Just 24 games into a 56-game season, your team just found out where it stands. Above the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators, but well below the Toronto Maple Leafs, apparently.
Outworked, outscored and severely out-goaltended in the second game of this three-game “Battle for First Place” in the North, the Maple Leafs beat Edmonton for fun again, following up Saturday’s 4-0 shellacking with a 3-0 win on Monday.
Is there another level that the Oilers need to to get to?
“Obviously there’s another level we have to get to,” said Darnell Nurse, “Because we haven’t won the last two games.”
The Oilers had been hot, and rightfully happy with their game. Feasting mostly on the Sens, Canucks and Flames, they had won 11 of 13 games, eight of nine and five straight before meeting the Leafs.
Now? They’re 0-2 against teams that are a lock to make the playoffs.
“We know the level that we need to play at,” Nurse said. “But, there are nights where you come out here and you’re not snapping it around the way you were on a five-game win streak. We have to find a way to win those games.”
But this is good, remember. Better to find out now, not yet halfway into the season, where you stand.
Might as well take this cold, hard slap in the face, then get back to work and try to become a team that works as hard, plays as structured, and capitalizes on its chances as well as Toronto does. Because clearly, the road to Stanley goes through Toronto when you’re coming out of the North.
That’s our take, anyhow. Head coach Dave Tippett, whose club was 2-2 versus Toronto before dropping these two games, sees his team as going through an inevitable dry period in the course of a season.
“We’re in a little rut,” Tippett said. “It seems like nothing you’re shooting is going in the net. Point shots, deflections, you can usually find one or two of those in a few games. But it’s not going in for us right now.
“There’s not a lot of juice in our group right now. (They’re) down on some energy, down on some emotion. Unfortunately it’s come at a tough time for us. This should be a big series against Toronto, and we just haven’t played very well.”
It was the first time since 1954 that Toronto has shut out the same opponent (Detroit) in back-to-back games. And it is the first time in this hockey writer’s memory that he would say the Leafs have perhaps conquered their defensive woes.
Toronto has had a great regular-season team for some time, able to outscore its mistakes and capitalize on the long grind of a regular season with its copious skill. But it has lost in the playoffs because the Leafs could never do this — absolutely shut down an opponent with solid team defence.
In administering their second one-sided beating of the Oilers in three days, the Leafs did it without Auston Matthews, while playing third-string goalie Michael Hutchinson. Toronto scored on its first two shots against a hapless Mikko Koskinen and took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
Then the visitors locked it down like a good team does. The Oilers upped their desperation, but a Leafs team that used to try to extend a 3-0 advantage into a 7-0 margin has changed. Now, three goals are enough, as Toronto cements its North Division lead, ahead of second-place Edmonton by eight points.
Hutchinson outplayed Koskinen, who was awful for Edmonton.
And the top two scorers in the NHL? Well, through two games Connor McDavid is minus-3, Leon Draisaitl is minus-2, and neither has a point.
“We’re not going to get ourselves down in this room,” said Nurse. “The two games haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go, but what are we going to do? Kick ourselves while we’re down and mope around?
“We know we’re a good team, capable of winning hockey games against any team in this league. That’s the mindset we need to keep.”
The mindset, we would hope, is to give some credit to the Maple Leafs and strive to play the kind of team game they have thrown at Edmonton here.
“You always think you’re working hard,” he said. “Coming into the league I always thought I was one of the hardest workers. But over the course of the quarantine and last summer, I showed myself that there is a whole other level of hard work to get to.”
A whole other level to get to.
Are there seven words that more aptly describe the Edmonton Oilers right now?
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
