Kyle Dubas emphatically backed his goaltending last week.
Some 11 days later in the same building, the Maple Leafs general manager could only look on from a Tim Hortons Field private suite as another crease miscue cost his team yet more points in the standings.
Vinnie Hinostroza’s second goal of the game from a sharp angle was the difference Sunday in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-2 victory over Toronto in the Heritage Classic outdoor showcase.
With the score tied 2-2 in the third period, under-fire Leafs netminder Petr Mrazek failed to seal his post on the centre’s shot from the corner that snuck between his arm and near post for his 10th goal of the season.
“I knew he was going to shoot it,” Mrazek said following a 33-save showing. “I was too high.”
Despite watching another howler go in against his club, Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe declined to blame his goaltending on a windy afternoon and early evening after pulling Mrazek in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime lose to the Arizona Coyotes.
“I thought Petr was good,” he said. “It’s not an easy environment to play in, especially for a goaltender.
“He looked solid all things considered.”
WATCH l Hinostroza scores twice to lead Sabres past Leafs in Heritage Classic:
Hinostroza strikes twice to knock Leafs off at Heritage Classic
15 hours ago
Duration 1:58
Buffalo’s Vinnie Hinostroza and Peyton Krebs each had a pair of goals in their 5-2 outdoor win over Toronto in Hamilton, Ontario. 1:58
Peyton Krebs buried two goals of his own for Buffalo (20-32-8), which got 34 stops from Craig Anderson. Tage Thompson had the empty netter to go along with an assist, while Hinostroza set up Krebs’ opener for a three-point performance.
Auston Matthews added to his NHL goal lead with his 45th of the season, while Ondrej Kase also scored for Toronto (37-17-5).
Late in the game, Matthews cross-checked Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin in the side of the head and has a hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety Monday.
Matthews has no history of supplemental discipline.
After Hinostroza put the Sabres in front for the first time, Krebs made it 4-2 with 6:11 left with his sixth that trickled through Mrazek after the Leafs goaltender dislodged the net on a strange play that stood up after video review.
“I don’t know what the rule is,” Mrazek said. “I thought the post was out before the pass to the middle.”
Thompson added a short-handed empty netter for his 24th with 2:25 left in regulation as the Sabres — 33 points back of the Leafs in the standings at the start of play — downed Toronto for the second time in 12 days.
The Canadian women’s hockey team was honoured before the game and during the second intermission for their gold-medal performances at the Beijing Olympics and 2021 world championship.
WATCH l Canadian women’s hockey team joins Calgary’s Lindsay Ell for O Canada:
Canadian women’s hockey team honoured at Heritage Classic
12 hours ago
Duration 1:34
The Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medallists joined Calgary’s Lindsay Ell for the singing of O Canada in Hamilton on Sunday. 1:34
Fans in attendance at the home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, roughly 70 kilometres from Toronto and 100 kilometres from Buffalo, bundled up on a day where the temperature felt like minus-7 C when factoring in the wind chill for the 4 p.m. local time puck drop.
“It was obviously an adaptation to the elements,” said Matthews.
Crews had to clear snow off the ice a couple of times prior to warm-ups at the first NHL regular-season game in Steeltown since March 1994, but the flurries mostly subsided once the action got underway in front of a sellout crowd of 26,119.
Ron MacLean speaks with captain Marie Philip-Poulin after introducing the Canadian Women’s hockey team as they are honoured during the second intermission on Sunday. (John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)
The Leafs sported dark blue jerseys that pay homage to the Toronto Arenas — one of the franchise’s previous iterations that played from 1917 to 1919 — while the Sabres wore cream-coloured threads.
Toronto, which was booed off the ice at home March 2 following a 5-1 loss Buffalo, entered having surrendered four goals or more in nine of its last 11 games.
WATCH l Matthews to have hearing for cross-check on Dahlin:
Leafs’ Matthews to have hearing for cross-checking Sabres’ Dahlin
10 hours ago
Duration 0:36
Toronto forward Auston Matthews will have a hearing on Monday for his cross-check on Buffalo defenceman Rasmus Dahlin. 0:36
The Leafs have now lost to the Sabres (twice), Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens in recent weeks — clubs well below them in the standings — as they try to secure top spot in the Atlantic Division and avoid the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
“I don’t think that there’s ever a night off,” Toronto defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “Teams come out and play us hard. It’s on us to respond. I don’t think it’s an issue for us long term, but as of right now it’s been tough sledding.”
“It’s something that we haven’t been happy with,” Keefe added. “We’re going to get more than enough opportunity to play against teams that are not to the bottom half of the league.”
Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews raise his arms in celebration after scoring during the second period to give Toronto a 2-1 lead. ( John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)
Kase opened the scoring 40 seconds into the middle period when he shovelled a William Nylander rebound past Anderson for his 12th of the campaign.
Buffalo responded just 41 seconds later when Hinostroza stripped Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren and fed Krebs for his fifth.
The Leafs retook the lead at 2:57 when Matthews fired his 45th on a shot that dribbled through Anderson to get within two of the star centre’s career-high of 47 goals as “M-V-P” chants rang around Tim Hortons Field.
MAKE IT FORTY FIVE!! <a href=”https://t.co/lVcMAw3esc”>pic.twitter.com/lVcMAw3esc</a>
But the Sabres got back on even terms once again at 10:53 when Hinostroza’s pass struck Toronto defenceman T.J. Brodie in front and went in for his ninth.
Coming off an ugly performance where he allowed four goals on 12 shots before being pulled in Thursday’s loss to Arizona, Mrazek made a terrific glove save on Casey Mittelstadt early in the third before failing to stop Hinostroza’s winner.
“It doesn’t feel good when you lose the game,” Mrazek said. “When you win you always find more positive than negatives.”
Outdoors in the elements, it was once again more of the latter for Toronto.
WATCH l What Canadian teams might do ahead of NHL trade deadline:
What Canadian NHL teams might do ahead of the trade deadline
4 days ago
Duration 6:02
March 21st is fast approaching, and Rob Pizzo looks at what changes we could see from the teams north of the border. 6:02
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:*510w)
