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.
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.
