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Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Calgary Flames – Game #31 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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4 years ago

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With losses in five of their last six games while averaging nearly four goals against, the Maple Leafs have hit their biggest speed bump of the season. After an opportunity to reset this past week, Toronto now enters a back-to-back against Darryl Sutter’s Calgary Flames this weekend (7 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).

With the April 12th trade deadline fast approaching, the Maple Leafs are getting back to full strength: Wayne Simmonds will return from injury, and Jack Campbell will occupy the backup’s seat tonight with the expectation that he will start in tomorrow’s rematch. In addition to the returning bodies, Alex Galchenyuk will make his Leafs debut this evening.

We’re not privy to all of the necessary details in order to fully understand Galchenyuk’s fall from grace after he registered 255 points in 418 games (108 goals, 147 assists) with the Habs. Rumors of off-ice issues aside, Glachenyuk has always had flaws in his skating mechanics, and that appears to have been exacerbated by knee issues since his 30-goal days as a Hab.

While Galchenyuk has never been slow, per se, his skating posture, particularly when changing directions with the puck, can leave him back on his heels, where he is vulnerable to takeaways and winding up second-best in physical battles. Galchenyuk compensated with above-average puck skills and shooting abilities early in his career, but it’s noteworthy that the knee injury in 2016-17 coincided with a marked drop-off in on-ice results — 2016-17 was the first season of his career where he went from a positive impact on shots offensively to a negative one.

From 2012-16, per evolving-hockey’s GAR model, Galchenyuk added 28.5 goals above replacement at even-strength offensively, 5.7 below replacement defensively, and 4.9 above replacement on the power play — that works out to a GAR of 32. Those are the numbers of a high-end offensive forward, but in recent years, Galchenyuk has failed to even produce like anything approaching a break-even player: Since 2016 (including the entire 2016-17 season), he’s at a mere 1.9 goals above replacement on offense, 17.5 below on defense, and 7.2 above on the power play for a total of -9 GAR.

As Galchenyuk looks to hit the reset button on his NHL career, his first opportunity in the Leafs‘ lineup tonight is a big one: He’ll start with John Tavares and William Nylander. Despite the Leafs returning to the 1A/1B power play strategy that was successful earlier in the season, Galchenyuk only subbed in during practice, so it remains to be seen whether he will receive a look there.

Meanwhile, Wayne Simmonds’ return has him back at the net-front role on the first power-play unit. He’ll also return to the bottom line with Jason Spezza, this time with Pierre Engvall providing some pace to the trio.

Elsewhere in the lineup, the Leafs will return Zach Hyman to a third line that, if you can remember that far back, started the season together as Keefe’s initial preference: Mikheyev – Kerfoot – Hyman. It’s clear at this point Keefe would like to find alternative complementary fits alongside Tavares – Nylander and Matthews-Marner while using Zach Hyman as a driver of a third line that can handle tougher matchups. The third line should see some defensive-zone shifts tonight against the Lindholm and Monahan lines.

While they’re playing more of a typical Darryl Sutter style of game now — and were getting good early results until the recent 7-3 loss to Edmonton — the newly-appointed Flames head coach hasn’t moved away from any of the regular pairs at forward or defense that Calgary deployed most of this season. Andrew Mangiapane completes the third line with Mikael Backlund and Milan Lucic, while Brett Ritchie and Dillon Dube occupy the spots beside their ‘big four’ forwards. The defense pairings for Calgary will remain the same as they were in the last game against Toronto.

Both of the team’s regular starters, Frederik Andersen and Jacob Markstrom, will occupy the nets tonight, and neither is sporting particularly strong numbers of late. Markstrom has started all of the last six games for Calgary, going 3-2-1 with a .887 Sv%. Over the same time frame, Andersen is 1-3 in his starts with a .872 Sv%.

Game Day Quotes

Sheldon Keefe on whether he is concerned about his team’s North Division lead shrinking:

The standings are what they are. I think they’re a symptom of the fact that we haven’t gotten results here as of late. You don’t need any more of a wake-up call than that.

Keefe on why now was the right time to get Alex Galchenyuk into the lineup:

We just felt that having four days off here between games and a couple of practice days was a good chance for him to be around our team a little bit more. He’s played very well with the Marlies. Perhaps more importantly, he has handled himself really well.

He’s got lots of confidence and is really feeling good about his game, so the timing is right for all those reasons. I think he’s had a couple of really good days here with us. I know he’s excited to play today.

We do have a role to play in [ensuring it goes well]. I think we recognized that there’s more to this player here in terms of what he has to offer but also what he needed — that’s why we took the patient approach with him. We gave him the opportunity to go down with the Marlies, really find his game, and not just rush him in.

The first thing is getting him a chance to play with good players.. those guys looked really good in practice yesterday.

Keefe on experimenting with the lines:

I’m not sure there’s ever a situation where it’s ideal to experiment and move things around. Obviously, our place in the standings has changed dramatically here in the last few weeks, but I still believe that you’ve got to find ways to give people opportunities. You’ve got to try different things to find the right mix. The challenge, of course, is to do so while not hurting your chance to win that particular game.

We need to get a win here tonight and we want to play well so, while I’m willing to try things, I’ve got to make sure that we’re optimizing the group and our chances of winning. At the same time — I’ve said it a lot in my time as a coach — I believe strongly that you have to try different things because the season is unpredictable, injuries are unpredictable, certain opponents are unpredictable, and you need to be able to adapt.

The more you’ve been able to be flexible and try to create comfort in different players playing together, that can help to the confidence of the group when you do have to adapt to an injury.

Keefe on what he’s looking for from the third forward on the top two lines:

You’re looking for different things there. At times, you are looking for that third player to be a little bit different than the other two in terms of what they provide because there are different jobs that need to be done on the ice.

Sometimes you need a forechecker — someone that’s going to create a loose puck and be around the net to create space for others to move around the offensive zone. [Other times] you need someone who tracks really well and is going to be a reliable defender. There’s lots of different things that go into it.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of you having players, such as Galchenyuk in this case, that you’re just trying to provide a great opportunity for. It allows you to move things around and try different things without creating too much change and discomfort.

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
#97 Joe Thornton – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner
#12 Alex Galchenyuk – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#65 Ilya Mikheyev – #15 Alex Kerfoot –  #11 Zach Hyman
#47 Pierre Engvall – #19 Jason Spezza – #24 Wayne Simmonds

Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #78 T.J Brodie
#8 Jake Muzzin – #3 Justin Holl
#23 Travis Dermott – #22 Zach Bogosian

Goaltenders
#31 Frederik Andersen (starter)
#36 Jack Campbell

Extras: Martin Marincin, Timothy Liljegren, Nic Petan, Alexander Barabanov

Calgary Flames Projected Lines

Forwards
#19 Matthew Tkachuk – #28 Elias Lindholm – #29 Dillon Dube
#13 Johnny Gaudreau– #23 Sean Monahan– #18 Brett Ritchie
#17 Milan Lucic – #11 Mikael Backlund – #88 Andrew Mangiapane
#93 Sam Bennett – #10 Derek Ryan – #27 Josh Leivo

Defensemen
#5 Mark Giordano – #4 Rasmus Andersson
#55 Noah Hanifin – #8 Chris Tanev
#6 Jusso Valimaki – #58 Oliver Kylington

Goaltenders
#25 Jakob Markstrom (starter)
#33 David Rittich

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

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12 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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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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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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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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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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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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