Toronto Maple Leafs forward Pontus Holmberg (29) celebrates with forwards Auston Matthews (34) and Max Domi (11) after scoring a goal against the Edmonton Oilers in the second period at Scotiabank Arena.Dan Hamilton/Reuters
Bobby McMann scored two goals and added an assist, while Pontus Holmberg scored two goals himself en route to a 6-3 win against Connor McDavid and the Oilers on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.
“That was pretty sweet, playing the Edmonton Oilers, watching them growing up.” McMann, the Wainwright, Alta. product, said. “It was a special one.”
Coming into Saturday, the matchup seemed all to be about McDavid and Auston Matthews as both superstar forwards are looking to put themselves in the history book this season in different categories.
McDavid is in search to become just the fourth different player – and the first since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91 – to record 100 assists. He’s now on pace for 108 assists with 89 through 66 games. He now has more assists this season then Jamie Benn had points, 87, when he won the Art Ross Trophy in 2013-14.
Meanwhile, his American counterpart is looking to be the first player to score 70 goals in a regular season since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny both scored 76 in 1992-93. After an empty-net goal tonight, he’s now on pace for 69 with 13 games left on the Leafs schedule.
“They’re going to define this generation of players with their skill set, how they’ve impacted the game,” Leafs captain John Tavares following practice on March 22 said of McDavid and Matthews. “They’re changing the game in a lot of ways. Really special.”
It was the Oilers who came storming out of the gates pressuring the Leafs off of the opening draw. Their quick attack led to a Matthew Knies tripping penalty that put the league’s second-best power play by percentage to work against 25th-ranked penalty kill.
Despite threatening on the ensuing man advantage, the Oilers couldn’t put anything past Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov.
“I thought our guys just competed hard tonight,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our penalty kill gave us life in the game.”
The Leafs netminder finished with 34 saves before he had to exit the game after going down with an injury following Edmonton’s third goal. Samsonov stretched to his right side in an attempt to stop a shot from Leon Draisaitl before staying down on the ice for an extended amount of time – he needed help getting to the dressing room.
“We hate seeing it, so just hope it’s nothing major or serious and he’’ll bounce back quickly,” Tavares said. “He was fantastic again tonight for us.”
Keefe said Samsonov will be “fine.”
“It’s not anything near what it appeared or what I thought it might have been,” he said.
McMann opened the scoring for the Leafs with his 12th goal of the season less than five minutes into the first frame. While facing the end boards, Tavares found McMann loose in the slot with a backhand pass and he made no mistake putting it past Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner.
McMann was on Toronto’s second line alongside William Nylander and Tavares as a result of a few missing bodies in the Leafs lineup. Toronto was without Mitch Marner due to a high-ankle sprain, Calle Jarnkrok due to a hand injury and Tyler Bertuzzi with an illness.
“They loaded up their first line and we just said, ‘We want our depth to carry us through,’” McMann said.
Unlike the Oilers, the Leafs found the back of the net on their first man-advantage opportunity. William Nylander tipped home a Timothy Liljegren shot-pass from the point to double the hosts lead with less than two minutes to go in the period.
Liljegren secured his second point of the night on the goal and now has 14 in his last 16.
“We didn’t capitalize on early opportunities in the first and that set us back,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We failed to score on two power plays and they scored on theirs and it snowballed from there.”
As the Oilers searched for the answer in the second, Samsonov remained stout in his net to keep the visitors at bay. Just before the five minute mark of the period the Leafs goaltender brought the Toronto crowd to its feet as he flashed the leather on a shot from Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak.
Shortly after, the Leafs rewarded their netminder with another goal. Holmberg buried it behind Skinner off a nice passing play between Matthews, Max Domi and himself. Matthews came away with the puck from along the boards before dishing it to Domi who then sent it to a wide-open Holmberg who had a gaping cage.
The Leafs didn’t stop pouring on there.
Less than three minutes later, Holmberg netted his second of the night off a pass from McMann while on a three-on-one rush. McMann then extended the lead to five after rifling a shot into the top corner and past Skinner from the right faceoff dot. Skinner was then pulled in favour of backup Calvin Pickard at the end of the second period after giving up five goals on 23 shots.
“Bobby has been excellent,” Keefe said. “He finished some great plays again tonight.”
As the Leafs protected their five-goal lead in the third period, Samsonov drew “Sammy!” chants from the crowd as he continued to hold down the fort. However, after nearly 45 minutes, the Oilers finally broke through the Leafs goaltender.
Zach Hyman squeaked the puck into the back of the net to put him one goal shy of the 50-goal landmark.
The Oilers then began to mount a comeback attempt shortly after with goals from Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl. However, Matthews’ empty-netter with 12 seconds left sealed the deal as the Leafs head to play the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday at 6 p.m.
“When we make those decisions to play that way and compete like that we’re hard to beat in that beat in that room,” Keefe said. “We’re capable of great things.”
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.
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.
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.
