The Maple Leafs’ first matchup with the Canucks was an entertaining 10-goal affair in which they rolled over Vancouver with relative ease. Tonight, Toronto will try to hold off a Vancouver team that will be desperate to break their three-game losing slide (7 p.m. EST, CBC).
After a victory in their season opener against Edmonton, the Canucks have been a major disappointment coming off of their unexpected run to the second round in the 2020 playoffs, where they beat the St. Louis Blues and gave the Vegas Golden Knights a scare. They lost their next three games, scoring only four goals before a shootout win against Montreal. They then lost two more straight to the Habs 7-3 then 5-2 before bouncing back with three-straight wins against the last-place Senators.
A fourth straight win over the Jets last week preceded another pair of big losses to former-teammate Tyler Toffoli and the Montreal Canadiens, this time by scores of 6-2 and 5-3. The fact that they’ve only won six games, three of them against a rebuilding Senators team, has the Canucks fan base feeling justifiably uneasy.
Compared to even the most defensively inadequate teams in the NHL, the Canucks are a special level of incompetent to start the 2021 season — and that’s while being in arguably the worst of the four divisions. They’ve allowed 2.95 xGoals/60 at five-on-five, worst in the league above the Kings’ 2.88. Last season, Chicago finished with a league-worst 2.78 while the Canucks finished at 2.55*. It’s not new for the Canucks to be porous defensively, but the rate at which they’re giving up chances early this year has reached a new level.
Unlike last season, goaltending has not been a saving grace so far for Vancouver. Thatcher Demko has started eight games while Brayden Holtby has started six — both are just below a .900 save percentage and have both been slightly worse than average relative to what their team has given up, although it can be quite a strain on a goalie’s resolve and confidence facing a workload this tough. After the Leafs lit up Demko on Thursday, Holtby will get the start tonight — his last start was Monday against Montreal, where he gave up six goals.
The only lineup change on Toronto’s side will be Mikko Lehtonen in for Travis Dermott, this time due to Dermott’s short-term injury sustained during Thursday’s game.
The team’s bottom line, centered by Travis Boyd, will stay intact with Nic Petan playing his second game of the season and Jason Spezza coming off of his highlight-reel hat-trick. The Canucks as a whole made it very difficult on themselves with their woeful defensive habits all game on Thursday, but the Leafs‘ new-look bottom line took advantage, outperforming Alex Kerfoot’s line in only two fewer minutes. Petan, who only played 15 NHL games last season, has earned an extended opportunity as he looks to show he’s both responsible and capable of creating chances when he has the puck. The line’s skill level and offensive talent relative to the Canucks’ grind-it-out bottom-six was evident on Thursday.
Frederik Andersen, who is settling now into his critical contract year, will start again for Toronto with Jack Campbell still on IR. He’s been far from perfect, giving up 12 goals in his last four games, but those numbers aren’t helped by the fact that the Leafs have been trending downwards defensively despite winning five of their last six games.
Game Day Quotes
Sheldon Keefe on Travis Boyd and what impressed him before he came to Toronto:
I was able to watch him in the NHL and in the playoffs last season with Washington, in particular. He played a playoff game in the season that Washington won the cup as well, so he has some experience — not just in the NHL but in playing when it matters most.
There’s his background, of course, playing the American league. He was a very dangerous player with lots of skill — if you made a mistake, he could score. So, you saw that ability, which spoke to potential for him to be able to play up and down the lineup if required. He has, through his limited time in the NHL, produced at a pretty good rate.
Keefe on avoiding extended stretches of bad play this season:
[Slumps] are definitely what we don’t want to see. To expect that there’s not going to be lulls throughout a game or a season is probably unrealistic, particularly with this season and the way the schedule is with the travel and whatnot. Through the 11 games, I think that’s an area we’ve been real good at. Obviously, we’ve had good results. When we’ve had a bad period or a bad sequence in a game, we’ve responded and gotten it back on track.
That’s how we’ve found a way to win so many of those one-goal games. I’d say we’ve made major progress in that area. I think the players feel it, too. They’ve found themselves in some situations where they’ve looked at it and, in my talks with them, those are the kind of games we would have lost last season. In the early going, we’ve found our way on the right side of it, but each day is a new challenge and a new opportunity.
Keefe on Wayne Simmonds’ performance up the lineup with Tavares and Nylander:
I thought he did a good job. He’s showing lots of jump, skating really well, and he’s able to sustain it really well throughout games with his speed. He does a good job keeping his shifts short, so he gets off the ice before things get too difficult on his shifts, and he trusts his teammates to go out and do the job.
Obviously, his minutes have increased greatly as the season has gone on. We’ve seen the benefits of that when it comes to his confidence and his puck play. Beacuse of how he works, he goes to the net and creates things on the forecheck and he creates a lot more loose pucks for [Tavares] and [Nylander].
Keefe on his team’s two strong power-play units:
There is some competition there — that’s how we designed it and what we’d hoped would materialize. Both units have found success. That helps, of course. If you’ve got one that’s stalled or both have stalled, it’s probably not one you’d stick with for very long, but it’s caught on.
We do combine the two units together at different times if we feel the game calls for it or line changes happen, but we like the balance that we have. The players have responded well, most importantly.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards #11 Zach Hyman – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner #88 William Nylander – #91 John Tavares – #24 Wayne Simmonds #26 Jimmy Vesey – #15 Alex Kerfoot – #65 Ilya Mikheyev #61 Nic Petan – #72 Travis Boyd – #19 Jason Spezza
Defensemen #44 Morgan Rielly – #78 T.J Brodie #8 Jake Muzzin – #3 Justin Holl #45 Mikko Lehtonen – #22 Zach Bogosian
Goaltenders #31 Frederik Andersen (starter) #30 Michael Hutchinson
Extras: Pierre Engvall, Adam Brooks, Alexander Barabanov, Rasmus Sandin Injured: Nick Robertson, Joe Thornton, Jack Campbell, Travis Dermott
Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines
Forwards #9 JT Miller – #40 Elias Pettersson – #6 Brock Boeser #70 Tanner Pearson – #53 Bo Horvat – #35 Louis Eriksson #35 Justin Bailey – #20 Brandon Sutter – #36 Nils Hoglander #64 Tyler Motte – #83 Jay Beagle – #26 Antoine Roussel
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.
