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MINNESOTA WILD (1-5-0 – 2 Points) 2 vs. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (4-2-1 – 9 Points) 4

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2019

1 2 3 OT FINAL

MINNESOTA 1 0 1 – 2 TORONTO 0 4 0 – 4

ON THE SCORESHEET

• John Tavares put the Maple Leafs on the board at 1:58 of the second period. Tavares has points (21-3) in three consecutive games. He has six points (2-4-6) in seven games this season. In 16 career games against the Wild, Tavares has recorded 15 points (7-8-15).
• – Mitch Marner scored Toronto’s second goal of the night on the power play at 7:17 of the second period and later registered the primary assist on Andreas Johnsson’s second period goal before recording the primary assist on Auston Matthews’ second period goal. Tonight’s game is Marner’s first multi-assist and second multi-point performance of the season. He has 40 career multi-assist games and 61 career multi-point games. Marner leads the Maple Leafs in power play points (2-4-6).
• – Andreas Johnsson recorded the primary assist on Marner’s second period goal and later scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the game on the power play at 8:29 of the second period. Johnsson has four points (2-2-4) over his last four games. Tonight’s game is his first multi-point game this season and the 12th of his career.
• – Auston Matthews scored the fourth Toronto goal of the night at 13:05 of the second period. Matthews has four goals and five points (4-1-5) over his last five games. He has six goals in five games on home ice this season.
• – Morgan Rielly collected the secondary assist on Tavares’ second period goal, the secondary assist on Marner’s second period goal, the secondary assist on Johnsson’s second period goal and the secondary assist on Matthews’ second period goal. Rielly’s four second period assists tie the franchise record for assists in a period (Previous: Rick Vaive
• – March 12, 1984). His assist on Johnsson’s second period goal is his 200th career NHL assist. Rielly’s four assists match his single-game career-highs for assists (3x) and points (4x) in a game.
• – Cody Ceci registered the primary assist on Tavares’ second period goal. He has three assists over his last five games. – Frederik Andersen stopped 27 shots to earn the victory.

SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)
1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL

MINNESOTA 8 (4) 10 (10) 11 (6) – 29 (20)

TORONTO 9 (8) 19 (15) 6 (6) – 34 (29)

SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)

1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL

MINNESOTA 12 (7) 17 (17) 23 (12) – 52 (36)

TORONTO 19 (16) 30 (26) 13 (13) – 62 (55)

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

• The Maple Leafs are 2-2-1 at home this season.
• – Toronto’s all-time record is 11-11-0-1 in 23 games against the Wild and 8-5-0-0 in 13 games played in Toronto.
• – Toronto is 1-1-0 against the Western Conference this season and 1-1-0 against the Central Division.
• – Tonight’s attendance was 19,149.
  MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS
  Shots 6 (Rielly)
  Shot Attempts 8 (Rielly)
  Faceoff Wins 12 (Tavares)
  Faceoff Win Percentage 80% (Tavares – 12 won, 3 lost)
  Hits 2 (Moore, Timashov)
  Blocked Shots 2 (Ceci, Holl, Muzzin)
  Takeaways 2 (Mikheyev)
  TOI 24:20 (Muzzin)
  Power Play TOI 2:38 (Matthews, Rielly)
  Shorthanded TOI 5:04 (Muzzin)
  Shifts 30 (Muzzin)
  5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage 71.4% (Kapanen – 15 for, 6 against)

RECORD WHEN…

• The Maple Leafs were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 2-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 3-10 when not allowing a power play goal this season and 2-0-0 when scoring multiple power play goals. – Toronto is 3-2-1 when their opponent scores the first goal of the game. – The Maple Leafs are 2-1-0 when trailing after one period and 4-0-1 when leading after two periods. – Toronto is 3-1-0 when outshooting their opponent. – The Maple Leafs are 1-0-0 in Tuesday games.
  OF NOTE. …
• The Maple Leafs tied their season-high for goals in a period with four (Previous: 2nd, Oct. 2 vs. Ottawa). – Toronto scored multiple power play goals in a game for the second time this season (Previous: Oct. 4 at Columbus). – Toronto’s line of Frederik Gauthier, Nick Shore and Dmytro Timashov were the lone Maple Leafs to not start a 5-on-5 shift in the offensive zone. – Frederik Gauthier was 4-for-4 (100%) in the faceoff circle when matched up with Minnesota centre Eric Staal. – William Nylander was on the ice for a team-high 24 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5. Nylander finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 68.6 percent (24 for, 11 against). – John Tavares was 8-for-11 (73%) in the faceoff circle when taking draws in the offensive zone.
  UPCOMING GAMES:
• Wednesday, October 16, 7:00 p.m. at Washington Capitals (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)
• – Saturday, October 19, 7:00 p.m. vs. Boston Bruins (Sportsnet, FAN 590)
• – Monday, October 21, 7:00 p.m. vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)
• – Tuesday, October 22, 7:00 p.m. at Boston Bruins (TSN4, TSN 1050)
• – Friday, October 25, 7:00 p.m. vs. San Jose Sharks (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)
  :

https://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/canadian-mens-soccer-squad-ends-34-year-winless-drought-versus-u-s

MAPLE LEAFS 4, WILD 2.

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On the team finding a higher gear after trailing through a period: We had to. Obviously, we weren’t as good as we’d like to be in the first. I didn’t think we gave up much, to be honest with you, until they got on the power play, but I still didn’t think we were as sharp and good as we need to be. You always want to be real good at home especially and starting on time is important, so we’ve got to do a better job.

On the decision to move Moore to Tavares’ wing: I’ve just been watching it and noticing that he wants it. We just tried it and it seemed to be okay, so we just stayed with it.

On the second period as how he wants to see the team perform: Yeah, the first 15 minutes of that second period was real good. They played last night; you know what I mean? But, in saying all that – or, yesterday – it was a good 15 minutes for us. We played right; it was good.

On Rielly’s four assist performance: I understand he tied a record or something like that. Good for him. He’s a good player and is much better defensively, he’s always been good offensively. It’s important that he has good nights and feels good about himself. Any time your good players score and generate offence and that’s what they like to do, they get feeling good and your team is better.

On leaving an impression during the recruitment of Mikheyev despite the language barrier: I talked to him all year and you’re basically talking by text more than anything else and when you talk to a guy that much – or WhatsApp, whatever you call it – you’re bound to have some communication. In the end, [Mikheyev’s] understanding of the English language is fantastic anyway, he’s a very educated guy. I’ve said this a number of times, but his gal went to Boston College on a visitation or whatever. He’s been around it a lot so he’s way ahead of most guys.

On if the plan is to rotate the fourth line on the back-to-back: I don’t know what we’re going to do yet. We’ll get on the plane – that’s the good thing about it – and decide. Break down the whole game and by the time we land we’ll have a plan for tomorrow. Obviously, that’s two nights in a row our fourth line was really good for us.

MITCH MARNER (1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS)

On what sparked the offence in the second period: I think we wanted to get our power play going tonight. That was huge for our team to get pucks back, get pucks to the net, screening, not giving up on second opportunities. We stayed patient with our game plan and that’s something we’ve got to keep going forward with.

On his screen on Tavares’ goal: It was a great play by [Moore] leaving it for him. I just tried to get in front of the net. I didn’t really think he was going to take a slap shot right away but I saw him wind up. It was a great shot, post-in, it’s a hard one to save. That started us off.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 GOAL)

On what led to a four-goal second period: I think our power play came up big and I think we needed that. A lot of nights that just jump starts momentum and get it back on our side. Good job by us, I think, on the power play. A couple of big goals there to kind of push the momentum on our side and we just continued to attack them.

On Rielly’s ability to make plays: Any time you’re out there with him you just try to get open and he has the ability to make a pass or skate it himself with his speed and his agility. I think any time you’re out there with a guy like that you just try to get open and get in a lane and let him dictate the play because he’s really good at it.

TREVOR MOORE (4 SHOT ATTEMPTS)

On joining a line with Tavares and Marner and seeing Tavares score shortly after the change: I don’t know if I had anything to do with that. I think John’s a ticking timebomb, he was going to start getting some bounces here. It was nice. A little learning curve there, but it was good.

On Tavares’ goal: I honestly didn’t see it, but I couldn’t believe that he scored from there. That’s pretty special.

On what it means to get the chance to play with Tavares and Marner: I think that [the coaching staff] hopes that I can bring something similar to what [Hyman] does – go retrieve the puck and get to the net, that kind of thing. Leave most of the skill stuff to them and just do the work.

MORGAN RIELLY (4 ASSISTS)

On what clicked for the team in the second period: I think we just talked about being patient a little bit and not trying to force too much. I thought we played a good first and obviously didn’t get the results we wanted. I thought we came out and just kind of stayed the course, took advantage some power play opportunities. Other than that, I think we just played simple and played our style of hockey. Just got it in and went to work. It’s good when we can stay patient like that.

On if he liked how the team transitioned from Saturday night’s win in Detroit into tonight’s game: Yeah, I think so. We talked about our starts improving and I think we did that, even though they got one relatively early. I thought we came out good. I thought we were skating. I think there’s been periods of time where we’ve played good hockey over the course of the past couple of weeks and I think tonight was another example of that. It’s good. It’s something to build on for tomorrow night.

JOHN TAVARES (1 GOAL)

On his goal: I think [Moore] just made a good play when it came around to let the puck come to me and I had a bit of time. I probably had a little more time and space to even get myself a better angle, but I saw [Marner] in front, cause a good screen, and I wanted to get the puck on net. Just good timing. I hit it pretty good so glad to see it go in.

On if he let Moore know to leave it: I think he just read the play. We were coming off the bench, I believe, and he just made a great play.

On if he’s ever reluctant to shoot from that far out: Just the way the circumstances were, and my instincts when I saw Mitch in front, just to shoot it then instead of carrying it in a little bit more and maybe give the goalie a little more time or them to recover a little bit. Just put it in a good spot and Mitch had a great screen.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/15/yankees-doom-themselves-in-alcs-game-3-loss-to-astros/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

October 14, 2019

Dave Martinez

Washington D.C. – postgame 3

Nationals 8, Cardinals 1

Q. Davey, with what Stras was able to do tonight and you’ve been around the game a long time, have you ever seen three as dominant a pitching performance in the postseason as you’ve gotten in all three of these games so far?
DAVE MARTINEZ: No, these guys, they started with Sanchez, Scherzer, and now tonight Stras. They’re feeding off each other, they really are, and it’s fun to watch.

Q. What do you mean by that, Dave, about feeding off each other as pitchers? We hear hitting is contagious. How do starters do that?
DAVE MARTINEZ: They sit there, and they watch, and they talk, and they communicate, and they get together, and they’re going over what they’ve done that helped them get successful that day. Then the next guy comes up. Even though Scherzer and Stras are hard, and Sanchez, they watch. They watch videos, and then they go out and they compete. They compete every day, and they compete amongst themselves. Like I said, it’s a lot of fun.

Q. So do you mean pregame in terms of the video study, they do it as a group kind of thing?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, they sit down, and they communicate, yeah. This is an unbelievably close group of guys, and they’re all — you know, they pull for each other. They all stand there and watch the first pitch. They don’t miss each other’s first pitch of the game, and they’re watching everything, and they’re learning from one another.

Q. That’s unique, isn’t it?
DAVE MARTINEZ: These guys — like I said, these guys, they’ve been good all year, and they’ve been behind each other all year, and when one guy seems to fail, I’ve never heard — they all congregate again, and they sit, and they get right back after it, and they pick him up. They said, here we go. Next start, we’re right there. Here we go. It’s been a lot of fun.

Q. Hey, Davey, your team obviously struggled early this year. Right now, they’re probably playing as confidently as they have all year. How important is confidence to a team’s success? And how confident are you that you can wrap up this series and go on to win a World Series?
DAVE MARTINEZ: You know, it’s huge, but it didn’t just start like miraculously. This has been something that’s been building since the end of May. I mean, we had our backs against the wall, and they stuck with it, and they believed in each other, and they believed that they were going to bounce back and this thing was going to turn around.

I’ve said it before, we’ve been playing playoff games since then. We had to play really good to come back and do the things we’ve done, and now, in September, they believed that they can do this, and they’re going out there, and they’re not taking anything for granted, and they’re playing really hard, and they’re playing to win one game every day. The big message, I say it every day, is to go 1-0 every day, and they believe that.

Q. At the pregame press conference, everybody’s asking Patrick Corbin about him relieving. It was obviously your idea to bring starters as relievers. Why did you decide to do that, and how does that affect the game?
DAVE MARTINEZ: For me, obviously, Patrick is going to start tomorrow. The other day when I put him in to face one-hitter, I went to go get him, and he actually made a comment about, you know, I could probably be a left-on-left guy, and I said, not right now you’re not. So just get your rest and be ready to pitch Game 4. And he’s ready.

But these guys, like I said, they get it. They want to do whatever they can to help us win. They believe in each other. I mean, I’ve said this before, they’re all in. They all care for each other. It’s one big family in there, and they just want to win every day.

Q. Davey, you’ve done a remarkable job of trying to keep Howie healthy all year and Zim, as well. Of course, Zim was on the IL with the foot problem, but to have both of them come up so huge in this game and Howie with three doubles tonight and three RBIs, can you just speak to what that means to the middle of that lineup?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Big. It’s huge for us. Him and Zim are both playing really well, on both sides of the ball. I know Howie’s hitting. He had his struggles in the Dodgers series, and he made a pretty good play the other day at second base. We’re getting professional at-bats from those guys. Everybody says they’re older, and I just look at him as just guys who have been around and veteran guys that have stepped up to the moment, and they’re a big reason why we’re here. Having those two guys healthy helps us out a lot.

Q. Being where he is in his career, do you get a sense of how badly Howie wants this?
DAVE MARTINEZ: He wants it, and the rest of his teammates feed off of that, and they see it. We’re all big fans of Howie. Every one of us in that clubhouse, and what he does on the field, off the field. I mean, he’s been that quiet leader for us all year long.

Q. Davey, all season long you’ve told the team, we just have to go 1-0 today, 1-0 today, and you guys have done that pretty consistently. Do you kind of allow yourself and the guys to start thinking, well, if we go 1-0 tomorrow, we go to the World Series. Do you allow yourselves to start thinking ahead of it or still 1-0?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Honestly, and I mean this sincerely, I have not thought about it yet. I’m worried about just getting through tomorrow, go 1-0 tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens then. Yeah, I never — I thought about lineups and stuff for tomorrow, and we know Pat’s going. I like the fact that we didn’t have to use Huddy or Doo today, so that was nice. So we’re prepared for tomorrow.

Q. That last inning mound conversation with Strasburg, what did he say to you, and what did you say to him?
DAVE MARTINEZ: He didn’t want to come out of the game. I was trying to explain to him, hey, you just grabbed your hamstring, so there’s a little concern. He said, no, I cramped up. It’s fine. I always cramp up. He said, I’m staying in the game. I want to finish this inning. I said, you sure you’re all right? He said, I’m in the game! And I looked at Suzuki, and Suzuki said, let him finish. I said, hey, you don’t have to twist my arm. You’re throwing the ball good, but I want to make sure you’re okay, and he was good. He finished the inning strong.

Q. There’s obviously a lot that was working for Strasburg tonight, but with his change-up specifically, what did you see there that makes that so impossible to hit?
DAVE MARTINEZ: I talked about this earlier with his change-up. For me, anybody that has a good change-up, their arm action is really good, and his was really good today. He has the same tempo as he does with his fastball, and the ball at the end just disappears, and he was really good. But I think, honestly, what made it really good today was his fastball, utilizing his fastball at the right moment made his change-up that much better.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

October 14, 2019

Mike Shildt

Washington D.C. – postgame 3

Nationals 8, Cardinals 1

Q. Mike, with you all in the situation you find yourselves in now, what’s the first thing you have to do to get things pointed back in the direction you want?
MIKE SHILDT: We’ve got to get the lead. We’ve got to get a lead at some point in this series. Hard to win a game if you can’t get a lead. We’ve got to figure out a way to create some offense early in the game and be able to hold it there. It’s the first time our pitching hasn’t been able to contain this offense. I’m confident we’ll be able to do that tomorrow.

We’ve got to play with a lead.

Q. Mike, what was your view of Marcell Ozuna’s attempt to make the sliding catch? Did you see that as kind of the full crumb of the game because, obviously, three runs scored after that, but Jack might have gone deep or you might not have had to go as deep in the bullpen.
MIKE SHILDT: It’s not an easy play any time you have to leave your feet and go a distance and slide. It’s a play that he’s clearly capable of making, but it’s not a play you absolutely expect somebody to make. There’s a lot of other plays in the game that were a factor that I can’t single that out as being the full crumb that led to the rest of the game.

Q. You mentioned some of those other plays. It seemed like — is it fair to say that a lot of the reasons you guys are here, the things you did right all over the course of the season seemed to get away from you tonight — base running, some defensive plays that might have been made in the past. It seemed like the offense we’ve talked a lot about, but the things that sustained the offense when it wasn’t coming through gave way a little bit?
MIKE SHILDT: It wasn’t our cleanest game, in some of those regard, not a lot of opportunities. Got called off at second base trying to move a runner. I think that’s what you’re alluding to. Could have gotten the lead at that point, trying to make a play. Not our cleanest game. Some nice plays defensively, no errors. Like you said, the Ozuna play, but, again, that’s not exactly a play you can expect a guy to make when he leaves his feet.

Just not a lot of opportunities to do as much. We had more tonight, some guys out there, and weren’t able to get that big hit. Took better at-bats. Their guy was good again.

We’ve just got to be — we haven’t been able to play our brand of baseball in full. We haven’t been able to get in rhythm or sync, but we still have more baseball to play.

Q. Can you pinpoint the reason why you say that about not being able to find the rhythm or be in sync? Can you pinpoint the reason?
MIKE SHILDT: It’s a combination. This is a group that right now is pitching very, very well. The other side’s trying, too. We’re in a highly competitive series, and they’ve done a really good job of being able to hold us off. They’ve been pitching really, really well. The length of their lineup showed up tonight and weren’t able to contain that. We’ve just got to be able to create more opportunities and put the pressure on them a little bit more. We just haven’t been able to get that.

They’ve had a lot to say about that. They’ve done a nice job. They played good baseball.

Q. What did you see with Jack in the four innings he got?
MIKE SHILDT: Stuff was great early, crisp, a couple ground ball hits, the play that Mark alluded to. Ground ball, bunt him over, ground ball, base hit, 1-0, tough play, and it’s 2-0. Then we had an open base, like the ability — you know, pick your poison. We could have put Kendrick on right there, but you get a guy in Zimmerman swinging the bat well right behind him, so didn’t make a pitch there. That was probably the biggest part of that was that pitch at that moment.

But I thought Jack was good. It’s 4-0, and unfortunately, we’ve got to hit for him.

Q. There’s only been one team who overcame this deficit that you’re in right now. Do you draw on that, or is it all about tomorrow for you right now?
MIKE SHILDT: It’s all about tomorrow. I can tell you this, and it’s appropriate for the area we’re at. There is no concession speech being written. This is a team that can absolutely win four games in a row, and clearly we have to start tomorrow, and we’ve got to get after it, which we will, and we have, but anybody that’s seen this team, we’re obviously clearly in a tough spot. There is precedent for it, but this team has created its own precedent this year a lot in a lot of things we’ve done throughout the course of this year.

So take care of business tomorrow, and then who knows, right? This group will bite, scratch, and claw. We’re going to figure out a way to win tomorrow.

Q. Specifically to the top of the lineup, you made some changes today and got results there in the middle. But when you don’t have those guys on, what are you seeing from those top three on a night like tonight other than just great pitching?
MIKE SHILDT: Great pitching and just weren’t able to put — string together the consistent at-bats we want. Again, a combination of both. We can’t and won’t pin it on anybody, but we need to get that production from the top. We got it through the middle. Jos�y rewarded and earned his start. We’ll get another one. Yadi takes good at-bats. Like the bats Paulie took, as well. Looked good. So we just have to be able to — and Ozuna, of course.

It happens like this, you know. If we could explain it, if we knew exactly what it was, we’d do it. Clearly, it’s not for a lack of effort or comprehension, but we’ve got to figure out a way to get it done.

Q. Mike, obviously, they’ve had terrific starting pitching, but are you shocked, surprised by just how little offensive production your team’s had?
MIKE SHILDT: Listen, we know — we played a series with them. You play these guys with that pitching, you’re going to be in for typically a low-scoring situation, but I’ve got to say this. As we tip our hat, we’ve also got to say that we didn’t expect to be — have scored two runs in three games by any stretch of the imagination. Like I said, we respect our opponent. These guys have done a great job of pitching. They’ve had a good game plan. They’ve executed their game plan, but by no means did we have anywhere close to the expectation that we would be pretty much shut down. Like I said, it can turn on a dime.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/14/nationals-cardinals-nlcs-game-three/

Third inning:

Victor Robles singles.

Stephen Strasburg sacrifices Robles to second.

Trea Turner strikes out.

Adam Eaton singles. Robles scores. 1-0.

Anthony Rendon doubles to left n a sliding drop by Marcel Ozuna. Eaton scores. Eaton scores. 2-0.

Juan Soto walks.

Wild pitch by Jack Flaherty. Rendon to third, Soto to second.

Howie Kendrick doubles. Rendon scores. Soto scores. 4-0.

Ryan Zimmerman grounds out to second.

Fifth inning:

Tyler Webb replaces Flaherty

Eaton grounds out to shortstop.

Rendon singles.

Soto flies out to left.

John Rebbia replaces Webb.

Kendrick doubles. Rendon scores. 5-0.

Zimmerman doubles. Kendrick scores. 6-0.

Sixth inning:

Robles homers to center. 7-0.

Strasburg strikes out.

Genesis Cabrera replaces Brebbia.

Trea Turner grounds out to pitcher.

Eaton flies out to center.