{allcanada} Lobjanidze scores goal in each half to rally Atlanta United past Montreal

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ATLANTA (AP) — Saba Lobjanidze scored a goal in each half and Atlanta United rallied to beat CF Montreal 3-1 on Saturday night.

Matty Longstaff took a pass from Prince Owusu and scored in the sixth minute to put Montreal (3-7-0) on top early. It was Longstaff’s second goal of the Major League Soccer season and his fourth in 67 career appearances. Owusu collected his fourth assist, one off his career high set last season.

Lobjanidze used assists from Alexey Miranchuk and Pedro Amador in the 41st minute to score and pull Atlanta United (3-7-1) even. Lobjanidze failed to score in 33 appearances last season. He had 12 goals through his first 39 matches with the club.

Miranchuk set up Emmanuel Latte Lath for his second goal of the campaign six minutes into stoppage time for a 2-1 lead at halftime. Miranchuk’s assists were his first two of the season, while Latte Lath scored for the ninth time in 41 career matches.

Lobjanidze scored five minutes into the second half for a two-goal advantage. Eighteen-year-old rookie midfielder Cooper Sanchez notched his third assist.

Lucas Hoyos had four saves in his 10th start for Atlanta United in his first season in the league.

Thomas Gillier stopped two shots for Montreal in his 17th career start.

Atlanta United improves to 9-5-5 in the all-time series with Montreal, including a 7-1-1 record at home.

UP NEXT

CF Montreal: Hosts Orlando City next Saturday, May 9.

Atlanta: Hosts the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, May 9.

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{allcanada} Oilers’ McDavid played with foot/ankle fracture in round 1 of playoffs

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Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed on Saturday that captain Connor McDavid played through a foot injury in the first round of the playoffs.

During the team’s end-of-season media availabilities, Knoblauch said that both McDavid and forward Jason Dickinson dealt with fractures in the foot/ankle area in the team’s first-round exit against the Anaheim Ducks.

“With Connor and Dickinson, both had fractures around the foot/ankle area,” said Knoblauch. “Playing through a lot of pain. And yeah, that was the two most significant injuries. They spent a lot of time with the training staff getting through that.

“Obviously it affected their play but a lot of admiration for them for wanting to be out there and contributing as much as they did during the playoffs.”

In Edmonton’s six playoff games this season, McDavid had six points but had just one goal and was a -8 through the series. He was a game-time decision due to the injury ahead of Game 5, but played.

McDavid said after the Game 6 loss on Thursday that the Oilers struggled all season long to find consistency coming off back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

“We’ve been searching for consistency all year and we didn’t find it here in the playoffs,” said McDavid. “It’s tough. We were an average team all year. An average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed.”

During the regular season, McDavid scored 48 goals with 138 points in 82 games to capture his sixth career Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top point-getter. He is also one of the three nominees for the Ted Lindsay Award, alongside San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov.

At Milano Cortina 2026 in February, McDavid scored two goals with 13 points in six games to help Team Canada capture the silver medal after losing in overtime to the United States in the gold-medal game.

Prior to the 2025-26 campaign, McDavid, who was set to be a pending unrestricted free agent, signed a two-year, $25 million contract extension with Edmonton.

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{allcanada} Canadiens ‘not here for a ribbon’ entering Game 7 of Eastern 1st Round

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SAINT-HUBERT, Quebec -- The Montreal Canadiens are in it to win it. They’re in no way prepared to simply reflect on another season of progress just yet.

That’s their mindset entering Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa on Sunday. It’s their second attempt to win the best-of-7 series after a 1-0 overtime loss in Game 6 at Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday.

“We’re not here for a ribbon -- we want to move on,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said before they boarded a flight Saturday. “And I think this is where we’ve proved this is where we are now and we worked to get to this spot. You know, you play a (team like) Tampa (Bay) in the first round and you know you’re going to need everything, and we’ve delivered that. And it’s just to keep going.

“It’s a good spot to be in and I think the guys have enjoyed the process and also are hungry to keep moving forward.”

Montreal will be looking for its first playoff series win since 2021, a six-game win against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. That edition of the Canadiens, led by goalie Carey Price and defenseman Shea Weber, lost in five games to the Lightning in the Cup Final.

That surprising playoff run proved to be essentially a last hurrah for Price and Weber, but it was an invaluable experience for the likes of forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher and Phillip Danault.

All six played in the Cup Final that year and are still with the Canadiens following a rebuild that began when St. Louis was hired as interim coach during the 2021-22 season.

After improving each season since three straight last-place finishes in the Atlantic Division, Montreal clinched a playoff berth last season. The Canadiens lost to the Washington Capitals in five games in the first round, but their young roster acquired valuable playoff experience, notably forwards Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov, defenseman Lane Hutson and goalie Jakub Dobes.

They’ve needed every bit of that experience in this series, which has seen each of the first six games decided by one goal, and four requiring overtime. Montreal has yet to trail by more than one.

“Every game in this series has felt like a Game 7 -- it’s tight,” St. Louis said. “… I liked the number of chances we created yesterday, the 2-on-1s. I felt like we were able to find space yesterday, and that’s encouraging.”

On the eve of Game 7, St. Louis feels his young team has the ability to take advantage of its latest opportunity to progress.

“I don’t think it’s one thing, but I think the guys are very confident that we can get the job done,” St. Louis said.

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{allcanada} An eight-run eighth inning lifts Blue Jays past Twins

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kazuma Okamoto hit his third home run in two days, Brandon Valenzuela homered in an eight-run eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 11-4 Saturday afternoon.

Lenyn Sosa and Myles Straw also went deep for Toronto, which scored a season high in runs while winning for the sixth time in eight games, but saw George Springer leave with an injury.

Byron Buxton homered for the Twins for the third straight game and fifth in six outings, but the beleaguered Minnesota bullpen cost the team again.

Eight Blue Jays scored against Luis García (0-1) and Anthony Banda before an out was recorded in the eighth inning. Okamoto and Sosa had RBI singles, and Davis Schneider ended an 0-for-27 skid with a two-run double before Valenzuela’s three-run shot.

In the past six games, Twins relievers have allowed 20 runs in 20 1-3 innings.

Springer left the game in the third inning after being hit by a pitch on the left foot. The four-time All-Star came off the 10-day injured list Wednesday after fouling off a pitch and breaking his left big toe on April 11 in another game against the Twins.

Manager John Schneider said X-rays showed no new fracture.

“Just the way he reacted it wasn't like excruciating pain, so hopefully he'll be all right in a day or so," Schneider said, adding he had already planned to give Springer the day off on Sunday.

Buxton hit Minnesota’s first leadoff home run of the season — and 21st of his career — with a fly ball that landed in the flower bed in the two-row right field overhang.

Sosa and Straw went deep in the second.

Trailing 4-2, Okamoto hit a 453-foot solo home run over the bullpens in the sixth against Justin Topa. According to Sportsnet Stats, his 16 RBIs since April 18 are tops in the majors.

In seven innings, Toronto’s Dylan Cease (2-1) allowed four runs — three earned — and struck out seven. In his third career start, Connor Prielipp allowed two runs on three hits for the Twins, striking out four in five innings.

Up next

RHP Trey Yesavage (1-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his second start of the season for Toronto in Sunday’s series finale. RHP Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.76 ERA) pitches for Minnesota.

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