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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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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
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