It’s HNIC, Toronto vs Montréal, and would you have bet on day one of the season this game would feature one team in the midst of a four-way contest in the Atlantic, and one team the first out of the playoffs?
Montréal’s injury troubles continue with three main players out of the lineup, possibly for the rest of the season. And tonight their assistant coach Luke Richardson is in Covid protocol. Meanwhile the Leafs have two new ones we should be paying attention to.
First Period
That was quick. Thirteen seconds in and Matthews opens the scoring while Bunting just prays this goes in.
1-0 Leafs
He’s on his knees, you see… oh, never mind.
with that goal matthews ties Syl Apps at 17th all time Leafs with 432, now 9 back of Wendel Clark for points Currently 14 behind Clark for goals
Timothy Liljegren gets stuck the lone defender on a rush against, and not only does he just calmly take it off the Canadiens’ player with a stick check, Mark Giordano is already back in case he needs help.
They are a Maple Leafs defensive pair, you recall.
Deep into the period, Erik Källgren makes his first save on Mike Hoffman in the slot.
Källgren finally has to make some more real saves:
Michael Bunting gives it away and the Leafs easily recover, but… well, onto the thoughts.
Thoughts
Montréal is not in this game beyond their own crease, which is exactly how it went against Florida for them.
Saint Marty dumping William Lagesson out there in his NHL debut against the Leafs top line is some kinda thing.
Maple Leafs with 73% xG.
Bunting looked really bad for a lot of the New Jersey game. He couldn’t complete a pass, and he’s done one boneheaded thing so far tonight. I hope he’s not turning back into a pumpkin.
Källgren seems to be coming out too far to challenge shooters in traffic, and if he keeps it up, someone’s going to get one in the gaping net behind him.
Second Period
Great fourth line shift that segues into Colin Blackwell playing a little with Matthews and Bunting.
The full top line just spins the Canadiens for an hour or so.
But you know how this goes, all it takes is one chance, and the Leafs have about six chances to regain the puck, and they never do. Brodie flips it up, trying for and easy dump out, and it doesn’t make it. A lot of Leafy defending from the forwards and the number two pair du jour results in this:
But wait!
Leafs get lucky.
Källgren with a good save from the point, and this is where Källgren is very good.
Yeah, that was my fault. Never say the goalie playing over his head is good. Not that this is his fault:
Tie Game
William Nylander lets a defender walk in and score. And then Morgan Rielly takes a penalty. And this game was all going so well! Shorty? Please?
Wow, Leafs get possession and everyone goes on the rush. That’s the closest thing to action in that two minutes.
By the way, Florida played a 5F PP vs the Habs the other night. I’d like to see the Leafs do that in two or three weeks when they get their next PP.
Montréal has uncovered the secret to playing the Leafs: make them defend. They’re getting a lot more chances in this period.
Källgren getting away with some stuff out there as the Canadiens put on a lot of pressure.
Blackwell flubs on an offensive play, and the Canadiens get a rush against. Blackwell gets back and defends well, but the Leafs take a penalty on the play.
Cole Caufield needs three tries on this power play, but he gets there eventually:
2-1 Montréal
Not the best PK the Leafs have ever produced.
That’s it for that period.
Thoughts
So how did we get here?
It’s not that, although for all the tiny amount of shots the Habs are getting at five-on-five, they aren’t wasting them.
It’s not even the power plays the Canadiens are getting because for all they scored on one, they had very few shots.
It’s really very simple: Erik Källgren can play at around average plus or minus a little, and tonight he’s minus, and Jake Allen is excellent.
Of course, it’s easier to play a goalie who is not really an NHL to 50 guy when you actually play a tight, error-free game. But that’s asking too much of these guys.
Third Period
Nylander has been bounced down to the third line after his very dumb move on the tying goal, Mikheyev up with Tavares.
Bunting still can draw penalties! The Leafs go to the power play.
The Leafs 2D, 3F second unit gets its debut. The theory is that starting it with both defenders makes the transition to five-on-five smoother. I remain very unconvinced it’s not because there aren’t enough good forwards right now with Kaše out.
Montréal take a holding call almost as obvious as the penalty to Rielly earlier, and the Leafs get another try on the power play.
Nylander with a goal.
Tie Game
I swear, every time Nylander does a dumb, he scores later.
Speaking of dumb, the Canadiens take a penalty on the scoring play. LOL.
Wow! Allen robs Marner on a great shot.
HUGE stop by Källgren on a shorty chance the Leafs very lazily defended. Very lazily.
Allen with another stop and this game is wide open, no one is playing for a tie here. Not yet, anyway.
Great third line shift with the defenders looking most likely to score. As it goes.
Lyubushkin with a chance in tight. He is a totally different player to who he was in Arizona, just in case you thought scouting was simple.
Holl gets a shot while the fourth line is also buzzing the net un-dangerously.
Matthews gets knocked down off the puck, and Paul Byron walks away and gets a clean look at Källgren and in it goes. Blame the ref and say that was tripping. Blame the defender if you like, but what’s the point of defending if the goalie can’t handle that kind of play?
3-2 for the worst team in the NHL who are beating the Leafs in a game they should have won. Hey… when has that happened before?
The Canadiens cap it off with an ENG, and I’ll resist making any bitter jokes here because Källgren is doing his best.
Thoughts
I like Blackwell, he passes the eyetest, but in a general way this fourth line is not really adding the right thing to the mix.
The Tavares line needs to be in the o-zone all the time. (See point above)
The third line is neato, but they are a “no goals against line” which is necessary, but not always the most necessary thing.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
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