Lorenzo Insigne to miss Toronto FC’s next 3-4 games with groin injury

Lorenzo Insigne will miss Toronto FC’s next 3-4 league matches, the club confirmed to local reporters on Tuesday (14).

That timeline could keep the Italian international forward out through mid-April, reportedly re-aggravating his groin injury last week while preparing for TFC’s home opener. Insigne’s initial setback occurred in TFC’s season-opening loss at D.C. United on Feb. 25, exiting during the first half on a non-contact play. With that timeline, Insigne is poised to miss the following games. Assuming his re covery goes well, an April 15 home match against Atlanta United could mark his return:

Home: March 18 vs. Inter Miami CF

Away: March 25 at San Jose Earthquakes

Home: April 1 vs. Charlotte FC

Away: April 8 at Nashville SC

Insigne, 31, joined Toronto last summer as a Designated Player after leaving Serie A side Napoli. He contributed six goals and two assists in 11 games (all starts), though he couldn’t spark a late-season surge up the Eastern Conference table and into the

Big expectations surround Insigne in 2023, both because of his résumé and financial status league-wide. Insigne, per MLS Players Association figures, is the highest-paid player in league history at $14 million per year.

While awaiting Insigne’s return, Toronto are expected to lean on Federico Bernardeschi to carry their attack. The Italian international was discussed in preseason as a possible Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidate, posting 10g/3a in 16 MLS matches (all starts) since arriving last summer from Juventus.

Insigne’s absence is compounded by strik- ers Adama Diomande and Ayo Akinola picking up muscular injuries of their own, all while TFC’s gone 0W-1L-2D to start the year.

Toronto, in their second year under head coach/sporting director Bob Bradley, have a new-look, veteran-heavy roster that’s been reconstructed with Insigne and Bernardeschi as DP centerpieces. The Reds are chasing their MLS Cup 2017-winning heydays.

MLS/MS

NHL MacKinnon scores lone shootout goal as Avalanche edge Maple Leafs

Nathan MacKinnon saw his five-game goal streak come to an end Wednesday (15).

The Avalanche sniper still put the puck in the opposing net to clinch another crucial victory for the reigning — and surging — Stanley Cup champions.

MacKinnon scored the only goal of the shootout as Colorado put in a stifling defensive effort to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1.

The lightning-quick centre assisted on Mikko Rantanen’s power-play effort in the first period to stretch his point streak to six games before sneaking a shootout attempt past Ilya Samsonov.

“Been playing awesome,” Avalanche defenceman Bowen Byram said of MacKinnon, who entered with 15 goals in his last 15 contests. “He’s the guy that our team follows. When he’s going, I feel like everyone else is sharper.”

Alexandar Georgiev made 17 saves for injury-ravaged Colorado (38-22-6), which has really found its game since the allstar break to climb within five points of the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars with two games in hand.

“That dedication to the way we have to play to have success is the key to it,”

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said.

“Some nights we’re as good as we want to be. Seems like recently we’ve wanted to win these hockey games. We know they’re important. Winning the division isn’t the be all, end all. But certainly to have short-term goals like that and chase down the teams that are in front of us is part of it.

“It’s part of playing with a little bit of pressure, even if it’s self-induced.”

Morgan Rielly scored in regulation for Toronto (40-18-9), which got 28 stops from Samsonov in a tight-checking, low-event matchup.

“There wasn’t a whole lot that we gave up,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said.

“They checked extremely hard to show you what a Stanley Cup-winning team does in terms of the defending.

“They’re well-known for the offence that they can generate with their elite players, but they defend extremely hard and make it difficult on you to get to their net.”

After a frantic overtime that saw terrific chances at both ends, MacKinnon beat Samsonov on a nice deke on the Avalanche’s second attempt of the shootout.

Georgiev then denied Mitch Marner to seal both points for the visitors as Colorado improved to 4-4 in shootouts. Toronto dropped to 0-2.

“Just finding ways to win, playing smart hockey,” said the Avalanche goaltender, who was brought in during the off-season after Darcy Kuemper left in free agency. “We’ve been playing really good lately. We spend so much time on offensive zone.”

Coming off Monday’s (13) 4-3 home loss to Buffalo where Toronto held a 2-0 lead late in the second period, the Leafs opened the scoring three minutes into the first when Rielly scored his third after chiming an earlier shot off the iron.

The Avalanche responded on a man advantage later in the period when Rantanen’s pass went in off Toronto defenceman Jake McCabe for his 44th.

Samsonov stopped Valeri Nichushkin on a short-handed breakaway in the second before Cale Makar nearly went end-toend on a breathtaking rush, but saw the puck trickle just wide of Toronto’s goal.

Georgiev matched his Russian counterpart at the other end by foiling Rielly on a power play and Calle Jarnkrok from in close to keep things even through 40 minutes.

After the Leafs killed off two penalties early in the third, William Nylander and Auston Matthews had good chances on Georgiev to set up MacKinnon’s clincher after 65 minutes.

“We’re just trying to build,” Byram said. “We’re just trying to keep it going and build our way into the playoffs.

“It’s not like a light switch you can turn on and off.”

Rantanen Rising

The big winger’s 44 goals are the most by a Finnish-born player since Teemu Selanne scored 48 times back in 2006-07. “There’s still a lot of games left,” Rantanen said with a smile. “I try to help the team, and if I can do it that way, I’m glad to do that.”

SCHENN’S BACK

Luke Schenn returned to Scotiabank Arena as a member of the Leafs for the first time in more than a decade. Acquired from the Vancouver Canucks prior to the trade deadline, the veteran defenceman rejoined the club after his wife recently gave birth to the couple’s third child.

The Leafs selected Schenn, who didn’t dress against Colorado, with the fifth overall pick in 2008 before trading him to Philadelphia in 2012.

“Coming into this dressing room, it’s surreal,” the 33-year-old said Wednesday morning. “You appreciate what it means to play in Toronto, but not to the extent I do now.”

Up Next

Leafs: Host Carolina today (17). TSN/MS

Ontario plans to require women-only bathrooms on large construction sites

Ontario’s labour minister is aiming to solve an excrement predicament.

Monte McNaughton announced on Wednesday (15) that he is proposing to amend rules about bathrooms on construction sites to make them cleaner, safer and provide some for women only.

A Ministry of Labour bathroom inspection blitz last month at more than 1,800 construction sites found 244 violations, the most common being no toilets provided, a lack of privacy, or a lack of cleaning.

“In what other industry would this be acceptable, right?” McNaughton said in an interview.

“These are men and women, not livestock, and it’s important that they get the respect that they deserve. If we’re going to encourage men and women into the skilled trades, then we need to ensure that we have proper facilities for them to use.”

McNaughton said he hears often from women in the skilled trades with stories about deplorable bathroom conditions. The labour minister set the stage for this announcement last month when he put out a call for workers to send him their bathroom horror stories.

“It’s just a big pile of feces,” said ironworker Mahee de Repentigny in a video featured on McNaughton’s Twitter feed.

“No flushing, no water, no soap, no paper, no nothing. Might as well just go outside at that point.”

She said she will sometimes have to leave work to find a Tim Hortons bathroom because the toilet on the site feels unsafe.

Requiring at least one women’s only toilet on large construction sites is one of a host of regulatory changes McNaughton is proposing. They come in conjunction with labour legislation set to be introduced this spring that includes greater protections for remote workers in mass layoffs and other, yet-to-be-announced changes.

The bathroom-related changes would also double the number of toilets required on construction sites, require adequate lighting, require hand sanitizer where there is no running water, and require single toilets to be completely enclosed. Some portable toilets are only three-quarters of an adult’s height with no roof, McNaughton said. Those would be banned.

Keeping toilets in a state of good repair is already required under current rules.

“Clearly, that’s not happening,” McNaughton said. “This new legislation will enhance every tool that we have to ensure that washrooms are cleaner than they ever have been on job sites.”

It would also extend the good-repair requirement to urinals and cleanup facilities, such as stations with sinks.

McNaughton is also proposing to strengthen language in a requirement that personal protective equipment be properly fitted, so women and “workers with diverse body types” are specifically taken into account.

The new rules would come into force on July 1, if approved and filed by the government.