Category: Uncategorized

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (6-4-2 – 14 Points) vs.

MONTREAL CANADIENS (4-4-2 – 10 Points)

OCTOBER 26, 2019 ▪ 7:00 PM EST

BELL CENTRE (MONTREAL, QC) ▪
TV: SPORTSNET/HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA ▪

RADIO: TSN 1050

MAPLE LEAFS HISTORY versus MONTREAL

ALL-TIME RECORD:	300-341-88-16 (745 Games)
ALL-TIME ON THE ROAD:	110-213-43-6 (372 Games)
2019-20:	0-0-1
LAST FIVE:	3-0-2
LAST 10:	7-0-3

MAPLE LEAFS CAREER LEADERS versus MONTREAL

GAMES PLAYED:	Jason Spezza (64), John Tavares (34), Cody Ceci (25), Morgan Rielly (25)
GOALS:	Jason Spezza (32), John Tavares (13), Auston Matthews (12)
ASSISTS:	Jason Spezza (37), John Tavares (16), Mitch Marner (11), Morgan Rielly (11)
POINTS:	Jason Spezza (69), John Tavares (29), Auston Matthews (16)
PENALTY MINUTES:	Jason Spezza (35), John Tavares (18), Frederik Gauthier (15)

MAPLE LEAFS – CANADIENS TEAM STATS

	TORONTO	MONTREAL
GOALS FOR (Rank):	44 (2nd)	35 (t-7th)
GOALS AGAINST (Rank):	39 (t-28th)	33 (19th)
POWER PLAY [%] (Rank):	8/37 [21.6%] (12th)	9/36 [25.0%] (t-7th)
PENALTY KILL [%] (Rank):	31/39 [79.5%] (t-17th)	23/34 [67.6%] (30th)
SHOTS (Rank):	393 (t-2nd)	340 (12th)
5-on-5 SHOT ATTEMPTS FOR (Rank):	526 (1st)	404 (13th)
5-on-5 SHOT ATTEMPT % (Rank):	53.3% (5th)	53.4% (4th)
FACEOFF % (Rank):	52.9% (5th)	47.0% (27th)

MAPLE LEAFS – CANADIENS NOTES

FIRST MATCHUP BETWEEN CLUBS:	Dec. 26, 1917 (Toronto Arenas 7, Montreal 5)
ALL-TIME RECORD:	300-341-88-16 (745 Games)
ALL-TIME RECORD AT HOME:	190-128-45-10 (373 Games)
ALL-TIME RECORD ON THE ROAD:	110-213-43-6 (372 Games)
LAST WIN VS. OPPONENT ON THE ROAD:	Feb. 9, 2019 (Toronto 4, Montreal 3 OT)

MAPLE LEAFS MILESTONES vs. CANADIENS

Tyson Barrie	200th career NHL game (Nov. 14, 2017 (COL) at MTL)
Zach Hyman	100th NHL point (Feb. 23, 2019 vs. MTL)
Andreas Johnsson	First career NHL goal (March 17, 2018 vs. MTL)
Alex Kerfoot	First goal as a Maple Leaf (Oct. 5, 2019 vs. MTL)
Martin Marincin	First game as a Maple Leaf (Oct. 7, 2015 vs. MTL)
Mitch Marner	200th career NHL point (Feb. 23, 2019 vs. MTL)
Morgan Rielly	200th career NHL game (Jan. 23, 2016 vs. MTL)
Jason Spezza	1,000th career NHL game (Oct. 30, 2018 at MTL)
John Tavares	First game as a Maple Leaf (Oct. 3, 2018 vs. MTL) First goal as a Maple Leaf (Oct. 3, 2018 vs. MTL)

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER
GOALS	9 (Matthews)
ASSISTS	11 (Marner)
POINTS	14 (Marner)
POWER PLAY POINTS	6 (Marner)
SHORTHANDED POINTS	2 (Kapanen)
PIMs	12 (Johnsson)
SHOTS	49 (Matthews)
FACEOFF WIN%	59.7% (Shore)
5-on-5 SHOT ATTEMPT %	62.5% (Petan)
BLOCKED SHOTS	25 (Ceci)
TAKEAWAYS	16 (Marner)
HITS	26 (Moore)
TOI PER GAME	25:06 (Rielly)
PP TOI PER GAME	3:08 (Rielly)
SH TOI PER GAME	3:24 (Ceci)

MAPLE LEAFS NOTABLES

–      Frederik Andersen has made 12 career appearances against Montreal and has posted a 7-3-2 record with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. 

–      Tyson Barrie is one of two NHL skaters (Jake Muzzin) to have been on the ice for over 200 shot attempts for at 5-on-5 (211). His 30 shots on goal are tied for the 11th-most among NHL defencemen.

–      Cody Ceci is tied for ninth in the NHL in blocked shots (25). He is fifth among NHL skaters in shorthanded time on ice (40:44).

–      Frederik Gauthier has started 6.3 percent of his 5-on-5 shifts in the offensive zone, which is the second-lowest mark among NHL centres who have appeared in multiple games behind teammate Nick Shore.

–      Michael Hutchinson has made 93 saves at even-strength this season, which is the fourth-most among goaltenders who have appeared in four or fewer games. 

–      Andreas Johnsson has five points (3-2-5) in six career games against Montreal, which is his highest point total against a single opponent.

–      Kasperi Kapanen is one of three NHL right wingers (Rickard Rakell, Reilly Smith) to have recorded multiple shorthanded points this season. He is the only NHL right winger to have multiple shorthanded goals.  

–      Alex Kerfoot has four points (2-2-4) in five career games against Montreal. The Maple Leafs have a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 54.0 percent when leading with Kerfoot on the ice, which is the highest percentage among Toronto centres who have appeared in each game this season.  

–      Mitch Marner is tied for fourth among NHLers in assists (11) and is tied for sixth among NHL skaters in power play points (2-4-6). His eight primary assists are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL. He ranks second in the NHL in takeaways (16).

–      Auston Matthews is tied for second in the NHL in goals (9) and is tied for the NHL lead in even-strength goals (7) through 12 games in 2019-20. He is tied for second among NHL skaters in shots on goal (49). He has won 58.6 percent (65 won, 46 lost) of his even-strength faceoffs.

–      Ilya Mikheyev is tied for second in points among rookie skaters (4-5-9). He leads all rookies in shorthanded ice time (30:24) and shots on goal (30).

–      Trevor Moore leads NHL rookies in hits (26) and is tied for seventh among NHL rookies in takeaways (6). He is one of four rookies with over 20 shots on goal (21).

–      Jake Muzzin is averaging 30.2 shifts per game, which is the highest average among all NHL skaters. He has been on the ice for the most 5-on-5 shot attempts-for among all NHL skaters (229).    

–      William Nylander has taken his shots from an average distance of 23.6 feet from goal, which is the ninth-closest mark among NHL skaters who have recorded at least 25 shots on goal (27). 

–      Morgan Rielly is tied for second among NHL defencemen in points (3-9-12). His 25:06 time on ice per game average is the eighth-highest mark in the NHL He is tied for second in the NHL in shifts per game (29.9).

–      Nick Shore has the fourth-highest defensive zone faceoff win percentage (60.9% – 39 won, 25 lost) among NHL skaters who have won at least 30 defensive zone draws.

CURRENT POINT STREAKS

William Nylander

Has points (1-2-3) in three consecutive games.

RECENT MILESTONES

Frederik Andersen	200th game as a Maple Leaf (Oct 21 vs. CBJ)
Kevin Gravel	First game as a Maple Leaf (Oct. 22 at BOS)
Dmytro Timashov	First career NHL goal (Oct. 19 vs. BOS)

UPCOMING MILESTONES

Tyson Barrie	Four games from 500 NHL games played.
Michael Hutchinson	Four wins from 50 career NHL wins.
Auston Matthews	Three assists from 100 career NHL assists.

INJURY REPORT

Travis Dermott (Shoulder)	On injured reserve.
Zach Hyman (Knee)	On injured reserve.
John Tavares (Finger)	Sustained broken finger on Oct. 16 at WSH.
	Man Games Lost: 28

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

None

October 25, 2019

Dave Martinez

Washington, D.C. – postgame 3

Houston 4, Washington 1

Q. You guys are so good with runners in scoring position, tonight 0-10. Did you see anything common in those at-bats?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Tonight we were a little bit aggressive outside the strike zone. We took balls I thought we should hit, uncharacteristic of what we’ve been doing. Greinke got out of some jams, got opportunities early. We couldn’t capitalize.

So let’s get some rest and come back tomorrow and do it again.

Q. Can you take us through your thinking in the fourth inning, you had a chance to hit for Sanchez with Robles on third. Did you think seriously that early in the game?
DAVE MARTINEZ: I seriously thought about it, yeah. But you know what, I like the way Sanchez was pitching, he’s only had 60 pitches. I thought the way things were going, like I said, we put the ball in play, just couldn’t put the ball in play with runners in scoring position.

I thought 2-1 the game was still fairly close. Like I say, I liked the way Sanchez was pitching at that point.

Q. Rendon and Soto both made some outs on the first pitch, guys in scoring position. Was that to be aggressive against Greinke or did something just present itself?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Like I said, we want to be aggressive in the strike zone. That’s our goal. Get ready to hit, especially guys in scoring position. It just didn’t happen tonight.

Q. When you were thinking about the bullpen coming into today, was there actually a realistic chance you might have gone to Max Scherzer and how close would it have to be for you to go with Hudson and Doolittle?
DAVE MARTINEZ: We got Hudson up a couple of times. We may get within two, I’d probably keep the game right there with Huddie or Doo or something.

But I’m really proud of the way the bullpen came out today and pitched. Joe was outstanding, Suero was really good. These guys came in and got some — Rodney came in and got out of a jam for us. They pitched well.

Q. There’s been a lot of happiness and hoopla around town surrounding this game. Sometimes on opening day teams don’t play quite like they usually do. Did you have a sense that your team was caught up in the day today?
DAVE MARTINEZ: I truly believe — we had opportunities today. We’ve been doing really well, driving in runs with men in scoring position; it just didn’t happen today. So we’ll come back tomorrow.

I will say this, though, the fans were awesome. I mean, it was electric. The boys in the dugout, they were fired up, they were. I’ll relay a message to the fans: Bring it again tomorrow. It was great. I loved it.

Q. The Astros stole four bases tonight, they weren’t just relying on the home run to score, they were hitting doubles. They were a little more aggressive compared to Game 2. Did you see a slightly different team, maybe the team you expected to see in the series tonight?
DAVE MARTINEZ: If I had to pick one weakness from Anibal, it’s hold the runners on. And we knew that. We tried different things. But he gets so focused on getting hitters out that sometimes he gets a little long.

So we knew that coming in and we knew they were going to try to steal some bases; they did that tonight. We just have to be aware.

Q. Obviously you won the first two games. How much easier would this series be if you didn’t have to get through Jose Altuve?
DAVE MARTINEZ: He’s pretty good. He’s one of the best. I love the way he plays the game, I really do. He goes in there, he’s going to battle. I thought we made pretty good pitches against him today, and he just hits. But that’s why he’s one of the best hitters in the game.

Q. How is Kurt and what’s your concern level with him?
DAVE MARTINEZ: He felt something when he went to block that ball in his hip flexor. We don’t know the severity of it yet. We’ll know more tomorrow. But it is his right hip flexor.

His strength was good but we’ll see. I don’t know if he’s going to get an MRI, I haven’t talked to Paul yet or not about it. But we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.

Q. Juan Soto has had a pretty incredible postseason so far. What have you seen from him just this postseason and what have you seen from him today?
DAVE MARTINEZ: He’s been really good. I just hope he hits at the age of 21. (Laughter.)

Q. They used a lot of relievers tonight that they’re probably going to have to use again tomorrow. Were you surprised at all how aggressive AJ was with the bullpen given how important this game was to them?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, this game, they’re trying to win a game. Those guys, hey, look, I’ve said this before, every game, you play to win every game. So they did that tonight. That bullpen knows what they’re playing for. Those guys will be rested and they’ll be ready to go tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

October 25, 2019

AJ Hinch

Washington, D.C. – postgame 3

Houston 4, Washington 1

Q. What did you see from your team tonight? You mentioned last night if you can win Game 3 the story starts to change, we can write different things. It seemed a much more aggressive team with the stolen bases. It wasn’t just home runs, it was doubles, Altuve kind of got you started and everyone else followed.
AJ HINCH: We just had a nice team win. We did a lot of things well tonight. It was hard. This is a really good team. So you have to earn everything you have against them and take opportunities when they present themselves. And I think our guys came into the game in a great mindset. I said that before that.

And then I think we just went out and played. I thought our at-bats were good. I thought some of our outs were really good I think in terms of the quality at-bat.

And then our pitching was phenomenal. I think Zack being able to get through traffic quite a bit. Josh James coming in, getting a big punch-out of Zimmerman was huge. Will Harris going one plus getting through a tough part of the lineup. And then Osuna closing it out. Joe Smith had a good inning. I mean, everybody had traffic, both sides, where we were all over the base paths on both sides. The at-bats we hadn’t won in our favor in Houston, we did a little bit better in those at-bats.

Q. In the fifth inning there after Cabrera’s double. Like you said, Greinke had wiggled out of a lot of jams, but what was it about the James-Zimmerman matchup you liked?
AJ HINCH: A couple things. One, I had a little bit of regret that I didn’t go get him for Cabrera because of the history they’d had. Zack had made really, really good pitches that inning, including, in my mindset, was the previous at-bat with Cabrera made really good pitches.

Sometimes you have to factor in previous history, sometimes you don’t. But when he lost Cabrera, the near miss, that ball staying in the ballpark was big at us. Reddick going and getting that ball was big.

Zimmerman had had pretty good at-bats up to that point. Long at-bat walk. Hung with three, four, five breaking balls, the first at-bat got the base hit. I mean, it’s Ryan Zimmerman in this ballpark. I’m well aware it’s his ballpark, it feels like.

And that moment felt like power and a new look was going to be what we needed. Josh James came in and did his job.

Q. You guys held Soto in check tonight. Is that indicative of a different approach?
AJ HINCH: We’re pretty good, too. We’re going to try to adapt to him. And I think our pitchers did a good job of mixing. We didn’t stay in one area, we didn’t get him out the same way twice, really.

He was very aggressive early, like a lot of their guys were on secondary pitches. As the game went on we had to adapt the game plan based on their aggressiveness on all of our secondary pitches. Seemed like every curveball Zack Greinke threw they were taking a swing at it. And so we started to pound them a little bit later in the game.

So I think it was more of an endgame cat-and-mouse approach on trying to keep him from getting the same look twice.

Q. Considering the stretches in the postseason where you’ve looked to get a runner on base, how far do you think you could have gotten were it not for Jose Altuve being so consistent this postseason?
AJ HINCH: Like how far tonight? We’re in Game 4 of the World Series now, so I think that’s pretty far.

We’re going to need everybody. Jose has been fantastic this postseason. And today was very much a catalyst for us. He doesn’t have to carry it with him too far. So it can be somebody different. Tomorrow might be George, Alex Bregman. We’ll go home tonight wanting somebody to intentionally walk in front of him again. He’ll carry that with him. Michael Brantley has had better at-bats. I think Chirinos is breaking out tonight with a great swing for a homer.

Jose is the heart and soul of what we do. I think it was his night tonight to be the catalyst, and maybe it’s somebody different tomorrow.

Q. Tomorrow’s Game 4, will it be a bullpen game, and will Urquidy go first?
AJ HINCH: Every World Series game is a bullpen game, mostly, at some point, it feels like it.

Jose Urquidy will start, and he can go as long as he’s good. I don’t have necessarily a predetermined plan on how many innings, how many pitches.

Like I said, it’s Game 4 of the World Series. All things are being considered. Jose gets the ball.

Q. Could you just talk a little bit about the job that Joe Smith and Will Harris have done throughout the playoffs for you guys. Because they both went over 20 pitches tonight, are they going to be limited tomorrow?
AJ HINCH: No, they’ll be available. This is all hands on deck every day. They are tremendous pitchers, they’re trustworthy, they throw strikes. They’re different looks, which I really think — we don’t talk a ton about in the industry as much as we probably should. Even tonight, as an example, you go from Greinke to Josh James throwing a hundred to then Will Harris came in with the power breaking ball, and then all of a sudden the Sidewinder comes in, and then Osuna comes in back throwing 98 again. That’s how we’re built.

But you need everybody to be good at what they do best. Will Harris in specific has been sort of my security blanket the entire season counting five years back. This is a guy who hasn’t been underappreciated, but probably has not gotten the recognition, except the one year he got to be an All-Star.

Joe Smith coming back from injury, that was a success in its own right. And now he’s pitched his way into the seventh and eighth inning leverage roles, where if you match them up correctly, even when you give him the lefties he’s creative and he’s calm. And I thought his emergence at the end of the season into this postseason giving him a different look has been incredible for us.

Q. Given that you did go more of a straight bullpen game last round, what went into your decision to go Urquidy tomorrow?
AJ HINCH: A couple things. The lineup, it’s not just a one-size-fits-all strategy when you’re facing different teams. These guys offer something a little different than the previous decisions we’ve made when you just look at the balance they have at the top of their order. With Turner, to Eaton, to Rendon, to Soto. You take the first four hitters, when you think about starting a game, and if you’re going to go bullpen, you better have somebody that’s pretty good at a little bit of everything. Those are four distinctly different guys.

As opposed to the Yankee series, they were all right-handed, it was a nice matchup for Brad Peacock.

The other side of it is when you get into the National League game, I can’t be quite as quick with the pitching given that you have to always be aware of where the at-bats are coming. There are probably some relievers that hope I do so they get an at-bat in the World Series, but certainly I don’t want to see it.

Q. As you were saying, a lot of traffic for Greinke, but on the whole when you came into this game, were you pretty confident that whatever the atmosphere, that he would be able to handle it and possibly wiggle out of some tough — he did get out of a lot of big outs.
AJ HINCH: He does that on a regular start day in August where he’s — he toys with the strike zone. He never really concedes. He’s not afraid to throw secondary pitches. He would rather pitch carefully to you than necessarily throw a ball right down the middle. I saw that throughout.

As far as the atmosphere goes, this guy doesn’t scare off. This is not somebody that I have any fear whatsoever is not going to be able to handle the stage or the magnitude. This guy has been really good for a really long time.

I understand the numbers historically or how he’s maybe not finished seasons as well as he started them. But he was in great spirits, clear thinking, doing everything that he wanted. He had a little bit of doubt at the end of his outing on what pitch to go to. We talked about that on the mound before he even exited on the Cabrera pitch at the very end of his outing.

Coming into this game it was important for us to get a good start, and we did. He didn’t like it after it almost went out of the ballpark.

Q. You mentioned tonight was a catalyst for you guys. Can you just sort of expand on that and how that affects your mindset going into tomorrow?
AJ HINCH: I don’t know that it affects our mindset as much as it kind of reestablishes us in this series. When they come into our ballpark and beat Gerrit and Justin, that’s a big punch. They threw a big punch at the beginning of this series.

Now, we’ve got enough experience and enough feel about how series go that we knew we win today, get a little mojo back on our side, get a little bit of momentum, start to swing the bats a little bit better, we’re not afraid of playing in any venue. This is a great atmosphere. The fans here were incredible and just alive like you would expect in the World Series. And our players thrive on that, too.

Mindset-wise, I think we’re going to be really good at taking it — that old clich�, one game at a time, we’ve been good at it. But a win was huge for us tonight to sort of reenergize the fact that this series is clearly not over.

Q. Do you think that both teams have a pretty good feel that this is going to be a long, difficult grinding kind of series?
AJ HINCH: Yeah, I never really thought any other way, and I don’t think they would allow themselves to go down the path to think that this is just going to be a series where we would lay down after losing a couple of games.

I think this World Series, these are two really, really talented teams, really good teams, really driven teams. It takes four wins, and no one has got it yet.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

October 25, 2019 Will Harris Washington, D.C. – postgame 3 Houston – 4, Washington – 1 Q. AJ was just discussing how this reestablishes you guys in the series. From your perspective coming here, down 2-0, losing both those home games in Houston, how does it feel not just to win this, but it’s 2-1 and things can change if you guys carry through this? WILL HARRIS: Everybody in that clubhouse is well aware of where we were sitting coming here; playing Game 3, down 0-2, losing two games at home. Obviously it’s not the script you’d want to write to start out a World Series. We believe in each other in there. We know we have obviously a very talented, capable team. It’s just a matter of us finding a way to score more runs than them today. We played a good brand of baseball today. We made really big pitches when we needed to, flying around the bases, kind of Astros baseball that we’ve all become accustomed to watching. It was a lot of fun. A lot of energy in our dugout today. And we expect to carry that over to tomorrow. Q. You guys clearly recalibrated. Can you kind of take us through the players-only meeting, who called it, and what it accomplished for you guys? WILL HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, I got asked about it today. I don’t really like to talk about that kind of stuff. It was some guys said some things that, you know, I think a lot of us maybe were thinking in our head but it’s sometimes nice to hear them out loud. And the biggest thing was we didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for themselves coming here, because that’s not going to accomplish anything. That was the message. And we showed up today and from the get we were putting a lot of pressure on them. And we kept it going for nine innings, so it was good. Q. They’ve scored throughout this postseason so many runs, say, seventh, seventh inning on. How much of a factor was tonight in not allowing that to happen? Does that bode well for you guys going forward? WILL HARRIS: Well, I wasn’t aware of that, that a lot of their runs were being scored during that portion of the game. I know in Game 2 obviously it kind of got away from us in those innings. For us it doesn’t change anything. As a bullpen, as a starting rotation, we’re just looking to make pitches, as many as we can in a row, and work our way through a lineup. See what they’re doing, how they’re going to make adjustments. A seven-game series is a long series to face a team. We’ve done it before, obviously, so we kind of know what to expect. They’re a really talented team. Their lineup does a lot of different things. They’re very athletic. Those first two guys in their lineup really set the tone for them. And it’s a matter of keeping those guys off base and making your pitches to the middle part of that lineup because they can obviously hurt you. Q. With the players-only meeting, just the players in general, did you guys view what happened with Brandon Taubman and all the fallout from that as an obstacle or hurdle that you had to push aside and overcome? WILL HARRIS: No, I specifically haven’t talked to anybody about that. That has nothing to do with really anybody in our clubhouse. That was a completely isolated incident that didn’t involve a player or anything like that. So none of us are, from my point of view, are really concerned with any of that kind of stuff. Q. With the longer outing for you tonight, was there anything in particular you used to grind through one plus like that, and was there anything that that changes for you tomorrow? WILL HARRIS: Yeah, it’s difficult. I mean, the postseason, like, you kind of know that those are coming. I knew in Game 6 against the Yankees that I was going to have one plus that day. When Zack’s pitch count was kind of getting a little up there, I pretty much figured today was going to be another one of those days. In a must-win situation, AJ was going to lean on some guys. And so I wasn’t caught off guard by it. I got a little TLC after my outing, I’ll get some more before I get out of here. Get a good night’s sleep, get here early tomorrow, and do what I need to do to be ready to pitch tomorrow. Q. Bullpens are funny, because they’re always sort of changing and there’s a ebb and flow through the season. AJ was just talking about how right now it’s kind of reached a point where he can throw a different look at different parts of the game with everybody throwing well. Do you guys in the bullpen sort of hit that stride where you kind of realize where everybody is playing off of each other and things are going well? WILL HARRIS: Yeah, I think that’s kind of been a mark of us since I’ve been here. We’ve always carried a lot of guys that do a lot of different things and gives a lot of different looks. And this year is no different. We’ve got guys that can throw 98. We have guys that throw 88. We have guys that cut it, sink it, we’ve got guys with big curveballs, we’ve got Peacock throwing a slider. I think it allows AJ to kind of mix and match how he sees fit, and knows that we’re not just carbon copies of one another that are kind of rolling out there. I think that helps. I think when you’ve got me throwing cutters and curveballs followed up by Joe Smith, a completely different arm angle and stuff like that, I know people talk about us not having a left-handed reliever, but I think that variety he has allows us to do that. Q. Congratulations on the win. I got here late, but I want to know, do you feel the team felt pressure? Did the team understand the historic aspect of falling behind 3-0? Was that part of the mindset? WILL HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, “pressure” is I don’t think the right — we understood the situation we were in, obviously. This is postseason baseball. A lot of guys in that clubhouse have been here. A lot of us were in that series when we went and got swept in New York in 2017 and came back home and knew we had to win two. Game 7 in Dodger Stadium in ’17. A lot of us have been through this. We understood where we were coming in. We understood today we needed to play our best brand of baseball. And hopefully that was going to be good enough to get a win, and today it was. And then tomorrow it’s just a matter of doing that same thing. Every man in there was aware of where we were and understood that today was an important — to do your job today as well as you could was very important. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About ASAP Sports • FastScripts Archive • Recent Interviews • Captioning • Upcoming Eve

SAN JOSE SHARKS (4-6-1 – 9 Points) 1 vs. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (6-4-2 – 14 Points) 4

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019

1 2 3 OT FINAL SAN JOSE 1 0 0 – 1 TORONTO 0 1 3 – 4

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Jake Muzzin put the Maple Leafs on the board at 19:58 of the second period. Muzzin has five points (1-4-5) over his last five games.
• – Morgan Rielly scored Toronto’s second goal of the night at 14:31 of the third period. Rielly has three goals over his last four games. He has recorded nine (3-6-9) of his 12 points on home ice this season. The Maple Leafs are 5-0-1 when he records a point in 2019-20.
• – Ilya Mikheyev collected the secondary assist on Muzzin’s second period goal and later scored the third Toronto goal into an empty net at 19:11 of the third period. Mikheyev has recorded four of his five assists on home ice this season. He leads NHL rookies in even-strength points (3-5-8). Tonight’s game is his third multi-point performance of the season.
• – Auston Matthews scored the fourth Maple Leafs goal of the game at 19:30 of the third period. Matthews led the Maple Leafs in shots on goal (6). He has recorded six or more shots on goal on four occasions this season and has recorded five goals in those games.
• – Jason Spezza registered the primary assist on Muzzin’s second period goal. Spezza has two assists over six games played this season. Both assists have come on home ice.
• – William Nylander had the lone assist on Rielly’s third period goal. Nylander has recorded at least one point in eight of Toronto’s 12 games this season. He has six assists in five career games against San Jose.
• – Mitch Marner recorded the lone assist on Mikheyev’s third period goal and later had the lone assist on Matthews’ third period goal. Marner has five assists over his last four games. Tonight’s game is his third multi-assist and fourth multi-point game of the season.
• – Frederik Andersen stopped 15 shots to earn the victory.

SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets) 1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL SAN JOSE 7 (7) 3 (3) 6 (4) – 16 (14) TORONTO 8 (7) 8 (7) 10 (8) – 27 (22)

SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets) 1st 2nd 3rd OT TOTAL SAN JOSE 12 (11) 8 (8) 14 (10) – 34 (29) TORONTO 18 (15) 18 (13) 22 (16) – 58 (44)

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Record at Home 4-2-2 (8 Games)
All-Time Record vs. San Jose 24-21-5-2 (52 Games)
All-Time Record vs. San Jose at Home 15-9-2-2 (28 Games)
Record vs. Western Conference 2-1-0 (3 Games)
Record vs. Pacific Division 1-0-0 (1 Game)
Tonight’s attendance 19,102

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS
Shots 6 (Matthews)
Shot Attempts 8 (Muzzin)
Faceoff Wins 8 (Nylander)
Faceoff Win Percentage 89% (Nylander – 8 won, 1 lost)
Hits 2 (Ceci, Holl, Kapanen)
Blocked Shots 5 (Rielly)
Takeaways 2 (Marner)
TOI 26:02 (Rielly)
Power Play TOI 5:51 (Marner)
Shorthanded TOI 1:07 (Kapanen, Rielly)
Shifts 29 (Ceci, Muzzin, Rielly)
5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage 78.6% (Marner – 11 for, 3 against)

RECORD WHEN…
Opponent scores first 4-2-2
Trail after 1 3-3-0
Tied after 2 1-2-0
Do not score on the powerplay 3-2-1
Do not allow a powerplay goal 4-1-0
Outshooting opponent 4-1-0
Friday 2-0-0

OF NOTE…

• The Maple Leafs went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-5 on the power play tonight.
• – Toronto’s line of Frederik Gauthier, Nick Shore and Dmytro Timashov started 25.0 percent of their 5-on-5 shifts in the offensive zone, which was the lowest mark among Maple Leafs skaters.
• – Auston Matthews and William Nylander were on the ice for a team-high 23 Toronto shot attempts for at 5-on-5. Matthews finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 69.7 percent (23 for, 10 against), while Nylander had a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 76.7 percent (23 for, 7 against).
• – William Nylander was 6-for-6 (100%) in the faceoff circle when taking offensive zone draws.
  UPCOMING GAMES:
• Saturday, October 26, 7:00 p.m. at Montreal Canadiens (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)
• – Tuesday, October 29, 7:00 p.m. vs. Washington Capitals (TSN4, TSN 1050)
• – Saturday, November 2, 7:00 p.m. at Philadelphia Flyers (Sportsnet, FAN 590)
• – Tuesday, November 5, 7:30 p.m. vs. Los Angeles Kings (TSN4, TSN 1050) – Thursday, November 7, 7:30 p.m. vs. Vegas Golden Knights (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s win: Yeah, I mean, I thought we had a – I mean, our first five minutes was unreal, we could have had four. It was five grade A [scoring chances] in the first and we come away with nothing. What I liked about the game was we had a turnover, they scored, but instead of getting crazy we just stayed with it, stayed with it, stayed with it. We didn’t give up much tonight, which was positive, and stayed the course, got the break there at the end of the period and then just stayed patient in the third too. A lot of times you look at scores after games you think a team blew another team out, it’s 4-1. Well, you’re at the game – everyone gets their points, just stay patient, just do your thing. You get an empty netter, you get another one, everything’s good. You get what you wanted, points-wise and then you get to score a goal and get an assist as well. So, I thought it was a good lesson for us tonight and I thought our guys did a good job.

On what he liked about the win: We just didn’t play as much in our own zone. I mean, you can’t play in your own zone. I don’t care how good you are in there, if you spend too much time there, you take penalties and you get worn out. I thought we had good line changes, I thought we used everybody, I thought our players were engaged. Now, they played last night, you know, so it’s a different program for them too. They won last night, I thought they started real well, we probably got better as the game went on.

On the hit on Matthews in the second period: Yeah, I mean, one thing with that is we’ve got lots of people in League to evaluate it, so I don’t need an opinion.

On if he was concerned Matthews wouldn’t return after the hit: No, I couldn’t understand why he’d leave and then when I saw the hit — because I didn’t see and then I saw the hit in-between periods. So, I said, ‘Okay, I guess that’s why they made him leave.’

On if Dermott or Hyman are available for tomorrow’s game: Not that I know of.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 GOAL)

On Muzzin’s equalizer with two seconds left in the second period: That’s huge, gives you momentum going into the [third] period. And, I mean, we felt like we were doing a lot of things right. Obviously, giving up the first goal but, you know, I think we just kept chugging along and obviously a big goal.

On the team believing it would score after generating quality chances: Yeah, we had a lot of good chances, a lot of good looks. I thought our line played pretty well tonight. Great opportunities for the most part, not playing too much D-zone. So that’s always a good sign and when we’re carrying speed and moving the puck together, you know, positive things usually happen.

JAKE MUZZIN (1 GOAL)

On his decision to drive the net at the end of the second period: Yeah, I figured why not? I mean, there’s five seconds left, so, even if they get the puck it’ll be tough to get down the ice and score or have a chance, anyway. So, I just kind of went there and [Spezz] threw it there. It just came to me and sent it in. I mean, kind of lucky, I guess. But yeah, a little time and awareness for the clock and I was allowed to get one. I think it was a big goal for the team to get us going.

On his goal as a relief for the team: I think we felt in here that we had a good period anyways, no matter if we had the goal or not. You know, we did a lot of good things. It was a better game, better start from us, and we built off it so it was nice to – I mean, it’s always nice to score – but I think we were fine in here either way.

MORGAN RIELLY (1 GOAL)

On what the team did well tonight: You know, when we turned the puck over, I thought we did a good job of breaking out, we didn’t spend long periods of time in our D-zone. I thought the forwards did a good job of coming back and, you know, tracking back and not giving up on rushes. Just an all-around group effort. I think it’s important that we focus on that moving forward. And try to do it again.

On Nylander setting up his goal: Yeah, great player. You know, he likes to turn up like that in the offensive zone and he’s got great vision. Great play by Willy.

On the team working to bounce back tonight: Well, I just, you know, I thought that we were motivated. I think that, you know, we wanted to come out and have a good effort. I think when you look back at our past couple games, there’s room for improvement here. And, you know, we’re aware of that, we talked about that and been pretty open about that. I thought we came in and I thought we had a good attitude this morning. You know, lots of energy and I thought it carried over. I thought the guys showed up and did well.

TORONTO: 21/28/33/24=106

BOSTON: 22/28/20/36=112.

Raptors: Pascal Siakam 33 points, eight rebounds; Kyle Lowry 29 points, seven assists; Serge Ibaka 13 points, eight rebounds; OG Anunoby nine points, eight rebounds; Fred VanVleet eight points.

Celtics: Jaylen Brown 25 points, nine rebounds; Jayson Tatum 25 points, nine rebounds, Kemba Walker 22 points; Gordon Hayward 15 points, eight rebounds; Marcus Smart, 10 points.