MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis was at a loss for words in describing the message he wants to convey to the Canadiens after their 5-2 loss in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series with the Washington Capitals.
One thing was very clear, however: his dissatisfaction with the officiating throughout the course of Sunday’s game, that left the Canadiens in a 3-1 hole with Game 5 on Wednesday in Washington.
“I’ll be careful with my words, but it’s hard to watch some of these calls,” St. Louis said. “Tonight, the mandate was about embellishing. Kent (Hughes, Montreal’s general manager) talks with the supervisor each game day. We are told the things they want to clean up. Embellishment was one of them.”
Rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes also did not mince words when it came to the work of referees Dan O’Rourke and Frederick L’Ecuyer.
“I don’t want to point fingers,” Dobes said. “I never, ever do that. As a hockey player, I’ve never ever done it. I don’t want to be specific about who could be better. I just hope we don’t get these referees in Washington, that’s it. I’m not going to point fingers.”
With under two minutes to play in the second period, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin appeared to make contact with the head of Canadiens center Jake Evans as he entered the offensive zone. Ovechkin was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for interference on the play. While Cole Caufield scored Montreal’s second power-play goal on the ensuing penalty, it was not nearly enough in the eyes of Dobes.
“I seriously don’t understand why it happened,” Dobes said. “I feel like the game was pretty much over when Ovi (Ovechkin) took a hit on Jake. I think it was at least (worth) a suspension for a game, but I guess not.
“I don’t have answers for you guys. I have to watch it again, but it’s just unfortunate because you don’t want to see one of our better players skating around the ice concussed. It was just a weird game today, I guess.”
While Evans was able to finish the game, the same could not be said for Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier. He took a hard hit up high from Capitals forward Tom Wilson in the third period, causing the 28-year-old to fall against the boards.
As Carrier slowly made his way across the ice toward the Canadiens’ bench, the Capitals’ Brandon Duhaime took advantage of a bouncing puck that eluded Montreal’s Mike Matheson and Dobes to tie the game at 2-all.
“I was ready for the first shot,” Dobes said. “I don’t even know what happened. I feel like it hit Cole (Caufield) and bounced over my pad or something like that. It’s whatever, hockey, I guess.
“I felt like it’s going to be a whistle because they were in their defensive zone and far away, but I guess I don’t really know the rules. I feel like it should have been a whistle. It was kind of a scary hit, but I guess the rules don’t apply for everyone in this league. I have no idea.”
It marked the second time Carrier was forced to leave the game for Montreal during Game 4. He had narrowly evaded a hit from Ovechkin along the far end of the Canadiens’ bench in the first period. Nevertheless, the near-collision left Carrier shaken up. He retreated to the locker room, but was back on the ice for the start of the second period.
St. Louis had no further update on Carrier’s status after the game.
“He’s a warrior,” St. Louis said. “He’s consistent. You know exactly what you are going to get. It’s hard to see him go out on a play like that.”
Despite their frustration and injury woes, both Dobes and St. Louis are turning their sights to a pivotal Game 5. With Montreal one loss away from elimination, there is no margin for error.
“We’ve got to win at least one in Washington, right?” Dobes said. “That’s how we qualify for the next round. I feel like it’s an opportunity.
“From my point of view, I don’t take it as a negative, it’s an experience. We’ll learn from it. We have so many young players. The more games we get, the sooner the better for us. I’m excited for a trip to Washington.”
“It’s a resilient group,” said St. Louis. “We know we have to win a game in Washington. We’re going to do that and extend the series. We have a really confident group. We’re going to continue.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
Montreal Canadiens' David Savard (58) reacts as Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (8)falls into the bench during the first period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Montreal Canadiens' Christian Dvorak (28) and Washington Capitals' Andrew Mangiapane (88) battle by the boards during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Montreal Canadiens' Christian Dvorak (28) is checked into the boards by Washington Capitals' Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) during the first period of an NHL hockey playoff game in Montreal on Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.
With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?
“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”
Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.
Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.
Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”
Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.
“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.
Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.
Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."
“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.
The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.
The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.
“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”
Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.
Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.
“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”
Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”
Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.
“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.
Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”
“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.
AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.
In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)
