TORONTO — Auston Matthews exploded for his third hat trick of this young season, has now ripped 11 goals in 11 games, and got one lady so excited, she tossed her brassiere on the ice like she was at Drake concert!
William Nylander kept his incredible season-starting point streak rolling, breaking his own franchise record again, and the home team’s power-play was buzzing like an army barber!
OK, sweet. The Leafs totally got the two points, right?
Mitch Marner piled up a season-high four points, extended his point streak to six games and swished every shot he launched at the net!
Whew, must’ve been a victory for the boys in Blue and White. Losing skid over?
Uh, not so fast.
Toronto’s superstars flashed their brilliance and drummed up with four goals Saturday at Scotiabank Arena, but in terms of team success, it amounted to nothing more than cookie-gobbling and stats-padding.
Because the bottom fell out of this top-heavy hockey team in a 6-4 home loss to the tired Buffalo Sabres, one of a handful of teams mushed with the Maple Leafs (5-4-2) in the stuffy middle of the Atlantic Division standings.
An eighth of the 2023-24 season is complete, and while the Maple Leafs’ well-compensated core of star performers has delivered on the scoreboard, hockey stubbornly remains a team sport.
So, while Matthews is on pace for 82 goals, and Marner could get his 100 points, and John Tavares could hit 80 points for a sixth time, and Nylander could make his targeted $10 million, this whole operation is at risk of being slew-footed by its supporting cast.
Matthews and Marner have scored all six of the Leafs’ past six goals.
Of the 32 goals scored Leafs forwards this season, the “Core Four” has scored 26 of them (81.25 per cent).
It’s been two weeks and counting since a bottom-six Leafs forward has lit the lamp.
Max Domi is still searching for his first goal. Tyler Bertuzzi is searching for his first at even-strength.
If you add offensive defenceman John Klingberg and fourth-liner Ryan Reaves into the accounting, new GM Brad Treliving allotted a total of $14 million in cap space during free agency to four players who have yielded zero even-strength goals.
Yikes.
But they aren’t the only ones not chipping in offence.
“Yeah, I’m concerned, for sure,” said coach Sheldon Keefe, after watching his group lose its fourth straight.
“[Matthew] Knies is new to the league, hasn’t found his stride offensively. [David Kämpf] is a guy that’s gonna give you everything he has, but that’s not his primary thing. Domi’s a guy, obviously, we expect more out of, his contribution offensively.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of heavy lifting for our top guys right now, for sure.”
Marner knows better than to point fingers. He needs to save his energy for carrying the weight.
“Everyone wants to execute out here on the ice, and everyone wants to produce,” Marner said. “You just want to stay patient and make sure everyone knows that.
“Stay positive and obviously you’re gonna get your looks eventually. Just make sure when you do get them, bear down. And everyone wants to put them in, so that’s what they’re trying to do. It just hasn’t happened.”
OK.
So, what’s going on here?
Because it’s not crummy puck luck.
Did the GM bring in the wrong personnel? Is the head coach not arranging the pieces correctly? Do the mercenary players-for-hire simply need more time to find their niche?
So far, the sum is worse than the parts. And the parts are getting frustrated or demoted or misused or all the above.
The Leafs have lost more games than they’ve won and hold minus-1 goal differential.
“It’s got to start with hard work and defence. I mean, it’s a cliché, but we scored enough goals to win tonight, obviously,” Mark Giordano said. “When things aren’t going offensively, you got to contribute in other ways. So, it’s on all of us.
“Everyone in our division is playing well. It’s gonna be a battle this year to get points every night in our division. So, these ones sting. These are big games. Doesn’t matter what time of year it is.”
Prior to puck drop, Keefe tried to use the injuries to defencemen Timothy Liljegren (LTIR) and Jake McCabe (likely to practise Sunday) as a rallying call.
Yet callup Max Lajoie skated all of 4:54 before catching a minus and getting stapled to the bench, essentially leaving the Leafs to lose another game with five blueliners.
Keefe has no trust right now in the depths of the forwards or the defence, and the ice times speak louder than the quotes.
“The third period was the most exhausted I’ve seen a core defensively in my time in this league,” Keefe said. “It was just too much for our D-men.”
And the Sabres were too big a task for even some on-fire superstars to overcome.
Or, as Keefe puts it: “We got a bunch of guys that we need to get playing better.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• After temporarily benching and demoting Bertuzzi in Boston Thursday, Keefe tried the carrot instead of the stick Saturday, bumping him back up to John Tavares’s line and pumping the winger up to the media.
“He happened to make the wrong mistake at the wrong time,” Keefe softened, after a day’s rest. “Bert’s a very important player for us, and will be a very important player for us, and will come through. The harder this thing gets, the better Bert’s gonna be.”
Bertuzzi owned his subpar play when he met the cameras: “Just wasn’t good enough. Need to be better. Personally, I gotta be better. No excuses.”
What about shaking his head and laughing from the bench at Brad Marchand after the Timothy Liljegren injury, though?
“People can perceive that however they want,” Bertuzzi replied. “I’m not going to explain myself.”
• The Maple Leafs ravaged tired opponents last season, going a league-best 11-1-0 when catching teams on the second half of a back-to-back.
They caught a very tired Sabres group, playing its second game in two nights and third in three cities over four nights — and still failed to take advantage at home.
• Nylander’s season-starting point streak just keeps truckin’. He’s now found a way onto the scoresheet for 11 games and counting, extending his Maple Leafs record and tying Jesper Bratt (2022-23) for the third-best season-starting point streak by any Swedish player.
Mats Sundin holds that record. The big Swede had a point in each of his first 30(!) games for the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93.
• Tage Thompson has joined the short list of “Guys I’d Totally Pay to Watch Play Hockey Live.”
The centre’s unassisted shorthanded goal was a beautiful mix of skill and force, to be sure. But it’s incredible to see how he’s learned to use his massive frame to his advantage with and without the puck. And, boy, can he fire the thing. Game-high seven shots and 12 attempts on Saturday.
Go see him.
• Sabres rookie Ryan Johnson registered a point in his NHL debut, an assist on Jeff Skinner’s slapshot goal. Johnson’s dad, Craig, played 10 games for the Leafs back in 2003-04.
Like father, like son: Both wore No. 33 in this building.
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.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
