It was a script Maple Leafs fans have seen before.
Earlier this week, in fact.
Up 3-1 in the third period and seemingly in complete control, Toronto allowed an opponent to wrestle the momentum away without much of a response for the second time in five days.
The Leafs managed to save face in this one, but plenty of questions remain for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations currently in a battle for its playoff life.
John Tavares scored his second goal of the night at 4:53 of overtime Friday as Toronto escaped with a 5-4 victory against Anaheim Ducks after blowing 3-1 and 4-3 leads in the final 20 minutes.
WATCH | Leafs sneak past Ducks in OT:
The Toronto Maple Leafs blew a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period, but managed to top the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 in overtime to salvage the win. 1:43
“It seems like we’re just lacking some confidence in those situations,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after his team was outshot 15-4 in the third by a club playing the second of a back-to-back. “Almost like we’re waiting or expecting something bad to happen.
“It’s not what we want to be about.”
Auston Matthews buried his 40th goal of the season to tie Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead, while Jason Spezza and Andreas Johnsson, who was promoted to the top line with William Nylander out sick, provided the rest of the offence for Toronto (29-19-7). Matthews picked up three assists for a four-point performance, while Mitch Marner added three of his own. Tavares also had an assist.
Campbell gets 1st win
Jack Campbell made 26 saves in his first start for the Leafs following Wednesday’s trade with the Los Angeles Kings.
“What a resilient group,” said Campbell, who admitted to some early jitters. “That’s a tough game when you give up the lead like that.
“But as a team you’ve got to appreciate the resilience.”
Tavares scored his 22nd goal on a redirection at the lip of the crease with 6.2 seconds left on the clock in the extra period off a sweet Marner feed after Rickard Rakell went off for tripping.
“We just had to stay with it,” Tavares said. “Not a very good third period. Not ideal and something we have to clean up.”
Adam Henrique, with a goal and an assist, Nicolas Deslauriers, Max Jones and Derek Grant replied for Anaheim (22-26-7), which was playing its third game in four nights following Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal.
Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots for the Ducks, who were forced to go with five defenceman for the third period and overtime after Erik Gudbranson left with an upper-body injury. Cam Fowler had two assists.
“We battled,” Anaheim head coach Dallas Eakins said. “We fought hard and showed some great character.”
The Leafs led 3-1 in the third Monday, but caved against the Florida Panthers — a team missing its best player in Aleksander Barkov — in a 5-3 loss.
‘You take the good and the bad’
Toronto’s victory Friday saw the club jump back into a playoff spot in third in the Atlantic Division, a point ahead of Florida, which has a game in hand.
“You just take the good and bad,” Matthews said of a win tainted by another squandered lead. “We don’t want to get in that position, and it’s been a position that we’ve been falling into quite a bit.”
After Terry scored shorthanded and Henrique, on a power play, added another just over four minutes apart to level things 3-3 midway through the third, Spezza got Toronto back in front when he raced down the right side, faked a shot on Miller, and scored his ninth upstairs from a tight angle with 3:28 left in regulation.
“That was an elite goal,” Keefe said of the 36-year-old’s effort. “He still hasn’t lost that.”
Auston Matthews, right, celebrates his goal with teammate Mitchell Marner during the second period. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
But Grant poked home his 13th with 57 seconds left on the clock off a scramble to knot it up again and force OT.
Campbell and bruising forward Kyle Clifford both made their debuts for the Leafs following Wednesday’s deal that sent winger Trevor Moore and two draft picks the other way.
With No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen still out nursing a neck injury suffered Monday and backup Michael Hutchinson unable to get the job done in Wednesday’s 5-3 setback at the New York Rangers, Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas pulled the trigger with his team sitting below the post-season cutline.
Andersen won’t make the trip to Montreal for Saturday’s tilt, but could return next week after consecutive days on the ice. Keefe said he hadn’t decided on his starter at the Bell Centre, but it seems likely Campbell will get the tap on the shoulder.
“We gave it back a little bit there in the third,” Clifford said. “We want to lock the game down and suck the life out of them.”
Matthews joins Maple Leafs lore
Tied 1-1 after the first, Tavares scored his third goal in as many games on a power play 3:38 into the second.
After the Leafs killed off a Tavares penalty midway through the second, the captain found Matthews off the rush, and he buried his 40th on a bullet one-timer at 13:18. The 22-year-old equalled the career-high 40 he scored in his rookie season back in 2016-17, and tied the 34-year-old Oveckhin’s league lead in 2019-20.
He’s also the fifth Leaf to record two 40-goal seasons with the team, joining Darryl Sittler, Frank Mahovlich, Lanny McDonald and Rick Vaive.
“It means a lot,” Matthew said of reaching 40 in just 55 games. “It’s a big tribute to those guys that I play with.”
Expected to add some much-needed grit to Toronto’s talent-loaded roster, Clifford mixed it up with Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf during a scrum near Campbell’s net.
WATCH | 9 NHL black history moments … in 90 seconds:
Willie O’Ree broke the league’s colour barrier in 1958, and there have been a lot of firsts since then. Rob Pizzo walks you through 9 trailblazers for Black History Month. 1:53
He got a rousing ovation from the 19,077 on hand at Scotiabank Arena as both men skated to the penalty box.
Campbell didn’t have a lot to do through two periods as the Leafs kept things tight, but he had to be sharp on a couple of Fowler chances late in the second.
Anaheim came out strong in the third and Jones took advantage of a Johnsson turnover on Toronto power play before beating Campbell upstairs on a breakaway for his seventh at 8:34.
The Ducks tied it with 7:13 left in regulation when Henrique batted his 18th out of mid-air on a man advantage after Clifford went off for holding the stick.
“I don’t think we skated well enough,” Tavares said of the Toronto’s third. “We didn’t initiate the play and they came out with good energy.”
It’s something the Leafs know needs to change — and fast.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
