The Globe and Mail - 16.10.2019

WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,2019| THEGLOBEANDMAILO B17

One thing is certain about the To-
ronto Maple Leafs. They are good
at beating bad teams.
They did it again on Tuesday,
this time showing up for long
enough to cuff the Minnesota
Wild 4-2 at Scotiabank Arena. It
was Toronto’s second straight vic-
tory after a three-game losing
streak.
The Maple Leafs’ four victories
this season have come against
second-tier – or lower – teams that
have combined to win seven
games so far. It is reasonable to
suspect that the only one with a
winning record – the Red Wings –
won’t be above .500 for too long.
For the sixth time in seven
games, and fourth time at home,
Toronto gave up the game’s first
goal. Undoubtedly that excites
neutral fans, but it is not a good
formula for a club to follow when
it aims to make a serious run at
the Stanley Cup.
The Leafs’ three losses – one
was in a shootout – have occurred
against the three toughest oppo-
nents they have faced so far –
Montreal, St Louis and Tampa
Bay. They have otherwise been
fortunate to cough up early leads
to undermanned teams without
the talent or temerity to hold
them.
It will prove to be more of a
challenge as the opposition gets
better. That starts with the Capi-
tals in Washington on Wednesday
and the Boston Bruins back on
Bay Street on Saturday. Alexander
Ovechkin and Brad Marchand will
not go so easily into the night.
The Wild began the season 0-4
and were playing the second of

back-to-back games. They looked

tired and not very inspired, even

though they registered their first

victory in Ottawa on Monday.

Heading into that game, Minneso-

ta had been outscored 21-10 so far

this season.

The visitors did not take their

first shot until 4:33 had elapsed in

the first period, but scored on

their second attempt. Luke Kunin

beat Frederik Andersen from in

close to put Minnesota ahead 1-0

with 14:30 left in the first.

Devan Dubnyk, lit up in each of

his first four starts, stopped all

nine pucks Toronto directed at

him in the opening period. He

turned away William Nylander

from only a few feet on the Maple

Leafs’ best chance.

Toronto had only defeated

Minnesota twice in the past 10

contests between them but that

was then and this is now. Dubnyk

is struggling and the Wild’s vener-

able older players – Zach Parise,

Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal and Ryan

Suter – are beginning to look as if

they have lost a step.

The Maple Leafs buried them

beneath an avalanche of 19 shots

in the second period. Four found

the back of the net – a slap shot by

John Tavares, power-play goals by

Mitch Marner and Andreas Johns-

son, and a tap-in by Auston Mat-

thews.

Dubnyk was as unlucky as he

was inundated with frozen black

discs. Johnsson batted his in after

a shot caromed off the glass be-

hind the net and bounced off

Dubnyk right into the Swedish

winger’s wheelhouse.

Morgan Rielly had secondary

assists on each of the goals. That

tied a franchise record for one pe-

riod. It had not been done since

Rick Vaive set the mark on March

12, 1984. The goal was the seventh

of the season for Matthews, the

third for Marner, and the second

for Johnsson.

The four assists boosted Riel-

ly’s total to nine through seven

games. Marner was credited with

assists on two of the goals, bring-

ing him to six assists for the sea-

son.

Toronto’s power-play failed to

take advantage when a slashing

penalty was assessed on Suter on-

ly 35 seconds into the game. The

Maple Leafs came in just 5 for 22

with a man (or two) advantage.

Edmonton’s James Neal has six

power-play goals by himself.

The Maple Leafs got goals from

Nicholas Shore, Ilya Mikheyev,

Alexander Kerfoot, Jake Muzzin

and Trevor Moore in Saturday’s

victory over the Red Wings in De-

troit. That means their past nine

have been scored by nine differ-

ent players.

That will help on days when the

team’s big guns are shut down.

“To be a team that has success

and wants to go where we want to

get to, you need contributions

from all parts of your lineup and

you need to have depth,” Tavares,

the captain, said following Tues-

day morning’s skate. “When you

have consistency throughout 60

minutes, when all four lines keep

coming after youwave after wave,

it’s a hard thing to defend and can

really wear your opponent down.”

The Wild is the type of oppo-

nent that a good team feasts on,

and the Maple Leafs did not disap-

point. They were only 1-2-1 at

home before Tuesday night. It was

becoming a concern to head

coach Mike Babcock.

“We haven’t looked after home

ice like you’d like to,” Babcock

said earlier Tuesday. “You want to

be automatic at home. You want

the other team to know it is im-

possible to win in your building

and that hasn’t been the case.”

That is no longer a worry, at

least for one night.

LeafsbeatWildforsecondstraightwin

MARTYKLINKENBERGTORONTO

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Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves
as the visiting Tampa Bay Light-
ning defeated the Montreal Cana-
diens 3-1 on Tuesday night in the
fifth game of a six-game road trip.
Braydon Coburn, Steven Stam-
kos and Tyler Johnson scored for
the Lightning (3-2-1), who were
coming off a 4-2 loss to the Otta-
wa Senators. Nikita Kucherov
added two assists.

The 25-year-old Vasilevskiy im-

proved to 8-1-2 in his career

against Montreal.

Jeff Petry scored the lone goal

for the Canadiens (2-2-2), while

Carey Price stopped 19-of-22 shots

in defeat.

Montreal made no changes to

the lineup that downed the de-

fending Stanley Cup champion

St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Saturday

night at Bell Centre. Rookie de-

fenceman Cale Fleury was a

healthy scratch for the fourth

straight game. The Canadiens

came into the matchup with the

league’s fourth-best offence, scor-

ing four goals per game, but they

could not solve Vasilevskiy more

than once.

Montreal struck first when Pe-

try’s one-timer on the power play

blew past last year’s Vezina Tro-

phy winner at 15:46 of the first pe-

riod. The home team finished 1

for 5 with the man advantage.

Claude Julien’s squad nearly

took that 1-0 lead into the first in-

termission, but intense pressure

by Tampa Bay led to the equalizer

with seven seconds to play. Co-

burn beat Price over the shoulder

to end a two-minute shift as the

Canadiens were unable to clear

their zone.

The Lightning rode that mo-

mentum into the second period,

scoring twice in a 57-second span.

Stamkos gave Tampa a 2-1 lead

at 1:04 with a one-timer from the

face-off dot on the power play,

moments after Artturi Lehkonen

hit the post at the other end.

Montreal’s 28th-ranked penal-

ty killing continues to surrender

goals – the one conceded to Stam-

kos was the seventh in six games

this season.

Ryan McDonagh caught the

Canadiens on a slow line change

with a stretch pass that led to

Johnson’s 3-1 goal at 2:01. The

Lightning scored three times on

their first 10 shots on Price.

THECANADIANPRESS

KELSEYPATTERSONMONTREAL

Vasilevskiymakes33savestohelpLightningstrikedownHabs

U.S. President Donald Trump honoured
the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues
on Tuesday, using the occasion to an-
nounce an envoy to Turkey, mention the
economy and an agriculture deal with
China and laugh off the possibility of im-
peachment.
For the Blues, it was more of a last
chance to celebrate the first title in fran-
chise history than a political statement.
Like previous NHL champions, they de-
cided to keep with the long-held tradition
of visiting the president at the White
House, amid teams from the NBA and
other leagues either declining or not re-
ceiving an invitation or being disinvited
by Trump.
St. Louis has a heavy concentration of
Canadians and just one American still on
the roster from the group that beat the
Boston Bruins in the Cup Final. Every re-
turning player from the Cup champions
took the tour, met with Trump and was
present for the ceremony in the Rose Gar-
den.
“No matter what we do, we do it as a
group,” alternate captain Alex Steen said.
“I think that’s how we won. We’re a very
tight-knit group.”
Trump veered off into talk about bring-
ing soldiers home from overseas and the
stock market and revealed Vice-President
Mike Pence was travelling to Turkey to try
to reach a ceasefire deal. When he circled
back to the Blues, he went through their
improbable run from last place in the
league to champions with nods to Steen,
owner Tom Stillman, captain Alex Pie-
trangelo, goaltender Jordan Binnington,
forward Jaden Schwartz – who he called
“Jason” – and playoff Most Valuable Play-
er Ryan O’Reilly.
“Being able to see [the Oval] Office and
get a tour of the White House, it doesn’t
get much better than that,” said Schwartz,
who acknowledged he might have a new
nickname.
“This is [something] you’ll remember
forever.”
Trump even mentioned the Blues
adopting Laura Branigan’s 1982 hitGloria
as their victory song, and the U.S. Marine
Band played the team into the ceremony
with that tune. Young fan Laila Anderson,
who was the team’s inspiration while she
fought a rare autoimmune disease, got
her own mention.
“You inspired the Blues all season, and
today you continue to inspire all Amer-

icans,” Trump said. “We all know your sto-

ry.”

Stillman, who presented Trump with a

No. 45 Blues jersey, called it a “lightheart-

ed, fun kind of celebration.” He echoed

Steen’s sentiments about why the entire

team showed up – a departure from when

goaltender Braden Holtby

and forward Brett Connolly

skipped the 2018 champion

Washington Capitals’ visit in

March in support of team-

mate Devante Smith-Pelly.

“I think this team acts as a

team in everything they do,”

Stillman said.

“They stick together. By

and large, [I] like to keep

politics and sports separate.

This is a matter of a tradi-

tional honour, being invited

to the White House by the

presidency. It’s something

you do. I’m really proud of

our group for all coming to-

gether and having a good

time of it, as well.”

NHL commissioner Gary

Bettman; Pence’s wife, Karen; and Repub-

lican Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley

of Missouri were among those in attend-

ance for the half-hour ceremony.

Coach Craig Berube stressed the notion

of the Blues’ playoff run as a team effort

and brushed off Trump’s comment that

the pressure was off after winning.

“We won the Stanley Cup, I think, once

we got our team working together and

playing together,” Berube said.

“When you play as a team, day in and

day out – hard – you’re going to be hard to

beat. So that’s what it basi-

cally boiled down to. These

guys all came together as a

team and played for each

other, and we ended up be-

ing champions.”

The Blues paraded down

the streets of St. Louis,

raised their championship

banner, donated a Cup ring

to the Hockey Hall of Fame

and capped it all off by go-

ing to the White House.

Now, players are eager to

move on to trying to do it all

again.

“It’s a new year and new

challenges and experienc-

es,” Binnington said.

“We kind of still have this

stuff lingering around, but

obviously it’s positive and it’s amazing to

experience that. But at the same time,

yeah, it’s back to work and simplify things

a little bit. It’ll be nice.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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WhiteHouse

REDERICTONFormer National

Hockey League player Danny

Grant has died in his home-

town of Fredericton at the age

of 73 after a battle with cancer.

Grant played 14 seasons in

the NHL, including a Stanley

Cup win with the Montreal

Canadiens in 1968.

He went on to play for Min-

nesota, Detroit and Los Angeles

during his career in the league,

scoring 263 goals.

Grant was later a coach at

the University of New Brun-

swick and briefly with the

Halifax Mooseheads of the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey

League.

He also served as an assist-

ant coach at St. Thomas Uni-

versity and was inducted into

the New Brunswick Sports Hall

of Fame.

Writing on Twitter, the New

Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame

said Grant’s legacy in sport will

live on through the impact he

had on so many people.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

FORMERNHLPLAYERAND

COACHDANNYGRANTDIES

AFTERBATTLEWITHCANCER

COLORADOSPRINGS,COLO.The

U.S. women’s hockey team will

play host to Canada for a train-

ing camp and two exhibition

games next month near Pitts-

burgh.

The event runs Nov. 4-10 in

Cranberry Township, Pa. The

games will be Nov. 8 and 10.

USA Hockey made plans for

the event after the Swedish

federation cancelled this year’s

Four Nations Cup because of a

dispute with its women’s nation-

al team.

Hockey Canada and USA

Hockey want to increase compe-

tition for their national-team

players because they’re not

playing in a league this winter.

A five-game Rivalry Series

between the two countries also

will start in December.

THECANADIANPRESS

CANADA’SWOMEN’SHOCKEY

TEAMTOHEADTOU.S.

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