RICK VAIVE: How Auston Matthews can beat the goal blues
Auston Matthews has great hands, but what he might need now is a puck to go in off his ass.
Article content
Article content
Even the great scorers go through the kind of slump he's in now, and while the timing sucks that it's happening during the NHL playoffs, if I'm him, I wouldn't change what has worked so well for me in the past eight or nine years.
Article content
For one, he's getting chances, the kind that come with getting the good minutes and being on the first power-play unit. Two, like his coach says, he's doing so many other things right that are helping his team. Toronto doesn't get the puck possession it has without Auston winning close to 60 per cent of his faceoffs, and he's a big part of penalty killing.
Article content
Article content
It's imperative that Craig Berube's message is the one he hears, not what's going on outside the dressing room. I've mentioned before, as have others, that he might be hiding an injury. But he still plays physically, and can still be dominant.
Article content
For some reason, he's squeezing his stick and missing the net. It seemed to start with that long power play in overtime in Ottawa at the end of Game 4. Now he's up against some great penalty-killers in Florida who are keeping him — and everyone else — way to the outside.
Article content
At even strength, he clearly isn't getting room down the middle of the slot as in the regular season. Combine that with his power play issues and you start squeezing your stick, questioning yourself.
Article content
In our conversations at team events, he seems quite calm and nothing seems to bother him about being in the Toronto spotlight. I would like to see him bring that attitude to the ice, relax a bit, and as I said, wait for one to bounce in off a body part. Then I bet he'll start ripping them like he can.
Article content
Matthews is not the only one who has to get the job done. The whole top six weren't doing much against Florida in Game 4, despite some great chances by Matthew Knies and William Nylander. The whole team took a lot of penalties, which didn't help, and now Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is getting hot.
Article content
It has been tossed around out there that Florida is gaining the edge in toughness and intimidation. Maybe that's a bit true from the position of a team that's very experienced at playoff time. Two years ago they made the final while decimated by injuries, and last year they won it all. It can get in your head if you're the Leafs.
Article content
Article content
But I see no reason Toronto can't still win this. The Maple Leafs are yet to trail in either series they have been in, Joseph Woll was named a game star on Sunday when everyone had begun to doubt him, and now they have two out of three at home with an extra day off.
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Fernandez solves ‘setback' with opening-round win at Monterrey Open
Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, tracks the ball during her round match against Maya Joint, of Australia, at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes MONTERREY — Leylah Fernandez needed a major confidence boost after back-to-back opening-round exits at the National Bank Open in Montreal and Cincinnati Open. The 22-year-old from Laval, Que., got it Monday night in Mexico with a 6-3, 7-5 first-round victory over Jaqueline Cristian of Romania at the WTA 500 Monterrey Open, where she is a former two-time champion. The seventh-seeded Fernandez, who posted on Instagram that 'I like to think every setback is just a setup for the comeback,' won the first set in 35 precision-filled minutes. Both players stayed on serve in the tight second set until Fernandez broke Cristian at 5-5, then served out to win 7-5 to take the match in one hour, 33 minutes. Fernandez, who won the Washington Open last month, advances to the round of 16 and will face the winner of a match between Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia and Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico. Cristian, who got stronger as Monday's match progressed, finished with five aces and three double faults. Fernandez had three aces and one double fault. Fernandez held an advantage on first serves, winning 86 per cent of her points on first serve, compared to 76 for Cristian. Fernandez won two of five break points and took 24 points while receiving. Cristian had 23 unforced errors, 11 more than Fernandez. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2025.
Canada News.Net
an hour ago
- Canada News.Net
Jays, ahead of rematch with Pirates, await word on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
(Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images) The Toronto Blue Jays will play the second of three games against the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night likely without five-time All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. A tumultuous start to the series for the American League East-leading Blue Jays on Monday included a bench-clearing incident involving catcher Tyler Heineman and Pirates left fielder Tommy Pham, the ejection of manager John Schneider, three errors which contributed to a 5-2 loss, and Guerrero Jr. exiting in the fifth inning due to left hamstring tightness. Guerrero is set to undergo an MRI on Tuesday, per Schneider, to determine the extent of the injury. The slugger was believed to have hurt himself while stretching down into a split to catch a throw from shortstop Bo Bichette on an inning-ending groundout in the third inning. Guerrero has a .298 average with 21 home runs, 69 RBIs and 139 hits in 125 games this season. 'It's just tightness,' Schneider said after the game, adding, 'We'll see how he is tomorrow.' Toronto will look to recover its hitting form even if Guerrero is absent from its lineup on Tuesday and back up Max Scherzer (3-2, 3.83 ERA). The three-time Cy Young Award winner will oppose Pirates' right-hander Mitch Keller (5-11, 4.13). It remains to be seen whether any tensions spill over from the Monday incident that stemmed from some words exchanged between Heineman and Pham in the bottom of the seventh inning. Pham drew a walk on four pitches and flipped the bat to the ground in front of Heineman. Heineman jumped up to say something, Pham turned around from his trot to first base, and both benches and bullpens cleared. However, after Toronto's Ty France and George Springer walked Pham down the first-base line, the players and pitchers cleared the field and play resumed. 'I think it was just a little miscommunication there at home plate,' Pirates manager Don Kelly said. Scherzer, who is 5-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 14 career appearances (13 starts) against the Pirates, hasn't put up gaudy strikeout numbers but has been effective this month. He is 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA over his past three starts, and he pitched six or more innings in each of his past four outings. In his most recent start, Scherzer gave up one run on five hits, walked one and struck out three over seven-plus innings in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Keller will try to bounce back after one of his worst outings of the season on Wednesday, when he gave up six runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out five over four innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the most runs Keller allowed in a start since June 8, and he took his first loss since June 21 after having won four consecutive decisions. Keller won his lone career start against the Blue Jays on June 1, 2024, when he permitted one run on five hits and a walk while striking out eight in six innings during an 8-1 Pittsburgh victory at Toronto. Kelly praised the efforts of his revamped bullpen of late as new relievers have assumed key roles. On Monday, Dennis Santana converted his second save since the team traded former closer David Bednar to the New York Yankees at the end of July, his eighth save of the season overall.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Young soccer players who 'head' the ball face cognitive decline, new research shows
Social Sharing A new study from Western University found the practice of hitting a soccer ball with the head leads to noticeable cognitive decline in young players, and researchers are now calling for more restrictions in the sport. Over the course of a five-month season, the study tracked a U13 London soccer team made up of male players around 11 and 12 years old. Researchers fitted each player with a custom mouth guard to track head impacts, and had them do regular cognitive tests. One of the main findings that stuck out to Rachel Watson, a PhD student at Western, was that every time a player hit the ball with their head, their reaction time slowed down by about six milliseconds. "Each time it was a small amount that it slowed down," Watson said. "But, by the end of the season, this all accumulated or snowballed into a much larger effect." Many more head hits occurred during practices compared to games, Watson and her team observed. With the team practicing four times per week, there were far more opportunities for head impacts than at weekly game, but some practice drills led to hundreds of these impacts, she said. Currently, policies are in place in Ontario to provide guidelines for coaches, stating how often players of different age groups should be hitting the ball with their heads. Kids under 11 should not be heading the ball at all, players aged 12 to 13 should have a maximum of one session per month with up to five head hits with a lightweight ball, and 14- to 17-year olds should have one session with up to 10 hits. These guidelines were not being followed when researchers were following the team's season, Watson said. Every coach needs to rethink what they're doing. "Coaches have a really great ability to limit this in practice and focus on emphasizing other alternative methods of controlling the ball," she said. "And what the athletes are practicing in practice will come out in the game." The team's coach, Jonathan O'Neill, was surprised by the results of the study, he said. While the study showed the majority of head impacts were occurring at practices, the team doesn't actually practice a lot of heading, he explained. Most of it would have happened on recovery days, when the team played soccer tennis or Teqball, which are variations of the sport with very low impact on the head, he said. "But obviously the low impact still had a cumulative effect on the players' nervous systems and their ability to respond to football interactions," O'Neill said. Heading will happen as a byproduct of the game, because players cannot control the opponent and the chaos that sometimes causes the ball to go into the air, he said. But the safety of players is paramount and now that the effects of heading on cognitive ability is better understood, every coach is going to have to rethink what they're doing, he added While heading the ball is just one of many technical skills in soccer, Watson said, young athletes are likely not thinking about the short or long term effects of their actions—whether they are unaware of them, or simply don't care. Even if banning the practice of heading is not fully attainable yet, Watson believes coaches and parents should emphasize the findings of this study to really get it across to the players that it can be harmful. "Then when the athletes are older, stronger and more developed and more aware of the effects of head impacts, they can choose to make an informed decision themselves if they want to head the ball or not."
