TORONTO — They are becoming a team that haunts their opponents.
On their best nights, the Toronto Maple Leafs will embarrass you. And on their worst they still might beat you.
With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner both settled into their primes, the Leafs have become a different beast than in years gone by. They are now a league-best 10-2-1 and seven of their game-winning goals have come off the sticks of those two players.
The Vancouver Canucks surely deserved better here on Monday night — Matthews said so himself. But he also wasn’t apologizing for delivering the dagger, winning an offensive zone faceoff and executing a set piece designed by Marner before one-timing a shot through Braden Holtby’s legs to completely wipe away the 49 forgettable minutes that came before it for his team.
“I think it just speaks to the confidence our team has,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said after the 3-1 victory. “We’ve been finding ways to win these types of games all season. … These are the kind of games that our team, if we want to be a good team that wants to accomplish great things, you need to find a way to be good when things are uncomfortable.
“I really liked our response in the third period.”
They were responding to a meek seven-shot output through 40 minutes that was the result of a desperate Canucks attack. After dropping two games here, Vancouver brought urgency and a fierce forecheck that completely smothered the Leafs’ attempts to execute clean breakouts.
But the game was still there for the taking at 1-1, and of course Marner and Matthews seized the game ball.
They had already connected on a third-period power play goal from Matthews in a 3-2 victory at Ottawa on Jan. 16 and produced Marner’s one-time winner with less than eight minutes to play in Calgary on Jan. 26. Two nights after that, Matthews had the 4-3 winner in Edmonton with under seven minutes to play.
In other words, this was no fluke.
Keefe seemed content to live or die with his top players on a decaf night against Vancouver, playing them 25 minutes apiece. Their line with Zach Hyman was the only one making any real inroads at 5-on-5 — with expected goals (65 per cent) and scoring chances (57 per cent) in the black — and they broke through on an offensive zone shift that featured Rasmus Sandin on the left point.
In a flash, Matthews won the faceoff clean to Sandin, who fed Marner on the wall. He put the puck right in Matthews’s wheelhouse while Zach Hyman provided a screen in front of Holtby.
“Well Mitch just came up to me and just said, ‘Look for me.’ So that’s what I did,” Sandin said. “Then he did the rest together with Auston so it wasn’t too hard. It was great that it worked.”
“It takes some initiative to create a faceoff play there for us and execute and find Auston to help us win the game, so that’s really good and positive,” Keefe added.
That and the strong play of Frederik Andersen were the only reasons Toronto walked away with two points and a three-game sweep of this set against the reeling Canucks.
It’s easy to get lost in the numbers, with Matthews riding an eight-game goal streak and Marner producing 15 points during his eight-game scoring streak. Zoom out and you now see Matthews with an incredible 58 goals across his last 82 games and Marner with 88 points in his last 72 dating back to the start of last season.
More important than the race for individual awards or entries in the record book, however, is the way the franchise cornerstones have started bending results to their liking. They have proven too much to handle through this initial tour of the North Division, stashing important points in the standings for Toronto in the process.
“Going 1-1 into the third after generating like seven shots, I mean we really didn’t have any business being in that game,” Matthews said after the third straight win over the Canucks.
“I thought Vancouver played an outstanding game here today,” Keefe said. “They certainly came with a renewed focus and energy level. I thought they played with a lot of urgency, it felt like a desperate team over there. They played hard, they deserved more than they got.
“I challenged our guys to find a way to be good in this environment.”
His brightest stars answered the challenge.
It shouldn’t be lost on anyone how complete of an effort the Leafs are getting from Marner and Matthews. They more than handle their own on the defensive side of the puck and have taken their special offensive gifts to an even higher level.
They seem to find at least one big goal a night. Heck, Matthews has 11 in 12 games on his own — seven of which have been assisted on by Marner.
“Like it’s hard to even call them hot streaks anymore because it just seems like he’s hot all the time,” teammate Alex Kerfoot said.
Toronto wouldn’t be on top of the NHL standings without them.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
