Sports

Wild snap Maple Leafs’ five-game win streak with shootout triumph – Sportsnet.ca

Published

3 years ago

December 4, 2021

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill Kaprizov scored in the third round of a shootout and the Minnesota Wild beat Toronto 4-3 Saturday night for their sixth straight victory, snapping the Maple Leafs’ five-game win streak.

Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno had goals in regulation for Central Division-leading Minnesota, which has outscored its opponents 28-12 during the winning streak.

Cam Talbot made 39 saves for to tie Toronto’s Jack Campbell and the New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin for the league lead with 13 wins.

“When you have these games where there’s top teams coming in, you gotta bring your A-game,” Foligno said. “There’s a lot of talk about this game going into it. It’s nice to come out on top but everyone was ready for it and we had a really good effort tonight.”

Jason Spezza scored twice and had an assist and Auston Matthews once for Toronto, which is now 15-2-1 in its past 18 outings. Campbell had 37 saves.

The Maple Leafs were looking to establish a franchise record with eight straight road wins. Toronto also won seven straight road games in 1940-41, 1960-61 and 2002-03.

Zuccarello and Matthews scored in the first two rounds of the shootout before Kaprizov beat Campbell with a wrist shot. Talbot then stopped William Nylander at the other end.

“Two good hockey clubs settled by a shootout is a pretty good game,” Spezza said.

Toronto played without Mitch Marner. Fourth on the team with 21 points and tied with Rielly Smith with a club-best 15 assists, the right wing left Friday’s practice after colliding with teammate Jake Muzzin. Expected to be a game-time decision, Marner was replaced by Ondrej Kase, who missed the past three contests with an upper-body injury.

Coach Sheldon Keefe said Marner will miss Sunday’s game in Winnipeg and be re-evaluated after that in Toronto. “We don’t expect him to be out long term,” Keefe said.

The Wild had scored at least four goals in seven of their last eight games and led 3-0 midway through the second period when Foligno scored off a rebound of Joel Eriksson Ek’s shot after the latter corralled an errant clearing attempt.

Then Toronto took over to tie the game heading into the third.

Moments after Talbot made his best save, sprawling back with his left pad to rob Nylander, Spezza’s centering attempt from below the goal line near the right corner deflected off the skate of Jordie Benn and the side of Talbot’s helmet before dropping in the net at 12:47.

A more traditional goal by Spezza _ a slap shot from the slot _ made it 3-2 five minutes later, before his pass was redirected into the net by Matthews in the period’s final minute to extend his games with a goal to five. Both goals were on the power play. Toronto finished 2 of 5 with the man advantage.

For the sixth time in his career, Matthews has a five-game goal-scoring streak. Only two players in Toronto history have more: Babe Dye (eight) and Rick Vaive (seven).

Greenway scored on a rebound in the first and Zuccarello’s centering attempt deflected off the skate of Justin Holl for a 2-0 Wild lead early in the second.

“We had a pretty big slip up in the second, and to find a way to come back in the third and overtime and stick with it and to not let that get us down, we actually found a way to create some more things in the third, overtime, and to eventually come out with a win, so yeah, I think it shows a lot of good characteristics about our squad,” Greenway said.

NOTES: Foligno’s goal was his 10th of the season. He has now recorded 10-plus goals in three straight seasons for the first time in his 11-year career. … Michael Hutchinson served as Toronto’s backup goaltender as Joseph Woll remains day-to-day with stiffness.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: At Winnipeg Sunday.

Wild: Begin a four-game road trip Tuesday in Edmonton.

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Sports

Sports betting roundup: NFL and college football were all about the favourites

Published

13 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.

The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.

Trends of the Week

The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.

In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.

When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.

Upsets of the Week

The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.

Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.

Coming up

Right after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series, odds for the 2025 World Series were released.

The Dodgers have the best odds at +400, while the Atlanta Braves and Yankees are next at +800.

The Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies round out the top five, both at +1100.

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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.

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Longtime rivals Ovechkin, Crosby join Necas as NHL’s three stars of the week

Published

13 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.

Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.

The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.

Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.

Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Oliveira, Mitchell named as finalists for CFL outstanding player award

Published

5 days ago

October 31, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).

Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.

Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.

Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.

Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.

The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).

The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.

The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.

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