adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Maple Leafs lose to Sharks as troubling trends persist: ‘We gotta execute’

Published

2 years ago

 on

SAN JOSE — A day before the Leafs faced the Sharks, practice was nearly done when a frustrated Sheldon Keefe put a stop to things.

“Everybody in here please,” he said.

The Leafs coach was not happy with what he was seeing. The execution wasn’t there. He voiced his displeasure, urgently. Then, he ran the drill back again. This time it was executed properly. And that was it. Practice was over.

Advertisement

A day later, his team failed to execute against a Sharks team that’s sitting near the league basement. This, after losses already this season to the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens, two teams that finished at the bottom of last season’s standings.

The Leafs have yet to really look like the Leafs this season. Nothing like the team that stacked up a franchise-record 115 points last season. Instead, they’ve looked lost, disjointed, uninspired. Not much is going right at the moment.

“Obviously we want to build traction,” Auston Matthews said after the loss to the Sharks, which came three nights after a dispiriting loss in Vegas. “I just don’t think we’ve really put together a full 60-minute game. I think that consistency within the game and momentum shifts and stuff are kinda hurting us right now.”

The Leafs fell behind 26 seconds into the game in San Jose, and then slipped into a 3-1 hole.

“I think there was just too many ups and downs, not a whole lot of consistency throughout the game,” Matthews went on. “There was times we did some good things obviously, and had some good possession and some good plays offensively. There was also times where we were just a little bit stagnant and couldn’t really get much going.”

(D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports)

Keefe’s lineup shakeup had only a so-so effect.

Alex Kerfoot’s addition to the top line helped spur two goals — one from David Kampf, the team’s unlikely five-on-five goal leader, another from Mitch Marner. It was hardly a dominant outing, though.

As Matthews noted, the Leafs struggled to turn one good shift into another.

More concerning was how things went for the one line that remained intact: the trio of John Tavares, William Nylander and Nick Robertson.

They were pinned in their own end for most of the night, to the point that Keefe had to remove both Nylander and Robertson from the line in the third period and replace them — with Kerfoot and Calle Jarnkrok — for defensive zone draws.

Advertisement

The Tavares line was having to shoulder an unusual share of defensive zone faceoffs because of the lineup restructuring. The coaching staff wasn’t going to send the tough stuff to the line that featured Michael Bunting and Denis Malgin. And they most certainly aimed to get the Matthews’ group on offence as often as possible.

So Tavares and company were tasked with more of that load (38 percent offensive zone faceoff percentage). Shot attempts were 13-4 for San Jose when Tavares, Nylander, and Robertson were on the ice.

Nylander, notably, was held without a shot or attempt. Tavares is still looking for his first five-on-five goal of the season.

“I thought that San Jose’s best players gave us a real hard time today,” Keefe said. “Every time those guys got on the ice they tilted the ice.”

That sounds, in a roundabout way, not unlike the message Keefe delivered after the loss to the Coyotes. San Jose’s best players — Logan Couture, Erik Karlsson, Timo Meier — were all playing against the Leafs’ best players — and winning those minutes.

Keefe may have to go back to the drawing board, whether that’s dropping Michael Bunting back onto the top line or finding a different look for the Tavares group. It’s probably time to give Nicolas Aube-Kubel another look at the bottom of the lineup.

The only line that should definitely stick for now is the one that reunited Kampf with Pierre Engvall. That unit, with Zach Aston-Reese filling things out, was the most successful group in San Jose. Despite landing only one offensive zone faceoff, the line finished with an expected goals mark approaching 90 percent.

For the second game in a row, the Leafs gave up too much good stuff, too many high-quality opportunities (though two of the four San Jose goals came on one power play).

“We gotta figure out these turnovers,” Marner said. “We’re giving a lot of teams a lot of odd-man rushes, a lot of chances our way. We’re not helping our D a lot, especially forwards. We’re not coming back to pucks. They were way hungrier on the forecheck. That’s the thing that our team has been so good at the last couple years, getting pucks back and creating offence off that. The forward group, we need to get way hungrier on the puck. We need to create way more chances up ice and help our D out a little more.”

“We didn’t play our game the first two periods,” added an unusually outspoken Kampf. “I feel like in the third we came back a little bit and started playing a little bit harder. It wasn’t good all game.”

Keefe has not been happy with the way the puck is moving from the D to the forwards. In other words, how the team is initiating its attack. It’s what, in his estimation, has stalled the offence and led to his team spending more time playing defence.

The Leafs are sitting about 50 percent expected goals for the season. Not great. Last season that number was 56 percent.

“We gotta execute,” Keefe said. “You watch the game, you watch how many times we don’t execute on passes. We’ve got a lot of really good players, a lot of skill on our team, and we’re just not connecting on passes, like, tape-to-tape passes that we’re just either making the wrong decision and passing to the wrong guy, or we’re holding on too long and it gets disrupted. That’s a big problem for us.

“Our inability to move the puck up the ice efficiently is slowing down all of our game on offence and it’s really hurting our game defensively as well because we’re just getting stressed. The second period we couldn’t get our defence off the ice because we just couldn’t move the puck up.”

Though Marner pinned those problems on the forwards, Keefe said, “It starts with the D. Their first touch (with the puck) has to be better.”

The defence looks overexposed right now, with Jake Muzzin and Timothy Liljegren both absent with injuries. That’s two of the usual top six (or seven) out of the mix, including the second-best defender (T.J. Brodie is tops at this point) on the team.

The Leafs have no choice but to continue to lean on a struggling Justin Holl until Liljegren returns next month. They’ll have to find an external replacement for Muzzin if he doesn’t return this season.

(D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports)

Keefe didn’t think changing up the pairs would fix the issues the Leafs were having, but it’s something worth contemplating even if the options aren’t exactly obvious.

First, would be splitting up Morgan Rielly and Brodie in the name of balance.

Option 1: Hand Brodie, the most reliable defender the Leafs have, over to Holl.

But then who plays with Rielly? Rasmus Sandin on his off side?

Option 2: Reunite Brodie and Mark Giordano.

Again though, who plays with Rielly?

Option 3: Keep Rielly and Brodie together, but swap Sandin for Giordano.

Is there enough mobility and puck-moving ability in a Giordano-Holl combo with Holl struggling like he is at the moment? Can the Leafs play Sandin and Mete together?

Option 4: Split up Rielly and Brodie, but go extreme in sliding Rielly over to the right side until Liljegren is ready to play. Rielly, remember, spent time on the right during training camp as well as the offseason.

Giordano – Rielly
Brodie – Holl
Sandin – Mete

Like we said, not a lot of great options there.

It’s evident the Leafs feel there’s only so much they can throw at Giordano. He was supposed to play more in Muzzin’s absence. He’s ended up playing less. That might need to change.

Another issue is that the Leafs’ power play has yet to get going, though Matthews’ one-time blast was encouraging.

About the most positive development of the early season has been the play of Ilya Samsonov. There aren’t a lot of players off to roaring starts. Keefe has felt the need to press hard from Day 1.

It’s been a checkered start, certainly.

It is still October, still 74 games to go, still early. And the Leafs started in similar fashion last season before turning things around.

“It’s not an excuse, right?” Kampf said. “The season started already, so we have to be ready from the start of the season.”

Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick

(Photo: Kavin Mistry / NHLI via Getty Images)

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Sports

Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

Published

17 hours ago

 on

October 18, 2024

By

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

Published

1 day ago

 on

October 17, 2024

By

 

OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

Published

1 day ago

 on

October 17, 2024

By

 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending