Toronto Maple Leafs

Management took a different approach this year, one that swerved away from past precedent: They would speak on Thursday, three days after players and Keefe. (Who exactly will speak was left unclear. GM Brad Treliving is a given. Team president Brendan Shanahan not so much. He’s spoken only sporadically throughout his decade in charge.)

Which makes for three days of uncertainty about which direction the Leafs plan to take, including whether Keefe will return next season.

What we do know is that more than a year’s worth of missteps from the people in charge are partly to blame for another lost Leafs season.

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I'd like us to get Jon Cooper as our new coach. Maybe Marner traded?

Feels like Keefe is the new Bylsma. That Pittsburgh team couldn't dominate with peak Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Fleury, and Staal. Except for the first season, I mean.

Maybe I'm just dumb.

Let's goooooooooooo!

Welcome to the TML Museum of Excitement and Anxiety! Submit your exhibits in the space below!

Line-up (via Maple Leafs Hotstove)

Forwards
#59 Tyler Bertuzzi – #11 Max Domi – #16 Mitch Marner
#23 Matthew Knies – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#29 Pontus Holmberg – #34 Auston Matthews – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
#24 Connor Dewar – #64 David Kampf – #18 Noah Gregor

Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #46 Ilya Lyubushkin
#2 Simon Benoit – #22 Jake McCabe
#20 Joel Edmundson – #37 Timothy Liljegren

Goaltenders
Starter: #35 Ilya Samsonov
#31 Jones

The Fuzz (via Scouting the Refs)
Kelly Sutherland #11
Eric Furlatt #27

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According to Chris Johnston and Jonas Siegel, ~~Matthews is unlikely to play~~. Just need one more huge effort to win the game and the series for AM34! Game 7 Let's gooo!

UPDATE: Stop the presses! Chris Johnston is now reporting, citing "sources" that Auston Matthews is "a good bet to return" in game 7. I'll update the roster when we learn more (done!). CONFIRMED

Update 2: Woll is out. Sammy backed up by Jones tonight.

Auston Matthews appears poised to return to the Maple Leafs lineup in Game 7 after all, according to league sources.

Matthews arrived at TD Garden on the first players’ bus early on Saturday evening ahead of Game 7. He missed Games 5 and 6 with an undisclosed injury and appeared unlikely to play against the Bruins on Saturday morning.

While coach Sheldon Keefe said that Matthews is “progressing,” he made it sound like the Leafs would play a third straight potential elimination game without their best player.

“As of right now, we’re proceeding as we’ve been,” Keefe said.

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Edit: Updated story to reflect changes. I'll update the archive in a bit.

In Game 5, the Toronto Maple Leafs planted a seed of doubt in the Boston Bruins, whose 3-1 series lead fell to a 3-2 lead.

In Game 6 back in Toronto, the Leafs cultivated, fertilized and watered that seed to make the doubt grow.

And now, after a convincing but tense 2-1 win, the Leafs have forced a Game 7 back in Boston with yet another chance to exorcise their playoff demons. In the process, they brought to mind some of the Bruins’ demons of their own, having blown a 3-1 series lead against the Florida Panthers in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

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Let's gooooooooooooo!

[This space for rent -- your semi-amusing hockey quip could appear here -- inquire below!]

Projected Line-up (via Leafs Nation)

Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Max Domi – Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies – John Tavares – William Nylander
Nick Robertson – Pontus Holmberg – Calle Jarnkrok
Connor Dewar – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves

Defense
Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren

Goalie
Joseph Woll

The Fuzz
Chris Rooney #5
Dan O’Rourke #9

~~

Per Chris Johnston, Matthews has been ruled out again. Harrumph. Oh well, if you ask me it's gonna be a big night for big nights!

On this day in 1967, the TML won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Habs, 3-1

Auston Matthews will be unavailable to the Toronto Maple Leafs as they look to avoid elimination for the second straight game Thursday. The 69-goal scorer has been ruled out for Game 6 against the Boston Bruins with an undisclosed injury, according to Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.

Matthews also missed Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime victory at TD Garden and the third period of a Game 4 loss on Saturday. He played through an illness in Game 3.

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This wasn’t training camp. This wasn’t a Tuesday in January. This was Monday afternoon, hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs would fly out to Boston for Game 5. And there was John Tavares, the captain of the team, still on the ice fine-tuning his game.

He was the last player — by far — to leave the ice, staying out to work long past even the black aces.

“He loves hockey,” a member of the Leafs staff said.

Tavares definitely loves hockey. And he’s trying to give the Leafs every last bit he has at a point in his career — at age 33, in his 15th NHL season — when decline has clearly set in. Nights like Game 5 are reminders that his hard work can still pay off.

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Joseph Woll didn’t hear no bell.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were facing elimination and were without Auston Matthews, but their young goaltender made key save after key save in the final minutes to give his team a chance. John Tavares made a fantastic play to drive the puck to the net in overtime, and Matthew Knies jumped on a rebound to be the hero. Toronto’s scoring woes continued in a 2-1 victory, but it’s tough to argue that this was anything but an excellent road win.

Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins better catch a flight to Toronto.

3 Stars:

1. Joseph Woll
2. Matthew Knies
3. John Tavares

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Let's goooooooo!

Submit your tortured prayers to the fickle Hockey Gods in the space below.

Projected Line-up (via Maple Leafs Hotstove):

Forwards
#59 Tyler Bertuzzi – #11 Max Domi – #16 Mitch Marner
#23 Matthew Knies – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#89 Nick Robertson – #29 Pontus Holmberg – #19 Calle Jarnkrok
#24 Connor Dewar – #64 David Kampf – #75 Ryan Reaves

Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #46 Ilya Lyubushkin
#2 Simon Benoit – #22 Jake McCabe
#20 Joel Edmundson – #37 Timothy Liljegren

Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Ilya Samsonov

*Auston Matthews is a game-time decision but it ain't looking great.

The Fuzz
Steve Kozari #40
Kyle Rehman #10

Update: Auston Matthews expected to be ruled out, according to Chris Johnston and Jonas Siegel:

Auston Matthews is unlikely to be available to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Matthews has been battling an illness and was forced to sit out the third period of Saturday’s Game 4 against the Boston Bruins. According to sources, he is also believed to be nursing an undisclosed injury, which made it more likely than not that he wouldn’t be able to play Tuesday with the Leafs trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

It was a mostly quiet morning otherwise for the Leafs ahead of Game 5 on Tuesday and potential elimination from the playoffs. No smiles. No laughs. Not much chatter. And no sign of Auston Matthews, who left Game 4 after two periods with an illness he just can’t seem to shake.

Keefe said Matthews’ status for Game 5 had “yet to be determined” but the team is “hopeful” he can play. “Of course we’re hopeful that he’s available and feeling good and back to himself,” Keefe said. “That’s what we’re hopeful for.”

And so the Leafs are preparing to be without their best player with their season on the line.

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Let's goooooo!

The officiating complaint line is officially open for business.

Projected Line-up (via Jonas Siegel):

Bertuzzi — Matthews — Domi
Knies — Tavares — Marner
Nylander — Holmberg — Järnkrok
Robertson — Kämpf — Reaves

Rielly — Lyubushkin
Benoit — McCabe
Edmundson — Brodie

Samsonov

The fuzz:
Kelly Sutherland #11
Pierre Lambert #37

~~

So, Nylander's in. Brodie's in. Lily's out. A bit shocked that Dewar got bumped out by Robertson.

William Nylander confidently pushed his way through the largest crowd of reporters that have been at a Toronto Maple Leafs practice this season to take the same place he’s been throughout the entire series against the Boston Bruins, despite not having played a minute: At the centre of attention.

The Leafs star winger has been kept out of the playoff lineup with an ailment the team and Nylander – speaking for the first time all series – have declined to identify. This has led to constant speculation over Nylander’s health since the beginning of the series.

Nylander has long marched to the beat of his own drummer. Even with heightened scrutiny regarding his absence, Nylander remained tight-lipped following his first full practice since the start of the first-round series.

“Look, that’s just personal,” Nylander said about what has kept him out of the series. “So I’m not going to get into that.”

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The Boston Bruins threw 52 hits in Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and it felt like the Leafs rookie left winger had been the prime target of the heaviest of them. The 21-year-old was playing in his 82nd game of 2023-24 combining regular season and playoffs. That’s almost double his previous high of 47 games with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm back in his draft year of 2020-21.

“I feel like I was in a car accident,” the battered Knies mumbled under his breath minutes after Game 2.

Whether Knies can learn to manage the bumps, bruises and grind of the postseason early in his career could end up paying off for him long-term as a Leaf.

But for now, he’s experiencing the drastic ups and downs of playoff hockey as he goes.

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Inspired by Foster Hewitt, Cole called hockey games for 5 decades for CBC

Bob Cole, whose voice and lively language were the Saturday night soundtrack to hockey games over a broadcasting career that spanned more than half a century, has died.

Cole, who was 90, died Wednesday night in St. John's surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, said.

"Thank you for decades of love for his work, love of Newfoundland and love of hockey," Megan Cole told CBC News on Thursday.

Cole said her father had been healthy "up until the very end."

Cole's trademark call — "Oh, baby!" — was one of many signposts he brought to play-by-play commentaries that earned him the love of fans and even players themselves.

Cole, who said he still got goosebumps in his mid-80s when he stepped into an arena broadcasting booth, called one of the most famous plays in Canadian sports history: Paul Henderson's Summit Series goal in 1972, against the Soviet Union.

With an extra day to prepare for Game 4 in this first-round matchup with the Boston Bruins, the Leafs are expected to return with reinforcements when the teams battle here again on Saturday night.

That would include William Nylander, who has yet to appear in this best-of-seven due to an undisclosed injury suffered in the final week of the regular season. He is trending toward a return to the lineup, according to league sources, after skating multiple times in recent days.

The Leafs should also have top-line center Auston Matthews back in better health after he played through an illness during Wednesday’s 4-2 loss. That explains why he was the only regular to miss the morning skate at Scotiabank Arena — opting instead for more rest — and helps account in part for a night when he didn’t look like his usual explosive self though still logging another 23-plus minutes.

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When you’re expected to score in the Stanley Cup playoffs, time is rarely on your side.

Just ask Mitch Marner, who arrived back home in this deadlocked Toronto Maple Leafs–Boston Bruins series to a cacophony of debate and discussion about the 0-0-0 entry beside his name on the stats sheet.

It’s Marner’s first time going multiple games without a point since Dec. 30 and Jan. 2. He actually briefly registered an assist during Monday’s win in Boston before video review took it away because Tyler Bertuzzi directed the puck in with a high stick.

No matter.

By both the eye test and underlying numbers, it’s clear that Marner has yet to make the kind of ice-tilting impact expected of someone with his immense talent. He is still looking to stake claim to a big moment with Game 3 on tap at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.

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William Nylander could be back in the lineup as soon as Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Sheldon Keefe on William Nylander:

"Obviously no update today, because not much happening for us here today except for getting ready to travel. But he's a possibility for us tomorrow, I guess, is all we would say." (via Mark Masters on Twitter)

Which begs the question: Where should he play for the Toronto Maple Leafs when he returns?

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Game 2 was an even more physical affair than Game 1, but the Leafs did well to match the nastiness the Bruins brought. And their penalty kill held up better than in Game 1, showing that aforementioned patience. Killing off a third-period Tyler Bertuzzi slashing penalty ultimately swung the momentum back in their favour.

Despite being without William Nylander for the second game in a row, the Leafs got necessary production with goals from Max Domi, John Tavares and Auston Matthews. The series now heads back to Toronto for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

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