NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update:
Thursday April 20, 2000 7:46PM EST
Tuesday April 18 2000 Antropov is latest Maple Leaf to fall
The Curse of the Corel Centre has struck again.
Rookie centre Nik Antropov became the fifth Maple Leaf to be injured against the Senators this season, slumping to the ice with an injured right knee at 7:40 of the first period last night.
As was the case with Yanic Perreault in Game 1, the play looked innocent with Antropov and the Ottawa Senators' Chris Phillips bumping along the boards. The big Kazakh took one step and went into a heap and was examined by medical staff from both teams before getting an escort to the Leafs room.
Afterward, Antropov said in broken English, "It's sore. We will see tomorrow. The doctors don't know everything."
Antropov had just been switched back to centre on a line with Dmitri Khristich and Darcy Tucker after playing wing much of the season.
The Leafs do have extra players capable of moving to centre, both on the roster and among the callups from St. John's of the AHL. Adam Mair, Don MacLean and Jeff Farkas are possibilities, if the Leafs don't move Alyn McCauley to centre and then dress left winger Wendel Clark or Kris King.
"We're undecided at this point," general manager/coach Pat Quinn said.
Last night meant another long night of double shifting for the likes of Mats Sundin, who led all players in ice time with 25 minutes 29 seconds. Igor Korolev, his faceoff prowess affected by the lingering problems of thumb surgery, won just four of 19 draws.
Quinn was his usual evasive self when the seriousness of Antropov's injury came up. Quinn would call it only a leg problem until he got a more definitive word today.
"We haven't had much luck here, have we?" he said of the Corel Centre in particular, where four of the injuries occurred, including the potential blinding of Bryan Berard's right eye.
"It's just a coincidence," winger Tie Domi said of the mishaps, unwilling to give the Sens any edge for Game 4.
Friday April 14 2000 Perreault to undergo knee surgery
Yanic Perreault says he bears no grudge against Jason York for ending his dream of helping the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
The Maple Leafs centre had both the medial collateral ligament and the anterior cruciate ligament torn when he was checked along the side boards by the Ottawa Senators defenceman late in Toronto's 2-0 victory in the opener of their first-round NHL playoff series Wednesday.
"There's not much to be said," Perreault said after watching his teammates practice Friday at Maple Leaf Gardens. "Injuries happen all the time.
"I could go 100 times along the boards like that and not get hurt. I have no grudge to carry."
Perreault said he expected to undergo reconstructive surgery before Monday. He'll be in rehab for six months, and total recovery and return to active duty might take as long as one year.
Perreault missed 23 games during the winter when a Tom Barrasso slash broke his arm.
"It's been a tough year," Perreault said. "There's nothing I can do now but wait till I get better."
The damage occurred because his skate was in the air when he was checked by York, he said. The foot hit the boards and the torque on the knee was what ripped the ligaments.
"I didn't think at the time that it was that bad," he said. "I thought maybe I had sprained the knee.
"When the doctor told me it could be a torn ACL, I was surprised because the pain wasn't that bad."
He couldn't hide his disappointment.
"It's playoff time, what you work for all season," he said. "Now, to be out of it, I'm disappointed and frustrated."
While Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said he wouldn't believe Perreault was out for the duration until he saw who the Leafs put on the ice for Game 2 tonight, Perreault left no doubt.
"There is no chance I'll be back on the ice this season," Perreault said.
It was the fourth significant injury Toronto players have suffered against the Senators this season: Mats Sundin fractured the instep of his right ankle when he was hit by a shot by Radek Bonk last Oct. 9; Bryan Berard suffered a serious eye injury when struck by Marian Hossa's stick March 11; and Danny Markov broke his left foot when hit by a Sami Salo shot March 23.
"I don't know how to explain it," said Perreault. "Maybe it's just bad luck, just coincidence."
Thursday April 13 2000 Quinn: York a 'rotten bastard'
The Toronto Maple Leafs scored the first win in their playoff series with the Ottawa Senators, but the talk Thursday was still about a loss.
Leafs centre Yanic Perreault was on his way for an MRI on his knee to determine the extent of the damage he sustained when hit along the left wing boards in the Ottawa zone in the third period by Senators defenceman Jason York Wednesday night.
Toronto coach and general manager Pat Quinn, who was furious after the Leafs 2-0 win in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal, was only slightly less angry Thursday at the prospect of losing the league's best faceoff man for perhaps the rest of the post-season.
Admitting his first reaction to seeing the hit was to call York a "rotten bastard," Quinn moved his hulking form out from behind the stand of microphones at his press conference to illustrate how Perreault got hurt.
"Yanic slipped by him. What he did was trap (Perreault's) leg between his and the boards. Maybe it's not a knee, but he went like this," said Quinn, swinging his right leg around. "Rotten bastard."
Quinn then smiled a bit.
He said club doctors told him after the game Perreault had suffered damage to two ligaments and was finished for the season.
"Today they're hoping it's only one," said Quinn, though that's not much of a consolation.
Quinn said he didn't think "it was a fair hit when it happened, but that's a subjective sort of thing. I could be wrong. When I first saw it, I was quite upset, but that was with the result more than anything else. I felt a lot of anger."
Quinn added he was upset for Perreault, who he said has "been through a lot of crap" this season. Quinn didn't like looking out onto the ice and seeing Senators goaltender Tom Barrasso, the guy Quinn said caused most of that crap. Barrasso, while he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins, put Perreault out for 23 games with a slash that broke his arm.
"I was upset more because of my feelings for Yanic than anything else," said Quinn, who couldn't resist the chance to take another shot at the Senators.
"For a team that likes to say they turn their cheek, a lot of players get hurt when they play them," said Quinn. "And not just our team."
The players weren't as quick to condemn York.
"I didn't see it, really, to be honest with you," said Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph. "Usually when you see a dirty play, you recognize it as a dirty play right away and I didn't realize it.
"I've seen that happen many times along the boards. There's a position you get in where the leg is dragging behind you and you're very vulnerable. You've got the guy beat and then he steps in."
The loss of Perreault has been greeted here as a significant blow to the club, an interesting reaction since some in the media who are wringing their hands now were the same people who were quick to condemn Perreault's winning of his contract arbitration during the summer and offered his name up first whenever talk of a trade to help the club came up.
Perreault's absence - for as long as it may be - does hurt the Leafs on a couple of different levels.
Firstly, they lose the league's premier faceoff man who won 61.8 percent of his draws this season (he won an astounding 75 percent of his faceoffs in Game 1 before leaving after the York hit). Having a dominating faceoff guy like that is important to puck possession and is invaluable on the road where Quinn won't have the last change of lines.
When a player like Perreault wins draws and the Leafs get possession of the puck, they can get it back to the defence or dump it to a safe place and change lines on the fly, giving them a chance to get the matchup they prefer.
In Game 1, for instance, Quinn kept Leafs captain Mats Sundin away from Ottawa's Radek Bonk who had done a great job shutting down Sundin over the last couple of years. Sundin's empty net goal in Game 1 was his first in two years against Ottawa.
Losing Perreault also hurts winger Sergei Berezin since the two of them had been an effective duo.
"It's a tough loss for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed," said Berezin. "He's the perfect player for me. He wins every faceoff and he gets me the puck. It's tough for him, tough for me, tough for the team."
Perreault was also the Leafs leading scorer against the Senators this season with six points in the five games and had set up Darcy Tucker for what turned out to be the winning goal in Game 1.
The loss of Perreault, possibly for the long term, is another blow for a team still dealing with the loss of defenceman Bryan Berard to a career-threatening eye injury which also came against the Senators.
"Yanic's injury is hanging a cloud a bit over the happy feelings we about the the game," said Joseph. "We've had several (injuries) this year and if anything we've had experience dealing with it. We're not immune to it. We've been able to have guys step up."
If there's a positive to the situation, it's that the Leafs are much better equipped to deal with Perreault's loss than they were, say, last spring when they lost Igor Korolev with a fractured ankle in the first game of the playoffs.
Quinn can turn to rookie Kevyn Adams when he needs a key faceoff won. He posted a very respectable 56.5 percentage in the regular season.
As far as line combinations go, Quinn has a few options for Game 2 Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre. The first line of Sundin, Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund will stay intact, but after that it's anybody's guess. Quinn said he'll likely bring Alyn McCauley back into the fold and put him on the wing, possibly with Dmitri Khristich and Nik Antropov in the middle.
That would leave Berezin with Korolev, moving from wing to centre, with Tucker on the other side.
Maybe.
When it comes to coaches' plans or the status of injuries in the playoffs, nothing is for sure.
Tuesday April 11 2000 Markov on the mend
For a guy who did not score a goal all season, the Maple Leafs' Danny Markov certainly was a media darling yesterday.
With a gaggle of reporters surrounding him after the Toronto workout at Maple Leaf Gardens, inquiring minds wanted to know if the 23-year-old defenceman would be ready to go tomorrow for Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference quarter-final against the Ottawa Senators.
"I think so," Markov said. "I felt no pain. I am ready.
"It has been tough, but I felt pretty good on the ice. I skated well. It is not sore but I am still going to be careful."
Markov suffered a fracture in his left foot during a game against the Senators on March 23 at the Corel Centre. He resumed skating four days ago and appeared right at home during practice yesterday.
"Danny looked good out there," goalie Curtis Joseph said. "He is a very effective, valuable guy for us, especially with his long reach."
Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn was impressed with Markov but stopped short of assuring he would be in the lineup tomorrow.
"(Markov) had his regular exuberance out there," Quinn said. "Obviously the bone has healed and he has been cleared. It all depends on his pain threshold."
Keep in mind Quinn does not like to show his hand during playoff time, especially when it comes to injuries.
"It becomes intentional, guys taking runs at a player they know is injured," Quinn said. "Especially at this time of the year."
Defenceman Chris McAllister skated before practice and hopes to begin working out with the team later this week.
McAllister fractured his right foot while blocking a shot during a 4-0 loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago on March 30.
Forward Garry Valk, who missed the Leafs' 4-2 win Saturday over the Tampa Bay Lightning when a rib injury flared up, was back on the ice yesterday and proclaimed himself fit to play.
"I feel great," said Valk, who worked on a line with Kevyn Adams and Tie Domi. "I had some good hits against the Islanders (Friday night).
"I'm ready to go."
Defenceman Dmitry Yushkevich, who also sat out against Tampa Bay, returned to the ice and is expected to play against the Senators.
Saturday April 8, 2000 Clash with Senators set
Bring on the Senators.
The first playoff matchup between Ontario's two National Hockey League entries is a go following events that transpired hundreds of miles away from both cities.
Washington defeated the Red Wings 4-2 in Detroit before the Maple Leafs' 2-1 win here over the Islanders was in the books, meaning Toronto and Ottawa are locked in third and sixth place respectively in the Eastern Conference. Game 1 at the Air Canada Centre will likely be Thursday.
"It is going to be something special, not only for the players, but for the fans," Maple Leafs' goalie Glenn Healy said after his 19-save effort last night. "The good thing is anyone can escape the East because of parity."
Though the Leafs expected to draw the Senators, most of them are pleased to have such a tough test right off the bat. They were 1-3-1 in the season's series and in 10 games since Toronto came to the Eastern Conference, every game has been decided by two goals or less.
"They are going to be two loud buildings," goalie Curtis Joseph said. "We have had our problems (at the Corel Centre), but this is a new season."
Ottawa has suffered as many injuries of late as the Leafs, including a hand injury to starting goalie Tom Barrasso.
The Leafs are still alive in the race to get 100 points -- one better than the franchise record -- if they can win their final regular-season game at the Air Canada Centre tonight against Tampa.
"I think that is where the significance lies tomorrow," general manager/coach Pat Quinn said. "It (100) would be something to crow about down the line."
Last night wasn't without a scary moment, as Islanders' goaltender Kevin Weekes ended up in hospital after a second-period collision with Toronto's Darcy Tucker. Defenceman Ian Herbers tried to tie Tucker up but drove him into Weekes.
Weekes, a Toronto native, was prone on the ice for several minutes, complaining of a tingling in his fingers that required his head and spine to be immobilized. X-rays at a trauma centre were negative.
"I feel badly but I couldn't cut around him," Tucker said, after giving some encouragement to the goalie as the stretcher left the rink.
Only a day earlier, Quinn and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman crossed swords in the press. Bettman said Quinn and Joseph were lone voices in the wilderness about crease-crashing. But Tucker was blameless on last night's crack-up and Herbers was called for interference.
The Leafs had to get by without another starting defenceman after Dmitry Yushkevich was scratched at the morning skate.
Joseph will play tonight and get as much as four days rest before Game 1. The Leafs suffered three major injuries at the Corel Centre this year, to Bryan Berard, Sundin and Danny Markov.
"Hopefully that is just one of those things," Quinn said.
Friday April 7, 2000 Leafs win division, lose Berezin
The banged-up Maple Leafs yesterday limped to their first NHL division title in 37 years without even stepping on to the ice.
The Ottawa Senators' 2-1 loss last night to the lowly New York Islanders at the Corel Centre allowed the Leafs to clinch top spot in the Northeast Division. No Leafs team had finished first since 1962-63.
But any celebrations were dampened at the news that yet another regular has been bitten by the injury bug. Forward Sergei Berezin injured his right shoulder during a 4-2 loss Wednesday to the Pittsburgh Penguins and did not accompany the team to Long Island, where the Leafs take on the Islanders tonight (7:30, Sportsnet, TALK-640).
"The biggest thing is it shows in the big picture that this team has taken a step up," general manager/coach Pat Quinn said of the division title. "That's our second pretty good regular season (40-plus wins in consecutive seasons). We started at a level and have shown what happened since isn't a mirage."
The 1962-63 Leafs finished first in a six-team National Hockey League with a record of 35-23-12 and went on to the Stanley Cup.
"Leafs fans have waited a long time for this," said Dick Duff, a member of the 1962-63 team. "They deserve this."
A looming Leafs-Senators series would be the first playoff meeting in the burgeoning rivalry. All 10 games between the teams during the past two seasons were decided by two or fewer goals.
Should that matchup come to pass, Toronto can take consolation in the fact that Ottawa is banged up as well. Goalie Tom Barrasso is out with a bruised left index finger, while forward Shawn McEachern's fractured left thumb won't allow him to return to the lineup until late in the first round, at the earliest.
The Leafs remain the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, three points behind the second-place Washington Capitals. Should the Leafs finish the season tied with the Capitals, Toronto would finish second because of more victories.
Both teams have two games remaining.
The Leafs will have home-ice advantage in the first round, no matter the opponent. Question is, how many more of their front-line players will be in the infirmary by that time?
Quinn said Berezin is day to day. When asked whether Berezin could play if the playoffs were to open tonight, Quinn said, "No."
Wednesday April 5, 2000 Berard recovering from eye surgery
Bryan Berard, speaking publicly for the first time since his horrific eye injury a month ago, said today he is hopeful of resuming his professional hockey career.
"My life is hockey and it is a tough time for me right now because I don't know if I will get back on the ice," Berard, wearing dark sunglasses, said during a video conference from Providence, R.I. "But I believe I will.
"I believe that I will see out of this eye and get back on that ice. With the support of my family, the Toronto organization and the fans, I just have to have faith in God that he can bring me back my sight. I have to believe in that."
The Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman was accidentally hit in the face by Marian Hossa's stick blade in a game against the Ottawa Senators on March 11 at the Corel Centre in Kanata, Ont.
The 23-year-old, who was not wearing a visor, suffered a cut cornea, detached retina and the orbital bone surrounding the eye was fractured.
The retina in his right eye was successfully re-attached in a 41/2-hour surgical procedure March 21. But doctors say they are uncertain whether Berard will regain the sight in his eye.
Berard said that uncertainty remains today.
"They (doctors) don't know," he said. "It's just time.
"That retina can become detached again with time if there is a lot of scar tissue built up. We just have to wait. I know now that I still do have some blood in my eye. They can't tell too much with that, they just have to wait until that recycles. They hope that it is not dried up because if it is then it will be another surgery procedure. It's just time."
Berard said he doesn't blame Hossa for the incident.
"It was an accident," Berard said. "It's part of the game.
"I don't bame him in any way."
Amazingly, Berard said if he resumes his pro career, he likely won't don a protective visor.
"I don't like to wear a visor," he said. "It can help you in injuries but I think with this injury, the way the stick came from underneath, it maybe would've stopped some of the damage but it still would have hit me in the eye.
"I think that's up to the player. If a guy feels more comfortable on the ice wearing a visor, good. I mean we're professional athletes. I think we can make that choice. I'm for and I'm not for visors. I'm kind of in the middle."
But Berard said he is prepared if doctors tell him he is finished as a professional hockey player.
"I'm still young, I'm 23 years old," he said. "I'm going to give this the hardest fight of my life to get back on the ice.
"But if not, there is something out there for me. I just have to wait and see."
In 64 games this season, Berard had three goals and 27 assists.
The Leafs struggled after Berard's loss, losing five of six games.
Berard was the No. 1 pick in the 1995 entry draft but, after he refused to play for Ottawa, the Senators traded him to the New York Islanders along with Don Beaupre and Martin Straka for Wade Redden and Damian Rhodes.
Toronto acquired the six-foot-one, 190-pound American for goaltender Felix Potvin on Jan. 9, 1999.
He had played for a Detroit team in the OHL, and he was defenceman of the year in Canadian junior hockey in 1996. He stepped up to the NHL and made an immediate impression, earning the Calder Trophy in 1997 as top rookie.
Besides his Olympics participation, Berard skated for the U.S. at the 1995 and 1996 world junior tournaments, and at the 1997 world championships.
Tuesday April 4, 2000 Farkas likely to join Leafs after Frozen Four
Jeff Farkas is itching to get into Toronto's lineup and the Maple Leafs are itching to get him in.
But they'll have to wait at least a couple of days before they know whether they can scratch each other's back.
Farkas, Toronto's first choice, 57th overall, in the 1997 draft, skates for Boston College. On Thursday, the Eagles will meet St. Lawrence on the opening day of the NCAA's Frozen Four championship tournament in Providence, R.I.
If Boston College advances to the final, the Leafs cannot negotiate with Farkas until Sunday or Monday.
If Boston College loses, talks can open immediately after the game, and the Leafs would try to get Farkas north as soon as possible, maybe as early as the weekend for the final regular season game against Tampa Bay at the Air Canada Centre.
"Our scouts like him a lot," Leaf executive Bill Watters, who handles contract talks for general manager Pat Quinn, told National Post. "He is a pretty good hockey player. He shoots the puck like a rocket."
Tuesday April 4, 2000 Lack of shots sets a record
This was one team record that belongs in the Maple Leafs Hall of Shame. Zero shots in a period -- a mark that can be tied, but never broken. "I have never experienced something like that before," a perturbed Pat Quinn said after watching his club accomplish something no other Maple Leafs team had ever managed to do. "Road hockey on Glennie Avenue (in Hamilton, where Quinn was born and grew up), maybe. It was sad, really."
Quinn was referring to the second period of Toronto's 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres last night, a 20-minute span in which his team was outshot 11-0. Going shotless in a period was a franchise first. Four consecutive minor penalties handed the Leafs in an eight-minute span of the period contributed to their offensive futility. "I think it might have happened to us in Florida (against the Panthers) when I was with the Los Angeles Kings," centre Yanic Perreault said when asked if he had been part of a shotless period before. "We spent most of the second period (last night) killing penalties. They made calls against us all night."
To be fair, it wasn't the worst period the Leafs have played all season. Part of the credit must go to a solid Buffalo defence, which helped the Sabres move past the Carolina Hurricanes by one point into the eighth and final playoff spot in the NHL Eastern Conference.
"They ran into penalty trouble, which cut into their offensive time," Sabres defenceman Jay McKee said. "Still I can't recall being a part of a period like that, even in minor hockey. I know we've had a couple of games where the opposition had just two or three shots in a period, but never in my life did I go through something like this. It was something to see. It really showed a full team commitment to defence on our part."
Saturday April 1, 2000 Brighter news on Berard front
A most eventful month of March for the Maple Leafs has ended with some good news on the Bryan Berard front.
Pam Berard, mother of the injured defenceman, said Bryan could recognize a brighter light than last week in his damaged right eye in a check-up by specialist Dr. Stanley Chang in New York yesterday.
It was Chang who performed a 41/2-hour operation last week to re-attach Berard's retina after a wayward stick likely ended his career in a March 11 game in Ottawa.
"It is a matter of being patient and praying," Pam Berard said from her Woonsocket, R.I., home last night.
"He will see a doctor here next week and see Chang again in two weeks. He is resting comfortably and hopes to be with his team in the playoffs. We appreciate what everyone in Toronto has done for Bryan."
The schedule that began with a 4-0 Glenn Healy shutout of Atlanta on Feb. 29 ended Thursday with Healy in goal for a 4-0 loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago.
In between, Berard was hurt and six Maple Leafs were sidelined in the space of 18 days, ranging from a few weeks to a few days.
The Leafs beat powerhouses St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey and Ottawa to end a cross-Canada sweep.
But they fell four times to three non-playoff teams.
Tonight, Toronto is in Washington to face a red-hot team they might well have to get by to win the Eastern crown, a title still within reach with five games remaining to play.
Yesterday was a good time to catch their breath and general manager/coach Pat Quinn used it to pull captain Mats Sundin off the ice early for a private talk.
"We talked about the season, what is ahead and what is going to happen," Sundin said. "We are still in a great position. (Bryan) will meet all the players at one point."
Sundin was asked if the team had learned to deal with the pain of losing Berard.
"That is the first time I have ever experienced anything like that with a player," Sundin said of his good off-ice pal Berard.
"You could tell the first game back against Chicago after it happened that we were disturbed."
But the coming playoffs have given the Maple Leafs something else to occupy their minds.
"It should be a great test (tonight against the Capitals)," Sundin said. "No one believes we can handle the heat, but we play better in those situations against good teams."