Islanders hand Leafs their worst loss of the season: Game Highlights

It was a battle of the Ilyas between Sorokin on Samsonov on Tuesday night. The Leafs got an early lead but New York scored seven of the next eight goals. It was the most lopsided loss of the year for Toronto. Below are the highlights from the game.
Mitch Marner got the Leafs first scoring chance of the night. He weaved through the Islanders defence to create something out of nothing but Sorokin shut the door…

Marner wills his way to the net pic.twitter.com/X8Q7gudedd
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 21, 2023

Just over halfway into the first period Sam Lafferty opened the scoring. Timothy Liljegren’s point shot pinballed off him and Scott Mayfield and into the net. That’s Lafferty’s first goal in the blue and white. Bobby McMann picks up his first career NHL point as well…

LAFFS’ FIRST IN THE BLUE & WHITE!! 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/RZX1CxY9H0
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 21, 2023

A few minutes later Sorokin put in his bid for save of the year. He reached back and absolutely robbed Erik Gustafsson with the paddle to keep the Isles within one…

Ilya Sorokin with a huge denial! ✋ pic.twitter.com/c4xh6Mn5OW
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 22, 2023

Zach Parise tied it up 28 seconds into the second. Mayfield circled the net and his shot banked off Liljegren right onto Parise’s stick. Tough bounce for Ilya Samsonov on that one…

Just like that Zach Parise evens the score for the Islanders 👊 pic.twitter.com/CnTwkYER8p
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 22, 2023

The Leafs nearly took the lead on a shorthanded break from David Kampf. Sorokin came out on top yet again…

Kampf gets a shorthanded break pic.twitter.com/HIst66W0C6
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 22, 2023

Hudson Fasching broke the tie late in the second. Liljegren fanned on the breakout pass and next thing you know it’s in the back of the net…

two zero makes it two one pic.twitter.com/y6SL8kemWE
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) March 22, 2023

The Isles doubled their lead before th …

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Author: Scott Ony / The Leafs Nation

NBA Twitter reacts to Raptors release of Juancho Hernangomez

NBA Twitter reacts to Raptors release of Juancho Hernangomez

The Toronto Raptors pulled off a surprise move on Tuesday with the signing of former Washington Wizards guard Will Barton. In order to create a roster spot, the team waived forward Juancho Hernangomez. With the release of Hernangomez, the Raptors clear a bit of a logjam at forward and hopefully add some much-needed three-point shooting […]
NBA Twitter reacts to Raptors release of Juancho Hernangomez – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Matt Conner / Raptors HQ

The Blue Jays re-sign pitcher Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal

Since it is Tuesday, it means it’s time for a transaction!

Per MiLB-Transactions (which monitors the transactions page), the Blue Jays have re-signed right-handed pitcher Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal.

#BlueJays have re-signed RHP Casey Lawrence to a minor league contract.
— MiLB-Transactions (@tombaseball29) January 3, 2023

 
The 35-year-old was one of the best pitchers in Triple-A last season, registering a 2.79 ERA and 4.16 FIP in 126 innings pitched. While his 21.9 K% wasn’t incredibly high, he has one of the lowest BB%s in the Jays organization at 3.5%. Lawrence was the only full-time starter with the Bisons throughout the 2022 season.

Here’s Casey Lawrence (@caseylawrence)’s strikeout thread from the 21st.
Curveball I think.#BlueJays #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/tgAjlPlzkM
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) September 26, 2022

His MLB tenure in 2022 wasn’t as great though. He posted a 7.50 ERA and a 6.33 FIP in 18 innings, which also saw a 13.9 K% and 5.1 BB%. It just seems as if he can’t figure it out at the major league level, as he has a career 6.80 ERA and 5.31 FIP in 96.2 innings. However, he was fairly unlucky with the Jays last season, as you can see in the clip below.

ahh yes, the ol’ alley-oop pic.twitter.com/q2uXP8PWuE
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 8, 2022

In early November, Lawrence had previously been outrighted off the 40-man roster where he chose free agency. The plan for Lawrence is likely to use him as a mentor, as there will be quite young pitchers heading to Triple-A to start the 2023 season. Worst case, Lawrence may get another shot at the big leagues, where he’ll hopefully have more luck.
It’s never a bad thing to have more depth, so I like this signing! Hopefully, the Jays will add more starters to minor-league deals soon.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @Brennan_L_D.
POINTSBET IS LIVE IN ONTARIO
…

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Goaltending keeping the Leafs afloat while their blueline deals with injuries

Goaltending keeping the Leafs afloat while their blueline deals with injuries

On Tuesday night the Leafs saw Victor Mete become the next in the series of Leafs defensemen to leave the game due to an injury and not return. With the Leafs presently without Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Jake Muzzin, Jordie Benn and having additional depth injuries to Carl Dahlstrom and Filip Kral, the Leafs defensive depth chart is somewhat beyond ridiculous at the moment. Thankfully the return of Brodie seems to be imminent, and Mete won’t miss a ton of time, but it’s worth looking at how the Leafs have gotten through the past few games.

Sheldon Keefe says Victor Mete will be unavailable for rest of the week. They don’t think the injury is serious, though. But “he will miss some time.” @BodogCA @RinkWideTOR
— David Alter (@dalter) December 7, 2022

Morgan Rielly’s last game with the Leafs was on November 21st and the Leafs have played seven games since that point. That is the most significant run of games without Toronto’s top defense as Rielly, Brodie, and Muzzin were all out and Jordie Benn appeared in just eight minutes of that first game without Rielly before he too was injured. Here are the 5v5 on-ice numbers for the Leafs defensemen during that stretch (via Natural Stat Trick):
Player
GP
TOI/GP
CA/60
CF%
GA/60
GF%
xGA/60
xGF%
HDCA/60
HDCF%
PDO
Conor Timmins
1
13.45
31.23
68.18
0.00

1.82
65.89
13.38
57.14
1.000
Justin Holl
7
18.95
61.95
44.08
0.90
71.43
2.29
56.64
10.85
54.72
1.038
Rasmus Sandin
7
16.64
59.75
46.30
1.03
81.82
2.51
55.39
11.85
54.90
1.115
Mark Giordano
7
16.69
57.53
46.67
1.03
75.00
2.31
54.47
…

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

William Villeneuve shows offensive prowl in third day of Maple Leafs development camp

A quick day three was on the books for Tuesday as Team White took on Team Blue for the first of two scrimmages this week at Maple Leafs development camp.
The first faceoff had the top forwards from each team lining up — Matthew Knies, Fraser Minten, and Max Ellis wearing Blue — Brandon Lisowsky, Nick Moldenhauer, and Ryan Tverberg sporting White.
A scrimmage halfway through development camp will allow the Maple Leafs’ brass to get a more firm look at who’s distancing themselves further from others.
3 Players who’ve distanced themselves early at Leafs development camp
Period one started with goaltenders Dennis Hildeby in Team Blue’s net and Keith Petruzzelli in net for Team White. The game began with a lot of pace and physicality and players weren’t afraid of leaning into hits or going into corners.
Rayan Bettahar was one player who didn’t seem afraid to throw big hits throughout Tuesday’s scrimmage.
A few minutes into the first period, Michael Renwick, who spent last season with the Windsor Spitfires, slid into the boards pretty hard. The 20-year-old looked to be in some considerable pain and was clearly frustrated that he had to leave the game. He didn’t return.
The line of Knies, Minten, and Ellis looked very good early, but seemed to taper off in the back-half of the scrimmage. The first period saw no goals, in part from there being not many strong chances, but also because of the strong play from Petruzzelli and Hil …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation