Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron deflects a pass past Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray during the first period of their game in Boston on Jan. 14.Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Perhaps it is unfair to sound an alarm over Matt Murray’s recent play in the Maple Leafs’ net. Perhaps not.
“Clang, clang, clang, clang!”
On Tuesday, the veteran goaltender got yanked after giving up four goals on just eight shots. If one includes the four he allowed in a loss to Boston on Saturday that’s eight pucks that have eluded him of the past 42.
To go back a bit farther, he is 3-3 in his past seven starts and in that time has given up four goals three times and five once.
Solid early play has overshadowed the more recent deficiency but he has begun to look more like the guy who struggled in two previous seasons in Ottawa than the one who won Stanley Cups twice in Pittsburgh.
Toronto rallied from a 4-2 disadvantage to edge Florida 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday. Ilya Samsonov came off the bench to save 11 shots – and the day – and will almost certainly get the nod against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at Scotiabank Arena.
“He came in and calmed our team down and made some massive saves,” Mitch Marner said after the triumph over the Panthers. “It was great to see him go in there and kind of take over the game for us.”
Tuesday’s encounter was a chaotic, ornery and penalty-ridden affair. Florida took nine, which coach Paul Maurice called an “inordinate share.”
“I don’t know what the hell those guys were doing,” Maurice said in a slag at the officials that may set him back slightly in the pocket. “It wasn’t Florida Panther-friendly.” At one point in the second period, Sam Bennett of the Panthers was cited for interference and sent to the penalty box, only to have the call reversed and the Maple Leafs’ Timothy Liljegren handed two minutes instead, also for interference.
On the bench, Sheldon Keefe, Toronto’s coach, was baffled and infuriated and yelled a word that would be highly inappropriate in most places other than an NHL arena or a Sopranos dinner.
Keefe later said the explanation he was given at the time was that the infraction, which involved kicking Samsonov’s dropped goal stick, was wrongly attributed to Bennett and then corrected.
Toronto went only 2 for 7 on the power play but got so many chances that a couple were eventually bound to go in. Auston Matthews netted one with a man advantage with three seconds left in the second period to cut the Panthers’ lead to 4-3. It energized his teammates who tied it on a goal by William Nylander in the third and then won it in extra time on another by Nylander.
“It was a heck of a job to battle back,” Matthews said. “There are a lot of things we could have done better but at the end of the day we got to go home happy.”
For his part, Matthews was charged with tripping Nick Cousins after the latter cross-checked him three times in a matter of seconds.
Both went to the box.
“A strange night,” Marner said.
The Maple Leafs are 27-11-7 – which is quite good – but came close to losing their third game in a row to an Atlantic Division opponent. With Boston far ahead in the standings and Tampa Bay close behind, a crisis was averted for now.
Overall, Murray’s numbers are fine – 11-5-2 with a .911 save percentage. The latter has come down the more he has played, which is true of all but a few goalies.
So maybe it is a little nitpicky but his recent backslide has been noticeable.
Keefe attributed most of Murray’s troubles on Tuesday to the odd circumstances of the game – too many power plays and because of that, little flow and rhythm in play. He also lifted him in favour of Samsonov, who is now 13-4-1 and has saved nearly 92 per cent of the shots he has faced.
“You can’t give up four goals on eight shots no matter how you shake it,” Keefe said.
Matthews credited Samsonov for the victory but also said he believed Toronto played better in front of him than it did in front of Murray.
For Samsonov it was another night at the office.
“Both goalies need to get ready for everything,” he said. “Sometimes injuries happen, sometimes you have a little bad luck.
“Over 82 games, sometimes there will be bad ones.”
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.
