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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Toronto’s lineup from Thursday with record in Game 7s:
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
