The Toronto Maple Leafs’ best line smothered the Winnipeg Jets early and often Wednesday night to extend their lead atop the Canadian division to three points and into a fourth month.
Funny. Much of the pre-game discussion for Round 5 of Jets-Leafs circled around line matchups. How Paul Maurice’s last change and ability to throw bubble-burster Pierre-Luc Dubois and responsible veterans Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny over the boards against Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman could be the solution.
“That’s really what the regular season is all about, right?” Maurice had said, regarding his personnel adjustments, those tiny tweaks that can unlock the recipe to solving a specific opponent. “You have to understand your team by the time the regular season is over.”
But the way Hyman-Matthews-Marner steamrolled a tired Jets squad, we’re not sure any combination of players could’ve contained them.
Before a game billed as a battle for first place was 11 minutes old, Matthews and Hyman had each scored, Marner pocketed himself another gif-worthy setup, and all three had themselves two-point nights as the Leafs cruised to 3-1 victory.
“We were just thinking about our game and how important it is to get out to a lead,” Hyman said. “They’re a really good team, so we wanted to jump on them quick.”
Mission accomplished.
Caught flat-footed in their first game date after a seven-game road trip, the Jets were beset with both insult and injury in the first period and never recovered. Dubois trucked over defenceman Derek Forbort during a sloppy D-zone sequence that resulted in Matthews cleaning up a Hyman rebound. And Wheeler departed the game with an undisclosed injury. (Clarity on the severity of Wheeler’s condition will wait “a couple days,” per Maurice.)
“They came out hard,” summed up defenceman Josh Morrissey. “We lost the first period, and we ended up losing the game.”
Morrissey, the Jets’ lone goal-getter, found twine while T.J. Brodie served a double minor for high-sticking Stastny’s tooth out of his gums. But Alexander Kerfoot sniped top-shelf on a speedy shorthanded breakaway to even out the special teams.
Maurice’s squad was shut out at even strength, and Friday’s rematch will be another opportunity to learn what works and what doesn’t.
It should now be understood that his counterpart, Sheldon Keefe, will rely exclusively on Hyman-Matthews-Marner as his default top trio. The trial of 41-year-old Joe Thornton as a top-line winger shrinks further in the rear-view mirror.
In their 10:37 together, Hyman-Matthews-Marner not only scored twice but generated 98.4 per cent of expected goals and created eight high-danger scoring chances while allowing none. Hyman, causing turnovers and driving the blue paint all night, had six shots himself in the first period.
“Those two are superstars. I just try to go out and do my job,” Hyman demurred.
Such dominance is all the more impressive when you realize they started the majority of their shifts in the defensive zone and were called upon to lock up the Jets’ final six-on-five push.
“They had a lot of jump. They were around the puck, and they attacked the net. That’s the source of two goals for us. Nothing too fancy about it. Just work from all three of them,” Keefe said. “Those three guys really came out and were really driven to make a difference.”
On the season, Hyman-Matthews-Marner has now outscored its opposition 18-8 when together. Marner (plus-18), Hyman (plus-17) and Matthews (plus-14) ranks one-two-three in team plus/minus. All three rank top 10 league-wide among forwards in the category.
“[Matthews and Marner] have been really good defensively right from the start of the season,” Keefe said. “Both guys have really worked, really focused on it. Pretty much every night they’re playing against the other team’s best players. Often these are some of the best players in the world. Here tonight again very similar, and those guys do the job.”
A question worth asking: Is this the best 200-foot line in the NHL?
“I just think as incredible as they look offensively, it’s amazing how strong players they are and how hard they work defensively and coming back and the little plays they make. All of them come back, take pucks away, stick checking, taking the body. They just make amazing plays,” said goalie Jack Campbell, improving his perfect record to 7-0-0.
“Mitchy is one of the best penalty killers I’ve ever seen. He’s so smart out there. And for them to play together, they just seem to have amazing chemistry and have amazing results.”
Campbell’s own results aren’t so shabby.
His save percentage is a sparkling .948, and he’s allowed two goals or fewer in six of his seven scattered starts — all while battling a leg injury that had him squeezing in extra work with goalie coach Steve Briere prior to the Leafs charter to Manitoba Tuesday.
“As a competitor and a teammate, I feel bad sometimes I get days off when the other guys are grinding. It puts more fire in my belly to perform when I’m called upon,” said Campbell, forever plumbing the positive from the well of adversity.
“I mean, I’m playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s pretty cool. So, nothing to be bitter about any time. I’m pretty lucky and spoiled to be here. Get to hang out with a bunch of cool dudes and play some hockey, so it’s not a bad time.”
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.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
