TORONTO – Perhaps it was after Connor Hellebuyck lost his stick, yet still scrambled to deny Mitch Marner right at the blue paint.
Maybe it was when the reigning Vezina champ stoned one of the three Toronto Maple Leafs — William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Pierre Engvall — on their clear-cut breakaways.
Or when Paul “Bunyan” Stastny lumberjacked Morgan Rielly’s stick to shards in overtime, a slash that went uncalled, and three Winnipeg Jets forwards closed in on Frederik Andersen’s crease, sniffing another victory.
But at some point prior to Thursday night’s storybook climax — as Toronto generated its 45th high-danger chance (to the Jets’ 11) and Hellebuyck made his 70th save through two games — a thought flashed through Sheldon Keefe’s mind.
What if we dominate play but come up empty, again? What if this skid extends to four and Winnipeg creeps within striking distance of the division lead? How do I convince my room that they’re on the right track?
“We very easily could have been on the other side of this one here tonight,” said Coach Keefe, after a roller-coaster 4-3 win that required four periods and line juggling and the kitchen sink.
“How do you frame that? How do you stay with it [considering] the fact you’re not getting the results and all of that?”
Zach Hyman says the Maple Leafs will be served well by this recent bout of adversity.
Nylander, who could be seen firing a puck at the boards during a TV timeout, believes, sometimes, frustration is a good thing: “I like it.”
Embrace the suck.
Or, as Joe Thornton said, wisely: “It’s a long year. You’ve got to enjoy the process. There’s going to be downs, but you fight through.”
Ostensibly, the sage old Leaf was talking about hockey. But on the anniversary of the pandemic shutting down sports and so much more, Jumbo could well have been speaking for all of us.
An earlier edition of this same Maple Leafs core might have wilted every time Hellebuyck windmilled the leather or tracked another cross-seamed pass perfectly.
They might’ve made passive-aggressive comments about whistles that went unblown or condemned their puck luck.
Or fell out of sync once Keefe mixed his top nine on the fly, trying Thornton alongside John Tavares and William Nylander.
So, it is saying something that the Leafs’ top-end talent never stopped pushing through their mini slump.
Morgan Rielly notched two assists, bringing his total to 19. Marner’s 11th even-strength goal vaulted him into a tie for second overall in that category. Tavares drew three defenders on an up-the-gut rush, then dished to Nylander for a beautiful one-timer. Hyman, Marner, Nylander and Auston Matthews — contributing another two-point night with a hurting hand — each registered a minimum of five shots on goal.
“We were generating a lot. It just felt like a matter of time before it would go in for us. I thought the guys were really working,” Keefe said, letting pride encroach his relief. “To get rewarded with a win certainly feels good.”
Nylander, in particular, shone bright, generating his own breakaway with a rare shot block, stripping pucks in the neutral zone, and pumping a game-high six shots.
“Willy Nylander had his best game of the season today,” Keefe enthused. “He was outstanding. It was great to see him get rewarded with a goal, because he certainly earned it with how he was playing. I’ve been really encouraged.
“He just looked determined — determined to score, determined to make a difference.”
A win like this, general manager Kyle Dubas would argue, is why you invest tens of millions in the difference-makers.
Quadruple down on talent.
Give enough looks to enough skilled players and, eventually, they’ll solve even the hottest goaltender.
Which is precisely what Matthews did, 59 seconds into a hectic overtime. Bum wrist and all.
Funny how the hockey gods taketh and giveth.
When Stastny chopped Rielly’s stick in sudden death and no penalty was called, Marner hit the deck to break up the Jets’ chance while Rielly fetched a fresh twig.
“There was a lot of yelling going on in that D-zone when Mo did break his stick. Me and Tone [Matthews] were kind of snow-angeling down there, playing whatever we could,” Marner described.
Marner head-manned the puck to Rielly, now in fine position to spring a gasping Matthews, who faked shot and roofed a buttery backhand deke for his league-leading sixth game-winner.
The move?
“I think it’s difficult for a lot of people; it’s not difficult for Tony [Matthews]. I’ve seen him pull it off a lot of times,” Marner said. “No one’s really surprised by it, regardless of how he’s feeling.”
“He’s a star. That’s what they do,” Keefe added.
“The condition of his hand and stuff aside, he was quite tired there, too. That was a long shift. A long shift in overtime. Overtime shifts are difficult. Just to have the energy to get up the ice and put himself in that spot amongst the chaos of the broken stick and all of that nonsense that was happening. That’s big-time stuff.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
