TORONTO – Matt Murray had never seen anything like it.
Sheldon Keefe may never attempt it in the regular season.
And Alexander Kerfoot — who prides himself on sliding all over the lineup chart — found himself in a position he’d never played before.
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention.
So, with the Toronto Maple Leafs parading another two defencemen off to the trainer’s table before Wednesday’s exhibition game against the Montreal Canadiens was a period old, the coach looked at his shortened bench and got creative.
Blueliners Jamie Benn (groin) and Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder) were felled early in the 3-0 win, joining Jake Muzzin (back), Timohty Liljegren (hernia) and Rasmus Sandin (contract dispute) on Toronto’s swelling list of unavailable D-men. (Benn and Dahlstrom require further examination but are expected to “miss some time,” per Keefe.)
“It sucks to see it happening as frequent as it’s been here. It seems like every day one or two guys are going down,” Keefe says. “Not a good thing.”
Keefe pulled his two most trusted utility men, Kerfoot and Calle Järnkrok, out of the dressing room during the first intermission and made a request.
The coach asked both forwards to play defence, explaining that he didn’t want to tax the remaining healthy bodies he had left back there.
Embrace offence when we have puck. Trust your defensive instincts when we don’t.
Kerfoot was just trying to avoid skating backwards.
“You can’t go two periods with four defencemen. That’s a lot to ask,” Keefe says. Kerfoot and Järnkrok didn’t balk at the unusual assignment. “They’re two selfless players… I thought they did an incredible job.”
The Leafs locked down a wild exhibition victory with this D corps:
Giordano – Mete
Rielly – Järnkrok
Kerfoot – Brodie
And they looked good doing it.
“I mean, the way they stepped in and were making reads and were making breakout passes,” Murray marveled. “They weren’t missing a beat. So, pretty impressive on their part.”
“They made it look a bit too easy,” Morgan Rielly quipped. “Made us look bad a little bit.”
“As a coach, I had a little fun tonight, to be honest,” Keefe smiled. “They may not admit it, but they probably had some fun (too).”
Murray, Samsonov yet to crack
Neither Matt Murray nor Ilya Samsonov are willing to feed your doubts.
Yes, it’s very early. Yes, the competition has been as light as the stakes. And yes, the sample size is smaller than Denis Malgin’s sport jacket.
Caveats aside, both ends of general manager Kyle Dubas’ double-down gamble in net have yet to hand the haters any space for criticism.
Not only did Murray mimic Samsonov’s preseason stat line — a perfect 16 saves on 16 shots through 40 minutes played — but he tacked on a secondary assist with Nick Robertson’s opening goal for good measure.
“They’ve answered all the questions that have come their way so far,” Keefe says.
Much like 1B Samsonov before him, 1A Murray wasn’t overly taxed in his exhibition debut against a non-playoff team scattered with AHLers, but he stood steady, did his job, and walked out of Scotiabank Arena with a clean sheet and an injection of confidence.
“I had a blast doing it,” Murray said. “Just a game that was really fun to be a part of.”
Keefe has been impressed by Murray’s structure in the crease, his ability to track the puck, and his focused work ethic since arriving in Toronto well before camp’s opening last week.
“He’s got presence,” Keefe says. “That’s what I’ve noticed from the day he walked into our facility — he’s got presence and confidence about him.”
Auston Matthews echoes the sentiment: “He’s got just a calm presence. He’s not a super-talkative guy, but he just seems very poised and in control. Really calm in the net.”
Whereas Jack Campbell was the happy-go-lucky puppy you want to see jump the fence, Murray is the Great Dane that casually walks around it.
Murray’s even-keel demeanour may not lend itself to juicy quotes, but his under-the-radar approach could translate well in this market. Provided he continues to stop the puck, of course.
To that end, the 28-year-old’s towering 6-foot-5, 203-pound frame will help.
“Big guy. I didn’t know how big he was until I saw him for the first time,” says William Nylander. “I don’t think you often get a chance to play with a goalie who’s won two Cups.”
Absolutely, Murray’s two Stanley Cup rings with Pittsburgh weigh heavy in terms of both reputation and expectation.
“Well, I learned a lot from those days, for sure. But I think what they taught me was the importance of taking things one day at a time and controlling what you can control and doing that to the best of your abilities and not worrying about the rest. So, that’s where my focus lies,” Murray says.
“The No. 1 thing you need as a goalie is short-term memory. Win or lose, good game or bad game, whatever it may be, start the next day fresh.”
Ken Dryden made a point to come down postgame and chat with Matt Murray. Meant a lot to the new Leaf.
• Until the injuries piled up, Giordano was temporarily reunited with his old Flame, T.J. Brodie. Has the mild-mannered Brodie changed since those days in Alberta?
“He’s got a sportscar now that I never expected him to have,” Giordano notes. “The city got to him, I guess.”
• Why didn’t Auston Matthews throw out Tuesday’s first pitch at the Blue Jays game from the rubber, as he had planned?
“The mascot didn’t let me,” he smiled.
(Mitch Marner — who did go up the mound in his first-pitch experience back in 2017 — explains that the real pitchers frown upon ceremonial tossers treading on their fresh dirt before the game.)
• David Kämpf rejoined the group after missing two days of camp for personal reasons: “Everything is good, and I’m here. I’m happy to be back here.”
If only Carolina’s Ondrej Kase was here too.
“He’s my very, very good friend,” Kämpf says. “I was a little bit sad that he left. But this is hockey, right? This is business. Hopefully some day we can play together again.”
• Keefe wondered if the NHL should permit healthy scratches to run down from the press box and sub in during preseason game in event of injury.
“We have a lot of players in suits tonight that would love an opportunity to compete in a game like this,” he said. “And they don’t have that chance.”
• Wonderful to see the 1972 Team Canada squad in attendance and honoured on the 50th anniversary of their Summit Series victory, an idea born by Leafs president Brendan Shanahan.
Would have loved to see the Leafs and Habs wear the throwback national sweaters for the entire game instead of just the national anthem.
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.
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.
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.
