Sports

3 Keys: Maple Leafs at Lightning, Game 3 of Eastern 1st Round

Published

1 year ago

April 23, 2023

Harry Miller

(A2) MAPLE LEAFS at (A3) LIGHTNING

Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3

Best-of-7 series tied 1-1

7 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUNX

TAMPA — Victor Hedman was a full participant in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s morning skate and will be a game time decision against the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

The Lightning defenseman sustained an undisclosed injury in the first period of Tampa Bay’s 7-3 victory in Game 1 on Tuesday and did not return for the final two periods. He did not dress for Game 2 on Thursday, a 7-2 Maple Leafs win that tied the best-of-seven series 1-1.

The 32-year-old participated in line rushes and was lined up with Nick Perbix for drills. He did not seem limited at any time during the 20-minute skate.

Coach Jon Cooper said Hedman will take part in the pregame skate after which a decision will be made.

“Cross your fingers,” Cooper said. Hopefully he will be ready to go.”

The Lightning defense already is depleted with Erik Cernak once again ruled out after taking an illegal check to the head from Toronto forward Michael Bunting in the second period of Game 1. The Maple Leafs forward was suspended three games for his actions and won’t be eligible to return until Game 5 at Toronto on Thursday.

Defenseman Zach Bogosian is expected to play in Cernak’s place for the second consecutive game. If Hedman can’t go, defensean Haydn Fleury is the leading candidate to replace him, as he did in Game 2.

No matter who does or does not dress for Tampa Bay, Toronto must focus on its own collective game.

“You can’t control what’s going on over there,” Maple Leafs center Ryan O’Reilly said. “We have a game plan and we’re going to stick to it.

“Obviously he’s an important piece of their team but it’s more important to concentrate on what we need to do.”

Here are 3 keys for Game 3:

1. Get out of the gates fast

In Game 1 it took only 78 seconds for the Lightning to take a 1-0 lead, an advantage they did not relinquish. In Game 2 it was forward Mitchell Marner who got the Maple Leafs off to a good start, scoring just 47 seconds into a game they never trailed in.

In each instance, the early goal set the tone for the remainder of the game.

“It’s going to be important, especially on the road,” O’Reilly said. “We have to be aware of that.”

2. Let’s get physical

Tampa Bay set the tone in Game 1 by implementing a physical forecheck from the opening face-off, with forwards Corey Perry and Pat Maroon setting the early tone. In Game 2 it was Toronto’s turn, with defensemen Luke Schenn and Jake McCabe leading the hit parade.

“They have a lot of skilled players so you have to make it hard on them,” Schenn said. “We need to be physical right from the get-go.”

3. Sin bin blues

Each team’s power play has been effective through the first two games; the Lightning are 4-for-11 with the man advantage in the series (36.4 percent) and the Maple Leafs are 4-for-10 (40 percent), causing coaches Cooper and Sheldon Keefe to stress the importance of staying out of the penalty box.

Each team has looked dangerous on the power play, and O’Reilly said the solution is simple.

“Know where the line is, don’t cross it, and stay out of the box,” he said.

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Calle Jarnkrok — Auston Matthews — Mitchell Marner

Alexander Kerfoot — John Tavares — William Nylander

Matthew Knies — Ryan O’Reilly — Noel Acciari

Zach Aston-Reese — David Kampf — Sam Lafferty

Jake McCabe — TJ Brodie

Mark Giordano — Justin Holl

Morgan Rielly — Luke Schenn

Ilya Samsonov

Joseph Woll

Scratched: Erik Gustafsson, Timothy Liljegren, Conor Timmins, Wayne Simmonds, Erik Kallgren

Injured: Jake Muzzin (neck), Victor Mete (upper body), Nicholas Robertson (shoulder), Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder), Matt Murray (head)

Suspended: Michael Bunting

Lightning projected lineup

Steven Stamkos — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Alex Killorn

Ross Colton — Nicholas Paul — Tanner Jeannot

Pat Maroon — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Corey Perry

Victor Hedman — Nick Perbix

Mikhail Sergachev — Darren Raddysh

Ian Cole — Zach Bogosian

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Haydn Fleury

Injured: Erik Cernak (upper body), Michael Eyssimont (upper body)

Status report

Bunting will serve the second game of his suspension for his hit on Cernak in Game 1. … When asked if the Maple Leafs would have any lineup changes, Keefe replied, “Maybe,” but did not elaborate any further. … Eyssimont, a forward, participated in the Lightning morning skate Saturday, but is unlikely to play.

NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report

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Sports

Teravainen nets four points as Blackhawks beat winless Oilers 5-2

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and two assists and Connor Bedard had a goal and two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks captured their first victory of the season, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.

Seth Jones also had a goal and two assists in his 800th career NHL game and Philipp Kurashev scored the other goal for the Blackhawks, who improved to 1-1-1 on the season.

Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers, who fell to 0-2 to start the season on the heels of making it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season before losing out to the Florida Panthers. Edmonton has been outscored 11-2 in its first two games.

Petr Mrazek had 35 saves in the Chicago net, while Calvin Pickard made 15 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Blackhawks: Former Oiler Taylor Hall now has eight points (2G, 6A) in 12 career games against the team that drafted him first overall in 2010, picking up an assist on Chicago’s first-period goal. There were four former first overall picks playing in the contest in Hall and Bedard for the Hawks and Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Edmonton. Nugent-Hopkins picked up his 700th career point in the contest.

Oilers: Oilers defenceman and Edmonton-area product Brett Kulak suited up for his 500th career NHL game. The 30-year-old has been a mainstay since arriving from Montreal at the 2023 NHL trade deadline, playing in all 183 regular-season and 53 playoff games that he could. He has recorded an even 100 points in his career.

KEY MOMENT

The Blackhawks took a two-goal lead with six minutes to play in the middle frame as Bedard used a defender as a screen before ripping a perfect shot glove-side past Pickard for his first of the season.

KEY STAT

With his third period power-play goal, Oilers forward Draisaitl now has a 16-game point streak (13-18-31) against Chicago dating to Oct. 28, 2018 and passed teammate Connor McDavid (15-game streak versus New Jersey) for the NHL’s longest active point streak against one opponent.

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Wrap up a four-game road trip in Calgary against the Flames on Tuesday.

Oilers: Host the Flames on Sunday in the third game of a season-starting four-game set at home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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Sports

Huberdeau scores twice, Wolf has 37 saves in Flames’ 6-3 win over Flyers

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and two assists for the Calgary Flames in a 6-3 win in their home-opener over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Nazem Kadri scored twice, including an empty-netter with MacKenzie Weegar and Mikael Backlund each contributing a goal for Calgary (2-0-0).

Flames goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 37 of 40 shots in his season debut.

Travis Konecny scored twice, including one short-handed, and Joel Farabee also had a goal for Philadelphia (1-1-0).

Flyers starter Ivan Fedotov made 27 saves in his first start of the season.

The Flyers played their second road game in as many nights to start their season after a 3-2 shootout win over the Canucks in Vancouver.

The Flames overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Canucks 6-5 in overtime to start their season Wednesday.

TAKEAWAYS

Flyers: Slow start after beating Vancouver in a shootout 24 hours earlier, but scored twice in the second period and trailed by a goal heading into the third.

Flames: Wolf was the difference early stopping all 18 shots he faced in the first period and 37 overall. Calgary’s first goal that deflected off Huberdeau’s shoulder was lucky, but the winger set up Weegar perfectly for a one-timer and a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, assisted on a pair of power-play goals and generated the Flames’ fifth goal.

KEY MOMENT

The Flames converted a five-on-three in the second period into Kadri’s power-play goal and a two-goal lead. Wolf reached back into his crease during a scramble to clear the puck and deny Konecny a potential equalizing goal midway through the third period.

KEY STAT

Philadelphia’s power play, which was the worst in the NHL last season, was 1-for-4 on Saturday and 2-for-8 after two games. Calgary’s went 2-for-5 to be 4-for-9 after two games.

UP NEXT

Flames: Finish a back-to-back weekend on Sunday in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Flyers: Follow the Flames into Edmonton on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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Sports

Caufield scores twice, Canadiens beat Senators 4-1

Published

2 days ago

October 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens grabbed a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Emil Heineman and Cole Caufield and went on to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday at the Bell Centre.

After Alex Newhook boosted the Canadiens’ lead to 3-0 early in the third period, Tim Stutzle ended Sam Montembeault’s bid for a second consecutive shutout. Montembeault, who made 48 saves in a season-opening win over Toronto, made 24 saves.

Caufield completed the scoring with his second goal of the game and fourth of the season as the Canadiens improved to 2-1, while the Senators slipped to 1-1.

Montreal defenceman Mike Matheson was awarded a penalty shot when he was upended by Jake Sanderson on a rush to the net during a third-period power play. Linus Ullmark, who finished the game with 21 saves, got a piece of the shot which hit the post and went wide.

TAKEAWAYS

The Canadiens won the battle of special teams. Heineman scored a power-play goal with one second remaining in the advantage as Montreal went 1-for-4 with the extra man. Ottawa failed to score on four power plays and were held to three shots on goal.

KEY MOMENT

After facing only four shots in the first period, Montembeault was under pressure in the second period when the Senators outshot the Canadiens 12-3.

KEY STAT

The Canadiens have had one of the worst power plays in the NHL over the past three seasons and the outlook for this season wasn’t bright after the team went 0-for-30 in the pre-season. But Heineman scored his first NHL goal on a power play in the first period to give Montreal a power-play goal in each of its first three regular-season games.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon.

Canadiens: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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