The most important thing is the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up another two points.
Was it hockey that will make them successful in March, April, May and beyond? No. But do they need points more than anything else right now? Yes. It’s not like they have breathing room to try other things out. They need points.
A win is a win, but beyond that, the hope is that Ilya Mikheyev is okay. He suffered a wrist laceration on a nasty skate cut and went straight to the hospital. The broadcast indicated he will be okay and we are definitely all thinking of him. Get well soon, Ilya.
Your game in 10:
1. After an entertaining but kind of sloppy win against Carolina, I was curious to see how the team would respond riding a hot streak and playing against a weaker team, especially following the time off. The first few minutes were fine; the Leafs had a number of chances, including William Nylander and Mitch Marner in the slot. But a John Tavares turnover was capitalized on, giving the Devils the early lead instead. It marked the first time the Leafs have trailed in the first period with Sheldon Keefe as head coach.
In truth, the Leafs just generally outplayed them to start the game – they outshot the Devils 18-9 in the first period and probably could have been up 3-1 or 4-1 after the first.
2. The Leafs had a four-minute power play in the first period and didn’t get a ton out of it, and then suddenly scored. The best chance up until their goal was probably Morgan Rielly, from the top of the circle, just missing on a backdoor pass to Kasperi Kapanen where he would have had a tap in. The second unit was the one that cashed in through Zach Hyman in front of the net:
We have wondered about Hyman as a net guy before; in this game, he cashed in there. That’s his game: greasy, battle-winning rebound goals. The second unit was much better than the first unit during that extended power play look.
Of note: When the Leafs did the drop pass breakout on the PP, there was only one player back instead of the two that they were starting the season with.
3. There were so many things to like on the Leafs’ second goal. In particular, they actually lost the offensive zone faceoff, but Ilya Mikheyev and William Nylander were ready to go and were aggressive, skating right through their checks and causing a turnover. From there, they cycled it to the point, put the puck to the net, and benefitted from some good work in front to tip the puck.
It’s noteworthy that the Leaf who put the immediate pressure on the Devils, Mikheyev, was the one who got to the net at the end of the play to score the goal. Nylander was the one who actually reclaimed the puck and he was dancing throughout the first period. We’ve seen this type of response from him after being demoted before. He ended up with a three-point night and three shots on net in a little over 16 minutes of ice time.
4. A game that started to feel in control for the Leafs began the second period with a penalty and then a delay of game penalty while shorthanded. The Devils tied it immediately. There wasn’t much they could do on the goal itself – a shot from the point deflected straight to a Devil on the side of the zone, leading to a relatively easy goal. When it went back to being a 5v4, the Leafs got a little cute on the penalty kill and almost got burned by it.
First, it was Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev getting caught in the offensive zone; Engvall had a nice backcheck, but a sharper team would have a 3v2 rush to try to capitalize on. Mikheyev went for a change on that play and on came Kasperi Kapanen, who gave it away in the defensive zone trying to make a pass to a tired Engvall instead of just shooting it down. The Devils worked the puck around and had a few good chances after that.
5. This website for the past few weeks has been noting that Kasperi Kapanen is a right winger. We have seen enough evidence for the time being that he cannot play left wing in the top six. Two coaches have tried it now. Back on the third line on the right side, he scored a great goal showing him at his best, flying down the right wing, protecting the puck wide and using his shot — which is great.
It’s also worth mentioning that he was back on the half-wall on the power play on his one-timer side. He has kind of bounced around on the power play playing every role except defense at one point or another. Kapanen actually played almost 20 minutes on the night – only Tavares, Marner and Matthews played more than him among forwards on the team.
6.Tyson Barrie complained right after the Devils’ tying goal, but he was way too nonchalant playing the puck and paid the price. Seconds before, he helped to kick start the partial 2v1 rush for Devils by pinching without real support, but Marner hustled back to help break it up.
After the goal, the Leafs put out the Muzzin – Holl pairing with the Gauthier line; they got outplayed (after an initial shot attempt by Spezza) and had to ice the puck on the shift. I wonder how many more times we will see that line get used after a goal against after that. Nobody on that line played over seven minutes on the night and this doesn’t seem sustainable to have basically a non-existent fourth line that isn’t making any impact.
7. It’s not Tyson Barrie’s fault on the next goal (a 2v1), but he also could have played it better. Anytime the pass gets through, the defense is of note on the play. All your job is in that situation is take away the pass; if the goalie is beat clean on the shot, there isn’t much to say. The goal was primarily on Kasperi Kapanen, though, as he got way too cute at the offensive zone blue line and got burned.
That was three goals in about ten minutes for the Devils, the second straight game the Leafs were sloppy for an extended period of time and got burned. To the Leafs credit, they did respond with a good run of offensive shifts. Engvall got robbed, Tavares missed a tap in, and the Leafs had three shifts in a row of a strong offensive push.
Tavares put seven shots on net in this game, by the way, as he was all over the place making plays.
8. Before the Leafs scored on the power play to tie the game, it was a 4v4 and in order to preserve the top power-play unit for the man advantage time, Keefe went with Kerfoot – Kapanen / Muzzin – Dermott. I think Rielly was just getting some rest there because he was just on the ice (he doesn’t play top power-play unit right now).
The strategy worked — the Leafs put their top unit on once the power play started and they tied the game relatively easily. Nylander made the pass to Tavares for an easy goal (for him anyway). This isn’t particularly surprising, but of all Leafs playing their off-wing on the power play half-wall, Nylander seems the most comfortable. Matthews has a kind of awkward one-timer, but Nylander does not.
Matthews had a really awkward one-timer in overtime on the power play that led to a zone clear for the Devils. When it was 4v4 again with a little over a minute to go in a tie game, it was the same four Leafs that were trotted out for the 4v4 shift again.
9. Before the Leafs tied it, Michael Hutchinson made a big save on Jack Hughes, who got in all alone in front of him. It wasn’t a banner night for him – he let in four goals – but none of them were awful. The criticism of him has been pretty simple to this point: While every goal is not exactly bad, he has to make a save at some point. Ultimately, he picked up his second straight win and this is kind of where it’s at with this team: If he makes one or two big saves and doesn’t let in anything awful, he has a chance to collect a win.
10. I legitimately have no idea what Damon Severson was thinking on his own goal to end the game, but it was a somewhat fitting way for it to end as the game was pretty loose and messy overall. It was a nice play by William Nylander to create the turnover, but he was the one that turned it over in the first place for Hughes to take possession. At times over the years, we have seen Nylander turn those pucks over and not work to get it back, so it was nice to see that second effort from him — he was rewarded accordingly.
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.
