The Maple Leafs held a media availability on Friday before flying back to Toronto.
When it comes to Toronto’s previous playoff failures, Auston Matthews says “the past is in the past” and the superstar centre had a colourful way of describing the required mindset for Saturday’s Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s about this next game and going out there with a purpose and with details and just competing for 60 minutes or whatever it takes,” Matthews said moments after Thursday’s overtime loss. “We just gotta put our balls on the line and go for it.”
It’s a message that’s being embraced by the team.
“That’s the perfect way to describe Game 7s,” said coach Sheldon Keefe. “I mean, it requires an all-in effort.”
“We got to have that mentality,” agreed veteran defenceman Mark Giordano. “We got to believe in ourselves. We’re good enough. We get out there and play our game, we’re good enough to beat anybody. You just have to have that confidence in our game and that’s what he meant by that.”
The Leafs started tentatively in Game 5 against the Columbus Blue Jackets and got bounced from the bubble in 2020. Again, Toronto looked nervous to start Game 7 against Montreal last year and did not score until trailing 3-0 late in the third period.
“We certainly aren’t uncomfortable as we go into this game,” promised Keefe. “We are ready for it.”
The Leafs are drawing confidence from how they battled back from a 2-0 hole for the second straight game on Thursday.
“We just kept competing,” noted captain John Tavares. “We just kept our composure and we just kept playing. We had looks. A couple hit off his knob, you know, so close. You just got to keep going. You got to keep fighting and find a way to break through.”
Toronto has outscored Tampa 12-10 in five-on-five play during the series.
Leafs rally behind Matthews “b—- on the line” approach
After their Game 6 overtime loss, Auston Matthews said they need to put their “b—- on the line” in the deciding game of the series. Sheldon Keefe and Mark Giordano echoed the approach on Friday.
—
Last year, the Leafs blew a 3-1 series lead and didn’t play well for most of Game 6 in Montreal. During the best-of-five series against Columbus, they needed a late comeback from 3-0 down in Game 4 to stay alive.
“Going into Game 7 last year, and even in the Columbus series the prior year, you are on a bit of a downer because of your performance and how you failed to get it done,” Keefe pointed out. “Although we lost in overtime last night, which is similar in a sense to Montreal, the manner in which we played, the calibre of our opponent, how hard they have pushed us, how we have handled that, how we put ourselves in a position to win, and how our individual players are feeling with their confidence that they have — all of those things combine to fill our group with excitement.”
Matthews and Mitch Marner entered the deciding game last year feeling snakebitten with just one goal between them. This year, they have combined for six goals and 15 points.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve just been really impressed with the demeanour of the group,” said Giordano. “I think our top guys are leading the way.”
Tavares, who got hurt in Game 1 last year and missed the rest of the series, scored twice on Thursday. He also scored in Game 5. William Nylander, meanwhile, has registered three straight multi-point games. And there’s so much more beyond the points that the stars are providing.
“Matty and Johnny taking huge faceoffs, winning huge draws and playing really well in their own zone,” Giordano highlighted. “Willy, whenever we need a spark, I feel like he’s the guy who’s been giving it to us lately.”
Tavares has won 64.8 per cent of his faceoffs while Matthews is at 53.9 per cent. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is the only Lightning centre above 50 per cent in the playoffs.
Matthews has also led the Leafs in hits the past two games.
With Game 7 back home, Keefe will be able to give his stars favourable matchups and an even greater opportunity to influence the proceedings.
“The fact that our top players are thriving, feeling good and are confident, as well as the reaction and boost we have had from our fans throughout the series …We just feel like this team has lots of fight in it and confidence and belief in what we are doing,” Keefe said.
Toronto has fallen in five straight opening-round series, but even the Lightning seem to recognize that this Leafs team is different.
“I don’t think we can look back at what happened to Toronto in the past and think, ‘We got this,'” coach Jon Cooper told reporters on a Zoom call. “We’d be sorely mistaken if that’s the attitude we took.”
Brayden Point also downplayed that storyline.
“The mindset we’re going up there with is they’re a great team that plays good at home,” the Game 6 overtime hero said. “That building’s going to be rocking, so we got to be ready and try to have a good start.”
The Lightning played one Game 7 en route to their consecutive Cup wins. Tampa shutout the New York Islanders 1-0 in the decisive game of the Stanley Cup semifinal series last year.
Keefe explains why the feel is different heading into this do-or-die moment
Last year the Maple Leafs lost to the Canadiens in Game 7 of the first round, but Sheldon Keefe explains why this year is different and the circumstances heading into the final game of the series aren’t the same.
—
This will be the fifth straight year that Toronto plays in a do-or-die game. It almost feels like tradition, but these moments shouldn’t be taken for granted. Giordano, who’s suited up in more than 1,000 regular-season games, will be experiencing an NHL Game 7 for the first time at age 38.
“It’s a great thing to be a part of,” he said.
The Toronto native recalls cheering on the Leafs back in 2004 when they won a Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators to advance to the second round. That was the last Game 7 in Toronto in front of a big crowd and the last time the Leafs won a series.
“I remember bits and parts of it,” Giordano said. “Just being a huge fan at the time and seeing the atmosphere in the city and the rink, it’s a huge opportunity to be a part of that as players.”
Michael Bunting, Ilya Lyubushkin, Colin Blackwell and David Kampf are also set to play in their first career Game 7.
Ondrej Kase (1-0) and Jake Muzzin (4-1) are the only Leafs that dressed on Thursday who have been on the winning side of a Game 7 in the NHL.
Muzzin, a Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings, missed Toronto’s last two do-or-die games due to injury.
Leafs veteran Giordano prepares for first career Game 7
Mark Giordano will partake in his first career Game 7 on Saturday when the Maple Leafs host the Lightning, he remembers the last Game 7 that took place in Toronto, way back in 2004.
—
Alex Kerfoot committed a turnover that led to Tampa’s first goal on Thursday night. The message from Keefe afterwards?
“Just to shake it off,” the coach said. “He’d have lots of opportunities to make a big play for us for the rest of the game. I thought he played really well.”
Kerfoot’s high-sticking penalty in the third period put the Leafs down two men and led to the tying goal. He was not made available to the media after the game.
Johnston: Context is different this season, Leafs going ‘punch-for-punch’ with Lightning
While it may be easy to sag the Maple Leafs with their past first-round failures heading into their Game 7 against the Lightning, the context this season is different. TSN Maple Leafs reporter Mark Masters and TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston discuss what has changed this year about Toronto as it prepares for a do-or-die playoff game for a fifth straight season.
—
Toronto’s lineup from Thursday with record in Game 7s:
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.
