Game #66 Review: Toronto Maple Leafs 4 vs. Vancouver Canucks 2 - Maple Leafs Hot Stove | Canada News Media
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Game #66 Review: Toronto Maple Leafs 4 vs. Vancouver Canucks 2 – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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The Toronto Maple Leafs emerged victorious from an evenly-contested Saturday night matchup against Vancouver thanks to a Martin Marincin third-period game-winning goal (for real).

First Period

Auston Matthews, an absolute force on the forecheck the past few games, created a turnover on first shift, leading to an early Leafs cycle and scoring chance for Zach Hyman. This is the kind of tone-setting shift the Leafs have been getting from Matthews often lately:

The Leafs were then able to open the scoring via an unlikely source in Frederik Gauthier, who beat a shaky Thatcher Demko from the slot for his seventh of the season. It wouldn’t have been possible if not for the play back to the point by Kasperi Kapanen from his knees down low while under duress.

To this point, the Canucks had yet to register a shot on net. As is often the case in hockey, this was mentioned on the broadcast before the first Vancouver shot of the night went in. Rasmus Sandin was in a position to make a play on the puck but was bodied off of it by a hungrier Jay Beagle, and it was in the back of the net before the Leafs or Frederik Andersen could react.

The Leafs responded exactly the right way a couple of minutes later as Matthews restored Toronto’s lead with a deceptive shot off the rush.

It’s not a high-flying wrister, but the deception and strength in Matthews’ release totally fooled Thatcher Demko, who looked like he had no clue what happened. Even the slow-motion replays made it difficult to track exactly where and how this puck snuck through the Vancouver netminder.

The first period was by far the game’s most entertaining between the four goals and some physical play both ways, including a well-timed hit by Rasmus Sandin stepping up in the neutral zone. Sandin has brought an understated willingness to mix it up in this area of the game since he’s become a Leaf:

The Leafs were doing a good job of limiting the Canucks’ access to the slot and were holding steady in the defensive end before a second mistake deep in their own end turned into a second tying goal for the Canucks.

Sandin is in a good position here, but doesn’t tie up Tanner Pearson in front of goal to snuff out the threat.

Late in the first, Toronto found themselves on the power-play after Kapanen was high-sticked battling in front of the Vancouver net. While they were unable to convert, the Leafs were dangerous moving the puck with a few great-looking PP sequences:

The momentum carried over into five-on-five play, including this glorious attempt from Matthews.

Second Period

Both teams traded chances at both ends of the ice early in the middle frame, testing both goaltenders:

There was a questionable penalty assessed to Dermott that put the Leafs down a man, but Toronto did a great job giving the Canucks’ power play no room to work with and it resulted in the Leafs drawing a penalty for an abbreviated PP of their own.

Like the previous opportunity, Toronto couldn’t find the twine but there were some quality looks, including this airmailed Frederik Andersen pass for a partial breakaway for William Nylander:

The game seemed to slow down and settle into a cagier affair through the middle portion of the middle frame, while both Andersen and Demko found their grove. Any opportunities were hard-earned, with a lot of numbers back defensively for both teams:

The Leafs’ worst segment of the game came in the final passages of the second period as they got back on their heels and the Canucks were able to get on top of them for successive cycle shifts, with the Leafs — with some particularly rough sequences from Martin Marincin — unable to clear their lines. The Leafs were fortunate the game was 2-2 heading into the third after this late chance:

Third Period

Off of the opening shift of the period, the Leafs restored their lead thanks to the most unlikely of goal-scoring sources.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you: Martin Marincin really did score on a solo rush here. This was a good breakout sequence from the Leafs, starting with a won battle along the wall, a short bump pass to Tavares, and Marincin identifying the opportunity to jump up and showing the confidence to go for goal.

While the Leafs gained some momentum from the 3-2, it came to a halt due to this questionable penalty assessed to Nylander on what appeared to be a 50-50 puck battle with both players tugging at one another.

Vancouver did not test Andersen in a serious way and the Leafs were able to keep their lead intact.

The pace of the game settled down from there as Toronto played a responsible game in possession of the lead. The Leafs did generate a couple of sequences of sustained pressure in search of an insurance marker:

With the Canucks generating a bit of a push late on, the best chance went to J.T. Miller, who Andersen calmy denied:

Vancouver then pulled their goalie, but it was to no avail as Zach “the Sidney Crosby of 6-on-5” Hyman put it away by blocking a shot, making a good defensive play, and icing the game with the empty-net goal.

Post-Game Notes

  • After last Saturday night’s debacle, the Toronto Maple Leafs have responded admirably with three well-earned wins over the week. It’s quite the turnaround for a team that appeared to be on life support last week after a number of demoralizing defeats; even more interesting, two of the teams that doled out the shellackings, Pittsburgh and Carolina, are now struggling majorly (a lot can change in a hurry in this league). This wasn’t the Leafs’ best effort of their three straight wins; they were dangerous early but not as consistently threatening offensively as they are when they’re at the top of their game, and the xGF% and CF% (expected Goals and shot attempts) slightly favoured the Canucks over the 60 minutes. But the team is clearly digging in deeper through all the adversity and their overall team play, in terms of how they’re checking back and supporting the puck defensively, is really encouraging. They’re now finding ways to win rather than new and interesting ways to lose — this time complete with the “deepest” of depth scoring courtesy of Frederik Gauthier and Martin Marincin.
  • The best and at times worst player for the Leafs tonight had to be Martin Marincin, who was having a tough time handling the puck at times throughout the game before he went into beast mode to start the third period. At even strength, he registered a 38.46 CF%, a 42.31 FF%, a 35.29 SF%, a 39.82 xGF%, a 38.89 SCF%, and a 20.00 HDCF%. The third period was his best of the night as he was playing with a lot of confidence and the puck seemed to be finding him a lot out there. He also did a bang-up job on the penalty kill of getting himself into shooting lanes for key shot blocks. It was a 60-minute encaspulation of the good and bad of Marty Marincin, but the good definitely outweighed the bad on the whole.
  • Auston Matthews was again pursuing pucks aggressively on the forecheck to good effect and playing 200 feet better than he ever has in his young career. He recorded a 50.00 CF%, a 66.67 FF%, a 66.67 SF%, an 80.82 xGF%, a 61.54 SCF%, and a 60.00 HDCF% at even strength. In the matchup against the Elias Pettersson, Tyler Toffoli and JT Miller line, the Canucks’ best offensive trio didn’t generate a single shot on goal at 5v5 in the ~10:30 against Matthews’ line. On top of his sublime offensive contributions, his leadership in regards to buying in and playing responsibly over 200 feet has been exemplary since the Leafs have turned their fortunes around. It was the Matthews line on the ice for the key faceoff late on that led to Hyman’s empty-net goal; while Matthews lost the initial draw, the line did a good job of staying composed and protecting the middle of the ice for a few key shot blocks before Dermott (two assists, +2) did a nice job of skating the puck out of danger and finding Marner, who made a nice airmail play into Hyman to end the game.
  • The D pair that drew the majority of that above-mentioned matchup was Travis Dermott–Justin Holl pairing, which had a second consecutive solid outing. It’s important to mention how the Matthews line (which drew a good chunk of the Barkov matchup in Florida as well) is supporting this pairing in terms of defending in five-man units and owning the puck/tiling the ice, but the pair did a good job protecting the middle of the ice, were moving the puck well, and jumped up into the rush effectively when the opportunity presented itself. With Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly, and Cody Ceci out of commission for the next few weeks, Dermott, Holl, and Tyson Barrie are carrying the load and keeping the Leafs team afloat on a backend with minimal experience at the NHL level. Holl and Dermott are rather green as far as cumulative NHL experience goes, but they are de facto veterans on this unit for the time being and their first two games in the top pairing role have been pretty reassuring against very credible top-line opposition in the Pettersson and Barkov lines.
  • One “game within the game” against the Vancouver Canucks is the faceoff circle, where they’re a particularly strong team with over 54% success rate on the season (2nd in the NHL). The Leafs are third in the category, though, and came out with 54% of the draws on the night. As John Tavares mentioned before the game, it was a point of emphasis in the prescout how competitive the Canucks are at winning draws and puck battles off of the initial draw, and the Leafs executed well in that detail of the game.
  • Some wondered if this might be a Jack Campbell start on home ice before the team hits the road for the California road trip, but the Leafs are rolling with Frederik Andersen with the aim of getting him back into a groove, and this was largely mission accomplished in that regard. He might’ve had a fighting chance on the 2-2 Tanner Pearson goal, but he was solid otherwise and made some key saves late in the second and as the Canucks generated a bit of a push late on. The numbers: 25 saves, a .926 SV%, and a .778 HDSV%. As important as anything right now is getting Andersen’s confidence back where it needs to be, and he appears to be working his way there one start at a time.

Clip of the Night

Notable Stats

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Locations

Condensed Game

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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October 17, 2024

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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Senators looking to take learning experience from loss to Devils

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October 17, 2024

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OTTAWA – Travis Green might not have liked the end result, but he’s counting on his team learning from the effort.

Green’s Ottawa Senators were handed a 3-1 loss by the New Jersey Devils Thursday night in a game that highlighted the importance of sticking with things.

“I thought both teams played pretty well,” said Green. “I thought we had a lot of the game that I liked, but I thought there’s a few moments where it got away. We got away from our game, and they stuck with their game a little longer.

“There’s always momentum back and forth for one team to create some chances. It’s a fine line between winning and losing in the league, especially when you’re playing, two good teams are playing.”

Jacob Markstrom’s 30 saves also played a part, with the Devils goaltender only getting beat with 65 seconds left in regulation as the Senators were on the power play with an empty net.

Brady Tkachuk tipped a Claude Giroux shot to spoil Markstrom’s shutout bid.

“Outstanding,” said Devils coach Sheldon Keefe of his goaltender. “Just terrible that he doesn’t get the shutout that he deserves in this one here.

“You feel for him when they make that (penalty) call. You can just kind of feel like it’s going to give them a little extra life. But he was outstanding for us, no question.”

The two teams were scoreless after the first period, where each had to fight for every opportunity. Noah Gregor rang a shot off the crossbar for the Senators, but otherwise, neither team was able to generate much offensively.

The Devils capitalized in the second as a power play expired with Erik Haula redirecting a Johnathan Kovacevic shot past Anton Forsberg, who made 32 saves.

Less than four minutes later, Nathan Bastian took advantage of a Giroux giveaway and beat Forsberg low blocker for his first of the season with the Devils short-handed.

“I liked our second period a lot,” Keefe said. “We took hold of the game and didn’t give up much, and when we did, I thought it was really from the perimeter, only a couple there.”

The Devils tightened up defensively in the third and were able to make it 3-0 when Paul Cotter was left alone in the slot.

“I think for stretches of the game we played the right way and kind of get in on the forecheck and play that way,” said Senators centre Nick Cousins. “It seems like when we get down a couple goals, we kind of change our game, which isn’t a recipe for success in this league.

“I think we’ve just got to keep doing the right things over and over again, even when it’s 2-0.”

With the Senators just four games in and still learning and adjusting to a new system, Green understands there will be growing pains along the way.

“We’re also trying to define our game,” he said. “I think we’re getting there. Both teams play fast. It was a fast skating game. There wasn’t a lot of room to move out there for either team.”

In his short tenure behind the Senators bench, Green has seen his team play very different styles of games and knows there will be nights like this along the way, but learning from them will be key.

“There’s going to be a lot of nights where you kind of got to earn everything you get,” admitted Green. “It’s not going to be freewheeling. Good teams don’t play freewheeling hockey.

“You learn when you win, you learn when you lose games that you don’t play well. You learn when you lose games that you had a pretty good game but you still lose and you’ve got to find a way. Good teams find a way to win those games.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Canadiens’ Matheson exits in loss to Kings, Hutson logs big minutes

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October 17, 2024

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MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens fell 4-1 to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. They also lost their top minute-muncher in the process.

Matheson logged 7:35 in ice time during the first period but did not return for the second because of an upper-body injury. When or how Matheson sustained the injury was not clear. The Canadiens said he would be re-evaluated on Friday.

The game was tied at 1 before he exited, forcing the Canadiens to play with five defencemen for 40 minutes.

“Mike is one of the biggest parts of our D core, and I think losing him — he’s playing against top line, playing power play and we want him on the ice — definitely losing him was a big loss,” teammate David Savard said. “We got to figure out a way to get the two points, even if a player goes out.”

The 30-year-old Matheson of Pointe-Claire, Que., led all Canadiens defencemen with 62 points and a 25:33 average ice time last season.

With his absence, rookie sensation Lane Hutson played a whopping 30:05 in only his seventh NHL game. The next closest player? Kaiden Guhle at 23:09.

Head coach Martin St. Louis was impressed with how the 20-year-old Hutson handled the challenge.

“Lane doesn’t take a shift off,” head coach Martin St. Louis said. “I love the consistency of his compete level, and he drives possession. For a guy who played 30 minutes, I think he gave everything he could to try and help the team.

“I’m not surprised. I know it’s challenging at this level, losing Mike definitely made him play many minutes, chasing the game made him play many minutes, but I just love his compete level.”

Canadiens fans have been clamouring for Hutson — a five-foot-nine, 162-pound defenceman with world-class skill — to take Matheson’s spot on the No. 1 power play.

The Canadiens, however, went 0-for-3 with Hutson running the show after Matheson went down. In the first instance, Kirby Dach took a hooking penalty early in the man-advantage to end it. On the second, the Canadiens failed to generate any zone time.

The third came in the final minutes, but the Kings buried an empty-netter.

“It wasn’t a lack of opportunity, lots of ice time, lots of shifts,” Hutson said. “It was good, it was fun, but obviously you want to be on the other side of it, winning.

“Means a lot (to get that opportunity), but obviously, you want to get more out of that opportunity. It’s a lot of ice, and you want to keep taking steps in the right direction.”

‘IMMATURE EFFORT’

The Canadiens fell to a Kings team that had lost three straight games and was coming off a 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Under those circumstances, the Canadiens were brutally honest with themselves after the game.

“Definitely disappointed,” captain Nick Suzuki said. “It was an immature effort from us, especially with them playing yesterday and getting in late, so I think we gave them too much life, and let them feel comfortable in the game. It’s on us to be a lot better than that.”

Before the game, St. Louis stressed the need for a good first period against a fatigued Los Angeles side. That’s not what he saw Thursday night.

“I think we had 14 turnovers in the first period. It’s unacceptable. It gives them life,” he said. “Then you’re chasing the game for the second half of it — we didn’t play to our standard.

“I’m really disappointed. Really disappointed.”

BIG SAVE DAVE

Kings goalie David Rittich played his second game in two nights — an unusual occurrence in this day and age of the NHL. He made 25 saves after allowing four goals on 14 shots in Toronto.

“We always believe in him anyway, but he performed today pretty well and bounced back,” defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov said. “It’s probably like most important for himself, that’s huge, and for the team. He played outstanding today.”

LONG ROAD

The Kings are opening the season on a seven-game road trip because of renovations at Crypto.com Arena. They’ve collected six of a possible 10 points so far.

“Pretty much worse (than expected),” forward Phillip Danault said. “We’ve been on the road for three weeks … It’s good team-bonding, whether we should do it again I’m not sure, but it has turned out well let’s say with six points out of 10.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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