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Maple Leafs left singing Blues, then swing three-player trade with Arizona – Toronto Sun

Published

3 years ago

February 20, 2022

Harry Miller

Publishing date:

Feb 19, 2022 • 11 hours ago • 3 minute read • 15 Comments

St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn (10) watches the puck deflect off Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell (35) for a goal at Scotiabank Arena. Photo by Dan Hamilton /USA TODAY Sports

William Nylander was up and down like the Stockholm stock market — and so were a lot of volatile Maple Leafs.

Negatives eventually overwhelmed positives and put Toronto in the red against the Blues, a team that counter-rushes as well as any NHL power. St. Louis emerged 6-3 winners at Scotiabank Arena, with the Leafs completing a three-player depth trade with Arizona after the game.

Nylander scored two for the Leafs after a long drought that had produced just two goals since New Year’s Day. He also wore the goat horns on yet another Toronto too-many-men call. But he was hardly alone, with coverage and turnovers an issue throughout the team all evening.

“We battled back well to tie it (3-3) at the beginning of the third and just lost our man,” Nylander said of Brandon Saad’s winner.

Nylander’s line was on for that goal, but defenceman Timothy Liljegren gave the puck up at the Leafs blueline, a mistake ending with some nifty passing and Jack Campbell flailing with no support.

On another 2-on-1 goal, Campbell stretched to make a great pad save, but Brayden Schenn was still left alone to knock in his own rebound while lying on the ice.

“Jack doesn’t have a chance to be good tonight,” coach Sheldon Keefe said dismissively of his team’s inability to handle the Blues. “He gives up five (and one empty-netter) but some of them were gifts.”

Long after his comments, the Leafs announced they’d acquired veteran forward Ryan Dzingel and defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Arizona Coyotes for idled forward Nick Ritchie and Toronto’s choice of a third-round selection in 2023 or a second-round selection in 2025.

The 6-foot-2, 208-pound Lyubushkin, a right-handed shot, has nine assists in 46 games this year, while the unproductive Ritchie experiment ends and he gets out of AHL limbo. It’s unknown if the new duo will get to Montreal in time for Monday’s game against the Canadiens.

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Saturday was a sloppy start for the Leafs blueliners and for Campbell. He left a fat blocker rebound for Blues’ sniper Pavel Buchnevich, a rush generated by GTA grads Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Then came a 2-on-1 drop pass by popular ex-Leaf Tyler Bozak to Klim Kostin, who picked the far corner.

Campbell settled down and Nylander was twice able to solve Ville Husso, a fine Finn currently leading the league in goals-against average. Nylander broke away on a delayed penalty in the first period and also got velocity on an Alex Kerfoot feed to tie it. But that was answered 29 seconds later by Schenn.

After 15 games without a goal following his hot start in January, defenceman TJ Brodie stepped into a drive past a partially screened Husso.

“We knew they are a rush team,” a glum Brodie said. “Three or four guys, a second wave that comes.”

A Ryan O’Reilly tip off a point shot clinched it.

The Blues seemed to get away with a bench minor after the Leafs were flagged yet again. Nylander thought his mate was at the gate before he touched the puck, but all these too-many-men brain cramps are grating on Keefe.

“We’ve had some under different circumstances and sometimes things happen,” Keefe said. “Sometimes they are bang-bang, but this one tonight was not good. We had more than enough time to process what was going on and let that puck go by.”

None of the evening’s goals were on the power play, with the two top units in the league getting just one chance each. The Leafs’ opportunity was after Torey Krug got an extra roughing minor while wrestling Michael Bunting.

With the attempt to add Adam Brooks to the roster this week thwarted on the waiver wire by Winnipeg, Liljegren was re-inserted as the 21st man on the roster and put back in the lineup as Jake Muzzin’s partner. Sandin went back to the left side after one game on the right with Justin Holl, while Travis Dermott sat.

The Leafs will practise Sunday before games against two current non-playoff teams, Montreal and Columbus, continuing to clear up unfinished business on the schedule from the COVID-19 cancellations around Christmas.

It was the second game at SBA with half-capacity since the most recent pandemic regulations were eased, an announced crowd of 9,098.

Since just before the SBA opened in 1999, the Blues have now built a record of 14-1-2 in 17 games in Hogtown. They were also missing injured leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko

lhornby@postmedia.com

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Canada to face three-time champion Germany in Davis Cup quarterfinals

Published

16 mins ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.

Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.

World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.

The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.

Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.

Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.

The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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Canadian men climb two places to No. 38 in latest FIFA world rankings

Published

17 mins ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.

Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively

Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.

It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.

Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.

The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.

Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.

The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.

Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.

San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.

Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.

Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024

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Brian White scores second-half goal, earns Whitecaps 1-1 draw with Dynamo

Published

10 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Anne Joseph

HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.

Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.

Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.

Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.

Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.

Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.

Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.

The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.

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