The Anaheim Ducks walked into Scotiabank Arena hoping to build off their 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. The chances of that were decent, considering the Toronto Maple Leafs’ tendency to play down to their opponent, along with Lukas Dostal getting the start.
For those who may have forgotten, Dostal was the goaltender in Anaheim who nearly gave the Leafs their most frustrating loss of the season after making 55 saves. But there’s a big difference between hoping for a reality and having it come true. As much as the Ducks may have hoped for a positive result, the Leafs wanted it more, and they got it.
The final score matched the overall feel of the game: The Leafs took over, and there wasn’t a moment when that changed. The team had goals from up and down the lineup at five-on-five and on the power play, and Martin Jones had an easy night, stopping 19 of 21.
We are watching feats from Matthews that haven’t been accomplished this century. He put together back-to-back hat tricks for the second time this season, bringing his total to six. Mario Lemieux was the last player to record that many in a single season and that was back in 1996. Additionally, Matthews’ two assists to go along with these three goals gave him his first career five-point game. When it comes to goal scoring, there’s no one better this season. Matthews is two away from 50, and we have our eyes focused on the number 70, which he is well on his way to reaching.
Injuries and positive team results have given McMann the minutes to show that his AHL production has an NHL flare to it. He got the power play going, scoring his sixth of the season in the first, and outmuscled Radko Gudas on his way to his seventh.
McMann is putting all that’s made him successful to good use. The speed, the skill and the effort are spectacular, and for all the raw production, I thought his most impressive play was his effort ahead of Nick Robertson’s goal to force the offensive zone turnover.
He finally did it. Bertuzzi ended his 19-game goal drought. At first, it looked as if his bad luck would keep on going, but he finally scored his seventh of the season.
He was also connected with Gudas once or twice, but no one wanted to answer that door.
Killer instinct
The shots were 18-3 after the first period in favour of the Leafs. The man advantage helped as seven of them were on the power play but the Ducks had nothing going for them at five-on-five. Their best scoring chances were deflected shots from Carlsson and Alex Killorn, both of which went wide. Frank Vatrano gave them a bit of life on the power play, but it was 4-1 by the end of the first period. This is where the game got particularly interesting.
The Leafs were up by three goals and had the game in control. Could they keep it that way? Could they hold the Ducks to that single goal against?
Not only did the Leafs keep Anaheim to that single goal, but they also had five of their own. The Ducks had more of a pulse in the middle frame, throwing 10 shots on goal, and it still couldn’t match the four goals the Leafs scored. They were still sharp defensively and didn’t get Anaheim many high-danger chances to work with.
The challenge
I thought it was good for coach Sheldon Keefe to challenge Carlsson’s goal despite the score being 8-1. Jones made the initial save, and the rebound went right out to Carlsson, who buried it. Where the Leafs had a case to challenge was against Ryan Strome, who was in Jones’ way as he tried to get back to the crease to stop Carlsson. Jones had a .933 at that point after stopping 14 of 15 shots. His save percentage would’ve dropped to .875 had the goal counted. It may not matter in the overall look of the game, but it matters to Jones.
Power in the play
The Leafs took advantage of a pretty passive Anaheim power play. The top unit had all the time and space to pass, shoot and recover the puck. Bertuzzi replaced John Tavares on the top unit and got a few looks himself, while Liljegren manned the point and got a primary assist on William Nylander’s 4-1 goal (his 500th NHL point).
Along with Nylander, McMann, Matthews and Bertuzzi all scored on the power play, converting on four of their five opportunities and only allowing one power-play goal by Anaheim.
Marner the defenceman
Keefe has always been one to try out something new, and halfway through the second period, down a defenceman in a blowout game, Mitch Marner joined the defence group. This wasn’t the first time we’ve ever seen Marner on defence (Keefe tried it a bit last season) though it’s always something that gets more interesting the more we see it. He had a few runs with TJ Brodie, and it continued with him playing on the right of Jake McCabe at five-on-five.
Marner isn’t new to commanding the point in offensive situations, but even so, he didn’t look out of place on the blue line and made some good breakout passes out of the zone.
Down another defenceman
The only negative of the night was the Leafs losing William Lagesson to injury. It looked like it happened on his first shift and according to Keefe, it may take some time before they figure out what it is and how long he’ll be out.
This three-game stretch was the perfect way to respond to that 5-3 loss to the Senators. Since then, the Leafs have been a lot better defensively and are not taking their ability to score for granted. It was 4-1 after the first and 8-1 after the second, and the Leafs didn’t give Anaheim a chance to climb back into the game. Aside from the usual suspects, the team got solid performances out of the entire defence corps (including Marner), with Max Lajoie having a steady night in his 20 minutes of ice time as well as Matthew Knies, Domi and Nicholas Roberston. Saturday’s game was the Maple Leafs at their best: skill and effort, not skill or effort.
What’s next for the Leafs?
The Leafs will be in St. Louis on Monday for a game at 1 p.m. ET.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
