Ilya Samsonov made 28 saves as a sleepy Maple Leafs vs. Avalanche game ended in a 2-1 Colorado shootout victory.
There were plenty of penalties between the two teams, but the glut of PP time didn’t lead to many real scoring chances in a game that was generally tilted toward Colorado. Morgan Rielly scored a goal and produced a strong two-way effort in the biggest performance by a Leaf skater this evening.
Your game in 10:
1. The night got off to a hot start for the Maple Leafs, which wasn’t really an indication of things to come. Morgan Rielly had a look against Alexandar Georgiev and rang the shot off the crossbar within the first couple of minutes, and it didn’t take long before Rielly got another chance.
Mitch Marner and Calle Järnkrok worked hard to break up an Avalanche attack in the Leaf end, skated up ice, and Marner found Rielly on a cross-zone pass. #44 walked in and fired the shot under the glove of Georgiev:
This was Rielly’s best game I have seen in some time at both ends of the ice from an eye-test perspective. He was shooting the puck more and inserting himself into opportune situations offensively, and his defensive stick was sharp at the other end.
The analytics say he was on the ice for a number of scoring chances against, but I’d argue that he did a good job of stemming the tide defensively on a night when Colorado often had the upper hand against the Leafs. Rielly announced his presence early on with a goal less than five minutes in and continued his strong effort throughout.
2. The first period continued along without a ton of events to note until the Avalanche went to the game’s first power play coming off a Mark Giordano slashing call.
The puck kicked to the corner, where three Leafs went after it, but Colorado recovered, went low to high, and had a 2-on-1 numerical advantage down low on the far side of the ice. Mikko Rantanen wound up for what would be a shot-fake pass intended for Val Nichushkin and fired the puck.
Jake McCabe, the lone Leaf with a chance to break it up, went down to take away the pass (as he should). The puck struck the toe of McCabe, who seemed to intend to kick it aside, but instead, the puck ricocheted at an angle that slid right through Ilya Samsonov‘s five-hole:
McCabe tried to block the pass and it wound up deflecting off him and past Rantanen pic.twitter.com/SABYyRmtTe
There is not much to say here beyond that it was unlucky. The Leafs needed to recover the puck when three went after it, putting them in an inopportune situation, but for McCabe and Samsonov, both played this correctly and got a bad break.
3. As the first period came to a close and the second period got underway, the Maple Leafs went to a pair of power-play opportunities of their own. The first one didn’t see the first unit create much, but the second unit set up a chance for Sam Lafferty in the slot, where he blew the shot over the top of the net.
The second opportunity arrived in the second period and began in an inauspicious fashion. Val Nichushkin went on a breakaway right off the jump, but Samsonov made a massive save to keep the game tied at 1-1.
The main takeaway from this power play wasn’t anything Toronto created in the way of scoring chances but a decision made by Sheldon Keefe. At the halfway point of the PP, rather than going with the second unit, Keefe decided to take Morgan Rielly off the ice and replace him with Erik Gustafsson while leaving the Core Four out there.
I don’t know if Gustafsson will dress in the playoffs, but it did make me wonder if this could be a sneak peek at something Keefe considers in the postseason, where the star forwards log far more PP time than they would in the regular season (i.e. switching just the D but leaving everyone else in place). Something to munch on.
Alas, the Leafs’ PP ended prematurely when they took a delay-of-game call following a sloppy change near the very end of the man advantage.
4. The second period continued with each team getting some more time with the PP, n addition to a bit of 4v4 play, but there wasn’t much created. Want some statistical evidence? In 12:32 of 5v5 play in the second period, Natural Stat Trick counted *two* total high-danger chances between the two teams combined.
Mitch Marner and Calle Järnkrok went on a 2v1 rush chance, with Marner slipping a great pass ahead to Järnkrok, who knifed it off the shoulder of Georgiev and out in what may well have been Toronto’s one 5v5 chance of the period. The two teams created a grand total of 0.8 combined expected goals between them in that 5v5 time, and the special-teams time wasn’t much more eventful.
This game was a bit of a snoozer at this juncture especially. Through two periods, the Leafs generated 11 total shots, one of their lowest outputs of the season. The Avalanche were doing an excellent job suppressing transitional play for the Leafs through the neutral zone and taking away the middle lane of the ice, too.
To Toronto’s credit, while they were generally creating fewer chances than Colorado, it’s not like the Avs were skating circles around them and peppering Samsonov. Toronto mustered just eight 5v5 shots through the first two periods, while Colorado had 14. Welcome back to the Dead Puck Era, everybody?!
5. The early third period was dominated by whistles, particularly more PP time for the Avalanche. Michael Bunting committed a high-sticking infraction in front of the Avalanche net, a tough penalty to take in the offensive zone. The Avs created a couple of decent looks off of it, but there was not too much to note.
Shortly after the game returned to 5v5, David Kämpf got his stick caught in the skates of Nathan MacKinnon and was sent to the box for tripping. This was a much cleaner kill, with Alex Kerfoot standing out, in particular, for getting it done for the Maple Leafs.
Sheldon Keefe’s team was 4/5 on the PK overall, and the one goal allowed was a tough bounce. It was not a bad evening for the shorthanded units, even if they were on the ice too often.
Liljegren was regularly disruptive with his stick and his play shone as a rush defender, which has always been a strength of his game and is particularly pertinent against a team like the Colorado Avalanche. His defensive stick here was a goal-saver:
Liljegren didn’t generate a ton in the way of offense, but he did a superb job of keeping the game in front of him, positioning himself well to defend the rush, and using his stick to snuff out chances.
On a night where the numbers are largely unfavorable for his team, Liljegren came out looking just fine. Natural Stat Trick tallied the scoring chances 4-4 with Liljegren on the ice and 1-1 in the high-danger category, which was good relative to the rest of the team.
After a brutal evening against Buffalo on Monday, this was a nice bounce-back showing for the young Swede.
7. As the game rolled along into the late third period, after a long lull offensively, Toronto began to create some looks.
Michael Bunting sent a great pass to William Nylander for a rush chance, but Willy couldn’t finish on what was a quiet night for him. Auston Matthews strung a couple of excellent shifts together on the cycle, but he couldn’t get one by Georgiev. Erik Gustafsson was caught in the offensive zone at one point, creating a 2v1 rush against that Morgan Rielly shut down.
Perhaps the biggest moment of the period was an extrasensory pass from Mikko Rantanen that found Evan Rodrigues all alone in tight, but Ilya Samsonov rose to the occasion yet again to keep the score even at one apiece.
Not long after that, there was some debate about an odd clear from Nylander that ended up in the Leaf bench. The referees conferred and the video showed that the puck traveled over the glass, over the stands, and landed on the Leaf bench. The referees opted not to give Toronto a penalty, which was a major relief with under four minutes to play.
The game stayed at 5v5 and not a ton happened in the final minutes except for one great look for Jake McCabe. McCabe — who has looked much more mobile and eager to jump up into the play than I anticipated when he was acquired — joined the rush to create a 3v2, receive a pass, and put the shot below the glove and above the goalie’s pad, but Georgiev just got enough of it to direct it wide.
8. With McCabe’s chance unsuccessful, the game went into OT. Sheldon Keefe started with Mitch Marner, David Kämpf, and Timothy Liljegren.
The Leafs took possession quickly, but surprisingly, Kämpf and Liljegren stayed on. Liljegren then coughed it up, creating a high-danger look for Colorado, but a diving Mitch Marner broke up the shot.
At that point, #64 and #37 went off the ice, and once the horses were out there, the play picked up. Morgan Rielly was next out for Toronto, interestingly followed by Jake McCabe and not Erik Gustafsson, who is the more offensively-inclined defenseman.
Gustafsson got his shift after McCabe went off, and Marner set up the Swede for a breakaway, which Gustafsson put off the bar. That was Gustafsson’s first shift in many minutes as the defenseman had been stapled to the bench late in regulation with Toronto dressing seven defensemen.
The story in overtime was ultimately one of poor finishing luck for both sides. Georgiev and Samsonov continued to be sharp, but both teams had possible goals hop over their sticks (and as mentioned earlier, Gustafsson struck the iron). Despite spirited efforts from both teams, the five minutes of 3v3 expired and we were headed to just the second shootout of the season for the Leafs.
9. I have little in the way of actual analysis for the shootout. Ilya Samsonov stopped Evan Rodrigues but allowed a goal to Nathan MacKinnon on a change-of-pace shot that slipped under his glove.
At the other end, Alexandar Georgiev stopped all three of William Nylander, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner, none of whom produced terribly good looks on their shootout attempts. Colorado won the shootout 1-0 and the game 2-1. Meh.
The result did not feel undeserved for the Leafs, who were not the better team tonight, but it was an odd game in that I also didn’t feel that Colorado played incredibly well. They were very good defensively, but on the offensive end, it’s not like the Avs were generating much, either.
In over 44 minutes of 5v5 time, Colorado generated 1.87 expected goals and the Leafs generated 1.27. On the power play, the Leafs generated 0.46 and the Avalanche generated 0.6. Those numbers underscore an extraordinarily sleepy game between two elite teams known for their high-end offensive talent.
It may feel like the Leafs are in a bit of a funk right now, but there are a lot of factors to account for. The team acquired a bunch of new bodies right before the trade deadline, which was just over two weeks ago. The team has still only played so many games with the likes of McCabe, Lafferty, Gustafsson, Schenn, and Acciari in the lineup.
Moreover, the Leafs were on a long road trip, went on a long recovery break, and are now trying to find their rhythm again. There’s little to play for over these final 15 games — just home-ice advantage in a series against Tampa that has been set for months (and even home ice is only so important) — and that may lead to a higher dose of these sorts of sleepy games.
I’d like to see the team find a bit more of a groove, but even when the team feels like they aren’t playing “well,” they are 2-1-1 in the last four games against arguably the four fastest teams in the league. It’s nothing to be furious about if you ask me.
10. Let’s end on something a bit more hopeful and positive for Leafs fans: the play of Ilya Samsonov. Tonight was a very strong effort for the Russian goaltender with 28 saves on 29 shots. Again, the lone goal didn’t really “beat” him so much as it deflected where he wasn’t.
He showed that he can make huge high-danger saves against a team with elite offensive talent, the types that are necessary to win a playoff-style game. While I’ve praised Liljegren and Rielly in this piece, Samsonov was the best Leaf on the ice tonight.
Now up through 34 games of Samsonov this season, the numbers are sparkling: 23-8-3 record, .916 SV% (9th among qualified goalies), and 2.36 GAA (4th). In the advanced numbers, Evolving Hockey has Samsonov saving 15.58 goals above expected this season (also top 10) and Hockey Reference has down for 22 “quality starts” in 33 starts this season, a QS% of .667.
Among goalies with at least 30 starts, the only ones with a better QS% at the time of this writing are Linus Ullmark, Cam Talbot, and Ilya Sorokin, while Samsonov is tied with Connor Hellebuyck. The totality of the numbers suggests that there are about 5-6 definitely goalies better than Samsonov (Ullmark, Sorokin, Hellebuyck, Oettinger, Saros, Vasilevskiy), but among that next group, Samsonov absolutely has an argument — along with a couple of other netminders (Georgiev included) — for next up on the list of best goalies in the league this season. Filip Gustavsson of Minnesota is probably the best of that group, but Samsonov has played very, very well just as the numbers bear out.
Which leads to probably the biggest storyline before the playoffs… whose net is it? If you ask me, I’m not sure this should be a question at all. It’s Samsonov’s. He has been much better than Matt Murray this season and more consistently available for duty. That ought to be rewarded.
I get the intangibles argument with Murray’s experience, but if there’s one position on the ice where there is oodles of evidence throughout NHL history that no experience is needed to succeed in the playoffs, it’s goaltender. Just ask Murray himself, who won two Cups in his first two playoffs. Or Patrick Roy. Or Ken Dryden. The last two goalies to win the Smythe without winning the Cup (JS Giguere and Ron Hextall) were both in their first career playoffs.
In the abstract, an experienced, Cup-winning goalie is better than one who isn’t, but we can’t pretend that “intangibles” like this should make up a gap between two goalies who are not close in their calibre of play.
I’m not sure if Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe agree, but if they don’t, I’m not sure what else Samsonov is meant to do. We’ve seen him best Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin head-to-head and stay calm and composed against Colorado tonight. I get that they’ll let the final 15 games play out — and perhaps Murray gets red-hot (or Samsonov craters) — but if those events don’t happen, should they tab Murray as the starter in the playoffs, they will be making the riskiest decision of their NHL careers based on what we know today.
VANCOUVER – As the Major League Soccer season ticks down, Vanni Sartini wants his Vancouver Whitecaps to make a declaration — the team is ready to compete.
“The time of hiding ourselves, I think it’s over,” the coach said after the ‘Caps earned a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
“We need to really say that we are here to try to be at the ball until the end and trying to shoot for the highest position. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make it, but we have the quality to do it.”
With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the ‘Caps (13-8-6) sit in fifth spot in the congested Western Conference, just two points out of fourth.
Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the last-place Earthquakes (5-21-2) from post-season action.
Vancouver has been on a hot streak since returning from the Leagues Cup break and is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four outings across all competitions. The team has not allowed a goal in those matches.
“It’s the fact that we play really well,” Sartini said of the clean sheets. “We have the ball a lot, we finish our attack most of the time in their box. So it’s really hard for the other team to attack us. And then when they attack us, in the rare times that they arrive in the final third, we’re very solid.”
Recent additions have bolstered the team’s ranks, including the club’s newest designated player, Stuart Armstrong. The 32-year-old Scottish midfielder scored his first MLS goal Saturday.
Three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Schopf, Armstrong gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion in the 87th minute.
Midfielder Pedro Vite dished a short pass to ‘Caps captain Ryan Gauld, who tapped it toward Armstrong. The former Southampton FC player then blasted a shot into the top of the net for his first strike in a Whitecaps’ jersey.
He was mobbed by teammates in the corner of the field.
“I think everyone was happy. Also for the first goal, but also that it was an important three points,” said Armstrong, who signed with the ‘Caps on Sept. 3.
“It kind of felt a little bit like last week, when we had a lot of chances and we didn’t get the three points. So today, I think everyone was just relieved to have that two-goal cushion.”
Vancouver was the dominant team from the outset Saturday and did not relent, outshooting the visitors 19-5 and controlling 54.1 per cent of possession.
Fafa Picault also found the back of the net for Vancouver, while Gauld contributed a pair of assists.
Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka stopped both shots he faced to collect his seventh clean sheet of the year, while Daniel made nine saves for the Quakes.
Gauld and Picault teamed up in the 22nd minute when Gauld curled a cross in and the Haitian striker headed it down toward the net, only to see Daniel catch a piece of the shot with his forearm and redirect it out of harm’s way.
The duo connected again in the 35th minute on a Vancouver corner. Gauld swung a ball in and Picault jumped up from the pack to send a glancing header in past Daniel for his ninth MLS goal of the season.
San Jose briefly appeared to level the score in the 68th minute when an unmarked Ousseni Bouda collected the ball, froze Takaoka and tapped a shot into the Vancouver net. An official quickly raised the offside flag and waved off the tally.
Daniel kept San Jose’s deficit to a single goal with a pair of solid stops in the 82nd minute.
First, the Brazilian ‘keeper dove sideways on his line to tip away a bomb from Alessandro Schopf. He was tested again on the ensuing corner and jumped up to send a header from Picault over the crossbar.
“I think we created a lot of chances again,” Gauld said.
“We probably should have put the game out of their reach sooner. But we’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. Three clean sheets in a row in the league, I think it’s a big thing for us. And it gives us a good platform to go forward.”
NOTES
Vancouver played without leading scorer Brian White for a third consecutive game as the American striker works his way back from a concussion. … Gauld’s second assist marked his 15th goal contribution (six goals, nine assists) in his last 15 Whitecaps games across all competitions. … An announced crowd of 21,309 took in the game at B.C. Place.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps kick off a two-game road swing Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. The Earthquakes host the Seattle Sounders the same night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
