Connect with us

Published

on

BOSTON — Auston Matthews‘ return to the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ lineup wasn’t enough to lift the road team Saturday in Game 7 of its first-round Stanley Cup playoff series vs. the Boston Bruins.

The Maple Leafs fell 2-1 in overtime as the Bruins advanced to a second-round series that begins on Monday. It was the Maple Leafs’ sixth consecutive defeat in a Game 7, and their fourth straight to Boston.

Matthews was a late addition for Toronto’s lineup after being absent from the third period of Game 4 all the way through Game 6. He had been battling both an illness — which he played through in Game 3 — and an undisclosed injury. Toronto’s top forward didn’t want to delve into specifics directly after the loss, however.

“I’m not going to go into that tonight,” Matthews said. “I think maybe in the next couple days. We’ll just process this [first]. It was really hard to watch those two games [when I was out]. Just really proud of the guys to fight and battle back and give ourselves a chance.”

Matthews said he didn’t know until Saturday morning that he’d receive clearance from the Maple Leafs’ medical staff to play, and said his team, ultimately, gave all it could to try to get past the Bruins one final time.

“They’re always a tough opponent,” Matthews said. “They’re a well-put-together team. But I thought we were right there with them. Tonight was a tight game. It’s tough, could have gone either way.”

Matthews finished the night with one assist in 17:35 of ice time, as Toronto tried to pull off a rally from a 3-1 series deficit.

The two sides were deadlocked at 0-0 in Game 7 until midway through the third period, when William Nylander beat Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Hampus Lindholm responded just 80 seconds later with an equalizer that would eventually take the game to overtime.

David Pastrnak needed less than two minutes in the extra frame to flummox Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov and send Boston on to face Florida in the second round.

Samsonov, who had been replaced by Joseph Woll in the third period of Game 4 before the latter then backstopped Toronto to consecutive wins, was a surprise starter on Saturday. Woll was sensational in both outings, posting a .964 save percentage and a 0.86 goals-against average in the series, but he suffered an injury that kept him from Game 7.

“Obviously, we didn’t practice yesterday, we traveled, and it wasn’t any better, in fact it was a little bit worse yesterday,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said of the injury. “We had told Samsonov he had to stay ready last night, there was a chance that Joe wouldn’t be able to go, but Joe was going to do everything he could to try to be ready. The medical team was going to continue to work with him to get him ready, and that’s the process they went through this morning.

“It wasn’t until this afternoon that it was determined that Joseph wouldn’t be available.”

Samsonov came through with his best outing of the playoffs in a 29-save performance, but that couldn’t cover up for Toronto’s continued inability to produce offense. The Leafs scored just 12 goals total in seven games, which was a hurdle that helped determine their fate.

Before Matthews was forced out due to injury, it was Nylander who missed the first three games of the series with what he confirmed was a migraine issue. Nylander said on Saturday that at times the headaches would be so intense he couldn’t see. Nylander said the Leafs’ doctors thought the symptoms might be concussion related and held him out until he felt better.

“The situation is very complicated. It’s hard to explain what it is,” Nylander said. “It’s hard to play [through that].”

Nylander also defended Toronto’s nucleus of players, which includes himself, Matthews and Mitch Marner. Combined they scored five goals and 10 points in the first-round series that once again ended in disappointment.

“Look, I don’t think there’s an issue with the core,” Nylander said. “I think we were right there all series. We battled hard.”

Keefe concurred.

“When teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves,” he said. “I thought we did that in Game 3 and 4, we beat ourselves. We’ve been trying to break through for a long time. Any answer [now] is going to fall on deaf ears, and I get that. The core isn’t different, but the feeling around the team was different and played different. I thought we showed signs in this series of a team that could win.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Irish jockey O’Sullivan, 24, dies after Thurles fall

Published

on

By

Irish jockey O'Sullivan, 24, dies after Thurles fall

Irish jockey Michael O’Sullivan died on Sunday, 10 days after sustaining injuries in a fall at Thurles Racecourse in Ireland, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) said.

O’Sullivan, aged 24, who has ridden 90 winners in Ireland and five in Britain, and his mount Wee Charlie were one of three fallers at the final fence in the second race on the Feb. 6 card.

O’Sullivan was treated on the course before being airlifted to hospital, where he was placed in intensive care.

“Michael sadly passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning surrounded by his loving family in Cork University Hospital,” Dr Jennifer Pugh, Chief Medical Officer of the IHRB, said in a statement.

His family took the decision to donate his organs, Pugh said.

“I have had the privilege of knowing Michael through his amateur and professional career and his dedication, modesty and kind nature always made him a pleasure to be around,” Pugh added.

“The O’Sullivan family have asked for privacy at this time.”

O’Sullivan turned professional in 2022 and he won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Fred Winter at Cheltenham the following year.

“Michael was an exceptionally talented young rider who was always popular in the weighroom and will be deeply missed by everyone in racing who had the pleasure of knowing him,” Darragh O’Loughlin, chief executive of the IHRB, said.

As a mark of respect, Sunday’s fixture at Punchestown and the point-to-point fixtures in Ireland have been cancelled.

Continue Reading

Sports

Granlund OT goal gives Finland 1st 4 Nations win

Published

on

By

Granlund OT goal gives Finland 1st 4 Nations win

MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, and Finland beat Sweden 4-3 Saturday in an instant classic, back-and-forth game between the bitter rivals at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Granlund scored 1:49 into 3-on-3 OT, sending fans in Finland’s blue and white at Bell Centre to the exits cheering and chanting, “Suomi!”

“It’s always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said in his postgame media availability.

Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Finland, and Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his debut at the NHL-run international tournament, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad seconds into overtime. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after his team lost 6-1 to the United States on Thursday night.

“I don’t think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. “Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”

Knocking off Sweden puts the Finns right back in it with one game for them left in round-robin play. The top two teams among the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland meet in the championship game next week in Boston.

Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, the Swedes are in trouble and now might need some help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots in the first period, and Linus Ullmark allowed two on 17 the rest of the way.

Finland also has a potential injury situation to monitor after Barkov came up limping from blocking a shot late in the second. The reigning Stanley Cup champion from the Florida Panthers continued playing through it.

“We got a little better, and played for a full 60-something minutes,” Barkov said. “We knew, playing against Sweden, even if it’s 4 a.m., it doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to be fired up. We came out hard, and we played really well.”

The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday night in the most anticipated game in Montreal, but Sweden and Finland put on quite the show in the matinee. Facing off 19 years after Sweden defeated Finland in the 2006 Olympic gold medal game in Turin, this time the Finns were on the winning end of an entertaining game featuring a blend of speed, skill and physicality — and some pushing and shoving after the whistles, which was expected of players from countries that do not like each other.

The tournament shifts to Boston, where Finland faces Canada on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and Sweden plays the United States at 8 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Finland sits Saros after giving up 6 in loss to U.S.

Published

on

By

Finland sits Saros after giving up 6 in loss to U.S.

MONTREAL — Kevin Lankinen will start in net for Finland against Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday after Juuse Saros allowed six goals on 32 shots in a 6-1 loss to the United States in each team’s tournament opener, coach Antti Pennanen said.

“We have three good goalies,” Pennanen said after practice Friday. “It’s a good situation for us. Juuse, I think he was really good the first 40 minutes, but 6-1, so we need to do something. And Kevin, he has played good games lately, so that was behind that decision.”

Saros’ struggles stretched into the 4 Nations from his rough half-season-plus in the NHL with the Nashville Predators. The 29-year-old has lost 29 of his 41 starts, ranks 38th among goalies in goals-against average with a 2.95 and is 33rd in save percentage with an .899.

Asked how he would evaluate his performance against the U.S., Saros said: “Obviously you always want to help your team even more on games like that.”

Saros’ new, eight-year, $61.92 million contract does not even kick in until next season.

Lankinen is 19-8-7 for the Vancouver Canucks with a 2.53 GAA and a .905 save percentage, making just above the league minimum at $875,000. A late bloomer who was never drafted, he grinded through minor leagues in Finland and North America before breaking through.

“I feel like there’s still more — a lot more — to accomplish, so many more levels to step up to, and I feel like every single season so far has been good progress,” Lankinen said. “Some of the pieces are coming together, but at the same time I recognize there is so much more to achieve.”

Pennanen hinted at making other lineup changes after scratching Kaapo Kakko and Juuso Valimaki on Thursday night but would not reveal much. Valimaki said he was not playing.

“Could be, but tomorrow you will know about those,” Pennanen said. “Again, 6-1, I think you need to do something but I know more exactly tomorrow, and those changes are public tomorrow.”

Continue Reading

Trending