Matthews still ill with Leafs on brink of elimination
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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
TORONTO — Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews is still feeling the effects of an illness that forced him from the third period of Toronto’s 3-1 loss in Game 4 of Toronto’s first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Bruins on Saturday.
Matthews had played through the sickness in Game 3 — which the Leafs lost 4-2 — and battled it again in Game 4 until Toronto’s team doctors pulled him out of action for the final frame. The Leafs now face elimination from the postseason in Game 5 on Tuesday, and there’s no guarantee Matthews will be well enough to dress for the crucial contest.
“We thought the last couple of days would help us,” coach Sheldon Keefe said after Toronto’s team meeting Sunday. “But, for whatever reason, it’s not one of those run-of-the-mill type of illnesses that sort of comes and goes. This one has lingered, and the effects have lingered and gotten worse when he’s got on the ice and is asserting himself.”
Keefe said he hoped the extra day of recovery Sunday would help Matthews feel stronger on the ice by Tuesday. The Leafs already face an uphill battle to stay alive in the playoffs after an emotional defeat Saturday that included a bench argument gone viral between Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
The Leafs were trailing 3-0 in the second period when cameras captured the team’s three top forwards exchanging heated words, right before they were booed off the ice at intermission by the hometown crowd.
On the outside, that scene looked like a sign of turmoil, but Keefe saw passion behind his players’ words as a positive signal.
“In the past, quite honestly, that wouldn’t have happened, guys wouldn’t have talked it out, wouldn’t have, if you want to call it ‘arguing’ it out,” he said. “That wouldn’t have happened. I look at that as progress and those guys care. I don’t look at it as frustration, I look at them being upset and pissed off that that they didn’t deliver for the team, and they’re pushing and challenging each other to get it right.”
It has been a difficult postseason in some fashion for all three skaters. Matthews was the standout in Game 2, tallying three points and the game winner to lift Toronto to its only playoff victory so far. But that’s all Matthews has put on the score sheet through four games. Marner has just two points to his credit, and Nylander only suited up for his first game Saturday after missing the start of these playoffs with an undisclosed injury.
Keefe said it’s not the first time there’s been verbal sparring among the Leafs’ core players, and he felt it did lead to tangible results Saturday.
“The better thing for me is that the remainder of the game, in the next opportunities that we had, they’re working together, they’re talking about it, they’re making the plan,” Keefe said. “These guys have been together a long time, and they are pushing and challenging each other to get it right and they know how important they are to the team and when they’re not delivering, they recognize it.”
It’s not just those three players who have to be better in Game 5. Toronto has managed just seven playoff goals as a team, and their putrid power play is a momentum-sucking 1-for-14. Boston has offered Toronto opportunities to cash in with the extra man, including less than four minutes into Game 4 with a bench minor for too many men, but the Leafs have done anything but take advantage.
The lack of special teams success — despite changes to personnel — is what Keefe said irked him the most and where he is certain the Leafs can improve their prospects for a victory Tuesday.
“II there’s one area that really stood out [in Game 4], it’s our power play had a chance to really get us going in the game and in that first period and really failed to do so,” he said. “That was probably the most disappointing part of the game, and that the urgency level wasn’t higher at that particular time. So that’s a big one. We made changes to the top power play unit, and it got worse, not better. Today is about diagnosing some of the things that have been problematic and looking at some of the things that have gone well for us in this series and how we continue to embrace those and build upon them.
Keefe pointed out the Leafs’ lone victory in the series included a power play goal and critical penalty kill, showcasing why those special teams battles could tell the tale for Toronto again in Game 5. Focusing on what the Leafs can control is the message Keefe said he’s tried to send and that includes having Toronto maintain the right mindset before heading back to Boston.
“It’s less about recognizing that you’re facing elimination,” he said, “and look at it more so as the opportunity to go in on the road, give ourselves some life in this series and bring it back home for a chance to get it right [in Game 6].”
NEW YORK — Juan Soto‘s numbers are getting ugly.
The slumping New York Mets slugger went hitless again Wednesday and failed to get the ball out of the infield in a 9-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
After signing a record $765 million contract in December as a free agent, Soto is batting a measly .224 with eight homers and 25 RBIs in 55 games during a turbulent first season with the Mets.
The four-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger winner was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout Wednesday in a dreary performance that matched the weather. He was booed by a sparse crowd at Citi Field, where only a few thousand fans were on hand for a hastily rescheduled game.
With rain in the forecast Wednesday night, the first pitch was moved up six hours Tuesday to 1:10 p.m.
Soto is 0-for-16 since lacing a two-run double off the right-center fence Saturday in a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. And nothing seems to be going his way: He lost a hit on a chaotic play Tuesday night when he was called out for passing teammate Brandon Nimmo on the basepaths.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza expressed faith in Soto before and after Wednesday’s loss, saying that Soto passes the “eye test” despite what the stats might say about his performance.
“Today was one of those days where he didn’t hit the ball hard, but I thought his foundation — his lower half — was in a better position,” Mendoza said.
Soto’s batting average has dipped 61 points below his career mark entering the season. He hasn’t homered since May 9, a span of 75 plate appearances, and he has just seven hits in his last 59 at-bats (.119).
With runners in scoring position this year, he’s batting .130 (6-for-46) with a homer and 16 RBIs.
That after racking up 41 home runs, 109 RBIs and a .989 OPS with the crosstown New York Yankees last season, when he helped them reach the World Series and finished third in AL MVP voting.
Soto has been particularly cold since May 16, when he got booed incessantly in his return to Yankee Stadium with the Mets. He seemed to take the harsh reception in stride by doffing his helmet to the crowd before his first at-bat, but Soto is hitting only .114 (5-for-44) with one extra-base hit since.
Most advanced metrics suggest Soto is hitting into hard luck. He ranks among the 90th percentile in several categories at Baseball Savant, though his bat speed ranks in the 73rd percentile, down from the 94th percentile last season.
Soto made three outs on balls hit at least 99 mph in Tuesday night’s 6-4 win over the White Sox.
“Yesterday was a perfect example of his season so far: 0-for-4 with three balls [almost] 100 mph,” Mendoza said with a chuckle Wednesday morning. “Hard to explain. But it’s baseball.
“Too good of a hitter. Too good of a player. He’ll be Juan Soto here.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Utah Mammoth are bringing over two of their top prospects from Russia in time for next season, signing defenseman Dmitri Simashev and forward Daniil But to three-year entry-level contracts.
General manager Bill Armstrong announced the deals Wednesday, the latest bit of good news for the club that just got its full-time name and is going into its second season in Salt Lake City.
Simashev was the sixth pick in 2023 and But was taken 12th in that same draft when the team was known as the Arizona Coyotes. Each of the 20-year-olds spent this past season in the KHL.
“After we drafted them, we knew there was a long process before the day we would actually sign them,” Armstrong said on a video call with reporters. “There was a lot of work behind the scenes to get it done.”
Simashev and But were teammates for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, helping the club win the Gagarin Cup for the first time in franchise history. Getting them signed means they could play with Utah in the NHL or Tucson of the American Hockey League next season.
“You never want to rule (the AHL) out, but these guys have played at elite level over in Russia and played for one of the top teams and they experienced a high-pressure culture where they play, so there’s a good opportunity that they might not ever touch the American League,” Armstrong said, acknowledging there will be a transition period. “I believe both of them will come into camp and will have a good opportunity to compete for a job, and I think they’ll be close to making it.”
Armstrong called the 6-foot-5, 207-pound Simashev the biggest defenseman he has drafted with this good of mobility.
“He can cover ground,” Armstrong said. “He’s one of the best skaters. He works at his game. He’s extremely good on the D side of the puck, and there’s some room for him to grow offensively obviously, too, to put into play with his skating.”
But, even bigger at 6-foot-6 and 216 pounds, reminds Armstrong of Buffalo forward Tage Thompson and similar-sized players who took a little longer to adjust to North American rinks that are 15 feet narrower than those in Europe.
“He’s a massive human being, and he’s learning to use his body more effectively and it takes a while when you’re that big to put the strength on to compete against men,” Armstrong said. “He plays a North American-style game. He’s extremely aggressive cutting into the net and occupying the front of the net with elite stick skills.”
It was a key step just getting them to North America to fit in with a young core led by captain Clayton Keller, forward Logan Cooley, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and goaltender Karel Vejmelka. Sergachev and veterans Ian Cole and Olli Maatta have each won the Stanley Cup multiple times, Keller and Cooley are coming off leading the U.S. to gold at the world championships and Simashev and But are also KHL champions.
“It’s something that I love to see in our young players, the winning and the championships,” Armstrong said. “If you just continue to bring in winners, it’s going to translate into our club winning. But we’ve got to make the playoffs first. That’s a huge thing.”
With the salary cap going up, Armstrong has more than $21 million in room to use in free agency and trades to take the Mammoth to the next level and end the organization’s playoff drought of 12 years — excluding the expanded format in the bubble in 2020. They won the second draft lottery drawing to move up from picking 14th to fourth, giving the front office the chance to add another player with elite talent for the future.
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