Tonight, a critical two-game series gets underway as the North Division’s first-place Maple Leafs face off against the second-place Winnipeg Jets, who are one point behind Toronto, rolling offensively, and winners of four of their last five (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet)
As has been customary for Jets hockey in recent years, Winnipeg hasn’t dominated their opponents at five-on-five, but they are built on very strong goaltending and an opportunistic offense. Winnipeg spends a significantly greater amount of time in their own end than Toronto does, and yet they’re just behind the Leafs‘ points pace thanks to high-end goaltending, a top-five power play, and an ability to convert 5v5 shots into goals at an above-average clip.
While the Jets hover over 30% on the power play in the month of March, the Leafs, while they continue to gain the zone consistently and move the puck well, have not produced a high enough volume of shots on goal on the man advantage as of late.
Amid the scoreless slump on the power play over their last eight games (0-for-18) that dates back to March 10, the Leafs are 20th in the NHL in shots for per 60 on the power play after leading the NHL in the category prior to the dip. What’s interesting about the rest of the numbers, though: Toronto is still top five in expected goals, scoring chances, and high-danger chances per 60 during their dry spell.
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That is likely a big part of why Sheldon Keefe continues to be encouraged by the process, although the calls to fully load the top unit (with both William Nylander and John Tavares) are growing louder by the day. Regardless of who is out there with who and for how long, the Leafs do have to get more pucks on net, as it might take an ugly one to get the man advantage rolling again.
In the Leafs net, Jack Campbell, after taking a game and a practice off earlier this week, will return tonight as the Leafs continue to handle his nagging injury situation with an abundance of caution. Veini Vehvilainen and Michael Hutchinson have traveled with the team to Winnipeg, and the latter will back up tonight.
With a team .880 save percentage in their last 10 games over all situations, it will be crucial for Campbell to stabilize the crease — as he has in all of his starts this season — against an opponent with the most lethal top six the Leafs will encounter in this regular season and a goaltender across the way that has given the Leafs headaches in the season series (2-2-0) despite Toronto’s territorial control over the matchups at 5v5.
Connor Hellebuyck is 4-1 in his last five games and has only allowed seven goals in those contests. This season, he is 17-9-2 with a .918 Sv% and a GSAx of 9.6.
Stats — Last 10 Games
Dylan Demelo leads the Jets with a 60.8% xG rating — Logan Stanley is their only other defenseman over 50% (53%).
All of the Jets primary five forwards — Schiefele, Wheeler, Stastny, Dubois, Ehlers, and Connor — are producing over 2.5 xG/60 at five-on-five.
In his five games with the Maple Leafs, Alex Galchenyuk leads the team with 67% xG share and a 62% shot attempt share.
John Tavares leads the Maple Leafs in individual shot attempts and xGoals/60
The Jets team save-percentage in all situations is .923%, while Toronto’s is .880%
The Leafs have greatly outplayed the Jets at five-on-five; Toronto has a 58% xG share while the Jets are only at 49%
Paul Maurice on moving Pierre-Luc Dubois away from Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, the players he spent most of his first few weeks in Winnipeg with:
Going back to when we first acquired Pierre-Luc, that was one of the combinations that you have that you’d like to see. There was the end of a road trip and [we wanted] a bit of a change to see if we could spark something. I wanted to be careful about changing [Dubois]’s line because, after game one of the Vancouver set, I really, really liked where they were at. In the two Edmonton games as well, I liked what they were doing, and then it just kind of levelled off.
I thought for a while there that Schiefele’s line was grinding and playing hard, but there wasn’t a whole lot going on, so that was the other part. You’ve got to give your team the best chance to win every night but you also have to understand your team by the time the regular season’s over.
We see such different styles of hockey in this division. [The] Vancouver and Calgary [games] had been very straight-line, almost every puck [was] dumped, with really physical battles at both ends. The Toronto and Edmonton series have so much danger off the rush, so you need to kind of get through these games with an idea of what changes could you make to your lines when you get into a series and something isn’t working.
We need to learn more about this team — with Pierre-Luc, I’d like to leave it for a while and see where it goes.
Sheldon Keefe on whether he feels uncertain about his team’s goaltending at the moment:
Yeah, a little bit. Certainly, when it comes to Jack’s situation, it’s kind of a day-to-day thing. He’s progressed well and it seems that when he has time to recover from his recent games, he does bounce back and feel good, so there’s less of a concern there. It is something we have to manage. You have to be responsible with it as a staff and be smart with it. He’s got to be honest and tell us exactly how he’s feeling.
Keefe on the Jets’ forwards:
They have lots of depth and they use four lines very effectively. [They] have three lines that can score and a fourth line that has been contributing as well, does a good job defensively, and they trust them. From a forward perspective, they’re a very deep team that’s playing strong team defense with strong goaltending, so there’s a lot of things that present challenges from them as a team.
Keefe on how he feels Zach Bogosian has fit in this season while playing all but one game:
I wouldn’t say I’m surprised about his durability. I didn’t have a lot of concerns about that going into the season — he’s played well. Like a lot of our guys, he’s had some nights that have not gone well for him, but I think for the most part, he’s bounced back from those and he’s showed great consistency for us in playing the role we need from him: being physical, defending efficiently, and helping us on the penalty kill.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards #11 Zach Hyman – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner #12 Alex Galchenyuk – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander #97 Joe Thornton – #15 Alex Kerfoot – #19 Jason Spezza #65 Ilya Mikheyev – #47 Pierre Engvall – #24 Wayne Simmonds
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
Alabama’s Mark Sears and North Carolina‘s RJ Davis looked into the possibility of leaving for the NBA before deciding to return for another college season.
Their decisions helped their teams earn top-10 rankings in the AP Top 25 and earned both players some preseason honors, too.
Sears was a near-unanimous selection for The Associated Press preseason All-America men’s basketball team released Monday, earning all but one vote from a 55-person national media panel. Davis was right behind him, nabbing 51 votes.
They were joined by Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson, Auburn forward Johni Broome, Arizona guard Caleb Love and Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. Love and Flagg tied for the final spot, creating a six-man team that includes only the ACC, Big 12 and SEC.
Alabama twin bill
Sears was a key cog in the Crimson Tide’s first trip to the Final Four a year ago, orchestrating one of college basketball’s highest-scoring teams.
The 6-foot-1 guard was named a second-team AP All-America after averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He was the first Division I player in 31 years to have 795 points, 150 rebounds, 145 assists and 95 three-pointers in a single season while breaking the Alabama single-season record with 26 games with at least 20 points.
Sears worked out for NBA scouts during the offseason before deciding to return to Alabama, earning the Crimson Tide a No. 2 ranking in the preseason AP Top 25.
“I saw the team that we had and I wanted to be a part of it, and bring home Alabama’s first national championship in basketball,” Sears said.
Across the state at rival Auburn, Broome made a quick decision about his future, announcing in April that he would be back for a fifth season.
The 6-10 forward was a third-team AP All-American last season after averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting nearly 55% from the floor. With an eye on an NBA future, Broome worked hard on his perimeter shooting during the offseason and his return earned Auburn a No. 11 preseason ranking.
“My main goal is a team goal, which is to win the national championship, to make it as far as I can in March Madness,” Broome said. “When a team shines, everyone shines individually.”
Along Tobacco Road
Like Sears, Davis has similar aspirations after opting to return for his fifth season at North Carolina.
The 6-foot guard was an AP All-American last season and the ACC player of the year after averaging 21.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists on a team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Davis enters this year within reach of former North Carolina big man Tyler Hansbrough’s all-time ACC scoring record.
“I know there’s more work to be done,” Davis said. “I know my jersey’s not going up until I leave. So there’s some more records to break and some more work to be done. I’m satisfied but I’m not satisfied, if that makes sense.”
Up the road at Duke, Flagg was the only underclassman on the preseason All-America team after arriving with tons of hype. The 6-9 swingman was the No. 1-rated high school recruit out of Newport, Maine and has been projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
Flagg has the skills of a guard, but can also play inside and has worked hard on his perimeter shooting, giving him the potential to be one of college basketball’s most versatile players. He’s part of a stellar recruiting class that has No. 7 Duke eyeing a deep March run.
Big 12 duo
Dickinson was the biggest move in the transfer portal last spring after leaving Michigan for Kansas. The 7-2 center lived up to the billing, averaging 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds while leading the Jayhawks back to the NCAA Tournament.
Love’s decision to return for a second season at No. 10 Arizona has ratcheted up expectations in the desert for the Big 12 rival of Kansas.
The athletic 6-4 guard had a high-scoring career at North Carolina and continued it after transferring to Arizona last season. He was the Pac-12 player of the year and a third-team All-American after averaging 18 points per game and making 92 3-pointers.
Love tested the NBA waters this summer before deciding to return.
“He’s had a very successful college career thus far,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “He’s kind of this last generation of player that’s going to get better with this extra year, and so I just encourage him to take advantage of it.”
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will miss the rest of Cleveland‘s season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon on Sunday against Cincinnati, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.
Watson will soon undergo surgery, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the results of imaging tests taken on his leg.
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year.
The 29-year-old Watson went down without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson collapsed to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
As he laid on the ground, there was cheering by some Cleveland fans, leading to some of Watson’s teammates criticizing that behavior during the team’s fifth straight loss.
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s divisive stay with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks to Houston and signed him to a fully guaranteed $230 million in 2022. The deal came amid Watson being accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions. He settled civil lawsuits in all but one of those cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games with the Browns and then made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
