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Flames’ red-hot Mangiapane steals spotlight in Islanders’ new-home debut
No stage appears too big for Andrew Mangiapane as he continues his ascent in the hockey world.
With all eyes on the brand-new UBS Arena on Hockey Night in Canada, the 25-year-old Flames winger continued to steal the show with a pair of power-play goals in a 5-2 win over an energized Islanders squad.
So impressive is Mangiapane’s 14-goal spree to sit second only to Leon Draisaitl, his second consecutive two-goal outing managed to overshadow the fact that Jacob Markstrom essentially stole this one.
More on him in a bit.
Tipping in point blasts on two separate power-play units to put the Flames up 3-1 early in the second period, Mangiapane now finds himself sandwiched between Draisaitl and Alex Ovechkin on the NHL goal-scoring list.
Only Draisaitl has more than the four game-winning goals Mangiapane has.
Coupled with his seven goals in seven World Championship games as tourney MVP, he’s unquestionably the world’s hottest goal scorer.
He’s certainly the top Canadian, which will only fuel the ongoing debate over whether he can sustain the type of momentum that may just land him alongside the country’s best in Beijing.
“I’m playing with good players and they’re finding me the puck right now, and I just happen to put them home,” said Mangiapane, when asked about setting a franchise record for the quickest 13 road goals in a season.
MARKSTROM DOMINATING … AGAIN
Brock Nelson may have been the only one to solve Markstrom on this night, with a pair of goals, but the Islanders centre was stymied early and often by the Flames netminder.
Had he not made a pair of great stops on Nelson in the first period, the complexion of the game might have been altered.
By night’s end, four of Markstrom’s 34 saves came on Nelson shots, simply adding him to the lengthy list of frustrated forwards around the league.
Markstrom sits second in the league with a sparkling 1.71 GAA and .942 save percentage, trailing only Toronto’s Jack Campbell in both categories.
His workload was heavy on Saturday, especially while down a man on six occasions, when he stopped eight of nine shots.
PARTY POOPERS AT USB
Showing signs of fatigue late in what was the team’s sixth straight road game, the Flames held on to a 3-2 lead until Trevor Lewis and Johnny Gaudreau scored empty netters to send the first-ever gathering at Belmont’s UBS Arena home unhappy.
Built next to Belmont Park racetrack at a cost of $1.5 billion, the rink’s christening didn’t start off as well as the 17,255 on hand had hoped.
Milan Lucic forced a turnover that Brad Richardson converted into a 1-0 lead four minutes in, giving the Flames the early lead every game of this road jaunt.
“It was a nice way to quiet them down early,” said Richardson.
“Thirty years from now my name will come up, so that’s always nice.”
Combine a typically raucous New York crowd with a historic opening and the atmosphere was something the Flames knew they’d have to battle.
“Kind of cool to play in,” said Mangiapane.
“You could feel the energy the first time you went out there. I think we almost fed off that energy.”
The Flames wrap up their seven-game roadie in Boston Sunday.
John Herdman will be surrounded by some familiar faces in his new role as Toronto FC head coach.
The MLS club announced Monday that Eric Tenllado, Simon Eaddy, Robyn Gayle, and Alex Dodgshon, all part of Herdman’s Canadian national team staff, will join Herdman’s staff.
Tenllado will serve as assistant coach and “performance lead,” while Eaddy becomes the club’s goalkeeper coach and “tech coordinator.” Gayle’s role is performance and wellness coach and Dodgshon takes over as scouting and analytics coach.
“This group of people have experienced winning many times at BMO Field in the biggest moments for Canada in front of many of these fans and are highly motivated to experience that feeling with Toronto FC,” Herdman said in a statement. “We feel privileged to be able to work for the people of this city and will, as always, give our all to bring the success our fans deserve.”
Herdman, whose tenure at TFC officially started Sunday, has said he and his staff will spent their first week at the MLS club primarily observing while interim coach Terry Dunfield and his staff prepares the 4-17-10 team for away games Wednesday at Charlotte FC and Saturday at the New York Red Bulls.
Herdman and his staff will then take over the team during the international break that precedes the Oct. 21 season finale against Orlando City at BMO Field.
Dunfield will stay on as an assistant coach. The former Canadian international and TFC player was part of Herdman’s staff with the Canadian men’s team and served as a technical assistant and performance analyst at last year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Herdman’s ties with Eaddy date back to his days with New Zealand before taking over the Canadian women’s team in 2011.
A native of New Plymouth, New Zealand, Eaddy served as goalkeeper coach for the New Zealand under-20 and senior women’s team before joining Herdman with the Canadian women and then men.
Between the two countries, Eaddy has coached at two FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups (Russia 2006, Chile 2008), three Summer Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016), four FIFA Women’s World Cups (China 2007, Germany 2011, Canada 2015, France 2019), two CONCACAF Nations Leagues (2019-2020, 2022-2023) and one FIFA World Cup (Qatar 2022).
As a player, Eaddy had goalkeeping stints with Australia’s Football Kingz FC, New Zealand’s Waitakere United and Auckland City FC of the New Zealand Football Championship and Ottawa Wizards of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.
Tenllado spent more than five years with Canada Soccer and was Herdman’s assistant coach with the Canadian men. The Spaniard began his career in his native Barcelona as an academy coach at RCD Espanyol de Barcelona from 2009 to 2016.
He moved to Toronto in 2016, serving as director of coaching and coach development manager for Toronto High Park Academy
Gayle, a former Canadian international, has spent the last eight years working with both the Canadian men’s and women’s programs, most recently as the mental and cultural manager at Canada Soccer. She worked with Herdman at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2019 Women’s World Cup Games and 2022 Men’s World Cup.
The Toronto native was part of the Canada squad that won Olympic bronze in 2012 and gold at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Dodgshon spent more than two years with Canada Soccer, working as lead opposition analyst for the Canadian men under Herdman. A native of Liverpool, England, he began his coaching career as a head coach of the U-15 and U-17 boys at Fredericton District Soccer Association from 2018 to 2020.
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John Herdman surrounds himself with familiar faces on Toronto FC coaching staff
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