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Maple Leafs, Panthers play out the string with youngsters

NHL: Preseason-Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa SenatorsSep 21st, 2025; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Artur Akhtyamov (70) loses sight of the puck following a shot by Ottawa Senators center Ridly Greig (71) in the third period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Florida Panthers in something of an anticlimactic Saturday night bout.

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers (37-38-4, 78 points) and their 2025 Eastern Conference semifinal victims find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with three games remaining.

The Maple Leafs (32-33-14, 78 points), who will miss their first postseason since 2016, continued their downward spiral on Thursday night with an ugly 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders. Rookie netminder Artur Akhtyamov faced 44 shots in his first NHL start.

“We had 60 shot attempts or so tonight. Fifteen of them hit the net,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said after his team’s fourth consecutive loss. “That’s really a lot of the story for me.”

The silver lining to Toronto’s late-season turmoil is the potential to rescue its first-round pick. The Leafs dealt it to the Boston Bruins in March 2025 as part of the trade to acquire defenseman Brandon Carlo. If they finish in the league’s bottom five, though, the Maple Leafs retain the pick and Boston must wait for either their 2027 or 2028 first-round selection depending on their fortunes next season.

Five NHL teams enter Saturday’s action with fewer than 78 points, but the bottom five remains realistic for Toronto as the Seattle Kraken are fifth-worst with 77 points and one additional game to play.

It may well be someone from the Florida Panthers’ front office tasked with retooling the Maple Leafs this offseason, regardless of where that draft pick lands. Panthers assistant general manager Sunny Mehta has emerged as the betting favorite to become Toronto’s next general manager after the recent firing of Brad Treliving.

A slew of injuries has left the Leafs’ lineup decorated with new faces and elevated role players. Forward Luke Haymes made his NHL debut against the Islanders and recorded his first point. Rookie Easton Cowan, who tied the game in the second period, was fourth among Toronto forwards with 18:54 of ice time.

“I like to say ‘work before skill’ a lot of the time. I think (Cowan) has kind of grabbed that side of things,” said Berube, who did not provide an update on injuries to goaltender Anthony Stolarz, forward Dakota Joshua or Carlo. “Easton works and skates. He gets rewarded.”

Player-for-player, though, the Panthers are the substantially more depleted team. Defenseman Seth Jones joined their sprawling list of injury absences after breaking his foot in their Tuesday night loss to Montreal. That list includes Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola. Matthew Tkachuk missed the last two games to be with his wife for the birth of his first child.

Given the circumstances, coach Paul Maurice was empathetic after the Panthers’ 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. He had particularly high praise for defensemen Marek Alscher and Ludvig Jansson after their NHL debuts.

“Really, really happy with his game,” Maurice said of Alscher, who logged nearly 20 minutes of ice time. “That’s an awful lot to ask a guy and then to go in with another guy who spent most of his time in the American (Hockey) League.”

Berube and Maurice both indicated they would continue to experiment on Saturday.

Toronto has won two of the teams’ three meetings this season. The Panthers hope to snap their own four-game losing streak. They have allowed 22 goals over the difficult stretch.

–Field Level Media

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Timo Baumgartl scores in 61st minute as St. Louis City tie FC Dallas

MLS: St. Louis CITY SC at FC DallasApr 11, 2026; Frisco, Texas, USA; St. Louis CITY SC forward Simon Becher (11) dribbles the ball as FC Dallas defender Osaze Urhoghide (3) defends during the first half at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Timo Baumgartl’s 61st-minute goal negated Louicius Deedson’s opener as visiting St. Louis City SC earned a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas.

The equalizer was the first goal in four matches at Toyota Stadium for St. Louis (1-3-3, 6 points), which has gone 1-0-2 in its last three matches after getting shut out in three straight.

Dallas (3-1-3, 12 points) is now unbeaten (2-0-2) in its last four matches and has outscored St. Louis, 8-1, in those four home matches.

The teams played to a scoreless draw in the opening 45 minutes, despite chances from both sides. St. Louis’ Marcel Hartel had two chances himself early on.

He took the ball down to the end line in the third minute and sent it across the goal mouth, but there was nobody home to tap it in. Then, in the 21st minute, Hartel took the ball down the left side into the box and tried to beat Michael Collodi to the near post, but Dallas’ goalkeeper turned it aside.

In the 30th minute, Conrad Wallem just missed connecting with Sergio Cordova, which would have left the St. Louis attacker alone in the middle.

Dallas’ Kaick, who came on for his injured Brazilian countryman Ramiro in the 36th minute, was high on a header three minutes later off a cross into the box from Deedson.

Petar Musa, who came into the match tied for the MLS lead with seven goals, was quiet for most of the first half, but he came alive late.

He was called offside on an attempt that hit the post in the third minute of extra time, and then, one minute later, he took a pass from Logan Farrington into the box and forced a save from St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki, who had two saves.

Musa played a role in Dallas’ goal three minutes into the second half. He intercepted a St. Louis pass and freed up Deedson on the left side, and the Haitian International finished for his first goal of the season.

The assist was Musa’s first of the season, and the goal stood up for 20 minutes. St. Louis’ Daniel Edelman sent a ball to the far post, where two teammates ran onto it. Baumgartl got in first and finished Edelman’s cross with a right-footed shot from close range.

Burki and Collodi, who had four saves, denied late winners off attempts from both attacking sides to preserve the draw.

–Field Level Media

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Team Liquid 1st team to 2-0 at LCS Spring

Syndication: Democrat and ChronicleYMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.

Team Liquid moved to the top of the standings with a win over Shopify Rebellion as Week 2 of the regular season of the LCS Spring event began Saturday.

Team Liquid won 2-0 in a battle of 1-0 teams, while LYON beat Dignitas 2-1 in the other match of the day.

Eight teams will compete in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.

Liquid completed its sweep with a pair of wins on blue in 25 and 38 minutes. Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas of Argentina and Ru-han “Morgan” Park of South Korea took home MVP honors in the triumph.

Dignitas won the opener of its match in 33 minutes before LYON roared back with a 36-minute victory on red followed by a 30-minute clincher on blue. American/Indian competitor Niship “Dhokla” Doshi and Jonah “Isles” Rosario of Australia were MVPs for the two LYON victories, and American Lawrence “Exyu” Xu was MVP of Dignitas’ opening victory.

Week 2 concludes Sunday with FlyQuest facing Disguised and Sentinels taking on Cloud9.

Regular season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)

1. Team Liquid, 2-0, 4-1

T2 Cloud9, 1-0, 2-1

T2. Disguised, 1-0, 2-1

T4. Shopify Rebellion, 1-1, 2-2

T4. Lyon, 1-1, 3-3

T6. FlyQuest, 0-1, 1-2

T6. Sentinels, 0-1, 1-2

8. Dignitas, 0-2, 1-4

–Field Level Media

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Rose Lavelle records goal, assist in USWNT's victory over Japan

Soccer: International Womens Friendly-Japan at USAApr 11, 2026; San Jose, California, USA; United States midfielder Rose Lavelle (16) reacts after scoring a goal against Japan during the first half at PayPal Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Rose Lavelle celebrated her 100th start with a goal and an assist to help the U.S. women’s national team to a 2-1 win in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday to open a three-match series against Japan.

Lavelle, in her 119th match, scored in the 9th minute off a set piece then set up Lindsey Heaps in the 48th for the 2-0 lead.

Riko Ueki stunned the Americans in the 61st minute to cut the deficit in half on their first goal allowed in nine matches.

The friendlies continue Tuesday in Seattle and Friday in Commerce City, Colo.

The Americans got the early advantage after Sophia Wilson drew a foul. She played her first USWNT match since Oct. 27, 2024, and made her first start since the gold medal match in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Wilson gave birth to a daughter in September 2025.

On the ensuing restart, Trinity Rodman was to the left of the goal when she sent a flighted ball to the middle of the box. Lavelle used her left foot to flick it past goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita for her 28th goal with the national team.

The U.S. failed to double the lead 14 minutes later when an unmarked Alyssa Thompson at the left post couldn’t convert a cross from Wilson.

Alyssa and Gisele Thompson broke the USWNT record for sisters starting in the same match with four. Samantha and Kristie Mewis started in the same match three times.

It didn’t take long after the break to gain some breathing room thanks to the high pressure from Gisele Thompson which created a turnover. She sent Lavelle down the left channel but Lavelle’s service to the box was blocked.

Fortunately for the U.S., the ball deflected to Lavelle and she found Heaps on the run for a left-footed shot and her 40th goal.

The USWNT’s scoreless streak ended at 865 minutes as Ueki, who entered at the start of the second half, took a headed pass from Honoka Hayashi to score with a header from the center of the box.

Ueki almost tied it in the 78th minute with an 8-yard shot that forced a reactionary save by Claudia Dickey, who made four saves; Yamashita had one.

–Field Level Media

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