Sport-scan daily brief

Belleville News-Democrat LOADED: 10.05.2013

719633 Tampa Bay Lightning

Bolts need more blue-collar goals

By Erik Erlendsson | Tribune Staff

Published: October 4, 2013

CHICAGO — At one point during practice at the United Center on Friday, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled one of the power-play units to center ice to offer a polite reminder heading into tonight’s matchup with the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

“To me, playing on the power play is a privilege and not a right,” Cooper said.

Part of the message Cooper was delivering was that not every goal has to show up on a highlight reel.

“Guys tend to try to make that low-percentage play, because maybe it looks a little better, when ultimately not many times that happens,” Cooper said. “We have to get some blue-collar goals.”

That was evident in Thursday’s season opener at Boston in which Tampa Bay finished 0-for-5 on the power play and failed to convert on two lengthy five-on-three opportunities. To rub some salt into that wound, the Bruins scored a pair of shorthanded goals in what accounted for the difference in a 3-1 loss for the Lightning.

With Tampa Bay’s offensive talent, having that two-man advantage for nearly two minutes on two occasions, the odds would seem to be stacked in the Lightning’s favor that a goal would result. Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Valtteri Filppula and Teddy Purcell are all 20-plus goal scorers and saw a majority of the ice time during the two-man advantage opportunities.

How do offensive talents such as that fail to find a way to score, even against one of the top penalty kill teams in the league, when they have two extra men on the ice?

“Let’s not dissect it after game one, we just didn’t get it done,” St. Louis said. “It’s one game we didn’t get it done. If that game was game number 38, it would be like ‘Yeah the power play didn’t get the job done.’ Well, it’s game one and the power play didn’t get the job done.”

A member of the top power-play unit was not on the ice Thursday, as defenseman Sami Salo was a surprise late scratch with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Throughout training camp, Salo worked the top point position on the 5-on-4 and 5-on-3 power plays. His last-minute absence meant adjustments had to be made that were not worked on during training camp or preseason games.

Salo remained off the ice for practice Friday. His status, as general manager Steve Yzerman described it, remains “hour-to-hour,” so Cooper shuffled in Andrej Sustr, Mark Barberio and Matt Carle to rotate through the power play drills.

A big emphasis during those drills was getting shots on net.

“It’s just simplifying things, you need to get more pucks in the dirty areas and you can’t be looking for cute plays,” Carle said. “Sami is one of those guys that is very capable and very good at teeing it up, so that’s a big loss for us. But it starts with everybody, and we all need to have that mentality of ... looking for rebounds and those dirty goals. They’re not all going to be back-door tap-ins and highlight-reel goals.”

But after one game, Lightning players concede it’s far from a reason to be overly concerned with one bad night.

“I know with the personnel that we have,” Stamkos said, “we will find a way to bounce back.”

Tampa Tribune LOADED: 10.05.2013

719634 Tampa Bay Lightning

Lightning assesses power-play issues

Damian Cristodero, Times Staff Writer

Friday, October 4, 2013 10:45pm

CHICAGO — There was a point during Friday's practice at the United Center that Lightning coach Jon Cooper had had enough.

Work on the power play was lagging. There were too many passes and not enough pucks on net. And after the team's special-teams failures in Thursday's 3-1 season-opening loss to the Bruins, that was unacceptable.

So Cooper gathered the offending players and reminded them, "It's a privilege to be on the power play. Don't (mess) it up."

The language, of course, has been sanitized.

"Playing the power play is a privilege, not a right," Cooper said later. "You should make a point of it to execute what we're trying to accomplish."

Tampa Bay was 0-for-5 on the power play against Boston, including 3:25 of five-on-three. It also allowed two game-changing shorthanded goals.

Granted, the Bruins, last season's Eastern Conference champs, are a talented penalty-killing team, goalie Tuukka Rask had a fine game and the late scratch of Lightning defenseman Sami Salo with an upper-body injury meant shuffling both power-play units.

But, as Cooper acknowledged, with the Lightning's offensive skills, converting a five-on-three advantage into a goal should be automatic.

"It has to be, and it wasn't," he said, "Hopefully, that was a mulligan."

What needs to be fixed before tonight's game with the Blackhawks, last season's Stanley Cup champions? Several things.

Boston did a good job of taking away some of Tampa Bay's set plays, but the Lightning did not react to find other options. Captain Marty St. Louis said perhaps Tampa Bay even "froze a little bit" against the pressure "and just didn't adjust."

"That," he added, "is on the players."

Defenseman Matt Carle, who replaced Salo on the first unit, said the Bruins' penalty kill simply worked harder than the Lightning's power play.

And for Cooper, Tampa Bay too often looked for perfect plays instead of getting pucks on net. Losing Salo and his big shot might have hurt there as well. Salo was not with the team Friday, perhaps getting tested, and might not play tonight, either.

"Some guys tend to make too cute a play or try and make the low-percentage play because it looks better, when ultimately, not many times that happens," Cooper said. "You have to get some blue-collar goals, and sometimes we get caught up into every goal has to be a beauty."

There is the notion, though, that all this hand-wringing about the power play is too much too soon.

"Let's not dissect it after Game 1," St. Louis said. "If that was Game 38, we'd be like, 'Yeah, the power play didn't get the job done.' It's Game 1. Just get it done."

"The more you play, the more you get familiar, and the more you get to practice, that's going to help us a lot," center Valtteri Filppula said. "You don't want to be too hard on yourself, either. It's just one game."

All the same, he added, "The only way is up from what we did last game."

Damian Cristodero can be reached at cristodero@tampabay.com. View his blog at lightning.tampabay.com. Follow him on Twitter at @LightningTimes.

. Tonight

Lightning at Blackhawks

When/where: 8; United Center, Chicago

TV/radio: Sun Sports; 970-AM

Key stats: The Lightning has not played in Chicago since April 3, 2011, a 2-0 victory. … C Steven Stamkos has seven goals in five games against the Blackhawks. … D Eric Brewer's six career goals against Chicago are tied for his most against any team.

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 10.05.2013

719635 Toronto Maple Leafs

Rielly adjusting to life in the spotlight with Leaf debut on the horizon

DAVID SHOALTS

TORONTO — The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Oct. 04 2013, 2:06 PM EDT

Last updated Friday, Oct. 04 2013, 10:18 PM EDT

Morgan Rielly knew he was no longer in Moose Jaw – and in a hockey spotlight like no other – when he was walking back to his downtown hotel from the Air Canada Centre recently after a Toronto Maple Leafs morning skate.

The prize teenage defence prospect was waiting to cross the street when he heard the two guys standing next to him talking about him.

“They were talking about what should happen to me,” Rielly said Friday. “One guy said I should be sent back to junior. I kept walking. If he had said something good about me, I would have stopped and said thanks.”

But at the same instant, the fellow who thought Rielly should be sent back to the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL looked up and recognized the blonde 19-year-old striding away from him. “He noticed me and apologized,” Rielly said.

It was the most unusual example of what Rielly has discovered in his first NHL training camp: Maple Leafs fans are so immersed in their team they can recognize the most obscure training-camp hopefuls. As the fifth pick overall in the 2012 NHL entry draft, Rielly has a little more visibility than most, which he quickly discovered as fans stopped him for autographs and photos practically every time he ventured out in the city.

“You get the same kind of thing in Moose Jaw but nothing like it is here,” Rielly said, shaking his head in wonderment.

His visibility factor is about to take a big leap forward, as a knee injury to veteran defenceman Mark Fraser means he will make his NHL debut Saturday against the Ottawa Senators. Even Rielly recognized the familiar storyline of the youngster getting his big chance thanks to an established player’s misfortune.

“You know what? That’s pretty cliché, but as a kid you dream about that kind of opportunity,” he said after the Leafs’ practice Friday. “If I got a chance to play in a Leafs home opener on Hockey Night in Canada that would be pretty special. If I get that chance I’ll be pretty lucky.”

Rielly kept saying “if” because Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle had not said anything about his plans for replacing Fraser, who went on the long-term injured reserve list. Fraser will be lost for a minimum of 10 games, which means he cannot return before the Leafs play the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 29.

Players who are still eligible for junior hockey can play nine games before their team has to decide if they will stay in the NHL for the season or go back to junior. While Fraser’s injury complicates things, Carlyle has always said the decision will be based on what’s best for Rielly and the Leafs.

“I haven’t even heard anything from the coaches,” Rielly told a group of reporters. “It’s just been you guys talking about it, so I’m not sure it’s going to happen. If I get a chance to play, that’s pretty exciting for me.”

Nevertheless, it seems he is preparing to have his parents, Andy and Shirley, fly to Toronto from West Vancouver in time for Saturday’s home opener at the ACC. “If I get a chance to go, I’m sure my parents will be here,” Rielly said.

It will be a moment he has been dreaming about since he was about 14, and made the decision to leave home for the most famous high-school team in hockey, the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Sask. It was a path taken by an earlier generation of Leafs stars, most notably Wendel Clark, Gary Leeman and Russ Courtnall.

“I think when I was in Grade 8, I made the choice to go to school on the prairies and play for the Hounds,” Rielly said. “It was tough but I told my parents I wanted to do that. It was pretty hard on my mom.

“But I had a great year and got drafted by Moose Jaw and told myself I wanted to be a player. It’s all been going well, but I haven’t proved anything yet.”

It is not clear who will be Rielly’s blueline partner against the Senators. He played with Jake Gardiner in Friday’s practice, but Gardiner, 23, is also an offensive defenceman, not to mention inexperienced as well. Carlyle said they were together in practice simply because both of them can play on the power play.

All Rielly needs to worry about is concentrating on what he does well, the coach said. And there are a lot of things he does well.

“He plays the game with his head and his legs,” Carlyle said. “He’s got all three assets that separate him from other people.

“He’s a strong puck-mover, he can get the puck through on the point on the power play, he’s got great wheels to get up and down the ice and he’s smart in his reads so I don’t know what more I can say that doesn’t put an exclamation point on the type of player he is.”

Globe And Mail LOADED: 10.05.2013

719636 Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs battle lines drawn, from Reimer to Rielly: Feschuk

By: Dave Feschuk Sports Columnist, Published on Fri Oct 04 2013

There will probably be nights when figuring out who’ll start in goal for the Maple Leafs will turn into a torturous, probing voyage into the mind and heart of head coach Randy Carlyle.

Saturday night isn’t one of those nights. Barring 11th-hour injury, it’s a lock James Reimer will get the nod to protect both the home net and Toronto’s 2-0 win-loss record in the Air Canada Centre opener. There are a couple of obvious reasons for this. For one, the opponent is the Ottawa Senators, and Reimer has owned no team like he’s owned the Senators. In 10 career games against them he’s 8-1-1 with a .949 save percentage, his best mark against any Eastern team. Jonathan Bernier, even if he performed demonstrably better in his one start this season than Reimer did in his, has never faced the Senators.

But if you were looking for confirmation from Friday’s post-practice scrums with the press, consider Randy Carlyle’s only comment on the matter: “That decision was made a long time ago.”

Unless Carlyle was saying that he’d decided long ago to ignore both logic and Reimer’s sterling record against the Senators, Reimer’s the guy.

Still, anything can happen. And this isn’t to say there aren’t some intriguing rotational decisions facing Toronto’s coaching staff. Perhaps it’s fitting that the Maple Leafs spent much of Friday’s practice working on one-on-one battle drills — mano-a-mano, teammate versus teammate. The competition within the Leafs dressing room doesn’t begin and end with the pair of would-be No. 1 netminders.

So as we await the latest chapter in the Battle of Ontario, let us also consider the battles internal for a raft of prestigious positions, including . .

SECOND-LINE CENTREMAN: Carlyle tsk-tsked the media for making “too much” of the events of Wednesday night, when Dave Bolland scored two goals in a win over Philadelphia in which he displaced Nazem Kadri (and inherited some of Kadri’s ice time) in this role. Answering questions about how Bolland was moved on to the second line with Joffrey Lupul and Nikolai Kulemin — with whom he was still teamed in Friday’s practice, this while Kadri skated with Mason Raymond and Troy Bodie — the coach claimed it was a non-story. He had a point given that he’s an eternal tinkerer who could be on to other combinations by Saturday night’s first TV timeout.

“I think there’s a lot of expectations that have been heaped upon Nazem to be a second-line centre here . . . well, that’s not reality,” said Carlyle.

Kadri, ever a contrarian, said he “welcomes” people to keep those expectations a-heaping. And the truth is, Kadri will need to blossom into a top centre if the Maple Leafs are ever going to make a competitive jump from borderline playoff team to something more substantial as currently constructed.

“I like that. If people expect me to be a top guy, my expectations are higher than anyone else’s are. I set expectations for myself,” Kadri said. “My learning curve isn’t over yet. I’m still a young guy trying to get the hang of being a No. 1 or No. 2 guy.”

NEXT GREAT YOUNG DEFENCEMAN: Everyone knows of Jake Gardiner’s upside. But it’s not exactly hard to see why, at age 23, he’s already been traded once (by the Ducks to the Leafs) and may not last much longer in these parts. Gardiner’s reputation as a high-risk, high-maintenance commodity wasn’t helped by last season’s sprouting of the “Free Jake Gardiner” movement. And Toronto GM Dave Nonis has already been maddened enough by the American’s penchant for defensive gaffes that he has coined a phrase for them — they’re “Jake mistakes” in the GM’s parlance, and there’s a feeling around the team that Gardiner simply isn’t learning fast enough from them.

Nobody connected to the franchise, in stark contrast, is doing anything but gushing about Morgan Rielly, the 19-year-old from West Vancouver who is expected to play in his first NHL game on Saturday night. Maybe the overwhelmingly rave reviews are simply a function of being new. Maybe there will be enumerations of his many faults soon enough. But not on Friday.

“He plays the game with his head and his legs and his hands. He’s got all three assets that separate him from other people in his age group,” Carlyle said of Rielly. “He’s a strong puck mover. He can get the puck through the point on the power play. He’s got great wheels to get up and down the ice. He’s smart with reads. I don’t know what more I can say that doesn’t put an exclamation point on the type of player we think he can be.”

In other words, the team sees him as everything Gardiner is and more, but without the annoying faults. It could make Gardiner an intriguing trade chip.

TEAM LEADER: There’s a reason why Phil Kessel signed on the eve of the season and Dion Phaneuf, an impending unrestricted free agent, still doesn’t have a contract. The Leafs didn’t have an obvious heir to the team’s top scorer, but they have plenty of promising depth on the blue line. In the first couple of games of the season, Cody Franson has been logging heavy minutes and looking assured as an offensive threat. It’s not hard to imagine him as the team’s No. 1 defenceman down the road.

And the Leafs are chock full, too, with possible replacement captains. David Clarkson is the Las Vegas futures favourite to sew on the “C” if Phaneuf eventually departs. Lupul could make a case for the latter. Ditto Jay McClement. And back on defence Franson is a strong-minded character who never ducks accountability.

“I’m trying to develop that leadership end of my role as much as I can and be a guy who young guys like Riles can come and talk to and hang out with or go for dinner, or whatever it takes to make him feel comfortable or at home here,” Franson said.

Piling on Phaneuf has long been a fashionable pastime. This week ESPN released a poll of 30 “star” NHLers in which Phaneuf was voted the most overrated player in the league — a title he’s been bestowed in the past — and the mantle couldn’t be less apt. Is he the league’s least liked character? There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to that end, but it’s a vicious business and Phaneuf doesn’t come to the rink to make friends. Still, his pay grade and the fact he’s been miscast as captain mean he’s far from irreplaceable.

SHOOTOUT PARTICIPANT:Witness a scene from practice on Friday. Five pucks were placed on either blue line. Two teams were assembled to take breakaways. The first team to put all five pucks in the net won the drill.

“Losers have to skate more!” hollered Carlyle.

On paper it seemed like a mismatch. One team included the defence corps and the line of Kadri, Raymond and Bodie. The other team was stacked with the likes of Kessel, Lupul, Clarkson and more. Oddsmakers be damned, the team led by the blue-liners won the day. Rielly was among the rearguards to score.

And if you’re reading into it even more, consider this: The team with Kessel et al was repeatedly stymied by Reimer. The winning squad scored in quick succession on Bernier.

“I guess we’re going to have to have a couple of D-men in the shootout the next time,” Kadri said. Or, by that logic, a certain goaltender.

Toronto Star LOADED: 10.05.2013

719637 Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs games always better in person

By: Raju Mudhar Tech Reporter, Published on Fri Oct 04 2013

Admit it, you want to be there Saturday night.

It’s become trendy for big name columnists to talk about how much better it is to watch a sports game at home, in front of your giant HD television, with your buddies and bevvies of choice, and being in complete control of your environment.

In the past few years, it’s an argument made by the likes of Bill Simmons, Darren Rovell and even our own Cathal Kelly.

But I just don’t buy it.

Look at the people making that argument: they have gorged on so many sporting events in their life that absolutely a little bit of jadedness has seeped in. I would love to have that problem. Besides all those guys got into this business to get paid to go to games.

Part of every columnist’s job is to be contrarian, and it is easy to poke holes into the live experience.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love watching sports at home, but even the greatest picture offered by the newest, most expensive 4K or OLED TVs isn’t as good as being there.

There are absolutely a number of issues with getting tickets, fighting traffic to make it to a crowded stadium, sitting in cramped seats, buying expensive food and beer and the always unknown of sitting next to the great unwashed — which could literally be someone who hasn’t washed.

But there are indelible memories to be had, and for most of us, due to rising ticket prices and the business of life, it has become a much more rarefied experience.

In talking this out with many of my sports loving friends, who seem to fall on both sides of the argument, one of the keys is just the vast amount of information that is available at home, not to mention the significant investments made in home theatres systems and man caves.

Beyond just being plugged into Twitter watching comments fly by, the televised experience of any game features so much more information than going. Experienced commentators can absolutely add something, Also, love him or hate him, who doesn’t want to see what Don Cherry has to say?

But the biggest selling point is the benefit of the copious amount of instant replay. One friend who was live and in person at last week’s Leaf brawl said that in the stadium, few realized David Clarkson left the bench and most were left wondering what was going on.

On TV, what had happened was immediately shown.

There are replays in the stadium, but they are limited by stoppages in play, as well as other marketing initiatives run by teams on the Jumbotrons.

The in-game operations just don’t hold a candle to the level of those being created by the crackerjack editors in the TV booth.

Rovell has talked about the growing phenomena of many who go to the game, only to return home and watch the same game on their PVR to see what they missed.

A co-worker who is a huge Minnesota Vikings fan talked about how he saw Adrian Peterson do a 70-yard run, but due to the at-game distractions, he thought it was pedestrian, only to realize how amazing it was watching the highlights afterward.

There are also some problems with watching any sport on TV, and in particular watching hockey at home in a way minimizes how hard it is by making it look easy. The camera’s field of view doesn’t let you see all the players on the ice, and it does a disservice to just how fast the players are zipping up the ice. Or how big they are and how powerful their shots are.

If you are actually there, you can also see if anyone is really dogging it away from the action.

The truth is that for the majority of people in the city, it’s not even an option to go see the Leafs in person, as 95 per cent of the Air Canada Centre is taken up by season ticket holders. Taking a look at Stubhub.com on Friday, the cheapest seats available for the Battle for Ontario are in section 312, Balcony Standing room only for $99.81. And that’s in a no-drinking zone! At the top end, it is $662.50 in section 121, 3rd row which is right at one of the nets.

With new management at the head of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, it is clear that there is change afoot for the “in-game experience.” Just like during last year’s playoff run, MLSE is hosting a tailgate in Maple Leaf Square for the home opener, which is a smart way to extend the fan experience outside of the building and extend the communal feeling that is the best part of being there: The “we are all in it together” feeling of fandom.

As well, new MLSE president CEO Tim Leiweke told a season ticket holders meeting that the company is looking at cheaper beer. That sounds crazy, and I’ll believe it when I am there and drinking it.