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TAMPA — The fourth line is not going to win this playoff series for the Maple Leafs but the Leafs better make damn certain that it doesn’t lose them the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
If you do the math on the series so far, the greatest Leaf concerns going in haven’t seemed to be concerns at all.
TAMPA — The fourth line is not going to win this playoff series for the Maple Leafs but the Leafs better make damn certain that it doesn’t lose them the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Through two games, the evidence is troubling.
Wayne Simmonds, limited at this stage of his career, played all of five minutes and 25 seconds in Game 2 Wednesday night. In that tiny amount of time, he got scored on, he took two penalties that resulted in two Tampa Bay goals — and really that was it for the Leafs.
They weren’t coming back from that implosion.
The great 20 minutes Auston Matthews played, setting up two goals, hearing the MVP chants at a fired-up Scotiabank Arena, were undermined by the Leafs’ inability to play with discipline. The fine 23 minutes Mitch Marner played, with his second goal in two playoff games, with two more points, a plus-three night, six shots on goal, was undone by those who played the least.
In Game 1, Kyle Clifford, barely an NHL player, a curious choice to be in the lineup ahead of Jason Spezza, played all of 49 seconds before he was tossed from the game for an illogical hit on Ross Colton that cost the Leafs five minutes of being shorthanded — and cost Clifford a one-game suspension.
That was seven minutes into Game 1. The Leafs penalty killing happened to be superb and aggressive with Clifford out of the game — and that shorthanded situation turned out to be momentum building for Toronto.
That was fortunate. It could easily have been their undoing in the opener.
So to recap — two games played, three undisciplined, unnecessary penalties taken by players whose significance is limited at the best of times. Coach Sheldon Keefe made a decision before the series began that the Leafs were not to get pushed around by the Lightning. That pushing doesn’t happen when Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are on the ice. It doesn’t happen with Brayden Point. That doesn’t happen much even with the large Tampa defence.
It happens when the fourth line gets out there and Pat Maroon and Corey Perry do what they have made careers doing — throwing their opponents off, turning hockey games into pushing, shoving and punching matches.
That isn’t the Leafs game. They shouldn’t try and play it. Tampa fought 35 times this season, among the highest number in the NHL. The Leafs, even with a willing Simmonds, fought 12 times as a team, among the lower numbers in the league. To try to match the Tampa silliness has not worked in Toronto’s favour and will not work in the Leafs favour.
Keefe would be better off moving the veteran Spezza back into the lineup, which would also make their second power-play unit stronger, and taking out either Simmonds or Clifford — or both if they had alternatives. Unfortunately, they do not.
If you do the math on the series so far, the greatest Leaf concerns going in — how would Matthews and Marner perform, how playoff-ready is Jack Campbell — haven’t seemed to be concerns at all. Matthews and Marner have outplayed Kucherov and Stamkos to date. Campbell has been solid in goal.
The big line has scored four goals — one of them by Michael Bunting in his first playoff game — and through two games the red-hot Stamkos has no points at even strength, the brilliant playoff performer, Kucherov, has one even-strength point. The Leafs have allowed just two even-strength goals in two playoff games.
You do that throughout the series, you should win.
But when you take unnecessary penalties — and Alex Kerfoot took another one of those in Game 2 — you pay. Especially when the bounces go the way of Tampa Bay.
In Game 2, the first goal by Victor Hedman on the power play came when it appeared the Leafs had killed the penalty and thought incorrectly that time in the period was running out. They also got scored on while killing a penalty when David Kampf made a logical pass to teammate TJ Brodie in the defensive zone, only to find out that Brodie had lost his stick. He couldn’t take the pass.
The puck went to Tampa. Then it went into the net. Those were big goals in the first half of the game. But you can’t play a team with Hedman, Kucherov, Stamkos and Point on the power play and expect perfect penalty killing.
You have to be smart. You can’t pull a Kyle Clifford. You can’t be singled out the way Simmonds enabled the officials to single him out in Game 2. “I think I was the culprit,” Simmonds said afterwards, taking the hit for his unfortunate night. “Took two, they scored two, we lost by two.”
The job of the Leafs fourth line should be simple. Don’t get scored on. Don’t take unnecessary penalties. Stand up for yourselves. That’s it really. In Game 2, they got scored on and took penalties that resulted in goals. In Game 1, they took a whopper of an unnecessary penalty and survived it.
The Leafs don’t need the fourth line to win them anything here. But they can’t, under any circumstances, have their fourth-liners losing them games.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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