The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports C5

RWhen, where:Thursday, 7 p.m., at TD Garden. RTV, radio:NESN, WBZ-FM (98.5). RGoals:Steven Stamkos 4, Nikita Kucherov 3, Kevin Shattenkirk 3, Ondrej Palat 3. RAssists:Mikhail Sergachev 6, Kucherov 5, Victor Hedman 5. RGoaltending:Andrei Vasilevskiy (3-1-0, 2.53), Curtis McElhinney (0-1-1, 3.51). RHead to head:This is the first of four meetings. Boston went 1-3-0 vs. Tampa Bay last season. RMiscellany:The Lightning are finishing up a six-game road trip... Tampa Bay scored a league-high 325 goals last season, with Kucherov finishing first in points (128) and assists (87)... Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy last year with a 39-10-4 record and 2.40 GAA... Tampa Bay ranks 23rd with a 73.9 percent penalty-kill rate.

Lightningthumbnails

With the 2020 Summer Olympics on the horizon, many of the bestrowers in the worldwill participate in Boston this weekend at the 55th Head of the Charles Regatta. This year’s competition will feature more than 11,000 athletes from 24 countries racing in 66 events. The US women’s national team returns to defend its title in the championship eights. The crew of Felice Mueller, Kristine O’Brien, Meghan Musinicki, Dana Moffat, Olivia Coffey, Emily Regan, Gia Doonan, Erin Reelick, and Katelin Guregian is coming off a third-place finish at the 2019 World Championships in Austria to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Those rowers likely will be split up between the two boats the women’s national team will be racing in the championship eights on the Charles River. The US men’s eight, men’s four, women’s four, women’s double, and women’s pair teams also used the World Championship to qualify for the Olympics. For the US men’s national team, qualifying early for Tokyo will help with their training. “The monkey is off the back for the men since they qualified both the eights and fours for the first time in 12 years,” said Head of the Charles executive director Fred Schoch. “They’re now able to train from now through the summer to get ready for Tokyo, whereas in the past they had to go to a qualifying regatta, whichis really disruptive. Now they can keep their training cycles intact which is a big advantage.” The basics RRaces: Saturday, the races are scheduled from 7:45 a.m. to 4:43 p.m. The Sunday races are set for 7:45 a.m. to 4:12 p.m. RThe course: The start line is at the Boston University Boathouse. The finish line is near Herter Park. The course is 3 miles and runs upstream. RAwards: All ceremonies will be held at Attager Row, located just before the finish line. Ceremonies will be held following the races at about 5 p.m. both days. RWhere to watch: The six bridges along the course are great vantage points, and there is plenty of space along the riverbank for spectactors. The BU Bridge, River Street Bridge, Western Avenue Bridge, Weeks Bridge, Anderson Bridge, and Eliot Bridge all free and open to all spectators. Who to watch RNewton resident Gevvie Stone is looking to continue her record-setting run in the women’s championship singles. Stone, a 2016 Olympic Silver medalist, is a nine- time champion and the course record-holder in the event. Her chief competition is Californian Kara Kohler, who beat Stone in qualification and finished third while representing the US at the Worlds tin August, qualifying for the 2020 Olympics in the process. RAndrew Campbell, a 14-time US national team member and 2016 Olympian, holds theHOC course record in the men’s championship singles and is one of the favor- ites in that event along with eight-time national team member John Graves. RThe US men’s national team is defending its championship eights title with two qualifying boats. Yale University is coming off a 2018 men’s collegiatechampionship eights title and will be pushing the national team along with Brown University. RThe US women’s national team will be pushed by Stanford in the championship eights along with 2019 NCAA national champion Washington. RBates College aims for a third consecutive title in the women’s collegiate eights, with Williams and WPI contending as well. RWeston resident Greg Benning is seeking his eighth straight title in the men’s grand master singles. RWarwick, R.I., native Dan Gorriaran and rowing partner Mike Smith are seeking a seventh consecutive title in the senior master doubles. RSomerville resident Shawn Wolf and rowing partner Pete Morelli are seeking a fifth straight masters doubles title. RBrown graduate Jamie Koven is defending his title in the senior master singles and will be pushed by Shane Madden and Jake Watkins. RGeorgetown alum Brendan McEwan stopped West Boylston native Andrew Hashway’s run of three consecutive titles in the men’s master singles last year. RNew Hampshire native Hugh McAdam is an Olympic hopeful pursuing his sixth straight title in the men’s lightweight singles. NATE WEITZER

Aguidetothisweekend’s55thHeadoftheCharlesRegatta

CAPITALS 4, LEAFS 3 Toronto...................... 201 —3 Washington...............130—4 First period — 1. Toronto, Kapanen 1 (Moore), 4:37. 2. Toronto, Mikheyev 3 (Kapanen, Holl), 10:58. 3. Washing- ton,18:59. Penalties — Rielly, Tor (trip-Vrana 3 (Carlson, Hathaway), ping), 2:52. Second period — 4. Washington, Kuznetsov 3 (Carlson, Hagelin), 5:07.

Washington, Backstrom 2 (Oshie,
Jensen), 5:18. 6. Washington, Carlson
3 (Ovechkin, Backstrom), 6:25 (pp).Penalties — Rielly, Tor (tripping),
1:13. Shore, Tor (interference), 5:36.
Ceci, Tor (delay of game), 5:45.
Third period — 7. Toronto, Tavares
3 (Muzzin), 17:27. Penalties — Mat-
thews, Tor (slashing), 10:10. Hagelin,
Was (hooking), 13:04.
Shots on goal — Toronto 11-8-13 —

Washington 12-12-8 — 32.
Power plays — Toronto 0-1; Wash-
ington 1-5.
Goalies — Toronto, Hutchinson 0-
1-1 (32 shots-28 saves). Washington,
Samsonov 3-1-0 (32 shots-29 saves).
Referees — Francois St.Laurent,
Justin StPierre. Linesmen — MattMacPherson, Libor Suchanek.
A — 18,573 (18,506). T — 2:24.
BLUE JACKETS 3, STARS 2
Dallas........................101—2
Columbus.................201—3
First period — 1. Columbus, Weren-
ski 2 (Nyquist, Jones), 7:42. 2. Colum-
bus, Wennberg 1, 15:01. 3. Dallas,
Heiskanen 2 (Radulov, Fedun), 18:08.Penalties — Milano, Cls (hooking),
2:30. Dubois, Cls (cross check), 11:32.
Fedun, Dal (holding), 3:21. Sekera, DalSecond period — None. Penalties —
(holding), 17:18.
Third period — 4. Columbus, Milano
1 (Lilja, Nash), 9:07.5.Dallas, Pavelski
1 (Seguin, Radulov), 19:55. Penalties
— Hintz, Dal (interference), 15:46.
Shots on goal — Dallas 16-5-11 —

Columbus 11-10-14 — 35.
Power plays — Dallas 0-2; Colum-
bus 0-3.
Goalies — Dallas, Bishop 1-4-1 (35
shots-32 saves). Columbus, Korpisalo
3-2-0 (32 shots-30 saves).
Referees — Kelly Sutherland, Fred-
erick L'Ecuyer. Linesmen — Darren
Gibbs, Brian Mach.
A — 14,683 (18,144). T — 2:29.

PENGUINS 3, AVS 2 Colorado................1010—2 Pittsburgh.............1101—3 First period — 1. Colorado, Calvert 1 (Nieto, Cole), 3:16. 2. Pittsburgh, Crosby 4 (Schultz, Pettersson), 17:22. Penalties — Jost, Col (tripping), 6:09.Col Col (tripping), 15:45. Kahun, Pite,Col(holdingstick),^8 :51.Cole, (slashing), 16:55. Second period — 3. Pittsburgh, Guentzel 5 (Crosby, Simon), 15:30.Penalties — Lafferty, Pit (tripping), 11:36. Third period — 4. Colorado, MacK- innon 3 (Rantanen), 2:56. Penalties — None.Overtime — 5. Pittsburgh, Tanev 1, 3:57. Penalties — Dumoulin, Pit (slashing), 2:38. Shots on goal — Colorado 7-9-11-1 — 28. Pittsburgh 12-9-10-2 — 33.Power plays — Colorado 0-3; Pitts- burgh 0-3. Goalies — Colorado, Grubauer 4-0-1 (33 shots-30 saves). Pittsburgh, Mur- ray 4-2-0 (28 shots-26 saves). lock. Linesmen — Michel Cormier, Ty-Referees — Jon McIsaac, Kevin Pol- son Baker. A — 18,458 (18,387). T — 2:45. HURRICANES 2, KINGS 0 Tuesday night game CarolinaLosAngeles....................................011—2 00 0— 0

Dzingel, Car (slashing), 1:42. McGinn,First period—None.Penalties — Car (interference), 8:31. Kopitar, LA (hooking), 12:53. Martinez, LA (holding), 17:00. 2 (Dzingel, Haula), 4:16. Penalties —Second period — 1. Carolina, Necas AKempe, LA (hi stick), 4:58. Wall- mark, Car (tripping), 13:16. Doughty, LA (interference), 14:19. (Teravainen), 19:53 (en). Penalties —Third period — 2. Carolina, Aho 2 Pesce, Car (holding), 14:12. Staal, Car (boarding), 18:46. Shots on goal — Carolina 9-9-5 —

Los Angeles 17-3-11 — 31.Power plays — Carolina 0-4; Los
Angeles 0-5.
Goalies — Carolina, Mrazek 4-0-0
(31 shots-31 saves). Los Angeles,
Campbell 2-1-0 (22 shots-21 saves).Referees — Jake Brenk, Dean Mor-
ton. Linesmen — Ryan Gibbons, Der-
ek Nansen.
A — 14,219 (18,230). T — 2:31.

NHL

EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC GP W L OL Pts. ROW GF GA *Buffalo 6501 11 4 25 13 BOSTON 6 5 1 0 10 5 16 10 Toronto 8431 9 4 31 28 Tampa Bay 6 3 2 1 7 3 23 18 Detroit 6330 6 3 17 21 Florida 6222 6 2 19 24 Montreal 6222 6 1 22 24 Ottawa 5 1 4 0 2 1 12 19 METROPOLITAN GP W L OL Pts. ROW GF GA *Carolina 7 6 1 0 12 5 26 16 Pittsburgh 7 5 2 0 10 5 28 18 Washington 8 4 2 2 10 4 26 26 Columbus 6330 6 3 14 20 NY Islanders 6330 6 2 15 17 *Philadelphia 4211 5 2 11 9 NY Rangers 3210 4 2 11 9 NewJersey 6042 2 0 13 29 WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL GP W L OL Pts. ROW GF GA Colorado 6501 11 5 24 15 Nashville 6420 8 4 28 23 St. Louis 6 3 1 2 8 3 19 20 Winnipeg 8 4 4 0 8 3 26 30 Chicago 4 1 2 1 3 1 12 13 Dallas 8161 3 1 15 26 Minnesota 6 1 5 0 2 1 14 25 PACIFIC GP W L OL Pts. ROW GF GA *Edmonton 6 5 1 0 10 4 23 16 *Anaheim 6420 8 4 13 10 Vegas 7 4 3 0 8 4 26 19 Calgary 7331 7 2 18 21 Vancouver 5320 6 2 18 11 Arizona 5221 5 2 11 9 LosAngeles 6240 4 2 20 28 *SanJose 6240 4 2 13 22 * — Not including late game; ROW — Regulation plus overtime wins WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS AtPittsburgh 3 Colorado 2 (OT) Philadelphia atEdmonton AtWashington 4 Toronto 3 Buffalo atAnaheim AtColumbus 3 Dallas 2 Carolina atSanJose THURSDAY’S GAMES TampaBayatBoston 7 DetroitatCalgary 9 MinnesotaatMontreal 7 NashvilleatArizona 10 NYRangersatNewJersey 7 OttawaatVegas 10 VancouveratSt.Louis 8 BuffaloatLosAngeles 10 :3 0 NYIslandersatWinnipeg 8 TUESDAY’S RESULTS AtToronto 4 Minnesota 2 AtVancouver 5 Detroit 1 TampaBay 3 atMontreal 1 Nashville 5 atVegas 2 Arizona 4 atWinnipeg 2 Carolina 2 atLosAngeles 0 AtCalgary 3 Philadelphia 1

Revolution face

a formidable foe

in Atlanta team

By Dan Shulman GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Atlanta United, the reign- ing MLS Cup champions, have been around for only three seasons as an expansion club. That’s hard to tell, however, given how elite the team has become. In each of its three seasons, Atlanta has secured a postsea- son berth and a home playoff game, including this season, when it will host the Revolu- tion Saturday afternoon. When the city was award- ed an MLS franchise in 2014, Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank stepped up to found the league’s 20th club. Blank quickly created a buzz in the city over the soccer team, which was to begin play in

It was evident even then
that Atlanta United would be
a different kind of MLS team.

Accomplishments Their history is brief, but United have accomplished more than many teams that have been in the league a lot longer. They have averaged 62 points per season and won four trophies, including that 2018 MLS Cup. Atlanta even earned a mea- sure of continental supremacy by defeating Liga MX champion Club America in the Campeones Cup, 3-2, in Au- gust. Two weeks later, the Five Stripes won their first US Open Cup by defeating Min- nesota United at home, 2-1. But there wasn’t much to celebrate when the 2019 season started. Through April, United were just 2-3-2 and frustration was mounting. Butastheteamshookoffthe lingering effects of a failed CONCACAF Champions League run, their form im- proved, and the Five Stripes went on to finish second in the Eastern Conference with an 18-12-4 record, their 58 points the third-best total in the league.

Keyplayers Building a team from scratch, Blank hired the leg- endary Tata Martino as the club’s first coach, a decision that resulted in the acquisi- tion of several key players. First came midfielders Hector Villalba and Miguel Almiron. The little-known Paraguayan youngsters part- nered to command United’s midfield. Though Almiron was sold to English club New- castle ahead of the 2019 season, Villalba has flourished in his increased role as a playmaker and field general. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan from Middlesbrough and Le- andro Gonzalez Pirez from Estudiantes have been consistent starters since joining the club in 2017. And former Rev- olution defender Michael Parkhurst, who is seeing lim- ited minutes in what will be his final year, has been a key leader for Atlanta since the club began play. Most notably, striker Josef Martinez was acquired from Torino on a $4.5 million trans- fer fee in 2017. He has put up video-game numbers, scoring 72 goals in 80 regular-season appearances. That includes 16 straight games with a goal this

year, a league record and five games shy of a world record. In its inaugural draft, At- lanta hit it big with a pair of top-10 picks. Defender Miles Robinson, a native of Arlington who played at Syracuse, spent a little time in the USL on loan, then became a starting center back for the Five Stripes in 2019. And Providence College product Julian Gressel has de- veloped into one of the top young players in MLS. He was the 2017 MLS Rookie of the Year with five goals and nine assists in 32 games. The Ger- man midfielder has become a mainstay in the lineup and is rarely out of action. This year, league veterans Darlington Nagbe and Justin Meram have both flourished with Atlanta. United also brought in Pity Martinez, an exciting Argen- tine midfielder, from River Plate. Though he ha had his fair share of first-season strug- gles, he has shown flashes of the player he can become when on top of his game.

Coach It was not easy for Atlanta to replace Martino, who left after last season’s championship to coach Mexico men’s national team. The Five Stripes went big with their next hire, bringing in former Ajax and Inter Milan boss Frank de Boer. A defender for Barcelona and the Dutch national team at the height of his playing days, de Boer had an incredi- ble run as Ajax coach from 2010-16, posting a record of 158-47-57. After that, failed stints at Inter in Italy and Crystal Palace in England seemingly spelled the end of top jobs for him. Unlike traditional Dutch coaches, de Boer got away from the 4-3-3 formation in the latter portion of this season following the rough start. His new 3-4-3 approach has been more conducive for At- lanta’s vaunted attack and midfield groups.

Fans From the team’s first home match at Bobby Dodd Stadi- um to its consistent sellouts and 36,000 season ticket- holders at Mercedes-Benz Sta- dium, the support for United from the city of Atlanta has been remarkable. The United set an MLS at- tendance record in early Au- gust when 72,548 fans took in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy. Their average atten- dance this season fell to 52,510 from the 2018 league- record mark of 53,002. The biggest and most prominent supporters group is Terminus Legion. With a lo- go and name drawn from At- lanta’s railroad history, the group supports all levels of soccer in Atlanta and makes trips to Orlando City for rivalry games there. Three other groups — Fac- tion, Footie Mob, and Resur- gence — are also well-repre- sented at Five Stripes match- es.

Dan Shulman can be reached at [email protected].

Krejci looks unlikely

to go against Lightning

By Matt Porter
GLOBE STAFF
DavidKrejcileft Wednesday’s
practice midway through, and it
seems the veteran center, who has
had a rough go of it
healthwise, may not
be ready to face Tam-
pa on Thursday at
TD Garden.
“Tomorrow we’ll see how he is,”
coachBruceCassidysaid after the
team practiced in Brighton. “I’d put
him as day-to-day.”
As such, the Bruins (5-1-0) are at
risk of starting a tough stretch with-
out their No. 2 center. After Thurs-
day’s date with the Lightning (3-2-1),
they have a home-away series with
the Maple Leafs, beginning Saturday
inTorontoandreturningTuesdayto
Boston. After those Atlantic Division
games, the Bruins host the Blues next
Saturday in a Stanley Cup Final re-
match. That starts a back-to-back
that takes them to New York to face
the Rangers the following evening.
Krejci, who skated two shifts in
the preseason because of an undis-
closed lower body ailment, departed
Monday’s win over the Ducks after
seven shifts and 4:43 of ice time. This
time the injury is listed as “upper
body,” and he was likely felled by a
cross-check from Anaheim’sRyan
Getzlafin the first period. Cassidy
said he hoped Tuesday’s off day
would help Krejci recover.
Once the 33-year-old pivot left
Wednesday’s
practice, the Bru-
ins’ middle lines
were jumbled at
centerandright
wing.Charlie
Coyletook Krej-
ci’s spot at No. 2
center, andBrett
Ritchiemoved up
to play right
wing.Karson
Kuhlman,who
had been Krejci’s
right-hand man,
moved down to
No.3,withPar
Lindholmat cen-
ter andDavid
Backesworking
in. The first and
fourth lines re-
mained the
same:Brad
Marchand-Pa-
triceBergeron-
DavidPastrnak
up top, andJoa-
kimNordstrom-
SeanKuraly-
ChrisWagnerat the bottom of the
lineup.
TheJakeDebrusk-Krejci-Kuhl-
man line is stuck on zero goals
through six games, though both De-
Brusk and Kuhlman saw goals disal-
lowed on close calls last Thursday in
Colorado. Boston’s top line has
scored 11 of the team’s 16 goals.
Krejci dealt with numerous inju-
ries in recent years, including a re-
covery from hip surgery, but last year
he was fully healthy. He played in all
but one game — resting in Game No.
81 along with several veterans — and
tied his career high in points (73).

Lightingitup

The Lightning have a new look
this year: they’re loading up.
CoachJonCoopercombined cap-
tainStevenStamkoswith returning
Art Ross winnerNikitaKucherovand
23-year-old standoutBraydenPoint,
giving one trio three of the league’s
top 13 returning scorers.
They’ve been together since Point,
who sat out the first three games of
the season recovering from hip sur-

gery, returned. They combined for 11 points in their first game as a starting trio, a 7-3 win over the Leafs last Thursday. Stamkos, shifting from center to wing, has eight points in six games (4-4—8). Kucherov has scored three times on eight shots (3-5—8). Point has a comparatively pedestrian 2-1—3 line in three games. They have nine of the Lightning’s 23 goals. “They’ve got good players there,” Cassidy said, “however they mix ’em up. Their top six is excellent, their third line has lots of speed, they’re younger, [Mathieu]Joseph,[Antho- ny]Cirelli, and can really motor.” Because of that kind of power, Cassidy wasn’t pretending it was just another game on the schedule. The Lightning, who tied the NHL record of 62 wins last year, KO’d the Bruins in the second round in 2018. They were on another Round 2 collision course with Boston last year, until Co- lumbus shocked them in a first- round sweep. “Definitely a measuring-stick game for us,” Cassidy said of the Bolts, who added veterans KevinShatten- kirkandPatMa- roonin the off- season. “They’ve been at the top of the division now for a few years. We look at it as certainly a big- ger challenge than a lot of other nights. Rivalry? I’d say it’s trending that way. I don’t think it’s our top one, but it’s becoming one. When you have good games that go back and forth, that’s how the rivalry starts.” When discussing Boston’s top ri- vals, Cassidy mentions Toronto first. “I would like to think we’ll be bet- ter for 60 minutes over the next three games,” he said, “just because of what’s at stake.”

NoreturnsetforMiller DefensemanKevanMiller, who had a pair of knee surgeries in the spring, is skating on his own, but a return date is not clear. “So far so good,” Cassidy said. “He’s working hard on the drills he’s been getting.”

... Tampa’s Cooper visited the Bos-
ton College men’s team, a speaking
engagement of which Shattenkirk —
a proud son of BU — likely disap-
proved.

Follow Matt Porter on Twitter at @mattyports

BRUINS

NOTEBOOK

JOHN RAOUX/ASSOCIATED PRESS Argentine forward Hector Villalba (right) has proven to be a skilled playmaker in his third year with Atlanta.

KATHRYN RILEY/GETTY IMAGES Charlie Coyle will take over as the No. 2 center if David Krejci can’t play against the Lightning.

GENE J. PUSKAR/ASSOCIATED PRESS WORKING OVERTIME— Brandon Tanev (right) celebrates his OT goal with Sam Lafferty as Pittsburgh handed Colorado its first loss of the season Wednesday night.

The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

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