Considering how things went last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top line with John Tavares, Mitchell Marner and Zach Hyman, you could be forgiven for being confused by new head coach Sheldon Keefe breaking them up in late-December.
The start of the season without Hyman on the line seemed to throw them all for a loop, and Tavares’ struggle in getting to the net earlier on, along with Marner’s early even strength struggles, really killed all the momentum they built up last season. Even after both Marner and Tavares got their feet under them, and Hyman returned, the magic of last season wasn’t quite re-appearing.
Meanwhile, the combination of William Nylander and Auston Matthews had been the offensive dynamo that had kept the Leafs going before the coaching change, and they didn’t slow down when Keefe came in. But in the interests of getting both his top scoring lines going, Keefe took a bit of a risk.
Flipping centres and putting Matthews between Hyman and Marner, while Tavares got Nylander and Alex Kerfoot. Considering the talent of all the players involved it may not seem like a big risk, but upsetting the apple cart when you’re winning is always a tough thing for a coach to do.
The result? Well Nylander was putting up great underlying numbers with Matthews, but the actual production was just good, nothing astonishing. Since the change, Nylander and Marner are both red-hot offensively, scoring at over a point per game, and the Leafs are rolling.
Points can be deceiving though, how are the two wingers playing since the change compared to what they were doing earlier?
On-Ice Differentials at 5-vs-5.
Nylander has been crushing it all season, with the Leafs seeing massive advantages while he’s on the ice relative to when he’s not. While the change-up at centre has hit him in the shots and shot attempts a little bit, he’s still well into the positives there while the control of quality plays that drive goals has massively improved.
That’s a huge deal considering that Tavares’ numbers in those areas had not been good before this switch was made; the Leafs were controlling just 41 per cent of the inner slot shots while he was on the ice.
Like Tavares, Marner before the switch had been struggling to control play from the inner slot, while posting respectable numbers in shots, shot attempts and slot passes. Since being united with Matthews, Marner’s on-ice differentials look almost identical to Nylander’s, with extreme control of slot passes, especially shots from the inner slot, and taking a slight hit in shots and shot attempts.
Essentially by switching things up, Keefe has sacrificed a bit of quantity in favour of loads of quality, going from one mostly functioning line and a very good top line, to two ridiculously dominant top lines, at least as far as differentials are concerned.
The next question is whether the Leafs’ top wingers are actually getting the individual offensive boosts that their differentials and point production would have us assume?
Individual Offensive Impact at 5-vs-5.
This season has been a bit of a change for Nylander’s on-ice behaviour or style of play in the offensive zone. He’s leaned on shooting more than ever before, closer to the net than ever before, and you would expect that moving into Mitch Marner’s spot would cut into that a little bit, with more focus on playmaking… but you’d be wrong.
Nylander is making more passes to the slot, going from about league average to first-line quality since the swap, but his shooting has gone up more as well. Surprisingly, Nylander still leads all Leafs in inner slot shots on net per 20 minutes this season, and outpacing Matthews in that category is extremely tough to do.
He has seen a drop in both his completed and attempted passes off the rush, but his scoring chances off the rush are up, so it’s more likely that he’s being the one asked to shoot on those plays more often now instead of deferring to Matthews at times. The confidence is at an all-time high, and it shows through in the numbers.
Marner before the centre switch was having a brutal shooting year, barely doing anything from the inner slot and way below average at getting shots on net from the slot entirely. He wasn’t getting cycle changes and wasn’t attacking off the rush much either compared to what you’d expect from him, but he was leading the Leafs in completed passes to the slot by a wide margin.
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Marner isn’t the kind of player you really want in the net front, but getting almost zero chances from that area is still concerning, and his shot numbers have drastically improved since he paired up with Matthews. He’s getting more chances off the rush, completing more passes off the rush and has massively increased his cycle chances as well.
The best news of all for Marner is that this uptick in shooting from better areas hasn’t negatively impacted his playmaking, and in fact he’s been among the league leaders in completed slot passes over the last couple weeks.
With how well this has worked out in the short term, you have to wonder why it wasn’t tested out earlier, but remember that Nylander missed a huge chunk of last season and when he returned to the lineup, the Tavares-Marner combination was among the best in the NHL. Still, it sure looks like Keefe has stumbled on something special here.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
