Maple Leafs stars facing the Game 7 legacy challenge that’s vexed Rangers
NY Post
This isn’t going to be a hockey game in Toronto on Sunday night, it is going to be the ultimate challenge of character. No, this is going to be the extreme test of manhood. Well, it is going to be Game 7 between the Maple Leafs and defending champion Panthers.
If we can exclude 2024-25, the Leafs’ story has tracked the Rangers’ narrative for most of the decade. Original Six team with marquee names that is a perennial disappointment in the playoffs, whether early in the tournament or late.
There is more derision heaped on the hierarchy and at the leadership core than at the upper management and lettermen of ne’er-do-wells. The Blueshirts once went 54 years and are on 32 again. The Maple Leafs have not won since 1967.
When Lou Lamoriello was in Toronto, he called the Maple Leafs the “Yankees of the NHL.” They are actually more the “Detroit Lions of the NHL.”
Michael Pittman Jr. has a gut feeling.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Toumani Camara had career highs of nine 3-pointers and 35 points to help Portland beat the Brooklyn Nets 134-99 on Monday night, the Trail Blazers’ largest margin of victory this season.
The Rangers hit the mark with their on-ice ceremony honoring Mika Zibanejad ahead of his 1,000th NHL game Monday night.
PORT ST. LUCIE — For now, Craig Kimbrel is choosing Mets purgatory.
‘Freak of nature: Zion Williamson’s resurgence could pose a Knicks problem versus motivated Pelicans
Zion Williamson is slimmer and healthier for his trip to MSG.
Don’t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.