Matthews (ill) held out of 3rd as reeling Leafs lose
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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
TORONTO — Star center Auston Matthews did not finish Saturday night’s Game 4 because of an illness, as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell 3-1 to the Boston Bruins.
Toronto now finds itself on the brink of elimination in its first-round playoff series, with a must-win Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston.
Coach Sheldon Keefe previously confirmed Matthews played through an illness in Game 3, and Matthews had been absent from multiple team sessions while recovering. It was more of the same in Game 4 when Matthews logged 14:16 in ice time before not returning after the second intermission.
“It is all related to the illness he’s dealing with,” Keefe said, responding to a reporter’s question on why Matthews didn’t return for the third period. “The doctors pulled him.”
Matthews was Toronto’s hero in Game 2, scoring the game-winning goal and notching two assists to lift the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory.
It was the Bruins again taking it to Toronto early Saturday. Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead off James van Riemsdyk‘s opening goal to enter the second period ahead 1-0, and it quickly added to its lead with a power-play goal from Brad Marchand. David Pastrnak collected another with 41 seconds left in the middle frame to afford Boston a 3-0 advantage going into the third.
Toronto has now lost six straight playoff games at home, a streak dating to the 1970s, and has been outscored 21-11 in that stretch of home contests. The Leafs have also scored three or fewer goals in 11 consecutive postseason tilts to date.
Emotions were visibly boiling over for Toronto on the bench in Saturday’s loss, with cameras capturing Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander — back in the lineup after missing the series’ first three games with an undisclosed injury — exchanging verbal barbs.
“We’re grown men,” Marner said of their exchange. “We’re just talking about plays out there that we all want to make sure we’re 100% on. Just a little off page there. We’re not yelling at each other because we hate each other. We just all want to be on the same page and help each other out.”
Marner was the lone goal scorer for Toronto when he broke through with his first of the playoffs to cut Boston’s lead to 3-1 in the third period. That was all Toronto could muster, though, offensively. The Leafs’ power play continued to misfire and finished 0-for-3 in Game 4, to put them 1-for-14 on the man advantage in the series to date. Meanwhile, Boston has capitalized on its special teams’ opportunities with another power-play goal on Saturday (6-for-13 in the playoffs).
The gravity of Toronto’s situation now isn’t lost on anyone.
“We’re down 3-1,” Nylander said. “It’s not a great spot to be in.”
Keefe opted to make a goaltender change for the final frame by inserting Joseph Woll for Ilya Samsonov, who had allowed three goals on 16 shots (.813 save percentage). The Leafs’ coach declined to name a starter for Game 5.
“The reason for [the swap] is we’re just trying to change things,” Keefe said. “You get to get Joe involved. That’s really it. You’re trying to change the momentum. We’ve got some time here to talk it through [before Game 5].”
Boston went back to Jeremy Swayman in its net to break the goalie rotation it had cultivated between him and Linus Ullmark. Swayman had led Boston to victory in Game 1 and Game 3; Ullmark started the Bruins’ lone losing effort in Game 2. Coach Jim Montgomery explained on Saturday the plan had been to give each of Swayman and Ullmark a postseason start and then decide on a regular goaltender from there. Given Swayman’s success, it was an easy choice for Montgomery to keep him in the crease.
Montgomery had previously questioned if Swayman was “in [the Maple Leafs’] heads,” given his success against them all season. Swayman is now 6-0-0 against Toronto and holds a .956 save percentage through three postseason games.
Keefe felt it wasn’t for lack of trying that Toronto hadn’t been able to crack Swayman.
“I don’t sense any frustration,” he said. “Guys are pushing one another, guys are competitive, guys want to win. It’s all part of it.”
Toronto can only turn the page now to Game 5 on Tuesday, where the Leafs will extend — or end — their season.
“There was nothing wrong with our effort level here tonight,” Keefe said. “Guys are competing. It’s physical hockey. Guys are trying. That’s a good team over there. It’s limiting us. You can question a lot of things, can’t question the effort.”
BOSTON — Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a ruptured tendon in his left knee and is out for the remainder of the season, the team said.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
The team announced Sunday that he had surgery for a left patellar tendon repair at Massachusetts General Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson.
“I talked to him last night,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said in a news conference on Saturday discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages [Saturday]. We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the offseason to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don’t,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
Casas, a left-handed batter, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with infielder/outfielder Abraham Toro selected from Triple-A Worcester.
Cora said Toro — a switch-hitter — will split time at first along with Romy Gonzalez. who bats right-handed.
Breslow said the team might be exploring a long-term replacement.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” he said. “We’ll look both internally and outside as well.”
Cora said there are no plans to move Rafael Devers, who was replaced at third by offseason free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman and moved to DH.
“We asked him to do something in spring training that in the beginning he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing,” Cora said. “Like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”
TORONTO — Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two days after the third baseman left in the third inning because of a mild right ankle sprain.
The six-time All-Star was injured when he stumbled and fell while crossing first base on an infield single. Ramirez went down after being struck in the back by a throw from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Ramirez was batting third Sunday against right-hander Bowden Francis.
Ramírez sat out Saturday when Cleveland beat Toronto 5-3. He went 2 for 2 before departing Friday, boosting his average to .274. He has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games.
In last Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Ramirez became the first primary third baseman to reach 250 homers and 250 stolen bases.
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