The Maple Leafs came back to Florida, hoping fortunes would shine on them in a new season versus the team that ended their last one.
Sports
Maple Leafs’ lineup changes, but result stays same in loss to Panthers
Give Toronto credit for not folding after two spirit-crushing goals late in the first period, but it was déjà vu all over again Thursday, a close loss to the Cats after four of last spring’s five playoff games between the teams were settled by a goal.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a .943 save percentage in that second-round series, made 30 stops in the 3-1 final. That included two on John Tavares near the end, while his team blocked a number of chances in surviving a 6-on-4 power play that ended in their empty net goal.
Keefe changed lines and defensive pairings the day before, among other things trying to get the talented Matthew Knies top six minutes with Tavares and William Nylander, while letting Max Domi find his way with his third different unit in four games.
Tyler Bertuzzi, who was a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury, was taken off the top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Keefe told reporters in Sunrise after the game he thought Bertuzzi wasn’t at full capacity to keep up, though the Leafs have little option, as they’re unable to carry an extra forward because of salary cap constraints.
“We’ve had our looks with Bert, it just hasn’t worked right now,” said Marner, who had Toronto’s only goal, coming on the power play. “I’m sure there’s no panic mode, we know it will work eventually. Right now, (Keefe’s) put a couple of people with us that have worked before to bring the chemistry.
“It’s always a little tricky (integrating new players). Pre-season is what it is, not close to the regular season. You have to play a full NHL team that comes with 100% (effort).
“We’ve done a good job getting pucks off the wall towards the net, we’ve had looks, it just hasn’t worked.”
In the third period, Keefe tried a few more things, including dogged Noah Gregor moved up with Tavares and Nylander. It was the late period lapse prompting him to re-write the forwards’ script again, though he was mildly critical of Ilya Samsonov.
Three Leafs responded to a Panthers dump in on the first goal, but new defenceman John Klingberg didn’t recognize Gregor was near him and not on the wall when he passed. Kevin Stenlund rifled in the free shot. With less than seven seconds to go, Toronto was lax on its breakout and Oliver Ekman-Larsson picked up his first as a Panther.
The new combinations gave the Leafs some spark in the second period and after Morgan Rielly missed an empty net, Marner scored on an abbreviated advantage, draining a Tavares rebound.
The Leafs were taxed killing three second-period minors, but put the Panthers on edge each time they dropped Matthews into the mix as he generated a couple of short-handed chances and drew a call himself. The visitors escaped a short-handed goal against when Klingberg lost a puck at the Panthers line and Sam Reinhart fired high on Samsonov.
Samsonov had his best game of three making 21 stops, with a couple of stretch pad saves. He said he didn’t get a good look at either goal and quipped “maybe I need to buy some glasses.”
“Not a great result today, but I feel my game was going better,” the goalie said. “They made a couple of good shots against us, but we don’t have time for crying. We have too many games on this road trip and the sun is up tomorrow.”
Gregor nearly scored at the middle frame buzzer on a late rush when pulled down. That yielded a power play to start the third at 6-on-5, but the intermission and fresh ice didn’t result in success for Toronto’s No. 1 group.
After beating the Leafs last spring, then Carolina for the Eastern title, the Panthers lost the Stanley Cup to Vegas. They had a low-key conference banner ceremony before the game.
“I think rivalries are built in the playoffs,” coach Paul Maurice said before the match. “They’re nor divisional or conference.
“(But) there’s no way to play a series against Toronto and not have it be an event. There’s just so much coverage, so much scrutiny out on everything. There will be an extra energy in this with Toronto, Boston and Carolina. It’ll be a different year in these series for sure.”
“It was a long time ago,” he said before the game. “It’s a new season, we have a lot of games to play. There’s nothing you can change about the past. We’re excited about the here and the now and what we have in this room.”
People hoping to see Gudas encounter new Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves after the Panthers defenceman rubbed it in the face of goalie Joseph Woll following the elimination goal will have to wait for Toronto to play Gudas’s new Anaheim team in January. But Maurice thought the famous picture of Gudas looming over the goalie was “kind of funny”.
“He’s just such an emotional guy. It was his barbaric yelp. People from Toronto didn’t appreciate it the same way we did.”
Saturday in Tampa Bay will be role reversal for the Leafs. Not since Oct. 5, 2005 against Ottawa have they been in a regular season game against the team they eliminated the previous spring.
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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps will begin their post-season campaign with a play-in game against the Timbers in Portland on Wednesday.
The ‘Caps (13-13-8) ended the regular season with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday and finished eighth in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings.
The eighth and ninth spots from each conference meet in a play-in game this week, with the winner going on to face the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
Each eighth-place team was set to host the play-in game, but Vancouver announced Friday that its home stadium, B.C. Place, is not available, so the club will cede home-field advantage to Portland (12-11-11), the ninth-place team.
The ‘Caps and Timbers split their three-game series during regular-season play, with each side taking a win, a loss and a draw.
The first round of the MLS playoffs is set to begin next weekend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Diego Luna scored a tying goal in the 73rd minute and Real Salt Lake added another on an own goal for a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night to set a single-season club record for points.
Real Salt Lake (16-7-11) secured the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and will face Minnesota in the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs. RSL reached 59 points this season, topping the 2012 team with 57.
Vancouver (13-13-8) will play the Portland Timbers on Wednesday in a wild-card game for a chance to play top-seeded LAFC.
Luna settled a long cross from Braian Ojeda before taking four touches to slot home a shot inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.
RSL went ahead in the 83rd when Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer misplayed a lofted ball that rolled into the back of the net.
Vancouver midfielder Ryan Gauld opened the scoring in the 58th to become the first player in club history to produce multiple seasons with at least 10 goals and 10 assists.
—
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The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Sports
Juan Soto’s 3-run homer in 10th sends Yankees past Guardians 5-2 and into World Series for 41st time
CLEVELAND (AP) — Juan Soto’s arrival last winter was supposed to be that move that pushed the New York Yankees back to the top.
They’re one step away.
Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and the Yankees advanced to their 41st World Series — and first in 15 years — by beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.
Baseball’s biggest brand is going back to October’s main stage.
Soto, who was acquired in a seven-player trade from San Diego in December, pushed the Bronx Bombers into position with one big swing.
This was why he came, for this moment and for so many more.
“We’re right where we belong,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who pulled off the deal for Soto.
The Yankees will try to win their 28th title against either the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 6 of the NL Championship Series is on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
In the third consecutive tight game in three nights at Progressive Field, Austin Wells walked with one out in the 10th and Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez, whose soft toss to the bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio for an error.
Hunter Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres and had Soto in a 1-2 count before New York’s stylish outfielder sent a shot over the wall in center. Soto danced down the first-base line and paused to celebrate with his teammates before circling the bases.
“I was just saying to myself, `You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything,’” said Soto, who moved alongside his manager, Aaron Boone, as the only New York players to homer in an extra-inning, series-clinching win.
Luke Weaver got the final three outs with Lane Thomas flying out for the last one, which was caught by Soto.
“We get to play for a world championship,” Boone said. “That’s pretty sweet.”
The 25-year-old Soto is eligible for free agency this winter, and Yankees fans chanted “Re-sign Soto!” during the postgame festivities. He’s expected to get a contract upwards of $600 million, and his heroics in Game 5 may have raised his price.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and was named ALCS MVP as the Yankees took care of the Guardians in five games. It wasn’t easy.
New York won the first two at Yankee Stadium without much fanfare or any major drama. However, it was a different story in Cleveland as all three games at Progressive Field were nail-biters.
The Guardians rallied to win Game 3 on two, two-run homers in their last two at-bats, and the Yankees held on to win Game 4 after blowing a four-run lead.
“This was a rollercoaster and we were able to just keep punching back,” Stanton said. “We know there’s much more work to do and it’s only uphill from here and we got to get it done.”
Cleveland just didn’t have enough and a surprising season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt ended just short of a World Series. The franchise remains without a title since 1948, baseball’s current longest drought.
“There’s only one team that gets to win the last game of the year, and unfortunately it’s not going to be us,” Vogt said. “But we accomplished a lot as a group. We got better. We worked extremely hard. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. We just didn’t get quite as far as we wanted to.”
The Yankees are back in the World Series, back where their fans expect them to be every year.
The club’s 82-80, fourth-place finish in the AL East last season led to some “soul searching as an organization” during the winter, according to Boone, who has been widely criticized but is one of just three managers to take New York to playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.
While the team’s core stayed mostly intact, getting Soto in a blockbuster trade on Dec. 7 — New York sent five players to San Diego for the three-time All-Star — accelerated the team returning to title contender.
“That was a good day,” Boone said with a laugh before the game.
Stanton’s 446-foot rocket into the left-field bleachers tied it at 2 in the sixth and chased Tanner Bibee, who had struck out New York’s dangerous DH in his first two at-bats and held the Yankees scoreless for the first five innings.
It was Stanton’s fourth homer in this series — his third in three days — and his 16th in the postseason, moving him into fourth place on the club’s career list behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18).
Before the game, Boone was asked what makes Stanton so good.
“He can hit it harder than anyone, first of all,” Boone said. “So there’s the physical nature of what he does that’s different than just about everyone in the world.”
But Boone went on to compliment Stanton’s discipline at the plate, “his approach, his process, how he studies guys.”
“There’s something that he does when he gets familiarity with people on top of being very physically gifted,” Boone said.
The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the fifth off Carlos Rodón on Steven Kwan’s RBI single with two outs. But Cleveland missed a big chance for more, leaving the bases loaded when Lane Thomas grounded out on the first pitch to him from Mark Leiter Jr.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (elbow strain) had another successful live batting practice session. The reliever remains on track to join the Yankees on their World Series roster. Boone said Cortes would throw again early next week. Cortes went 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 30 starts.
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