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Recap: Nic Petan, Nic Petan, leads the Leafs like only he can – Pension Plan Puppets

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Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs are taking on the Vancouver Canucks in the first of a three game set. The Leaf got a nice little break to rest and relax, while the Vancouver Canucks have been off to a rough start to the season. They got pummeled by the Habs, and are looking to get their best players going.

Sounds like the Leafs, but the Leafs at least have been banking points. Their last game, which I also recapped, I turned into a drunk recap after the worst start to a game I’ve ever seen the Leafs play. Please, don’t do that again… it’s still a week night.

FIRST PERIOD

The first good chance goes to the Leaf. Kerfoot got hit in stride through the neutral zone and set up Vesey for a good shot on a sort-of odd man rush.

Not long after, Tavares had a rush and set up Bogosian who jumped up into the play. Two shots from two chances off the rush for the Leafs early.

GOAL: Auston Matthews goes end to end, makes it 1-0 Toronto

Matthews drew a penalty and scored on an end to end rush, made it look really easy. Or Vancouver’s terrible defense did… that was bad all around for them.

Not long after the fourth line had a nice shift, with a good shot from Petan coming in from the point. Leafs are all over Vancouver early on.

GOAL: The Canucks capitalize on their first chance on an ugly scrum in front of Andersen. Tie game.

Double bad news: Dermott went to the tunnel earlier on what looked like a fluke knee-on-knee collision.

The Leafs follow up with another good shift by the fourth line, with Spezza and Petan almost connecting. The Canucks followed with a heart-attack play off a rush by Pettersson, they’re starting to push back more. There’s been no shortage of chances on either side so far. Defense has been optional.

Tavares with a great solo rush, pantsing Hughes on a deke and stick handling into the slot on his knees, almost setting up a chance.

GOAL: Jason Spezza scores on the powerplay, 2-1 Leafs.

Simmonds nearly set up Marner for a goal right after, but Demko robbed him. A few minutes later of more pressure by the Leafs, Nylander draws a high sticking penalty and the Leafs go back to the powerplay.

They don’t score, but apparently having two powerplays in the period hit a hard quota because when Kerfoot got clearly hit from behind into the boards, there was no call. I’m sure if you looked back far enough in time, Kerfoot turned into it like 30 seconds before.

Leafs end the period with a 2-1 lead.

Period One Thoughts

Offense: It was good. They tied at even strength in goals 1-1, but the Leafs were clearly the ones controlling play. At even strength they controlled 74% of the expected goals and 71% of shot attempts.

Defense: It was good. They had the one brainfart that led to the Pearson goal, but otherwise did not give up much to the Canucks. They were particularly good at getting it out of their own end quickly, so Vancouver had almost no extended zone time in the Leafs’ end.

Special Teams: It was good. The first powerplay was over quickly thanks to Spezza. Their second powerplay was… less good since they failed to enter the zone about half a dozen times. Can’t argue with a 50% success rate though.

Standouts: Honestly, aside from the obvious names I thought Petan had a great period. He had three shifts looking noticeable and being a part of 2-3 scoring chances, all while on the fourth line.

NST Heatmap:

SECOND PERIOD

More of that first period effort, please.

Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews work their magic early, with Demko robbing Matthews in front on a great feed by Mitch.

The Canucks come right back with their top line, and Pettersson set off a frantic flurry in front with a screened shot off the rush.

GOAL: Auston Matthews banks a goal in from behind the net. 3-1 Leafs.

Marner makes a great play going behind the net with the puck, pulls the old no-look pass to Matthews behind him, who chipped it in off Demko as he was leaning the other way. Great assist by Marner for a guy who can’t skate or stickhandle or receive a pass.

GOAL: Horvat catches the Leafs napping right after, 3-2 Leafs

The Leafs got hemmed in their own zone for two shifts, and to the rescue comes… the fourth line again. Petan again has looked good. He led an extended shift in the Canucks’ end with Spezza and Boyd.

GOAL: Jason Spezza scores his second on a SUPERB all-round play. 4-2 Leafs.

The fourth line connected on a great shift. Bogosian erased a cycle, passed to TJ Brodie. Brodie springs the rush with a great stretch pass. Boyd, Petan, saucer to Spezza, roof baby roof. Great to see Petan rewarded for his great game.

The first half of the period was more high-offense for both sides, with the same general over all result: Leafs controlling play to a high extent. The second half of the period has been a bit more calm, the Leafs are controlling play in the offensive zone and more suffocating through the neutral and defensive zone.

GOAL: Nylander with a beautiful pass to Tavares for the tip in. 5-2 Leafs.

My god William, you hug your mother with those hands?? What a passing display.

The Canucks get a chance late with a powerplay, but Ilya Mikheyev had the best chance on a partial breakaway. He needs to bury some of those eventually.

Period Two Thoughts

Offense: It was very good. They scored three goals, all at even strength. Three different lines scored it. They were simply dominant and controlled play everywhere. They made stretch passes, they passed cross ice at will, and just skated circles around Vancouver.

Defense: It was good. They gave up more chances against than the first period, but not by much. They still controlled play to the tune of 70% expected goal share and 55% shot attempt share.

Special Teams: They had about 1:20 of a penalty to kill, and the best scoring chance was from Mikheyev. That’s good.

Standouts: I’m coming around on Bogosian. He’s a perfectly cromulent third pairing guy. He’s underrated at handling the puck in his own zone to help start a breakout. He’s by no means like Polak or any other defenseman of his ilk that the Leafs have cycled through the last few years.

NST Heatmap: the red blob of death returns!

THIRD PERIOD

Starting on the penalty kill, Marner had a nifty rush that had a decent scoring chance. The two best scoring chances on that powerplay for Vancouver came from Toronto.

William Nylander with a ridiculous effort that didn’t really lead to a scoring chance, but I wanted Willy to know I saw it. Fought through three checkers in the neutral zone, had his stick knocked out of his hands, picked it up and still corralled the puck surrounded by Canucks.

Not long after, Hyman with a drive to the net drew a slashing penalty and the Leafs go back to the powerplay… apparently slashing is the only penalty in hockey these days. There was no goal from it, but my god that was a great looking PP. All kinds of movement, passing, good open shot attempts. The best chance came on a Matthews one-timer, but Demko made a great save.

GOAL: JASON SPEZZA WITH THE HAT TRICK!!! 6-2 Leafs

Pretty goal by Spezza to cap the hat trick. Was it bad defense? Absolutely, but still fun. What a game for the 37-year old.

Leafs continue dominating play… or rather the Canucks are just lifeless. They’ve been broken, and took another penalty sending the Leafs to the powerplay. Which… was quickly erased by a Kerfoot penalty. I’m sure he’s thrilled with that. And not long after Tavares takes a penalty for accidentally colliding skates with Hughes. Hughes is the one who fell, so Tavares takes the penalty. Makes perfect sense. Leafs to the PK, then a 5 on 3.

GOAL: JT Miller scores a powerplay goal, sniping it over Freddie. 6-3 Leafs.

GOAL: Mitch Marner sneaks a wrist shot from afar past Demko. 7-3 Leafs.

Good effort from the fourth line led to that goal for Mitch as he jumped on the ice.

Great win by the Leafs.

Final Thoughts

Offense: Domination. Leafs took their foot off the gas pedal in the third when they were up by several goals, for the most part. But still got their chances off turnovers and on the rush. They still controlled shot attempts and expected goals in the third to the same degree as the first.

Defense: They gave up almost nothing against at even strength. Can’t really ask them to do better than they did, although the Canucks were also just completely lifeless.

Special Teams: They had a great looking powerplay that didn’t score, then a penalty kill that did give up a goal against but that was also the only scoring chance they had. They also had some chances themselves, from Marner and Mikheyev.

Standouts: That’s the best any Leafs’ fourth line has looked all year. But it was also the best the Leafs as a team have looked all year. Bogosian had his first point as a Leafs and looked solid all night. Tavares and Nylander finally had a good game at even strength. Dominating game.

NST Heatmap:

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

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