B18 | REPORTONBUSINESS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| WEDNESDAY,MARCH11,2020
CALAIS, FRANCEJanine Beckie
scored in the 87th minute as
Canada salvaged a 2-2 draw with
Brazil at the Tournoi de France
women’s soccer tournament.
Beckie completed Canada’s
comeback from a 2-0 deficit
when she collected a through
ball from Diana Matheson and
scored.
The goal came after Brazil
was reduced to 10 players in the
75th minute when defender
Jucinara was given a red card for
pulling down Canadian mid-
fielder Sophie Schmidt at the
top of the box.
Matheson scored Canada’s
first goal in the 74th minute.
Matheson, who has 19 career
goals, became the second Cana-
dian woman to score interna-
tional “A” goal in three different
decades along with captain
Christine Sinclair.
“We had a good performance,
a winning performance for 90
minutes,” Canada coach Ken-
neth Heiner-Moller said. “We
talked about finishing strong
and I think we did finish
strong.”
Canada, ranked eighth in the
world, finished the tournament
0-1-2 after opening with a 1-0
loss to fourth-ranked France and
a 0-0 draw with third-ranked
Netherlands. Canada was unable
to get a goal against the Dutch
despite playing with a numerical
advantage for most of the sec-
ond half.
THE CANADIAN PRESSCANADIANWOMENTIE
BRAZILINFINALMATCH
ATTOURNOIDEFRANCEWelcome to hockey in the days of the nov-
el coronavirus.
On Tuesday night, hand-sanitizing sta-
tions were set up all over Scotiabank Are-
na. For the first time this season, the Cana-
dian flag was not passed through the
crowd duringO Canada.Public service an-
nouncements were made and instructions
were offered on the jumbotron to help
spectators avoid the flu-like illness that
has sickened more than 100,000 across
the globe. To limit contact between peo-
ple, statistics sheets were not handed out
in the press box.
A game was played, at least for now.
Confounding as they are, the Maple
Leafs did the unexpected. After losing
three games last week on the road against
opponents with losing records, they beat
the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1.
Auston Matthews had the game winner
on a power play with 16:22 remaining in
the third period. He buried a shot from
the right side of the net after receiving a
nice cross-ice pass from Mitch Marner. It
was the 47th goal of the season for Mat-
thews, who now trails David Pastrnak of
Boston and Alex Ovechkin of Washington
by only one for the NHL lead.
William Nylander also scored on a pow-
er play for Toronto in the first period, con-
verting a hooking penalty assessed just af-
ter six minutes for a 1-0 lead. It was Nylan-
der’s 31st of the season. He only scored
seven times in 2018-19 after sitting out 28
games in a contract dispute.
Before losing three times last week, To-
ronto strung together wins against three
tough teams the week before. The game
before that, they lost to backup goaltender
David Ayres in what was likely the lowest
point of the season.
It’s hard to tell which group of players
will show up on any given night. The guys
who looked disengaged while scoring
three goals last week? Or the ones who
recently beat Tampa Bay, Florida and Van-
couver back-to-back-to-back?
It was the latter guys this time. At one
point in the first period, the Maple Leafs
outshot the Lightning 16-1, and went into
the first intermission with 18 shots to
Tampa Bay’s six. Marner and John Tavares
each had two assists in the victory and
Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen
made 32 saves in his 29th win of the sea-
son.
The game also marked the return of
Morgan Rielly to Toronto’s lineup after
missing 23 games with a broken foot. The
defenceman and alternate team captain
received a warm greeting from fans dur-
ing pregame introductions. He has
hopped around in a cast and driven a
scooter for most of the time since he sus-
tained the injury while blocking a shot
against the Florida Panthers on Jan. 12.
“Not being around for the past eight
weeks or so makes the fire burn in me a
little more,” Rielly said after practice on
Monday. “It makes you want to come back
and have an impact and be a difference-
maker.”
Rielly said it was difficult to watch
teammates struggle in his absence, in-
cluding last week’s washout in California.
“There were lots of ups and downs, and
at this time of year that’s not necessarily a
good thing,” he said. “You want to be
more consistent than we have been. If you
look at the starts and if you
look at the offence, it’s just
not there.
“I think it is important
we have a good week and
start playing like ourselves
again.”
After stringing together
its three best games of the
season the week before
last, Toronto failed to build
momentum against the
bottom three teams in the
Pacific Division. It scored
only three goals in 185 minutes and en-
tered Tuesday just a point ahead of Flor-
ida with for the third and final playoff
spot.
“It was a frustrating trip,” Jason Spezza,
the veteran centre, said. He remains one
assist shy of 600 for his career. “We under-
stand we had a chance to separate our-
selves from Florida a little bit and didn’t.
“We still control our own fate. If we win
games we are in a good spot. We know we
have to play better. We know we have to
be more consistent.”
The game was the third of four meet-
ings between likely first-round playoff op-
ponents. The Maple Leafs earned a 4-3 vic-
tory in Tampa on Feb. 25, while the Light-
ning thumped them 7-3 at Scotiabank
Arena on Oct. 10. Tampa is second in the
Atlantic Division, eight points behind theBoston Bruins.
The Lightning is 14-5-2 since the all-star
break and leads the league in goals and
goals a game. It has begun to resemble the
team that finished with an NHL record-
tying 62 wins last season before being
swept by Columbus in the first round of
the playoffs.
That sudden and unexpected departure
had proven difficult to shake off.
“It has been a different year in so many
regards,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon
Cooper said after Tuesday’s morning
skate. “We have had to live
with that. That is the proc-
ess of adversity we have
had to fight through.
“What I like about our
group is that I think we
have grown up as a team. It
really, really hurts when
you go through what we
did, but you learn from
how much it hurts and try
to alter your behaviour to
make sure that doesn’t
happen again.”
Left wing Ondrej Palat tied the game for
Tampa Bay at 1-1 with 4:39 left in the sec-
ond period. The Lightning played without
star centre Steven Stamkos and defence-
man Victor Hedman. Both are injured.
The Maple Leafs entered the game 35-
25-9 and 4-5-1 over their past 10. They were
outscored 8-3 in defeats in California to
San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
“I think we definitely recognize that
our results out west were not acceptable,”
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said.
“We know what we are in for in terms of
the battle and what’s at stake.
“We are not [guaranteed to be] in the
playoffs, unlike Tampa. We have to ap-
proach every game like the playoffs have
begun already. Every game is that much
more important. No matter who we play,
we have to be ready.”Leafsreboundfromrough
weekwithwinoverLightning
MapleLeafsdefencemanRasmusSandinchecksTampaBayLightningforwardCarter
VerhaegheandforwardYanniGourdeduringtheirmatchupinTorontoonTuesday.The
LeafsbeattheLightning2-1.JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI/USA TODAY SPORTSMatthewsandNylanderscore
forToronto,whileAndersen
issolidinnetwith32saves
MARTYKLINKENBERGTORONTO
We have to
approach every
game like the
playoffs have
begun already.SHELDONKEEFE
LEAFS COACHA
head of Tuesday’s game against
the Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay head
coach Jon Cooper was ruminating
on the idea of “adversity.”
Cooper is one of those smart guys who
seems happy just to have a job in the NHL –
probably because he should. If the Light-
ning’s first-round playoff implosion last
April happened in Toronto or Montreal,
they’d have invited him to take the first
train out of town. By strapping him to the
front of it.
Every time you wonder, “Why would any
hockey player want to play in Florida?” take
a look over at Jon Cooper. That’s why – Flor-
ida forgives.
The year’s chastened Tampa team is less
exciting, less potent, less consistent and,
just maybe, better.
“I don’t know. How do I say it? We’ve
gone from maybe teenage kids to young
adults,” Cooper said. “There’s a lot more re-
sponsibility in our game.”
“Teenage kids” – who does that remind
you of?
Lacking “responsibility” in their game –
ring any bells?
It’s right there. I just can’t put my finger
on it.
This time around, the Toronto you want
to believe in, but can’t quite bring yourself
to, showed up for a change. The Leafs con-
trolled play for long stretches and beat the
Lightning 2-1.
However you rate them, given their
quality and their recent history, you prob-
ably don’t want to face the Lightning in the
first round of this year’s playoffs.
So guess who the Leafs will face in the
first round of the playoffs, if they make it
that far?
(Ed. Note: From now on, people should
presume there is an “if there are any” pre-
fixed to any mention of “playoffs.” In a
week or two, people should presume a
“soon to be cancelled.”)
Since the coronavirus is the only thing
anyone talks about any more, it’s probably
best to get that out of the way first. There
were small differences in Tuesday’s first
home game since everyone on our side of
the ocean got serious about this thing.
They didn’t unfurl the usual giant flags
during the national anthem and pass them
through the crowd. Though the game was
announced as a sellout, there were many
empty seats in the lower bowl – hundreds
of them. Apparently, some people are not
waiting to be banned from gathering in
groups.
Game-ops showed a how-to-avoid the
coronavirus video, though they did it long
before anyone was in their seats and again
long after they’d gotten there. How were
those late arrivals to know not to share
their popcorn with strangers?
The farcical media restrictions put in by
the NHL are already coming apart. Players
were banned from speaking to TV reporters
at the boards for in-game hits, but contin-
ued to talk to them in the hallway outside
the dressing room between periods.
And the difference is what exactly? Is
cold air more of a petri dish than the recy-
cled variety you find in the bowels of stadi-
ums?
These rules won’t last as stricter mea-
sures start to seem inevitable, which is for
the best. Their only function is to make the
people at the NHL who came up with them
look silly.
That’s the temporary off-ice panic taken
care of. Now for the perpetual one happen-
ing on it.
Toronto and Tampa have this much in
common – they will surprise you. It’s often
more of a shock than a delight.
The Leafs nearly take themselves out of
the playoffs against Buffalo and Carolina,
then go down south against their direct
competition and pull themselves back in.
Immediately thereafter, they go out to
play the bottom-feeders of California. They
spend a week there making it look like West
Coast nets are the size of a microwave oven.
So, unsurprisingly, they come back toToronto against a proper club and storm in-
to the contest like the mid-eighties Oilers.
The Leafs so dominated the first 10 min-
utes of this game that it seemed the ice sur-
face had been halved. Toronto had nearly
two dozen good attempts on goal before
Tampa had one. The Lightning didn’t re-
cord a shot on net until 11 minutes had
passed.
This was Good Toronto, Interested To-
ronto, the Toronto that shows up whenever
Mitch Marner’s Instagram comments be-
come too cruel.
Tampa had a couple of decent excuses –
Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, nei-
ther of whom were playing. But still. The
Lightning spent the entire first period skat-
ing around like they were looking for a loo-
nie buried under the ice. They were out-
classed.
You know how this goes, right?
Despite all this dominance, Toronto
scored only once. Late in the second, the
Leafs defence fell asleep for a moment and
Tampa lanced it like a boil. Tie game.
Both teams spent stretches of the third
in survival mode. Bad news. Only one of
them made it. At times, watching them
scramble about in front of the net with
their matched colour schemes, it got hard
to tell who was who.
Maybe Toronto and Tampa are the same
team? Packed with stars; an offensive bat-
tle cruiser; under a lot (of quite different
sorts) of pressure. Also, each has the tend-
ency to disappoint you when you start
looking at it too closely. They defy scrutiny.
Or, at the least, react very poorly to it.
If Toronto ends up matched with Tampa
(and it’s hard to believe it can end up
matched with anyone else), we’ve got our-
selves a good elevator pitch – a couple of
losers head out looking for respect, and on-
ly one makes it back alive.
Toronto-Tampa in 2020 is the Rodney
Dangerfield of postseason matchups. It’s a
blockbuster, but maybe not the sort fans of
either team were hoping for.
If they ever manage to play it, that series
might be real fun. The sort where people
aren’t just playing for a trophy, but for their
careers.Toronto-TampaBaygameaniceplayoffsteaser(iftheyhappen)
CATHAL
KELLY
OPINIONTORONTO
LONDONMembers of Arsenal’s
playing squad have gone into
two weeks of self-isolation in a
coronavirus precautionary
move, forcing the immediate
postponement of the Premier
League game at Manchester City
later Wednesday.
Olympiakos owner Evangelos
Marinakis announced he had
contracted COVID-19 less than
two weeks after he met Arsenal
players following a Europa
League game between the teams
in north London.
“The medical advice we have
received puts the risk of them
developing COVID-19 at ex-
tremely low,” Arsenal said in a
statement. “However, we are
strictly following the govern-
ment guidelines which recom-
mend that anyone coming into
close contact with someone with
the virus should self-isolate at
home for 14 days from the last
time they had contact.
“As a result, the players are
unavailable for tonight’s match
against Manchester City and the
Premier League has decided the
game should be postponed. The
players will remain at their
homes until the 14-day period
expires. Four Arsenal staff, who
were sitting close to Mr. Marina-
kis during the match will also
remain at home until the 14
days are complete.”
Arsenal did not say how
many players were affected.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSARSENAL-CITYGAME
CALLEDOFFWITHPLAYERS
INSELF-ISOLATIONInternational Olympic Commit-
tee president Thomas Bach
wrote an open letter to athletes
last week saying the IOC was
working with other sports bodies
“to ensure a fair Olympic qual-
ification,” but didn’t say how it
might work.
“I want to personally thank
you for all this flexibility and sol-
idarity, which is the true Olympic
spirit,” he added.
When the virus was still large-
ly confined to China earlier in
the year, events were moved –
boxing and taekwondo qualifiers
to Jordan, basketball to Serbia,
triathlon to Spain. Now the little
space left in the calendar is van-
ishing. The Olympics open July
24.
When qualifying events do
take place, athletes may com-
pete in unequal conditions.
Many countries require quaran-
tine for visitors from areas affect-
ed by the virus.
The virus is already affecting
the Tokyo Games. Test events in
rugby and shooting have been
cancelled. Spectators have been
barred from the lighting of the
Olympic flame at Ancient Olym-
pia on Thursday, and its arrival
ceremony in Japan on March 20
has been downsized.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSQualifying
FROMB15