in
that list, and you know I’m just
happy to be among them.”
Carlson insists some of his
points were “lucky,” repeatedly
calling scoring for defense-

men “streaky” and said he just

needs to “take it when he can get

it.”

Carlson’s first goal Tuesday

was a hopeful shot that seemed

to catch Calgary goaltender Cam

Talbot by surprise as it went into

the short side. His empty-netter

late in the game was a bouncer

that found the net.

And while any player needs a

couple of bounces to go his way

during the season, goaltender

Braden Holtby said Carlson’s

overall game Tuesday, especially

in the defensive zone alongside

Michal Kempny, was “phenome-

nal.”

Capitals Coach Todd Reirden

said Carlson continues to earn

all the praise sent his way over

the first three weeks of the

season.

“He’s our main guy back there,

that’s for sure,” Reirden said.

Over the past two seasons,

Carlson has been in the Norris

discussion, finishing in the top

five in voting both years but

never among the top three.

Last season, one in which he

earned an all-star nod for the

first time, Carlson was fourth

after tallying 70 points (13 goals,

57 assists). The year before, Carl-

son finished fifth after lead-

ing all defensemen with

68 points.

While Carlson remains hum-

ble, his teammates will gladly do

the talking for him. Ovechkin

always will be one of the first to

promote Carlson, as will Nicklas

Backstrom, who over the past

few years has been outspoken

about Carlson not getting

enough recognition around the

league.

Carlson also was chosen as an

alternate captain this season,

taking over a role held by Brooks

Orpik. Carlson is being relied on

more than ever before to be the

leader on the blue line, and so

far, he has done that and more.

“He’s a terrific player first of

all, and to see him dominant the

way he does it is pretty incredi-

ble,” Backstrom said. “He is not

really chasing points, either. He

is a really good defenseman,

plays really solid back

there. Points are just going his

way, I think, and I’m happy for

him.”

Carlson is impressing oppo-

nents, too. Calgary captain Mark

Giordano said he equates Carl-

son to a high-powered forward,

having to account for him on the

ice at all times and making

sure to take away time and

space.

“I’ve seen some pretty hot

starts, but I’ve never seen some-

thing like this,” Giordano said.

“Really impressive. He’s always

been a guy that puts up numbers,

and he is right up there offen-

sively year in and year out.”

Carlson’s play has been crucial

to the Capitals’ recent success.

Washington is on a four-game

winning streak after taking the

first two games of a five-game

trip that continues Thursday

against Edmonton.

“I think he took a step forward

obviously in his game, and his

confidence is really high,” Ovech-

kin said. “That’s why I said,

‘Johnny for Norris!’ ”

samantha.pell@washpost.com

Carlson’s 20 points have Caps thinking Norris

NHL ROUNDUP

Duclair scores twice to help Ottawa end four-game losing streak

JEFF ROBERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Caps defenseman John Carlson scored twice in Tuesday’s win to remain in the NHL scoring lead.

Iowa State is finally winning games. The next step for the Cyclones is winning big.

John
Feinstein

BRAD TOLLEFSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brock Purdy threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns as he and

Coach Matt Campbell, left, led Iowa State to a win over Texas Tech.

SENATORS 5,

RED WINGS 2

C A P I TA L S ’ N E X T T H R E E

at Edmonton Oilers

Today 9 NBCSW

at Vancouver Canucks

Tomorrow 10 NBCSW+

at Toronto Maple Leafs

Tuesday 7 NBCSW

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM),

WFED (1500 AM)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Patriots placed wide receiv-

er Josh Gordon on injured reserve

with knee and ankle injuries

Wednesday. Gordon suffered the

injuries during New England’s

win over the New York Giants in

Week 6 and sat out Monday night’s

win over the New York Jets.

Gordon’s absence means the Pa-

triots will be leaning even more on

veteran Mohamed Sanu, acquired

in a trade with Atlanta on Tuesday.

New England traded a second-

round draft pick in 2020 to the

Falcons. Sanu, 30, has 33 recep-

tions for 313 yards but only one

touchdown this season.

Gordon was among New Eng-

land’s leading receivers. In six

games, he had 20 catches for

287 yards and a touchdown.

l SAINTS: Drew Brees said he

plans to play Sunday against Ari-

zona unless his form in practice

this week does not meet his expec-

tations.

Brees said he is comfortable

throwing now that he is more than

five weeks out of surgery on his

right thumb, but he needs to see

how effective he can be during

competitive team drills this week

before he knows for certain that

his return is best for the team.

With backup Teddy Bridgewa-

ter filling in, the Saints (6-1) have

won all five games Brees has

missed since his injury in a Week 2

loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

l CHARGERS: Left tackle Rus-

sell Okung will make his season

debut Sunday at Chicago. Okung

has been recovering from a pul-

monary embolism caused by

blood clots.

l FALCONS: Coach Dan Quinn

said quarterback Matt Ryan is

hopeful he will return from a

sprained ankle to play against Se-

attle and that the team “will have a

better sense” of the quarterback’s

status Friday.

Ryan has not missed a start

since 2009. His streak covers

154 regular season games. Veteran

Matt Schaub would make his first

start since 2015 with Baltimore if

Ryan can’t play.

l CARDINALS: Arizona

signed Alfred Morris and Zach

Zenner to add depth at the

banged-up running back position.

Morris has played in 104 career

games over seven years and ran for

more than 1,000 yards in each of

his first three seasons with Wash-

ington.

Arizona’s Chase Edmonds had a

career-high 126 yards rushing in

Sunday’s win over the Giants. But

the Cardinals’ other running

backs — David Johnson (ankle)

and D.J. Foster (hamstring) — are

dealing with injuries.

l (^) LIONS: Detroit signed run-
ning back Paul Perkins a day after
putting running back Kerryon
Johnson on injured reserve with a
knee injury.
NFL NOTES
Patriots
put Gordon
on IR with
knee injury
FRED CHARTRAND/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier had a hard time stopping Anthony
Duclair, left, as the Red Wings lost their sixth consecutive game.