Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was already in his office.
Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll had entered the locker room to begin peeling off his equipment.
Fourth-line winger Noah Gregor, meanwhile, was in the tunnel at Scotiabank Arena after leaving the ice with his teammates.
Everyone had to turn around.
Gregor scored the shootout clincher Tuesday after Florida appeared to win the game with an Evan Rodrigues effort on the previous attempt — one that was eventually overturned by video review — as the Leafs picked up a wild 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.
“Never seen that before,” Gregor said. “Crazy.”
Rodrigues looked to have claimed the extra point for the visitors in the shootout’s fifth round, but was judged to have touched the puck twice on his deke to the forehand on Woll.
“I didn’t really know he double tapped (the puck) until I got back in the locker room,” said the Leafs netminder. “And someone told me I might be going back out.”
With some of the Panthers still making their way onto the ice, Gregor scored in the sixth round before Nick Cousins hit the post to seal it for Toronto.
“You hope for the best,” Keefe said of tapping Gregor on the shoulder. “It was great to see him come through.”
Gregor also had the goal in regulation for Toronto (11-6-3). Woll made 37 saves through 65 minutes for the Leafs, who played with five defenceman most of the night after Mark Giordano suffered an upper-body injury.
“That’s a first,” Reilly said of the shootout scenes. “But we’ll take it.”
Kevin Stenlund replied for Florida (13-7-2), which picked up a fight-filled 5-0 victory in Ottawa on Monday. Anthony Stolarz stopped 31 shots.
“I don’t really spend a whole lot of time worrying about the shootout,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his team’s performance on a back-to-back. “Happy with the game.”
Gregor made the Leafs’ roster out of training camp on a professional tryout contract, and has shown terrific bursts of speed when given the chance.
“There’s a lot that’s happened in the first quarter of the season,” he said. “We’re starting to figure things out. We’re playing strong here as of late. We’re hoping to keep it going.”
The Leafs suited up on home ice for the first time since Nov. 11 after picking up two victories in Stockholm as part of the NHL Global Series. Toronto then embarked on a two-game road trip (0-1-1) through Chicago and Pittsburgh upon returning to North America.
Looking to spark a sputtering offence, Keefe split up star forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for the first time this season on Tuesday. Matthews played with William Nylander and Matthew Knies, while Marner skated alongside John Tavares and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Woll held the sluggish Leafs in it early despite the Panthers, who ended Toronto’s playoffs in the same building last spring in the second round before eventually falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final, opening the scoring at 15:29 of the first period when Stenlund scored his sixth goal of the season.
“Outstanding,” Keefe said of Woll’s 14-save performance in the opening 20 minutes. “Just so solid.”
The Leafs then regrouped in the intermission.
“We all knew that we could play better,” Nylander said. “We needed to dig deep ΓǪ show some (expletive) character.”
Nylander hit the post and the crossbar in quick succession in the second, including one with Stolarz down and out as Toronto started to push back.
Florida centre Sam Bennett — a post-season villain from a Leafs perspective for taking out Knies in last spring’s second-round series — then dropped the gloves with Toronto counterpart Max Domi before the home side tied it up.
Gregor raced in on Stolarz and roofed his third at 12:54 after Panthers defenceman Dmitry Kulikov had the puck bounce over his stick at the offensive blue line.
“We have a lot a lot of big names in the locker room,” Woll said. “But to go far and to win a Stanley Cup you need everyone.
“He really stepped up for us.”
And so did Woll.
“Joe was awesome,” Rielly said. “Big reason for the two points.”
FALLING LEAFS
The opening period saw both Marner and Giordano depart. Marner took a shot up high, but was back for the start of the second sporting a full cage. Giordano (upper-body injury) didn’t return. Keefe said post-game the 40-year-old will miss some time.
KLINGBERG CLARITY
Leafs general manager Brad Treliving spoke with reporters following Monday’s practice and confirmed John Klingberg is dealing with a hip issue. The blueliner was placed on long-term injured reserve last week. Treliving said the organization expects to soon have some clarity on Klingberg’s path forward.
UP NEXT
Toronto hosts Seattle on Thursday, while Florida visits Montreal.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
