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Maple Leafs get help from all corners in beating Conner McDavid’s Oilers

Published

2 weeks ago

March 12, 2023

Harry Miller

Maple Leafs forward William Nylander, right, celebrates a goal against the Oilers with teammates Austin Matthews, left, and Mark Giordano, centre, during NHL action at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Saturday, March 11, 2023. Photo by Claus Andersen /Getty Images

If Michael Bunting riles up the other team to chase him around the rink like the Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, then he’s still making a contribution.

Looking a little lost since the reconfiguration of the top two lines took him away from Auston Matthews, Bunting has been shut out in four of the past five games, but continues to up his role of annoying Scarborough punk.

After getting called for embellishment – hey, it is Oscars weekend after all – he had Evander Kane in a lather and they both took double minors as part of an intense sidebar to an already high-stakes game Saturday between Toronto and Edmonton.

“He’s being an agitator out there, working hard, creating chances,” said winger William Nylander after the 7-4 win at Scotiabank Arena. “I think he just has to stick with it.”

Kane, meanwhile, wanted to stick it to Bunting for his penchant to cry foul to the officials.

“It’s funny. You want to get these little ticky-tack calls. He likes to dive, embellish. You want to get that out of the game, but (officials) prevent guys from the consequences of those actions. A lot of time they get in the way, sometimes the ref.

“I think fighting is a great deterrent of those kinds of plays. It just prevents guys from answering the bell and he’s a perfect example of that.”

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Just as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares were involved in the scoring, they also wound up in the box in a game as intense as its billing.

“It’s good, both teams are invested in the game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe noted. “I didn’t think it was that physical, it got emotional at different times, but I thought our guys initiated well and responded well.”

Certainly, this was the needed response in front of nearly 20,000 from the Leafs, whose best players got too cute in Edmonton and weren’t ready for a fired-up McDavid. On Saturday their stars came out, getting 11 consecutive points.

“I think so,” Keefe said of his top guns seeking revenge. “I wanted to go with a Matthews – McDavid match up straight up (Matthews winning the game-opening draw). “This was an opportunity for us to take the puck out of (McDavid’s) hands and play on offence and try to make him defend.

“I thought those guys were really focused, whether it was the Oilers on a Saturday night and all that. And we got it handed to us pretty good in Edmonton. That was fresh in our minds.”

Despite the big names on the board, plugger Noel Acciari opened and closed the scoring for the Leafs and was given the wrestler’s belt as game MVP.

“Noel was unbelievable in all regards,” Keefe said. “As scorer, he defended, was physical, generated chances.”

As much as McDavid and Leon Draisaitl light it up for his Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hyman knew what the Leafs were capable of, having been on the ground floor of the rebuild with Matthews, Nylander and Marner.

“They’re no different than our guys,” Hyman said. “When you feel good, you get a couple of goals and you’re searching for more.”

What those Leafs have added since Hyman left is defensive acumen to round out their games. That was on display with Marner generating two goals on turnovers deep in the Oilers end. It’s why Edmonton got Mattias Ekholm to bolster their back line for the playoffs.

“There was a lot of talent on display,” Hyman said. “The fans are happy in Toronto tonight, we’re obviously not. But we’ll get past it.”

Coach Jay Woodcroft heaped praise on Hyman.

“A Swiss army knife type guy. He’s hard to play against, but easy to play with. That’s a high compliment for a heart and soul player. Great person, great teammate, he drives a lot of offence on our team, does work for a lot of people. Phenomenal addition to our organization.”

THE BIG 3-0

Two Leafs reached their 30^th goals of the season on Saturday, Tavares and Matthews, the sixth time in the captain’s NHL career, while Matthews has done it in all of his seven seasons here.

And Marner moved into 10^th place in franchise points with his third-period assist, up to 538, passing Rick Vaive.

LOOSE LEAFS

Matt Murray looked shaky in the early going, even if one of three goals was by McDavid. But he made a great tip save on Warren Foegele to keep the Leafs in it. “There was still a lot of hockey to play,” Keefe said of not panicking … Justin Holl was beaten on a Kane wrapround, but came out of the game plus 1, third among all Toronto defencemen at plus 16 behind Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren … Keefe said defenceman Luke Schenn’s wife delivered her baby Friday and the process of getting him back to Toronto from Vancouver was underway … Logan Shaw had the overtime winner for the Marlies in a 3-2 home decision over Hartford on Saturday. Goalie Joseph Woll improved to 16-1-0 in the AHL with a .933 save percentage. Newly acquired forward Radim Zohorna, acquired for Dryden Hunt from Calgary, added his first goal as a Marlie.

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Washington Wizards vs. Toronto Raptors Live Score and Stats – March 26, 2023 Gametracker – CBS Sports

Published

2 hours ago

March 27, 2023

Harry Miller

TORONTO (AP) O.G. Anunoby scored 29 points, Fred VanVleet had 28 and the Toronto Raptors never trailed in a 114-104 win over Washington Wizards on Sunday.

Pascal Siakam had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Jakob Poeltl had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Anunoby had 11 made baskets, two shy of his career-high. All four of his 3-pointers came in the first quarter.

“O.G. obviously had it going tonight,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

Ninth-place Toronto clinched the three-game season series with the Wizards and maintained a three-game lead over 11th-place Washington in the Eastern Conference standings. Both teams have seven games remaining.

Toronto and Atlanta have identical 37-38 records, but the Hawks won two of three against the Raptors this season to clinch the tiebreaker.

Scottie Barnes scored 13 points in his return to the starting lineup after missing two games because of a sore left wrist as the Raptors won for the ninth time in 10 home games.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 26 points and Corey Kispert had 19 for the Wizards, who have lost eight of 10.

Washington made 18 turnovers, leading to 25 points for Toronto, and was outscored 27-11 in second-chance points.

“Our ball security wasn’t where it should be,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “Obviously they thrive in that area. We allowed their strengths to beat us.”

Deni Avdija and Johnny Davis each scored 15 points for Washington and Daniel Gafford had 10.

The short-handed Wizards played without guard Bradley Beal (left knee) for the third straight game, while forward Kyle Kuzma (right ankle) sat for the fourth straight game. Washington was also without guard Monte Morris (left groin).

“Right now, those guys are a level higher,” Porzingis said of Toronto. “ Us without our main guys, it’s a difficult task.”

Anunoby almost single-handedly outscored the Wizards with a career-high 18 points in the first quarter as Toronto led 37-21 after one. Anunoby shot 7 for 10 in the first, making 4 of 6 from long range.

“He got hot,” Porzingis said. “He was hitting 3’s, he was hitting some post-up shots. He was hitting everything else.”

Held scoreless in the opening quarter, Siakam scored 11 points in the second to give the Raptors a 63-46 halftime lead.

Porzingis scored 12 points in the third as Washington outscored Toronto 38-24. The Wizards closed to within a point, 80-79, on a 3 by Davis with 2:16 left in the quarter, but were unable to take the lead. Toronto took an 87-84 lead to the fourth.

Anunoby scored five points as the Raptors opened the fourth with a 13-3 run to restore their double-digit lead.

TIP-INS

Wizards: Shot 1 for 8 from 3-point range in the first quarter, but went 15 for 28 over the final three quarters. Washington shot 8 for 12 from long range in the third. … Former Raptor Delon Wright shot 2 for 9 and scored five points. Wright had eight assists and seven rebounds. … Lost their fourth straight road game. … Avdija had nine rebounds and seven assists.

Raptors: F Precious Achiuwa also returned after missing two games because of a sore right hamstring. … G Gary Trent Jr. (right elbow) sat for the third straight game. … G Will Barton left in the first quarter because of a sprained left ankle and did not return.

SPIN TO WIN

Barnes forced a steal and finished with a 360-degree dunk for his first basket of the game.

“I thought it was great,” Anunoby said.

MAGIC TOUCH

Toronto has won or tied the past 12 season series with Washington. The Raptors lost three of four to the Wizards in 2007-08.

WIRE-TO-WIRE WINS

The Raptors won without trailing for the fifth time. They also did it Dec. 7 against the Lakers, Jan. 12 against Charlotte, Jan. 28 at Portland, and March 14 against Denver.

UP NEXT

Wizards: Host Boston on Tuesday.

Raptors: Host Miami on Tuesday. —

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

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Maple Leafs @ Predators 3/26 | NHL Highlights 2023 – NHL

Published

3 hours ago

March 27, 2023

Harry Miller

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Switzerland win LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023

Published

14 hours ago

March 26, 2023

Harry Miller

Defending champions Switzerland beat Norway by 6-3 in Sunday afternoon’s gold medal final at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023.

This was a fourth successive world title for skip Silvana Tirinzoni, fourth player Alina Paetz and second Carole Howald. For Paetz and Howald it is a sixth world women’s championship title.

After blanking the first end, Switzerland’s fourth player Alina Paetz opened the scoring with a single point in the second end when she played a raise take-out.

The Swiss still led by 1-0 in the fourth end when Norway’s fourth player Kristin Skaslien had a complete miss on an attempt to blank the end and gave up a steal of one point to double Switzerland’s lead to 2-0.

In the fifth end, Skaslien made amends with a draw to put two points on the board for Norway, that levelled the score at 2-2.

After another blank end in the sixth, Switzerland took the lead again in the seventh end when Paetz brought her last stone draw inside three Norwegian stones to score one (3-2).

Norway levelled again at 3-3, in the eighth end when Skaslien played a hit to promote one of her own stones into scoring position.

In the ninth end, Switzerland’s Paetz played her final draw precisely onto the button and inside three Norwegian stones, to score one and nudge her team into a 4-3 lead.

In the tenth end, Norway’s Skaslien had a draw to tie the game and force an extra end, but her shot came up short to hand Switzerland a steal of two points and a 6-3 win.

Swiss celebration after the final © WCF / Jeffrey Au

The gold medal winning Swiss team are: skip and third player Silvana Tirinzoni, fourth Alina Paetz, second Carole Howald and lead Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann, supported by their coach Pierre Charette.

The silver medal winning Norwegian team are: skip Marianne Roervik, fourth Kristin Skaslien, second Mille Haslev Nordbye, lead Martine Roenning and alternate Maia Ramsfjell, supported by their coach Rune Steen Hansen.

Gold medal game result

Norway-Switzerland: 3-6

Engage with the World Curling Federation about the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and be searching the hashtags #WWCC2023 #curling