TORONTO — Pierre Engvall‘s video tribute didn’t exactly stir a deafening round of applause from Scotiabank Arena. But the winger Toronto traded away did an even better job of silencing the room by slamming home the game-winner with just a couple minutes left on the clock.
Asked following the New York Islanders‘ much-needed 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs if he had any money on the board for his return game, the game’s first star paused a beat, then flashed a smile as long as his neck. As long as his effortless stride. As long as he waited to hear his name get called by the Leafs in the 2014 draft (188th overall). As long as the seven-year extension Lou Lamoriello signed him to.
“Yeah,” Engvall said. “For the team.”
A frequent visitor of Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe’s doghouse, Engvall was also a solid penalty-killer, one-time 15-goal man, and member of the 2018 Marlies squad that captured the Calder Cup.
The middle-six speedster spent seven years in the organization before former GM Kyle Dubas flipped him to the Islanders in 2023 for a third-round pick, and turned that currency into the rental of Luke Schenn, who endeared himself much more to Leafs Nation.
Much like his Islanders, Engvall has endured a rather underwhelming winter.
They both needed a moment like this to build off, heading into the stretch run with shaky playoff aspirations.
“I’m sure he was a bit nervous for tonight’s game, but he played a really solid game tonight,” Isles coach Patrick Roy said. “We talk a lot about going to the net, and it’s exactly what he did. And he was rewarded for a nice play.”
Heading into his return game, Engvall hadn’t registered a point in more than a month.
And the Islanders hadn’t defeated any team in regulation in more than a month.
“Felt really good,” Engvall said. “It was a really tight and tough game, so to see the puck go in and then get the win, especially at the end, close in a tight game, I think it was really good for us.”
Both halves of New York’s top defence pair, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, logged more than 20 minutes and wowed Roy with how they controlled play against the offensively deadly Leafs.
“Great finish by Engvall at the end,” Pulock said, motioning across the visitors’ room to the handsome Swede. “I’m sure there’s a lot of emotion for him. So, really happy to see.
“He’s pretty quiet. But I think that celebration meant a lot more to him there with just everything — first game back, and then it being go-ahead goal with two minutes left. Pretty special. So, big goal for him. Big win for us.”
Big win for a refreshed Ilya Sorokin, the Islanders’ stud goaltender, who stopped 35 of 37 shots and stood tall as the Maple Leafs pressed 6-on-5 late.
Big win for Mathew Barzal, a man energized by the coaching switch and Roy’s passion for the game and desire to open up the offence. (Keefe noted that unless he went strength-on-strength and ran Auston Matthews‘ top line against Barzal, the ice was getting tilted.)
‘Feels really good’: Islanders’ Engvall happy to get much-needed win in return to Toronto
And a big win for late-bloomer Kyle MacLean, who took advantage of Toronto’s costliest gaffe of the evening.
Trailing 1-0 in the second period, rugged Leafs defenceman Simon Benoit threw a hit on Barzal that drew Bo Horvat into a fight plus an unsportsmanlike minor.
Mitch Marner tied the game at 4-on-4, then the Leafs had a golden chance against one of the league’s worst penalty kills to take the lead on the power play.
“A game-changing opportunity,” Keefe said.
But Toronto’s 5-on-4 unit lost track of the clock.
MacLean, who was serving Horvat’s minor, jumped out of the box and got sprung for a clean breakaway to restore the lead.
“This is the National Hockey League. That’s peewee stuff,” Keefe said. “You play on the power play in the National Hockey League, they should not get behind you coming out of the penalty box.”
‘That’s peewee stuff’: Keefe on MacLean getting behind Maple Leafs for breakaway goal
And while John Tavares tied the contest again on the Leafs’ second power play, Engvall circled the net, slipped out of reach from Morgan Rielly, then swiped in a Brock Nelson rebound backhanded.
Arms up. Crowd silenced. Revenge secured.
“I thought we played well enough to win,” Keefe said. “But we did just enough to lose.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• The undrafted MacLean scored his long-awaited first NHL goal — and it was a beauty.
After five full seasons with the Oshawa Generals and three-and-a-half years riding the bus in Bridgeport, the 24-year-old hopped out of the penalty box, caught a pass, and deked the smile off Samsonov’s face.
Even better?
MacLean’s dad, 1995 Stanley Cup champion and Islanders assistant coach John MacLean, had a front-row seat to the moment.
“Cool situation,” MacLean said. “So maybe after the game here, we’ll have a little bit of a moment. But it’s definitely special.”
Islanders’ MacLean jumps out of the box, dangles past Samsonov for first NHL goal
• Fan favourite Simon Benoit dropped the gloves with instigator Bo Horvat and already has a career-high three fights this season.
The entire Leafs bench stood up and bangd their sticks on the boards for Benoit as he finished serving his major.
The Islanders loved it, too.
“This is who he is,” Roy said of Horvat. “Leaders always take care of their teammates. I mean, in life you have a chance: You could be an eagle or a duck. He was an eagle there.”
Islanders’ Horvat steps up to fight Maple Leafs’ Benoit in response to hit on Barzal
• Max Domi was asked if he’ll be hitting up Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly for a piece of their $1-million prize for winning the All-Star Game.
“I’m always bugging those guys to buy dinner, so nothing changes,” Domi smiles.
• Yeah, John Tavares took his family somewhere warm and got a break from Toronto during the bye week. But he brought his hockey gear with him on vacation, of course.
“That’s what he likes to do — stay active,” Keefe smiled.
• Matthew Knies, 21, looked like he was shot out of a cannon. Surely, a few days of rest served the rookie well.
“Seemed to have a little extra energy in the third period,” Keefe noted.
Consider: Knies played 40 games total in 2022-23 for the University of Minnesota. He’s already at 46, with three (plus?) months to go.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
