Sports

Mitch Marner, William Nylander shine on Broadway

Published

5 years ago

December 21, 2019

The Maple Leafs started strong, and finished strong. And though there were some questionable moments in between, the Leafs used two-goal nights from Mitch Marner and William Nylander to beat the New York Rangers 6-3.

The Leafs got off to a 2-0 lead, didn’t wilt when the Rangers tied the game, and erupted for three goals in the third period in one of their more dominant games under new coach Sheldon Keefe.

“We controlled the puck, we didn’t throw it away,” said Marner, who has a six-game points streak. “We put the pedal down. We’ve got to make sure we keep doing it.”

Keefe called it progress. “It’s even going to the third period, then we get the lead and I thought we did a pretty good job of taking care of it, so there’s progress and that’s really what you’re looking for.”

The Leafs won for the fifth time in six games. They are 9-4-0 under Keefe — 6-3-0 on the road — and now have 40 points in 36 games. The win moved them into a playoff spot, third in the Atlantic Division, a point ahead of the Buffalo Sabres.

“Satisfaction is not a good word,” Keefe said. “We’re going to be in a battle all season long here. Other teams just keep winning games and it’s a tough league. So we just have to continue to focus every single day on being our best and making improvements along the way.”

Ilya Mikheyev added an insurance marker later in the third. Pierre Engvall opened the scoring for the Leafs.

Brady Skjei, Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Rangers.

Broadway show: Nylander and Marner each got their second goals of the night 47 seconds apart early in the third period to break a 3-3 tie.

Nylander scored on a wrist shot on a 3-on-2 rush, taking a feed from Auston Matthews, beating Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev between the pads.

Marner’s goal came the next shift. The Rangers had possession in their own zone and Marner’s linemates retreated for a line change. But Marner managed to strip the puck off Artemi Panarin and,despite being surrounded by four blue shirts, he got a decent wrist shot away for the Leafs fifth goal.

Offensive outburst: The Leafs have scored six goals in a game twice under Keefe, and four or more in eight games. They’re getting offence from all lines. So what’s the biggest difference?

“Confidence,” Marner said. “Playing with the puck. Everyone’s getting their time out there with puck in their hands and not throwing it away and not feeling rushed. Every single line has a lot of skill on it and can score.

“So we have four lines that can control the puck consistently and we’re getting good line changes in the offensive zone. When you’re coming out fresh against tired guys, it’s hard for teams to defend that.”

But who’s counting? The Leafs are 18-14-4, or back to .500 by counting overtime losses and shootout losses as losses. They haven’t been at .500 since Nov. 11. They’re on pace for 91 points at the moment, not typically enough to nail down a playoff but that may not be a concern if they can keep on this roll they’ve started.

It was also the 18th win of the year for Frederik Andersen. Backup Michael Hutchinson will try for his first win on Saturday when the Leafs play the Red Wings at the Scotiabank Arena.

This is the ninth of 14 sets of back-to-back games this season. Toronto is 4-3-2 in the first game of back-to-backs and 1-6-1 in the second game of back-to-backs.

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A good third: The outburst from Nylander and Marner helped reverse a trend. The Leafs have been terrible in third periods — outscored 52-38 in the final frame coming into the game. Under Keefe, they have held leads going into third periods and have typically played a scattered game. They were tied in this one and played their best third period in some time.

“We’ve talked about in some of the previous games when the third periods haven’t gone well that the second period is maybe when some of the issues started to come up,” Keefe said. “I thought some of the positives of the second period today — which I thought there were lots — carried through to the third period.

“Obviously, we got a good start and the puck went in the net for us. That helped, but there were a lot of really good signs for our team in terms of how we retained the puck, which I thought was a real key to this game.”

Scoring first: The Leafs are quite good at it lately. Thet jumped out to a 2-0 lead, with goals by Engvall and Nylander. It was the sixth time in a row and the 10th time in 13 games under Keefe. So, good right?

Think again: The other trend with the Leafs is sloppy own-zone play, and weak attempts at clearing the zone. That allowed the Rangers to tie the game. Goals by Skjei and Strome were the result of avoidable turnovers.

Depth delivers: With Engvall and Mikheyev scoring, the Leafs’ bottom six forwards have contributed greatly in recent games. Mikheyev (three times), Frederik Gauthier (twice), Alex Kerfoot and Dmytro Timashov have all scored in the last three games.

Credit to the idea of creating four lines that can score. “You’d like to have that all the time,” Keefe said. “It’s worked out really well. The puck has fallen to those guys at good times and they’ve made good on it. So that gives you a boost every time that happens.”

Injury report: Andreas Johnsson remains on the long-term injured reserve with a leg injury. Trevor Moore (shoulder) could be ready to play any day now. “We’re going to see how things go,” Keefe said. “But, obviously, I’m excited to get Trevor back up and running.”

Notes: The Leafs went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play … They outshot New York 40-22 … Toronto is 5-5-1 after being tied in the second period …. Morgan Rielly is the second Maple Leaf defencemen (Borje Salming) to begin his career with seven consecutive 20-assist seasons

Up next: The Leafs face the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, 7 p.m.

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Red Wings sign Raymond to 8-year, $64.6 million contract

Published

5 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.

Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.

The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.

Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.

Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.

—

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Cousins caps winning drive with TD pass to London as Falcons rally past Eagles 22-21

Published

5 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.

Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.

The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.

Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.

Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.

The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.

And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.

Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.

Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.

Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.

Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.

Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.

With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.

Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.

Questionable call

Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.

Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.

Running wild

Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.

Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.

Foles honored

Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”

Injuries

The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).

Up next

Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.

The Eagles play at New Orleans on Sunday.

___

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

17 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.

The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.

Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.

“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”

Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.

Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.

Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.

Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.

Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.

Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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