Tag: Toronto Maple Leafs

Notre Dame’s Max Ellis signs contract with Toronto Maple Leafs

Good luck, Max.

With the season over, a few of Notre Dame’s players are being scooped up by professional teams. So far, we’ve seen it happen with Spencer Stastney and Adam Karashik. Now, we’re seeing it with Max Ellis. The junior forward has been signed to a two-way entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he will join the Toronto Marlies of the AHL for the Calder Cup playoffs before the contract kicks in next season.

In 71 career games for the Irish, Ellis scored 45 points, 22 of which came from goals. He was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, Notre Dame’s Most Improved Player in 2020-21 and a Hobey Baker Award nominee.

In his third and final season in South Bend, Ellis had career and team highs in goals (16) and points (28) as well as a career high in assists (12). Six of his 39 games were multi-point games, and he was selected as the Big Ten First Star of the Week once.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

North Carolina sending Mike Krzyzewski into retirement and 4 other ultimate rivalry wins in sports

The Red Sox, among others, want a word with the Tar Heels.

There’s something extra special about beating a team you hate.

It’s not enough to finish with more points on the final scoreboard. Your win came at the expense of someone who insists on continually getting in your way, sometimes with their presence alone. We would not be as enamored with sports if we didn’t have a team, a player, a (cough) coach we could hate.

North Carolina drove the final nail into the coffin of the career of their all-time archrival, Mike Krzyzewski, on Saturday night. It got me thinking: Now that the Tar Heels have the ultimate trump card, the ultimate rivalry win, what other squads in American sports have notched the same oh-so-rare achievement over the years? Which franchises have bragging rights over their hated rival that will never dissolve?

Let’s dive into the delicious spite. I hope you brought a full stomach and a ravenous appetite.

Justin Bieber taunted Habs fans with a Maple Leafs joke, conveniently forgetting last year’s playoffs

It was 3-1, Justin!

Justin Bieber, like all Toronto Maple Leafs fans, has seemingly forgotten the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

During Bieber’s Tuesday night concert at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the pop star — and Maple Leafs super fan — taunted the home Canadiens crowd with a jab at how well Toronto’s played this season. Entering the final month of the 2021-22 season, the Maple Leafs are 42-19-5 and are locked in to a playoff spot. Meanwhile, just months removed from a Stanley Cup Final, the Canadiens are the second-worst team in the NHL with a 18-38-11 record.

And Bieber let Montreal know it.

“What’s up, Montreal, I’ve had a great night with you guys tonight,” Bieber said. “But how about them Leafs though, huh?”

The jabs continued!

“Auston Matthews is really doing some work here in Montreal,” Bieber said. “So, uh, how’s that playoff spot looking for you guys this year?”

Bieber ended his taunts with a “Go Leafs Go” chant, despite the boos and the counter “Go Habs Go” chants from the crowd.

Of course, Bieber is forgetting one key thing here. The last time the Maple Leafs played in a game of any significance, they blew a 3-1 series lead and lost in Game 7 to the Canadiens last year in an embarrassing playoff exit.

I’m just saying, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!

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Bruins fan absolutely loses it with a hilarious reaction on a late goal review

You can hear the Boston accent here.

There has never been a more hilarious reaction to an officiating blunder than this incredulous Boston Bruins fan.

On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs were giving it to the Bruins, leading the game 6-3 headed into the final minutes of the third period. The game had quite the playoff vibe to it, as the Maple Leafs and the Bruins could very well be on a crash course to a first round matchup this postseason.

With two minutes remaining in the game, Taylor Hall seemingly got a sick garbage time goal for the Bruins to cut the Maple Leafs’ lead to 6-4. But no! The goal was waved off immediately due to Hall seemingly making incidental contact with goaltender Erik Kallgren.

The Bruins disagreed quite strongly with the call, even challenging it to see if it could be overturned, but there was no one more upset at this slight than this Boston fan.

What an absolutely perfect reaction. Even in a game all but lost, this Bruins fan was so distraught at the missed call his over-the-top reaction just… fits.

The referees did eventually reverse the call and the Bruins lost the game 6-4, but this hilarious reaction will live on in hockey fandom for all time.

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2022 NHL trade deadline winners and losers

Monday’s trade deadline was a busy one.

The 2022 NHL trade deadline has officially come and gone. On a day that saw nearly 30 deals made — at the time of this writing, anyway — it was quite the chaotic afternoon, even though there were very few blockbusters made.

This year’s trade deadline certainly was much more active than the 2021 deadline, which saw fewer than 20 deals made on deadline day, so it’s fair to say the day went by quite fast. Even with over half of the league capped out, nearly every single team made some sort of trade or deal by Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. And hey, in a flat salary cap world, that’s not too bad!

Now that the rush has died down, let’s take a look at the big picture! Here are our winners and losers from a busy 2022 NHL trade deadline.

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Former Notre Dame forward Alex Steeves to make NHL debut

Some new Irish blood is coming to hockey’s highest level.

After no former Notre Dame player made an NHL debut last season, there was nowhere to go but up in 2021-22. This season already is an improvement because Alex Steeves has been recalled by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Steeves was placed on the fourth line during the morning skate that was held ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Steeves made his professional debut earlier this season with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. He scored 12 points in 12 games, which gave the Leafs reason to send for him. All of this has come only months after he wrapped up a three-year career with the Irish. During his 104 career games with the Irish, he accumulated 69 points, including 33 goals. After last season, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Leafs.

Steeves earned many honors with the Irish, including team MVP, an All-Big Ten selection and two Academic All-Big Ten selections.

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Auston Matthews shaved his awesome mustache and looks completely different

Whoa!

November just ended, and that means an end has also come to Movember, in which people grow facial hair and raise money for health charities.

For one trademarked mustache, it’s the end of the road as well.

Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews told the world he was going to shave his stache at the end of November, and in the process he raised $134,000 in his campaign.

On Wednesday, we got to see the mustache-less Matthews. And yeah, he looks TOTALLY different as you’d expect.

So let’s do a little before and after so you can see the difference. Here’s the before look:

(Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP) 

And after!!

Holy moly! All for a good cause, though.

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Take some time to watch the wildest 3-on-3 overtime between the Rangers and Maple Leafs

Three-on-three rules.

You can criticize the NHL all you want for making overtimes 3-on-3 in five minutes.

Because when you see highlights like this, you might rethink that.

The New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs headed to overtime on Monday night tied at 1-1, and the ensuing extra period was absolute madness, so much so that the NHL put out a nearly-three minute video of the back-and-forth craziness.

Sportsnet also delivered a longer version, and really, you should take some time to watch this — your heart will be racing for a while between some incredible saves by both netminders and the near-misses until Artemi Panarin scored the game-winner:

My goodness. Three-on-three rules.

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A brief history of the Maple Leafs completely blowing it in deciding playoff games

This keeps happening!

If you’re a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, we’re sorry in advance (and maybe you’re not reading beyond here!).

But seriously. This needs to be talked about.

The franchise that’s won 13 Stanley Cups has had an absolutely heartbreaking run of playoff fortunes in the 21st century, and particularly in the past five seasons, which has included the Leafs struggling to get out of the first or qualifying round of the postseason. They haven’t advanced to a second round since … 2004!!

It happened again this year, with the Leafs blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens. Ugh.

So let’s look back at some of the heartbreak in deciding games for the franchise:

Toronto Maple Leafs blow 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens after disappointing Game 7 loss

Yes, the Maple Leafs have blown yet another lead.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans know this feeling all too well by now. The Maple Leafs had three chances to eliminate the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs and failed to do so each time, resulting in their own exit from the postseason with a 3-1 loss in the series finale.

On Monday, during the most-dreaded Game 7 of all time, the Maple Leafs playoff aspirations ended with a whimper. It was quite a painful game to watch from the Maple Leafs perspective, as Toronto and Montreal played to a scoreless first period in a clear attempt not to make mistakes, but then the Canadiens got the opening goal three minutes into the second and that was… that.

There is set to be a lot of questions leveled at the Maple Leafs this offseason, but let’s start with what we do know:

  • Toronto has not won a playoff series since 2004.
  • The Maple Leafs have eight straight losses in playoff series clinching games.
  • For the majority of the 2020-21 NHL season, the Maple Leafs were at the top of the North Division, ultimately leading by five points at season’s end.

This is no doubt an incredibly disappointing end to the Maple Leafs season. Toronto was favored and expected by many to be the lone team standing from the North Division after the opening rounds of the playoffs. This Toronto team was probably the best we had seen in some time, with a deep offensive lineup, a well-rounded defense, and goaltending that just needed to be average to win.

Instead, the Maple Leafs’ offensive dried up at the worst possible time. The NHL’s leading goal scorer this season in Auston Matthews — who had 41 goals in the regular season — was held to just one goal and five total points in seven games. Mitch Marner, the Maple Leafs’ top point producer this season, had four points in six games. William Nylander? Four goals in the first four games of the postseason, then just one in the final three games.

It’s not fair to put all of the Maple Leafs woes on the young stars of the team. Trade deadline acquisition Nick Foligno had one assist in four games, while Toronto’s veterans in Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, and Alex Galchenyuk weren’t able to come up big when it mattered. Of course, the loss of captain John Tavares to an accidental — but very scary — injury in the opening moments of Game 1 hurt Toronto big time, yet the Maple Leafs were able to win three games without him, but not the fourth.

That’s not to take anything away from the Canadiens here either, as Montreal played out of their minds defensively. And when they weren’t able to keep the Maple Leafs to the edges of the offensive zone, Carey Price in net was there to save the day. Price was, without a doubt, the MVP for Montreal in this series, putting up a heroic Game 7 performance and posting a .947 save percentage throughout the first round.

And yet, if you’re the Maple Leafs, this playoff showing is nothing but a catastrophic disappointment. It’s hard to even say where Toronto goes from here, whether they deem this to be an aberration and that their players have more to give, or if they’ll make cataclysmic changes to their roster over the next few months in an attempt to shake off their ghosts once and for all.

One thing is for certain, however, and it’s that the Maple Leafs will absolutely be the team to watch this upcoming offseason after yet another inadequate, underwhelming playoff performance.

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