TORONTO — The Winnipeg Jets will have something to prove to themselves when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The Jets know they cannot afford to continue to play the way they did in losing 6-2 to the Blackhawks in Chicago on Thursday to end a season-best six-game winning streak.
“We just weren’t prepared
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The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, will be coming into the game after a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Friday night. It was the 17th time they have scored at least five goals in a game.
The Maple Leafs will have Leo Komarov, who has been out with a left leg injury, back in the lineup on Saturday. He was ready to return Friday, but Toronto decided to give him another day rather than have him play in back-to-back games.
The Jets (47-20-10) and the Maple Leafs (47-24-7) have both clinched playoff spots.
Winnipeg hopes to use the game against the Blackhawks as a warning.
“It’s definitely humbling,” said Jets right winger Bryan Little, who scored his 200th career goal Thursday. “You realize that when we don’t play our game, and we’re not ready to play, a game like that can happen. It’s a little bit of a wake-up call.”
“There wouldn’t be a piece of the game that was at the level that we’ve played at, or at the level you need to play at to win in the NHL,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think it’s any one thing. The elemental part of our game is to play at a certain rate, a certain pace. We were well off that (Thursday).”
There could be another aspect to the game Saturday that will give the Jets incentive. The Maple Leafs defeated the Jets 7-2 in Winnipeg in October in the first game of the season.
By defeating the Islanders, the Maple Leafs reached 101 points for the season.
“I think that’s real important,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “I always say, I’ve had a lot of 100-point years over the years
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“I’m excited for our guys that have worked hard to get good enough that they can do that. Like I said, we’ve got four more opportunities to get better and get ready.”
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist Friday.
“A good two points for us,” Matthews said. “Obviously, they’re a high-offensive team. They’ve got a lot of skill and firepower as far as that goes so you’ve got to find a way to contain them and obviously we’ve got some guys who can put the puck in the net as well. Probably not a fun game for the coaches, but probably a bit more fun for the players.”
Matthews has scored at least one point in each of the five games he has played since returning from a shoulder injury.
“He’s not as good as he’s been and he’s going to be better,” Babcock said. “I thought tonight was another step. I thought his first game and this game — it takes you a while to get your game back. He’s going to get a real test (Saturday), which is real positive for him. Back-to-back games, a good grind, good for his conditioning. He’ll just keep getting better.”
As important as Matthews is to the Maple Leafs, he said the depth of the team is important.
“I think that’s one of the key things for this team is that we’ve got a lot of depth,” Matthews said. “A lot of guys who are skilled, can make plays and put the puck in the net so it definitely makes it tough in terms of matching up for the opposing team. Like you said, we’ve got three different guys (with 30 goals) on three different lines so it definitely helps.”
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott barks at his teammates a little more now that he’s a couple of years removed from a sensational rookie year with the Dallas Cowboys.
At least that’s the way tight end Geoff Swaim put it, and he didn’t mean it in a negative way. The star quarterback sure hopes so.
“I may be a little bit more vocal
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“When you have a young team and different personalities, it’s hard just to be negative and be critical the whole time. For me, it’s a lot about coaching the guys up. And then the guys that I know I can be critical on, yeah, sure I am.”
The 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, who opens the season Sunday at Carolina trying to get the Cowboys back to the playoffs after they missed during his less-than-stellar encore , just illustrated offensive coordinator Scott Linehan’s take on leadership from Prescott.
Sure, this 25-year-old with a master’s degree in workforce education leadership from Mississippi State is the unquestioned commander of the offense — and that includes over running back Ezekiel Elliott, his fellow first-year standout from 2016.
But it’s not necessarily because of the retirement of Tony Romo, the quarterback he replaced with one of the best debuts for a quarterback in NFL history.
Or because 15-year tight end Jason Witten joined Romo in the broadcast booth this year. Or because the Cowboys dumped boisterous receiver Dez Bryant, the franchise leader in touchdown catches, in a cost-cutting move.
Since Prescott showed up as the forgotten third-teamer on Romo’s team two years ago, he has shown the leadership qualities that suddenly became more pronounced. He was a natural to become the face of the franchise
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“He’s always been a guy that, even as a rookie, he was not afraid to speak up and give his two cents on the field and encourage guys,” Linehan said. “He’s a natural when it comes to that.”
Prescott led the Cowboys to 11 straight wins after Romo injured his back in the preseason in 2016, when Dallas had an NFC-best 13 victories before losing to Green Bay in a divisional playoff.
Elliott’s six-game suspension marred their second season together, and Prescott felt the burden of the absence.
The poor decisions he avoided as a rookie were more frequent, including an ill-advised throw that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown in a late-season loss to Seattle that finished off Dallas’ playoff hopes in Elliott’s first game back.
The theme last season was whether Prescott could avoid a sophomore slump, a term he brushed off. Now it’s whether he can have a bounce-back season, if there is such a thing for a young quarterback.
“You can call it whatever you call it,” he said. “I’m excited for what we’re going to have and the year we’re going to have and I feel very, very confident in the players we have and the team we have and what we’re going to do this season.”
There are questions, starting with a revamped receiving corps that lacks the star power brought by Witten and Bryant.
The Cowboys say they’ll attack the passing game with versatility, hoping to take advantage of one-on-one matchups with opponents focusing first on stopping Elliott, the league rushing leader when Prescott was voted the top offensive rookie.
There are two new starters on Dallas’ vaunted offensive line. Joe Looney is replacing Travis Frederick at center while the four-time Pro Bowler recovers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an auto-immune disease that attacks nerves. He doesn’t know when he will return. Rookie second-round pick Connor Williams is at left guard.
Despite the questions, Prescott is determined not to try to do too much again.
“I know I’ll be better
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Learning isn’t stopping him from coaching, as he put it.
“I think as a rookie it was more encouraging and that kind of thing,” Swaim said. “This year, the barking, it’s not like he’s screaming and yelling. That’s not his thing. It’s more just, ‘Hey, this is what you need to do here.’ And it’s good because it keeps everyone focused and in their role and doing their job.”
Prescott just wants you to know it’s not negative.
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