NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update:
Wednesday April 28, 1999 7:20PM EST
Wednesday April 28, 1999 Domi cleared by NHL
No slur, no spit, you must acquit.
That's what the National Hockey League determined last night after wrapping up a day-long investigation into Sandy McCarthy's claim that Tie Domi hurled a racial epithet at him Monday night during a heated moment of Game 3. The Flyers' McCarthy also was let off for allegedly spitting on the Maple Leafs' Domi.
"There was no corroboration of (McCarthy's) story," Leafs president Ken Dryden said. "We're relieved."
Both players and the on-ice and off-ice officials were interviewed by the league's security and hockey operations department. Various videotapes were checked but revealed no audio or visual clues.
"After a thorough investigation ... we have concluded this allegation cannot be independently substantiated," NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell said in a release. "It is extremely unfortunate any incident would arise to distract from a highly competitive series."
McCarthy, whose father is black and mother is a native Canadian, maintained earlier in the day that Domi had slurred him. In fact, both players stuck to their guns yesterday.
"He called me a big, f---ing n...," McCarthy said at the Flyers training base in Voorhees, N.J., before the announcement. "There's no doubt whatsoever. He's like a rat trying to hide. He's a little weasel. He has to tell the truth -- if he's a real man. I used to look up to Tie. I have no respect for him any more."
Flyers general manager Bobby Clarke backed his player, but never expected Domi would be missing from Game 4.
"There's nothing the league can do -- it's one man's word against the other," Clarke said. "But I don't think McCarthy would make it up out of the blue."
The Leafs expected Domi to be exonerated because no Flyers rushed to back up McCarthy's story and Domi has no history of inflammatory comments, despite his many run-ins with opponents.
"What's worse, (a racial slur) or someone who accuses you of it and it's not true?" Leafs coach Pat Quinn asked. "There's no place for that kind of stuff at all."
The decision not to discipline McCarthy -- no mention of the spitting was in the league release despite Domi showing the evidence on his face and sweater to the referees -- was curious. Some suspected McCarthy levelled the charge at Domi to distract from a possible spitting suspension. A league official said last night there was no way to determine from where the spittle had been launched, only that Domi had been slimed.
Twice within 16 hours, Domi held his composure in front of cameras, tape recorders and note pads. He said his biggest concern beyond this series is how his carefully cultivated image as an off-ice community leader could suffer. He held his first sports celebrities dinner a few weeks ago in aid of Variety Village.
"A lot of kids I help out are black and I don't want them to think that I say these things," Domi said.
Domi spoke to agent Don Meehan about the possibility of a lawsuit against McCarthy, but dismissed the idea. He said the Flyers know in their hearts he's innocent.
"Everyone on their team knows what I'm like, they have respect for me," he said. "If he (McCarthy) is trying to egg me on to a great fight, he'll get one down the road. He has been on three different teams in a year and now everyone knows why."
The league has been plagued by racial slurs the past two seasons. Chris Simon and Craig Berube served suspensions for insulting black players Mike Grier and Peter Worrell respectively, while Chris Gratton and McCarthy were cleared of speaking and gesturing in objectionable fashion to Worrell.
Tuesday April 27, 1999 Flyers-Maple Leafs game marred by racial accusation
Philadelphia's Sandy McCarthy accused Toronto's Tie Domi of using a racial slur Monday night during their playoff game. Domi denied it, and NHL officials were looking into the accusation.
"He dropped an N-bomb on me," said McCarthy, who sparred verbally with Domi several times during the second period of Toronto's 2-1 victory.
Domi said McCarthy, who is part black and part native American, spat in his face. He flatly denied the accusation, which threatened to embroil the NHL in another racial controversy in the middle of the playoffs.
"He spit in my face, so maybe he was looking for some excuse," Domi said. "I would never use those kind of words, and he knows that. He can say what he wants."
Before a faceoff in the second period, McCarthy and Domi were trash-talking. McCarthy switched sides to be next to Domi, and they continued jawing.
Domi mocked McCarthy by shaking his knees and motioning his hands as if to encourage McCarthy to keep talking.
At the next stoppage, Domi skated away from a tussle in the corner, and McCarthy motioned to Domi and flapped his arms like a chicken. Domi merely rolled his eyes.
McCarthy said Domi used the slur before the faceoff. Referees and officials told McCarthy they "didn't hear anything."
"You speak words like that, you better be ready to defend yourself," McCarthy said. "It's the first time it's happened to me in my career. And I think the NHL should do something about it."
NHL supervisor John D'Amico said commissioner Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell, the league disciplinarian, would be informed of the incident immediately. D'Amico said officials on the ice, including referee Paul Stewart, told him they didn't hear what McCarthy and Domi said.
"I'll phone them and tell them exactly what has happened and it's up to them on how they want to investigate," D'Amico said.
Stewart declined comment, and so did Flyers general manager Bob Clarke.
"I'm not talking to you," Clarke said. "Go talk to the players."
Tuesday April 27, 1999 Joseph foils the Flyers
Maple Leafs fans can thank their lucky stars that Ken Dryden craves milk shakes.
The Leafs general manager made a late-night trip to a convenience store last summer for some ice cream to make milk shakes and in the process bumped into Don Meehan, the player agent for Curtis Joseph.
A week later, the Leafs signed Joseph, then a free agent, to a four-year $24-million US contract. The Leafs goaltender proved he was worth every penny last night.
Along with big efforts from defenceman Daniil Markov and forward Steve Thomas, Joseph led the Leafs to a key 2-1 victory against the Flyers.
The victory, before a sellout crowd of 19,595 at the First Union Center, enabled the Leafs to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series. Game 4 is back here tomorrow.
Joseph frustrated the physical Flyers by making 40 saves in Game 3. The Flyers outshot Toronto 41-21 and Joseph has stopped 84 of the 88 shots he has faced in this series.
"He was lucky and he was good. That's a tough combination," Flyers coach Roger Neilson said.
The Flyers played another strong game, outchancing the Leafs 26-10.
Joseph didn't discount Neilson's feeling that the Leafs goalkeeper was lucky.
"Of course, always," the humble Joseph said. "You have to be lucky at times, you have to force them into making plays you want them to make."
And Joseph needed help from his teammates.
The Leafs played a collapsing, cover-the-middle style of defence that was effective, especially when killing penalties.
The Leafs killed off each of the Flyers' five power-play opportunities, including a two-man advantage for 1:36 in the first period, during which Joseph made a brilliant stop on Rod Brind'Amour from in close.
The Flyers are 1-for-14 with the man advantage in the series and haven't connected on the power play since John LeClair's second-period goal in Game 1.
"We were trying to cover inside more than outside in our own end," said Markov, who played a whopping 26:04. "We didn't do that in the other games."
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and Toronto led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Karl Dykhuis, on a shot that deflected off Leafs defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich, and Mike Johnson from a bad angle traded goals in the first period.
Johnson's goal, sneaking through the pads of a shaky John Vanbiesbrouck, snapped a 17-game goal-less drought for the winger, dating back to March 9.
Thomas provided the game-winning goal on the power play, 40 seconds into the second period. The Leafs have one power-play goal in 17 chances. Vanbiesbrouck didn't seem set for Thomas' shot.
It was a gratifying moment for the gritty Thomas, who had been a target of the Flyers all evening after he got away with an elbow to the head of Philadelphia defenceman Eric Desjardins in Game 2.
"It was unbelievably satisfying," Thomas said of his second goal of the series. "I've never had two days like this before."
The Flyers outshot Toronto 26-9 during the final 40 minutes. But after Joseph made a big left-pad save on Keith Jones with 10:30 remaining, the Leafs were solid defensively.
They also had to kill off a selfish high-sticking penalty by captain Mats Sundin on Flyers forward John LeClair with 1:05 to go. The Flyers failed to put a shot on Joseph during the final 65 seconds.
"I thought our team defence did a great job," Joseph said. "They kept the middle clear for me and the defence really was leaning on their big guys in front. We blocked a lot of shots and probably did as good a job defensively as we did all year."
Leafs defenceman Alexander Karpovtsev missed the third period with a shoulder strain.
Monday April 26, 1999 League won't hit Leafs hard
Neither Steve Thomas nor Kris King will be suspended for their questionable hits during Game 2 of the heated Maple Leafs-Flyers series.
According to Leafs coach Pat Quinn, the league assured team president Ken Dryden yesterday that no suspension would be forthcoming.
"Mr. Dryden called the league (yesterday) and they said there is nothing under review nor will any hearing be called (today)," Quinn said.
When reached last night, NHL senior vice-president and chief disciplinarian Colin Campbell refused to confirm Quinn's story.
"I wish I could say something, but I can't," Campbell said. "It's playoff time."
Yes, it is. And this series has heated up off the ice to that playoff intensity.
The war of words hit a boiling point following the game Saturday when Flyers general manager Bob Clarke charged in The Toronto Sun that Thomas' elbow to the head of Flyers defenceman Eric Desjardins was "deliberate" and that King "could have killed" Adam Burt when he slammed him from behind into the end boards.
King was given a two-minute boarding penalty for his third-period hit, while Thomas escaped cleanly from his second-period run-in.
"Maybe I should start sending tapes in of them running our goalies," Quinn said.
"And does anyone remember what (Flyers defenceman Dan) McGillis did to Igor Korolev (in Game 1)? He didn't intend to break his leg, but he intended to injure him. He pile-drived him into the boards."
Quinn also felt Thomas' elbow, which Desjardins claimed knocked him unconscious, looked worse than it appeared because the Flyers defenceman laid on the ice for a few minutes.
"He was trying to draw a penalty," Quinn said. "Maybe he thought he was in the Italian Soccer League."
Meanwhile, Clarke was at it again yesterday, echoing his sentiments of the previous night.
"To deliberately go after another player's head and not make any attempt to go after the puck, I think Thomas knows that is wrong," Clarke said.
Thomas laughed off Clarke's charges.
"I got the puck and put it in the net," said Thomas, referring to a goal which was disallowed because the whistle had been blown after Desjardins crumpled to the ice.
Thomas, who wound up scoring the tying goal with 1:59 remaining, did have a chance to review the videotape of his elbow on Desjardins and he continues to stick by his story that he hit the Flyers defenceman with his shoulder.
Sunday April 25, 1999 Fan faith in Leafs rewarded
Faith is everything for a Maple Leafs fan -- and it paid off big time last night.
With less than a minute to go in the game, captain Mats Sundin drilled a beauty to send the crowd at the Air Canada Centre into a blue-and-white frenzy as the Leafs overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period.
Despite the Leafs' flat performance and disappointing loss in Game 1, Leafs supporters just knew their hockey heroes would come through in the clutch against the Philadelphia Flyers.
They did: 2-1. Seconds earlier, Steve Thomas had the tying goal.
Supporters were chanting "Go Leafs Go" and waving Maple Leaf flags before the start of the game.
They erupted with cheers, applause and a standing ovation when the players took to the ice.
"Mats Sundin is going to come through and he's going to show he's worth all the money he's being paid," predicted Jonathon Lapid of Thornhill, one of many fans wearing a Leafs jersey.
Fan Aaron Miller, who at the age of 12 has already been a hometown fan for seven years, said the Flyers are a powerful team with players like John LeClair and Eric Desjardins but the Leafs' slicker speed and goaltending with Curtis Joseph gives them the edge.
"It will be close but the Leafs will win" the series.
Last night fans blamed the Leafs' flat play in the first game on a lengthy layoff as the season wound down.
"I think the Leafs are going to come alive. They better," Dave Hall said. "I think they have something to prove."
Hall added that the Buds, a team short on playoff experience, were probably feeling the pressure of playing in Toronto, where hockey is king.
The series now moves to Philadelphia and Curtis McCarthy, brother of Flyers' forward Sandy McCarthy, said the Leafs were lucky to win and had a warning for Toronto fans.
"It will be a hostile environment in Philly," he said. "The Leafs are in for a dogfight."
Sunday April 25, 1999 Better late than never
It took the Maple Leafs almost two full games to figure out how to beat John Vanbiesbrouck.
It took them just 66 seconds to do it again. And just in the nick of time, too.
The Philadelphia Flyers came within one minute and 59 seconds of grabbing a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven quarter-final when Steve Thomas startled the Flyers' near-perfect goalie with a quick backhand off the rush.
Leafs captain Mats Sundin then scored the dramatic game-winner 66 seconds later, roofing Sergei Berezin's rebound just as the big Swede went sprawling to the ice.
"Not getting any goals can really play on your mind," Sundin said.
"It's one thing if you are getting a lot of chances, but we weren't getting much of those either. But we hung in there and hung in there. This club showed a lot of character."
The victory evened the series at 1-1. The competition resumes tomorrow in Philadelphia where the Flyers were 21-9-11 during the regular season.
"You know what. The crowd really helped us," said Thomas, who ducked around defenceman Chris Therien at the Philly blue line for his tying goal.
"Once we got that first goal, it was deafening in there. It was the most noise since the inception of this place. It gave us a great rush."
The way the Flyers figured it, Thomas should not even have been in the game after he struck defenceman Eric Desjardins with an elbow in the second period.
But neither referee Rob Shick nor Stephen Walkom saw it that way and Thomas made the most of his second chance.
"We played almost a perfect game," Flyers coach Roger Neilson said. "We worked hard, but you have to give them credit. They stole it at the end. I know (general manager) Bobby Clarke thought (Thomas' hit on Desjardins) was a suspendable penalty."
While the Flyers likely will seek league discipline against the Leafs winger, Thomas insisted he was innocent.
"I didn't think I elbowed him," Thomas said. "Did it look like I did? The ref told me it was a clean hit. I don't want to hurt anyone bad, just like I wouldn't want to be hurt, either."
Several Flyers took runs at Thomas after the incident. Later, Desjardins launched Garry Valk into Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph, drawing an early third-period penalty.
Still, the Leafs' offence continued to stagger until coach Pat Quinn began fidgeting with his forward combinationslate in the game.
The juggling paid off when he switched Berezin to Sundin's line.
"We had nothing to lose," Berezin said of the line change. "What we were doing wasn't working. Hopefully, this gets us going in the next game."
Thomas' goal ended the Leafs' string of 159 minutes and 29 seconds without a goal in the playoffs, one that extended back to Game 6 of Toronto's ill-fated first-round series loss to the 1996 St. Louis Blues.
Up until Toronto's late heroics, though, the flat performance was reminiscent of previous Leafs teams which had so much trouble scoring.
An 0-for-7 power play almost did them in again. The Flyers, who have killed off all 13 manpower disadvantages in the series, limited the Leafs special team to just four shots last night.
Winger Keith Jones scored Philadelphia's lone goal at 11:09 of the first period.
Saturday April 24, 1999 Korolev can't catch a break
Igor Korolev wore his Maple Leafs ball cap backward as he leaned on his crutches, a sad indication of which way his season has gone.
He won't be wearing his jersey any more after a mystery leg ailment suffered on Thursday night turned out to be a broken left fibula, the smaller bone in the lower leg. Not even a Leafs run to the Stanley Cup final will be enough time to get back into action.
The injury happened in the second period of his first game back from a month's absence with a shattered right finger. He bent his leg awkwardly after colliding with Philadelphia's Dan McGillis. Korolev attempted to crawl to the Leafs bench, but had to be helped the rest of the way.
"It wasn't that bad last night, but I came in today and it was really swollen," Korolev said. "I had an x-ray taken and it was disappointing. I only have bad luck now, it seems.
"I had a good season, but the (playoffs) were a shorter season than I thought."
Korolev had in many respects come back from the dead after fading in the second half of last season.
With a new contract and centring the creative Sergei Berezin and the industrious Garry Valk, he reinvented himself.
His 34 assists were a career high, despite missing 13 games with the wrecked finger and three other games with back spasms. Todd Warriner likely will replace him in the lineup for tonight's Game 2 against the Flyers.
Mats Sundin, who has been blessed where injuries are concerned over his career, couldn't believe his teammate's string of misfortune.
"We don't even know if his finger will heal the right way," Sundin said.
Korolev wasn't sure if his rusty state had contributed to the injury, though associate general manager Mike Smith pointed out it is tough to jump into playoff hockey when you've missed so much time.
The Leafs had used a special ultrasound treatment to stimulate healing in Korolev's finger, which contributed to his return two weeks earlier than anticipated.
But the 28-year-old's leg injury is a different animal. He will be examined again in a couple of days when the full extent of his rehabilitation will be known. As of now, it doesn't look like he will require surgery.
Saturday April 24, 1999 Big guns fire blanks: Usually high-powered attack off target as Flyers bang out win
The NHL's crack-shot team forgot to renew its hunting licence when the big-game season started last night.
The Maple Leafs even had fish in a barrel, but missed a couple of gimmes early against the Flyers, as well as the first post-season penalty shot in club history. It all led to a 3-0 loss in the Leafs' first Stanley Cup playoff test in three years.
The 268 goals that led the league suddenly rang as hollow as the goal posts behind a good -- and a bit lucky -- John Vanbiesbrouck.
"In our regular season, some of those pucks might have hit something and gone back in," winger Derek King said of Toronto's often charmed life on offence. "Tonight, it didn't happen."
The most sour face in the Leafs' dressing room -- outside of Igor Korolev, whose lower-leg injury likely will keep him out of Game 2 tomorrow -- belonged to Steve Thomas. He was 0-for-4 in the pivotal first period on close-range shots.
"Now it's a challenge for us to come back," Thomas said, after Vanbiesbrouck somehow got a mitt on an empty-net shot during a 5-on-3. "If the chances weren't there, then we'd have something to worry about. But we just need the same effort (in Game 2)."
Then came Mats Sundin, cheered wildly when he was shown in a pilot's seat and uniform in a pre-game video, but heckled by some for flubbing a third-period penalty shot.
"I don't know how many pucks we left on the goal line," Sundin said, after his freebie failed to duplicate a glove-hand wrist shot he used to score on the same goalie a month ago. "But we were down 2-0 and kept coming in the third (out-shooting the Flyers 11-5)."
The Flyers, minus Eric Lindros and later Valeri Zelepukin with a sprained knee, used their size advantage to the hilt, getting the Leafs off their rush game and bogging them down in scrums. An early goal by Zelepukin, after a Curtis Joseph clearing attempt was picked off by Daymond Langkow, put the Leafs off balance.
"We somehow decided we'd be a shoot-the-puck-in team and we're not very good at that," coach Pat Quinn said. "We don't have to scrum to prove to them how tough we are. We haven't won a game like that all year."
Another lesson the Leafs should have absorbed by now is to tone down the pretty perimeter stuff on the power play, which is a lousy 1-for-34 in their past eight games. Their penalty killing, last in the league at home, gave up another goal to John LeClair on a properly executed 5-on-3.
The Leafs did carry the play in the third, but Sundin was silenced, King and Steve Sullivan over-handled the puck on a 2-on-1 and Sergei Berezin came up short as well.
Eric Desjardins settled the issue with an empty-net goal with 16.5 seconds to play.
The shutout was the first Toronto has suffered at home in the playoffs since the infamous 8-0 Sweater Night fiasco against the Red Wings 11 years ago, when angry fans littered the ice with jerseys. But last night no one expected the Leafs' goalless streak in the playoffs to stretch to 1,092 days, back to when Wendel Clark scored in the final game of the 1996 playoff loss to the Blues.
With the return of the two-referee system, neither club got away with any behind-the-scenes shenanigans, with Terry Gregson and Richard Trottier combining to call 15 minors. The predicted demolition derby in both creases failed to materialize, though the Leafs may step up their crowding if they falter again tomorrow.
Thursday April 22, 1999 Cujo remains cool as all eyes on him
The Maple Leafs could fold in the first round or Curtis Joseph could make chiropractic history.
He has already carried 23 other Leafs and the dreams of thousands of fans on his back for 82 games and the worst stress may be yet to come. But if there's a goaltender who can take Toronto deeper into the playoffs than it has been since 1967, it figures to be Joseph.
"There is always pressure on me," the Leafs' Hart Trophy hopeful said with his customary coolness. "I think we're still the underdogs going into the playoffs no matter who we meet and that helps me get ready."
MONEY GOALIE
When the Leafs gave Joseph a $24-million US contract, it was partly with his playoff track record in mind. He had a sparkling 1.93 goals-against average in 12 post-season games last year, the second consecutive spring he had led the Oilers into the second round. With the St. Louis Blues in 1992-93, he almost single-handedly put St. Louis past the Leafs in a seven-game Norris Division final.
But few thought his signing here would work out this well, with the Leafs garnering 97 points and fourth seed in the East. Joseph played 67 games, recording a club-record 35 wins and exuding a confidence that helped the wallflower Leafs come out kicking their heels like Fred Astaire.
There was more than enough evidence that their sudden bursts of offensive creativity, pinching defence and overtime derring-do was sewn to their Cujo security blanket.
"I wouldn't say that having him back there makes us too (reckless)," winger Garry Valk said. "We just have a different kind of makeup on this team. We have three lines that can score and one crash line that checks, where most other teams have it the other way around.
"But we can't risk all our defence to play offence. I think in the past few games heading into playoffs we've played better defensively (14 goals against in the past eight matches)."
Valk also observed that Joseph's most difficult games are those with fewer shots, compared to his record of 14-2-1 when making 30 saves or more.
"When we get confident is when we see he's in the game like that," Valk said.
Joseph tried to play down talk that the Leafs will rise or fall against the Flyers solely on his fortunes.
"We have got something good going now and I think we'll learn a lot more about ourselves in the playoffs," Joseph said of the Leafs' historic lack of post-season success. "We need some experience in this situation and now we'll get it."