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SIMMONS: Maple Leafs can't afford garbage play from fourth-line players – Toronto Sun

Published

2 years ago

May 5, 2022

Harry Miller

If you do the math on the series so far, the greatest Leaf concerns going in haven’t seemed to be concerns at all.

Publishing date:

May 05, 2022 • 5 hours ago • 4 minute read • 13 Comments

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ross Colton (79) is examined by referee Dan O’Rourke (9) after being injured from a hit by Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford in Game 1 on Monday, May 2, 2022. Photo by Dan Hamilton /USA TODAY Sports

TAMPA — The fourth line is not going to win this playoff series for the Maple Leafs but the Leafs better make damn certain that it doesn’t lose them the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Through two games, the evidence is troubling.

Wayne Simmonds, limited at this stage of his career, played all of five minutes and 25 seconds in Game 2 Wednesday night. In that tiny amount of time, he got scored on, he took two penalties that resulted in two Tampa Bay goals — and really that was it for the Leafs.

They weren’t coming back from that implosion.

The great 20 minutes Auston Matthews played, setting up two goals, hearing the MVP chants at a fired-up Scotiabank Arena, were undermined by the Leafs’ inability to play with discipline. The fine 23 minutes Mitch Marner played, with his second goal in two playoff games, with two more points, a plus-three night, six shots on goal, was undone by those who played the least.

In Game 1, Kyle Clifford, barely an NHL player, a curious choice to be in the lineup ahead of Jason Spezza, played all of 49 seconds before he was tossed from the game for an illogical hit on Ross Colton that cost the Leafs five minutes of being shorthanded — and cost Clifford a one-game suspension.

That was seven minutes into Game 1. The Leafs penalty killing happened to be superb and aggressive with Clifford out of the game — and that shorthanded situation turned out to be momentum building for Toronto.

That was fortunate. It could easily have been their undoing in the opener.

So to recap — two games played, three undisciplined, unnecessary penalties taken by players whose significance is limited at the best of times. Coach Sheldon Keefe made a decision before the series began that the Leafs were not to get pushed around by the Lightning. That pushing doesn’t happen when Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are on the ice. It doesn’t happen with Brayden Point. That doesn’t happen much even with the large Tampa defence.

It happens when the fourth line gets out there and Pat Maroon and Corey Perry do what they have made careers doing — throwing their opponents off, turning hockey games into pushing, shoving and punching matches.

Officials separate Toronto Maple Leafs forward Wayne Simmonds (24) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Corey Perry (10) as they fight during third period, round one, NHL Stanley Cup playoff hockey action in Toronto, Monday, May 2, 2022. Photo by Nathan Denette /THE CANADIAN PRESS

That isn’t the Leafs game. They shouldn’t try and play it. Tampa fought 35 times this season, among the highest number in the NHL. The Leafs, even with a willing Simmonds, fought 12 times as a team, among the lower numbers in the league. To try to match the Tampa silliness has not worked in Toronto’s favour and will not work in the Leafs favour.

Keefe would be better off moving the veteran Spezza back into the lineup, which would also make their second power-play unit stronger, and taking out either Simmonds or Clifford — or both if they had alternatives. Unfortunately, they do not.

If you do the math on the series so far, the greatest Leaf concerns going in — how would Matthews and Marner perform, how playoff-ready is Jack Campbell — haven’t seemed to be concerns at all. Matthews and Marner have outplayed Kucherov and Stamkos to date. Campbell has been solid in goal.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting (58) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Mark Giordano (55) during the second period of game two of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. Photo by John E. Sokolowski /USA TODAY Sports

The big line has scored four goals — one of them by Michael Bunting in his first playoff game — and through two games the red-hot Stamkos has no points at even strength, the brilliant playoff performer, Kucherov, has one even-strength point. The Leafs have allowed just two even-strength goals in two playoff games.

You do that throughout the series, you should win.

But when you take unnecessary penalties — and Alex Kerfoot took another one of those in Game 2 — you pay. Especially when the bounces go the way of Tampa Bay.

In Game 2, the first goal by Victor Hedman on the power play came when it appeared the Leafs had killed the penalty and thought incorrectly that time in the period was running out. They also got scored on while killing a penalty when David Kampf made a logical pass to teammate TJ Brodie in the defensive zone, only to find out that Brodie had lost his stick. He couldn’t take the pass.

The puck went to Tampa. Then it went into the net. Those were big goals in the first half of the game. But you can’t play a team with Hedman, Kucherov, Stamkos and Point on the power play and expect perfect penalty killing.

You have to be smart. You can’t pull a Kyle Clifford. You can’t be singled out the way Simmonds enabled the officials to single him out in Game 2. “I think I was the culprit,” Simmonds said afterwards, taking the hit for his unfortunate night. “Took two, they scored two, we lost by two.”

The job of the Leafs fourth line should be simple. Don’t get scored on. Don’t take unnecessary penalties. Stand up for yourselves. That’s it really. In Game 2, they got scored on and took penalties that resulted in goals. In Game 1, they took a whopper of an unnecessary penalty and survived it.

The Leafs don’t need the fourth line to win them anything here. But they can’t, under any circumstances, have their fourth-liners losing them games.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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Canada to face three-time champion Germany in Davis Cup quarterfinals

Published

2 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.

Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.

World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.

The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.

Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.

Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.

The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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Canadian men climb two places to No. 38 in latest FIFA world rankings

Published

2 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.

Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively

Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.

It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.

Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.

The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.

Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.

The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.

Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.

San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.

Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.

Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024

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Carolina Panthers’ early-season struggles not surprising to Proline players

Published

2 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.

As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.

In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).

However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.

And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.

In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).

Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).

Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.

Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.

Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.

A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.

A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.

A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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