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Maple Leafs’ Rielly-Sandin experiment exposed in ugly loss to Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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TORONTO – Who cares if the assignment meant patrolling his weak side?

Lefty Rasmus Sandin saw his name scribbled to the right of Morgan Rielly on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top pairing and saw only the benefits.

“It’s a huge opportunity for me,” the 21-year-old said. “Our games could fit really well. He’s a guy I’m looking at and trying to take a lot of stuff from. In that way, we can read off each other very well. We’re probably going to know what the other guy will do with the puck and where he’s going to go when he doesn’t have it. It can be a really good pair.”

Intriguing? Sure.

Good? Not tonight.

With lefthanded top-four fixture Jake Muzzin (concussion) sidelined indefinitely and a run of six straight games against non-playoff teams kicking off Toronto’s March schedule, coach Sheldon Keefe has the leeway and the inclination to experiment with his D pairings ahead of the trade deadline.

Might as well see what you got, so you can determine what you need.

The lefty-lefty thing didn’t exactly wow us when Keefe tried Sandin with Muzzin last month. And the last time Keefe tried matching Rielly with another offensive-minded blueliner — Tyson Barrie in 2020 — that duo stumbled to the point of breakup.

Typically, “Green Light” Rielly’s most brilliant performances have come to the left of security blankets like Ron Hainsey and T.J. Brodie.

Linking him with emerging talent and power-play understudy Sandin would give a fresh wrinkle to the back end and a new challenge for the confident youngster.

“Now you’ve got them both and you can pair them with, say, the [Auston] Matthews line in offensive faceoffs and things like that,” Keefe had said Tuesday. “So, we’re curious to see how that plays out.”

Curiosity can be risky. Ask the cat.

The Rielly-Sandin combo played to some wholly concerning results in Wednesday’s ugly 5-1 loss to an offensively challenged Buffalo Sabres roster that pushed Toronto to the perimeter and feasted on its sloppiness.

“Terrible from start to finish,” Keefe summed up, tersely.

“Goaltender, defence, all four lines didn’t have it.”

Responding quickly to Jacob Bryson’s opening power-play marker, Sandin popped open in the O-zone to convert a crisp passing sequence by Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting to tie the contest 1-1 in the first period.

A fine start that would unravel to the point where the Maple Leafs got booed off Scotiabank Arena ice by their first full home crowd in 81 days.

The Sabres regained their lead in the second when Victor Olofsson outmuscled Sandin for position net-front and whacked one in.

Later in the same frame, it was Sabres leading scorer Tage Thompson outdueling Sandin in the slot, then firing a puck past Petr Mrazek.

[brightcove videoID=6299462350001 playerID=2540680026001 height=360 width=640]

Jeff Skinner burned Sandin on a solo rush in the third period and snapped a puck past Mrazek that essentially tucked the night away.

“Buffalo, no disrespect or anything, but I think that’s a team we should beat,” said Sandin, mentioning bad bounces but owning his mistakes. “Simple plays that went very wrong. I need to get rid of the puck in a better way.

“We can’t just close our eyes and just move on to the next one. I think we need to look at it. We need to look what we’re doing wrong.”

Sandin and Rielly each finished dash-2.

Yikes.

“It’s a complete mess all around him. Three forwards on ice, his partner, goaltender, it’s not much happening there,” Keefe said. “So, let’s not just focus too much on Rasmus.”

Keefe’s experiment blew up like a baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano at a Grade 4 science fair.

Will the coach give the Rielly-Sandin pair another shot?

“Probably not.”

A thought: Perhaps the rugged Ilya Lyubushkin, a natural righty, should get a trial with Rielly to balance out the top four with some size and net-front nastiness.

We certainly won’t staple the entirety of Toronto’s loss to a lesser light on the configuration of the defence.

Buffalo did a fine job clogging middle ice, no Leafs forward scored, and the NHL’s top-rated power play extended its drought to a season-worst seven games. The boos and Bronx cheers felt justified.

“When you look at the effort, it’s disappointing,” Rielly said. “Good teams are able to look past the standings.”

The Maple Leafs have an acknowledged issue of delivering substandard effort against opponents miles out contention, and the Sabres arrived in town 34 points back of their hosts.

“We’ve maybe played down to their level at times,” admitted Justin Holl, between listless losses to Montreal and Buffalo.

“You’re going to have dips in your play, and you can talk about it, but sometimes you need a real slap in the face to kind of get it dialed in — and that’s how I felt about [the] Montreal game,” Keefe said Wednesday morning.

Whereas Keefe saw transitional breakdowns and odd-man rushes as his club’s undoing last week at Bell Centre, this loss had a different flavour.

“No real urgency. No competitiveness,” Keefe said.

“This is more a reflection of our competitiveness as a team, individually and collectively.”

Fox’s Fast 5

• For those jacked up about the possibility of the Maple Leafs calling Columbus and renting a certain legendary Leaf’s son by the trade deadline to complement their second line, consider this.

Max Domi: $5.3 million cap hit, nine goals, 16 assists, 25 points, minus-1

Alexander Kerfoot: $3.5 million cap hit, eight goals, 30 assists, 38 points, plus-13

(And, yes, the Blue Jackets were among 10 teams scouting this game in-person.)

• John Tavares’s goal drought has stretched to 14 games and is now the longest since his rookie campaign (2009-10).

• Holl, coming into this game having exploded for five points in his past two: “I’ve been making good plays, but it’s probably not sustainable.” A self-aware chuckle.

• Nick Robertson’s ice time shrunk to 5:28 during Monday’s win in Washington. He was up to 11:29 Wednesday but still lowest among all forwards. This begs questions.

If the goal is to develop the 20-year-old prospect, would he not be better served skating in all situations in the American League?

And if the goal is to showcase the shooter’s talents for a potential trade, is that being accomplished with limited fourth-line duties and no power-play time?

“I am happy with his attitude,” Keefe said. “I am happy with the game he played in Detroit. That is what made us want to keep him in the lineup again…. However the minutes shake out, for a young guy like him, it is just about soaking up the whole experience and getting a taste of the NHL again.”

• Count Sabres head coach Don Granato among those who believe Matthews deserves votes for the Selke Trophy this season.

“Even when he entered the league, he did have an appreciation for that side,” noted Granato, who coached the Leafs star with the U.S. National Team Development Program. “I had no problem using him at the U18 World Championship against [Patrik] Laine, [Sebastian] Aho, [Jesse] Puljujarvi and on and on, guys at the tournament who were prolific.

“He wants to win. And part of winning is just shutting a guy down, and he’s always had that. Winning a face-off has always been important to him. He should be talked about in that light.”

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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:

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