Dabo doubles down: Critics will not ‘steal my joy’
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doubled down Tuesday on his emphatic monologue from a day earlier, saying too many fans had grown unappreciative of winning and insisting he would not allow the criticism surrounding the Tigers’ 4-4 start to “steal my joy.”
“I’ve got a long way to go in this profession,” Swinney said in response to a question about the difference between fair and unfair criticism. “If they want me back here, I’m going to fight like crap to get this back to the standard.
“But I’m not going to let anything steal my joy of what I do. It doesn’t mean I’m happy, but I’ve got a lot of joy in what I do. I’m not going to let winning become a relief. I’m not going to allow that to happen. The fun should be in the winning, and if it gets to where it’s not fun anymore, hey, we’ll go from there.”
Swinney ranted Monday night against a caller to his radio show, who introduced himself only as “Tyler from Spartanburg,” about a lack of appreciation after so many years of success — a tirade he referred to as “an Old Testament answer” to an “Old Testament question.” Swinney later suggested he would continue coaching for another 15 years, even if that wasn’t at Clemson.
On Tuesday, Swinney picked up where he left off, arguing a section of the fan base had become overly critical in attacking his coaches and players.
“I’m not going to let one season, when I know exactly what the issues are, and a bunch of great kids and great coaches, I’m not going to let one season dampen that,” Swinney said. “I’m going to fight for this program, and hopefully we can get back to some appreciation around here.
“It’s frickin’ hard to win. All you’ve got to do is look around the country. What’s happened here is historic. We’re having a bad year. That’s my responsibility. Ain’t nobody happy about it. It’s on me, 100 percent. I ain’t asking nobody to be happy, but let’s not eat our own.”
Swinney emphasized that he believed the vast majority of Clemson fans remained supportive of him and the program, but enough had grown vocal about their frustrations that he felt it was impacting the program.
“It’s gotten to a point where, even if you win, people are miserable,” he said. “I said when I got here [in 2008], you’ve got to be all-in. Too many people are only half-in.”
Swinney has endured significant criticism for, among other things, his lack of use of the transfer portal to address roster weaknesses as well as hiring a coaching staff comprising almost entirely assistants with little experience outside of Clemson.
Swinney didn’t address either concern Tuesday but said he wouldn’t change who he is or how he runs his program, just because the team had lost more games than he’d like this season.
“I always do what I think is best for the player, what is best for the long term of our program, and do what’s best in the moment. Ain’t nothing going to change,” Swinney said. “Some people say I’m stubborn, but I say I’m convicted in my beliefs, and there aren’t enough people convicted in their beliefs.”
With last week’s loss to NC State, Clemson is assured of ending a 12-year streak of seasons with at least 10 wins, and the 2023 campaign marks Swinney’s worst record in conference play since 2010.
Clemson plays Notre Dame on Saturday, with games still remaining against Georgia Tech, North Carolina and rival South Carolina. The Tigers need to win at least two of those games to avoid missing a bowl for the first time in Swinney’s tenure as head coach.
Swinney argued Tuesday that the issues with his team are minor, and “if we didn’t lead the country in fumbles, we’d be 8-0.”
“No. 1, we’re last in the nation in fumbles,” Swinney said. “No. 2 is we’re last in the nation in fumbles. And No. 3, we’re last in the nation in fumbles. And I’ll give you a No. 4: Because of where we’ve had the missed plays, we’re near last in red zone scoring.
“So there you go, right there. Leave everything else the way it is, normal football stuff, but you’re not going to win football games when you turn the ball over at least twice a game.”
Clemson lost its opener to Duke 28-7 after turning the ball over three times, including two fumbles. Three weeks later, Clemson lost in double overtime to Florida State in a game where Seminoles linebacker Kalen DeLoach dislodged the ball on a sack of Cade Klubnik and returned it for a touchdown.
Against Miami two weeks ago, Clemson turned the ball over three times, including twice deep in Hurricanes territory, before losing in overtime. Last week, the Tigers fell to NC State by 7 in a game in which Wolfpack linebacker Payton Wilson returned an interception for a touchdown.
Swinney said this season represents the most adversity Clemson has endured in more than a decade, and he hopes it serves as an opportunity for his team to grow.
“It’s a season of what could’ve been,” Swinney said. “But if you’re a competitor, you want to go play your butt off and compete to win. We’ll learn a lot these next four weeks. I’m really looking forward to it actually. We’re going to learn a lot about a lot of people, see how these guys are going to fight.”
HERNING, Denmark — The United States blew a three-goal first-period lead before beating Germany 6-3 at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.
Conor Garland‘s power-play goal 4:50 into the third period proved to be the winner as the Americans moved level on points (11) with the Czech Republic, trailing Group B leader Switzerland by two points.
Tage Thompson struck 1:42 into the game on a power play for his fourth goal of the tournament. Frank Nazar doubled the advantage before Drew O’Connor made it 3-0 on a rebound with 5:43 left in the first.
But the U.S. is making a habit of squandering leads. The Americans lost a four-goal advantage before prevailing 6-5 over Norway in overtime Wednesday.
Germany scored three times in the second. Defenseman Erik Mic’s goal 8:43 into the period sparked the rally. Jonas Muller scored from the slot with 5:17 remaining and Wojciech Stachowiak tied it at 3-3 less than a minute later on a power play.
After Garland’s go-ahead goal, Logan Cooley made it 5-3 with 3:29 to go and Clayton Keller scored into an empty net with 1:53 left. Garland had three assists.
Germany has nine points.
In Stockholm, Finland defeated Latvia 2-1 to stay third in Group A with 11 points. Latvia has six points in fifth.
Later Saturday, Canada plays Slovakia and Sweden meets France in Stockholm, while the Czech Republic faces Kazakhstan in Herning, where Denmark takes on Norway.
The Dallas Stars were in position to win their series against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 5 on Thursday; instead, the Jets blanked them 4-0, extending their postseason by at least one more game.
That game is Saturday in Dallas (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+). Will the Stars punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals — and a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers? Or will the Jets force a Game 7 back on home ice Monday?
Read on for a game preview with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Friday’s game and the three stars of Friday from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Dallas Stars at Winnipeg Jets
Game 6 | 8 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
With a 3-2 lead in the series, the Stars are -380 to win, per ESPN BET; the Jets are +290 to take the series. Dallas is +325 to win the Stanley Cup, while Winnipeg is +2200.
Including the series that have been completed this year, teams that have led 3-1 in a playoff series are 23-1 since 2023 (the only loser was the Bruins against the Panthers in the 2023 first round).
Can Connor Hellebuyck buck his nightmarish road/home split this postseason? He has gone 6-1 at home in the playoffs, with a 1.73 goals-against average and .916 save percentage; he’s 0-5 on the road, with a 5.84 GAA and .793 SV%.
Kyle Connor has been a reliable source of scoring for Winnipeg, with 16 points in 12 games. His 1.33 points-per-game rate is the third highest in a single postseason by an American-born player (minimum 10 games played), behind Jake Guentzel in 2018 (1.75) and Brian Leetch in 1995 (1.40).
Mikko Rantanen leads the goal- and point-scoring races this postseason, with nine goals and 19 points. His newly formed line with Mikael Granlund and Roope Hintz has outscored opponents 7-2 in 108:34 of ice time together.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger has gone 17-6 with a 2.03 GAA and .924 SV% (with one shutout) in 23 career postseason games following a loss.
Öcal’s three stars from Friday
No. 34 scored the first goal of the game in the third period, which counts as the game winner. It was his first goal against the Panthers — and first against any team beyond the first round — in his postseason career.
2. Maple Leafs shot blockers
The Leafs blocked 31 shots in this game, including some key moments late in the third period, preserving a shutout for Joseph Woll and forcing a Game 7. This was Woll’s first career postseason shutout, and he got lots of help from his friends.
Pacioretty was responsible for the insurance goal in the third period, his third of the postseason as the veteran continues his quest for his first Stanley Cup.
Friday’s recap
Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Florida Panthers 0
Series tied 3-3 | Game 7 Sunday
With a trip to the Eastern Conference finals at stake for the Panthers — and a continuation of the playoff run on the line for the Leafs — the two teams remained scoreless through two periods, with memorable saves by both goaltenders. At 6:20 of the third period, Toronto captain Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the series, and that would prove to be all the team needed for the W; Max Pacioretty‘s goal at 14:17 added some reassurance. After a Game 5 he’d like to forget, Joseph Woll stopped all 22 shots he faced. The two teams head back to Toronto for Game 7 Sunday. Full recap.
0:48
Max Pacioretty backhands a clutch goal for Leafs
Max Pacioretty scores Toronto’s second goal of the third period to give them a 2-0 lead in a must-win Game 6 vs. Florida.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Auston Matthews hadn’t scored against Florida in more than a year. He ended the drought — and might have also saved Toronto’s season.
Matthews got his first goal of the series to break a scoreless tie in the third period, Joseph Woll stopped 22 shots and the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their season alive by beating the Florida Panthers 2-0 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series Friday night.
“Just a gutsy, gutsy win,” Matthews said.
Game 7 is Sunday night in Toronto. The winner will face Carolina in the East final.
“We played a simple game tonight,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said.
Simple, but effective. Toronto blocked 31 shots, plus killed off all four Florida power plays.
Max Pacioretty added an insurance goal for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 4-2 when facing elimination since the start of the 2023 playoffs.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 shots for the Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions who oddly are only 8-7 in potential closeout games over the past three postseasons.
“You win or you learn,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Tonight, we learned.”
Florida coach Paul Maurice is 5-0 in Game 7s, including the final game of last season’s Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers are 3-1 all time in the ultimate game of a series — 2-0 on the road — while the Maple Leafs have lost each of their past six Game 7s. Of those, four were against Boston and now-Panthers forward Brad Marchand.
“We’re not going to show any video of those Game 7s,” Maurice said. “We’ll look at our game tonight and see where we can get better.”
It was the 68th game of this season’s playoffs — and only the second that was 0-0 after 40 minutes. The other was Wednesday night, when Edmonton eliminated Vegas with a 1-0 victory in overtime in Game 5 of that Western Conference semifinal series.
Toronto had five goals in Game 1, four more in Game 2 and had three by the early goings of the second period of Game 3. Add it up, and that was 12 in basically the first seven periods of the series.
From there, Toronto got basically nothing — until Matthews broke through.
The Toronto captain was 0-for-31 on shots against Florida this season, including the regular season. Bobrovsky had stopped 85 of the last 86 shot attempts he had seen in the series. And the Maple Leafs hadn’t had the lead in basically the equivalent of 3½ games — 216 minutes, 30 seconds, to be precise.
But when a pass got away from Florida’s Aaron Ekblad, Matthews had a slight opening — and that was all he needed. A low shot skittered along the ice and beat Bobrovsky for a 1-0 lead with 13:40 left.
“It’s a big win, from top to bottom,” Matthews said. “We earned that.”
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