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Young Maple Leafs stars have always had an eye on Crosby

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Montreal Canadiens centre Christian Dvorak chases Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner along the boards during the first period at Bell Centre.David Kirouac/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Growing up, like most any other hockey-playing teenager in Canada, Mitch Marner was a big fan of Sidney Crosby.

“He was the guy I always watched,” the Maple Leafs’ 25-year-old right wing said on Thursday. “He was always the guy you wanted to be on the ice against if you were lucky enough so it is always cool to line up against him. You know you are always going to have a challenging game.”

Marner will live out that dream again on Friday when the Pittsburgh Penguins pay a visit to Scotiabank Arena. The team is in a bit of a funk but Sid is still being Sid. The 35-year-old future Hall of Famer leads the Penguins with six goals and nine assists through 13 games.

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He always seems to bring his best against Toronto: In 47 career games against the Maple Leafs, Crosby has 28 goals and 63 points. Only Alex Ovechkin has scored more often among active players, 41 times.

“He is pretty incredible,” said Auston Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner. In 2021-22, Matthews became the first player in Toronto history to reach 60 goals. “He is the leader of that team and the guy that keeps it going.

“Even though he has gotten a little bit older, he has adjusted his game … no matter what the situation is. It is really impressive. He is a big guy who presents a challenge to opposing teams.”

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The Penguins come in with a 5-6-2 record but are 3-6-1 over their past 10 games. They are currently in an unusual place for them – next-to-last in the Metropolitan Division. The Maple Leafs are 7-4-3, have won three of their past four and rank fourth in the Atlantic Division.

Pittsburgh has qualified for the playoffs 16 seasons in a row.

Erik Kallgren, 1-1-3 with an .890 save percentage, will get the start in Toronto’s net. If not for injury, Matt Murray would have likely got the call against his former team. Murray, who is recovering from an adductor strain, practised on Thursday and possibly could start on Saturday against Vancouver in the second of back-to-back games.

Murray won Stanley Cups with the Penguins in his first two seasons in the NHL but has been traded to Ottawa and Toronto in the past two years. He hopes to revive what looks like a waning career.

He has fond memories of the five seasons he spent with Pittsburgh.

“I was so lucky in my time there to spend time with so many great players, coaches and staff,” Murray said. He started in an opening-night loss in Montreal and has not played since. “It is where I started my career and a big part of who I am. I am very thankful for it.”

The Penguins have had many outstanding players since Crosby entered the league as an 18-year-old in 2005-06 but he is unquestionably the best.

“You can’t say enough about Sid,” Murray said. “He is always going to push himself to be better and lead the way. That is just the kind of person he is.”

Pittsburgh went 2-1 against Toronto last year and is 18-10-2 in the past 30 meetings. It is the first of three games between them in the span of nine days. The Penguins have a deep roster that also includes Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Jake Guentzel, Jeff Petry and Rickard Rakell.

There is only one Sid, however. In Yankees lexicon, he is the fellow that stirs Pittsburgh’s drink.

“I don’t know him that well, but from the outside you see how he trains, how he prepares, how seriously he takes his craft, and the ability he has and how competitive he is,” said Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs coach. “All those things add up to a guy who can play forever and still be productive.”

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

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Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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