SUNRISE, Fla. — Mitch Marner has repeatedly pointed out how little attention he pays to anything that doesn’t emanate from inside the Maple Leafs’ orbit.
The winger insists he stays off social media and doesn’t read or watch what’s being written or said.
With the pressure mounting, the fan base in a hockey-mad city panicking, and his team facing elimination down 3-0 in their second-round playoff series with the Florida Panthers, that tune hasn’t changed.
“We don’t care what you (reporters) say,” Toronto’s under-fire and underperforming star said sharply Tuesday following the team’s practice at FLA Live Arena. “We don’t listen to you guys outside of this locker room.
“We’re just focused on ourselves and this group in here.”
That group has a near-impossible challenge ahead.
After overcoming a painful post-season past that included a number of crushing disappointments, including six straight series defeats, the Leafs got a gorilla off their collective back when they downed the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round to advance for the first time since 2004.
A lot has happened — and not happened — in the 10 days since.
The Panthers hold a surprising and commanding 3-0 lead against Toronto in the teams’ best-of-seven matchup, and can send the Leafs packing with a Game 4 victory Wednesday.
Florida has done a lot of good things and won some tight contests, but Toronto has done itself no favours.
There have been crucial mistakes at key times, ones the Leafs simply didn’t make against Tampa.
The biggest issue, however, is how the offence has dried up.
Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander — the team’s so-called “Core Four” of high-paid talent — has failed to find the mark against the Panthers after carrying a heavy load last round.
Matthews hasn’t scored in this series, while Marner and Nylander haven’t found the back of the net in seven straight games. Tavares has one goal — his Game 6 overtime clincher versus the Lightning — over the same span.
“We’re the leaders,” Marner said. “We want to be the ones to step our foot forward.
“We all know that we’ve got to be a lot better.”
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said the focus on the top end of his lineup’s lack of production against Florida is one thing, but there’s a lot more that’s gone into Toronto’s predicament.
“Those guys carried us offensively through the Tampa series and came through at clutch times, scored us big goals (in) big moments,” he said. “We’re here playing largely on the backs of how they came through for us.
“They’ll come through for us again, but our team needs to take care of this situation right now.”
Florida won Game 1 by a 4-2 margin before picking up consecutive 3-2 victories, including Sunday’s OT decision, to put a stranglehold on an Original Six franchise that will turn to rookie goaltender Joseph Woll with its season on the line after Ilya Samsonov suffered an upper-body injury in Game 3.
“Playoffs are hard,” Nylander said. “It’s the small little plays that can make a huge difference in the series … that’s been a little bit of (the) case this series.
“As I think it was last series, as well.”
What lines should Maple Leafs roll out in do-or-die Game 4?
Things need to change for the Leafs — and fast — for a team that saw at least one of Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander score in 75 of Toronto’s 82 regular-season games.
“We want to step up,” Matthews said. “Lead by example.”
Going back to the end of the Tampa showdown, Toronto has scored just 10 times over the last five games — a dry spell not seen since 2016-17 when Mike Babcock was in his second year behind the bench, and Matthews, Marner and Nylander were rookies.
Tavares played another season with the New York Islanders before signing on July 2018 with the Leafs, who would host a potential Game 5 on Friday.
“Just go out there and play hockey,” Matthews said when asked how he handles pressure. “That’s what we’ve been doing our whole life. Can’t really focus too much on the outside noise — what you guys are saying, what everybody’s saying. It doesn’t really matter.”
“It’ll be fun,” Nylander added of Wednesday’s must-win. “That’s when you gotta play your best.”
The Panthers, meanwhile, are playing free as they look to extend a franchise-record playoff winning streak to seven games after coming back from 3-1 down in the first round to stun the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins.
“There’s no pressure on us,” Florida winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “Why play if you can’t enjoy it?”
‘Give us everything they have’: Keefe’s message to core Maple Leafs for do-or-die Game 4
There isn’t a lot of enjoyment down the hall as Toronto desperately attempts to take the first step in becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit.
“Starts with one game,” Matthews said. “Starts with our attitude, our mindset. It’s not about trying to go and win the series right now.”
Keefe said with just a single date currently remaining on Toronto’s schedule — and the team’s hopes on life support — the message to the entire group is clear.
Not just the big guns currently shooting blanks.
“Everybody has to play their role and give us everything,” he said. “Win one game, bring this thing back to Toronto, and give us more time for all these other things to come together.
“You gotta win one game.”
Watch Game 4 of the Leafs-Panthers series on Sportsnet or SN NOW on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.
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.
