TORONTO – As he does throughout most games, Randy Carlyle kept his arms tightly and tensely crossed on the Toronto bench as his team swiped another victory, now six in the first seven games this season.
Cheap Shoes Online China . "Every win is not going to be a work of art," he would say shortly after the finish of a 4-1 win against Minnesota. Though not the least bit pretty in their performance, the Leafs (6-1-0) found another avenue for manufacturing victory, with special teams and sturdy net-minding the difference on this night. Without the puck for most of the evening, the Leafs were badly outshot 37-14, totaling just 30 attempts on the net compared with 68 for the Wild. They also dropped 62 per cent of the faceoffs. But as has been the case in the opening weeks of a strong start, one with many incomplete victories, Carlyle couldnt harp too strongly on the negatives in light of his team ultimately finding success. "Its hard to be critical when youre getting points," he said. "[But] were not going to continue to accept whats happening. We have to find a way to mold this from a different angle. Our level of play has to increase. We were on the receiving end. You cant continue to play that way and expect to have success." Perhaps most important to their success in the early going, special teams were a key point again versus the Wild. The continually potent Toronto power play scored twice in three opportunities – Tyler Bozak and Mason Raymond with the goals – and now ranks as the third-best so far this season with a success rate of 33.3 per cent. Additionally strong once more was the penalty kill, also ranked third overall with an 89 per cent success mark, stymying the previously scorching Wild power-play on four of five attempts, including three of four in a penalty-laden first frame. Raymond added an empty-netter and now, with four goals this season, is also tied for the team lead with eight points. "I think the stats are showing it," said the 27-year-old of special teams. "Theres no secret. At the end of the day, in my opinion, its winning us games." The coach agreed with his forwards sentiment. "Timely goals on special teams make the difference in games like tonight," Carlyle observed. Continued stability in goal also proved consequential, especially in light of 23-year-old Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper yielding three goals on seven shots. Though not without flurries of noise in his performance, James Reimer managed to stop 36 of 37 shots in his first start since the home opener 10 days earlier. He was busy throughout the proceedings, memorably stopping breakaway attempts from Mikael Granlund and Torey Mitchell in the middle period. As one of the more prominent flaws in their performance as a team thus far, the Leafs remained far "too loose" in their defensive play against the Wild (more on this in Five Points) and were again sloppy with the puck. They have allowed an unmanageable 35 shots per game so far this season, good for 14 more on average than first-ranked Minnesota. Such flaws have been masked with strong and timely goaltending, elite special teams and plenty of offence. Carlyle fears this will catch up with his team soon though, especially with far superior opponents from Chicago, Anaheim and Pittsburgh looming soon on the calendar. "The message has to be delivered and framed in the proper way that youre not tearing them down," he stated of his approach in the days ahead. "Even though were not playing the way wed like to play, were still finding a way to win hockey games. This is what the league is about. Youre here to win. You can talk and describe and theres ample footage and theres ample evidence that were not playing to the high enough level, but were playing high enough to win hockey games." Carlyle concluded his thoughts bluntly. "The worry for coaches is that some night were going to get our butt kicked playing like this." Five Points 1. Fighting the puck Despite his 36 saves, Reimer wasnt entirely thrilled with his performance against the Wild, this in his first start since Oct. 5. "Honestly overall I wasnt that happy with my game," he said. "I just didnt feel that I was as sharp as I couldve been in some instances. I was focused, I was intense, I was mentally in the right frame of mind, but I think just the rhythm of stopping pucks; I felt I could never get into that rhythm, I guess you could say, where things were sticking to me." Reimer was hooked after yielding four goals on 21 shots in his previous start against the Senators. He improved to 2-0-0 lifetime against Minnesota. "Its like as a player when you feel you dont have your hands so then you chip the puck in and go to work," he continued of this most recent start. "Thats kind of how it was for me." 2. Goaltending decisions Earlier in the day, Carlyle spoke to the decision of going with Reimer against the Wild, Jonathan Bernier making the previous three starts. "You try to balance and you try to do an assessment on performance of individuals and how our team has played in front of [the goaltender] and the chances that were giving up and the quality of chances," he said. "And all those things go into the decision-making process along with number of games in a row. You dont want people to get stale. We have a decision to make based upon three or four factors." The Leafs face the Hurricanes next on Thursday, to whom Reimer owns a 4-1-1 career record and .927 save percentage. Bernier yielded five goals on 31 shots in his last start, a 6-5 win against the Oilers. 3. Defensive improvements Asked to pinpoint one needed improvement as it pertained to his teams defensive game, Carl Gunnarsson cited an area of will. "If I could pick one thing I would say weve got to win more one-on-one battles along the boards mainly," he told the Leaf Report before Tuesdays game. "Just have more, what would you call it, mental ability to go in there and you want to not kill a guy, but you really want to go in there and win that battle because not only are we talking about winning the game, but theres games in the game too and you want to win that one, every one-on-one battle that you can. I think we can be better at that." 4. Defensive improvements pt. 2 Questioned on the subject shortly thereafter, Carlyle added, "I just think overall were too loose in the three zones. Its not so much as the winning of the one-on-one battles, I think its the ability to step inside and be first on pucks; talk about team toughness and all those things, its willing to take a check to make a play; stop on pucks instead of circling away; win your share of one-on-one battles; start with the puck more on face-offs. All those things are factors that go into improving your team play." 5. JVR Out James van Riemsdyk sat out Tuesdays game with a mysterious upper-body injury. Carlyle wouldnt provide much in the way of details as to the injury, but noted that it did not occur during a game. Since the Leafs had the day off Sunday and the 23-year-old missed practice Monday, one would be led to believe that the injury occurred off the ice. "Were surprised with what happened," Carlyle said without further explanation. Bonus Point I Morgan Rielly got his first extended look on the power-play, replacing Paul Ranger on the second unit with Jake Gardiner. The 19-year-old notched the second of his two assists there on the first of two goals from Raymond. Additionally garnering opportunity on the penalty kill was Nazem Kadri. For the second straight game, the 23-year-old received second shift duty, totaling 1:29 on Tuesday. Bonus Point II Now the number one faceoff team in the NHL, the Wild took 34 of 55 draws against the Leafs, who fell to fourth-worst overall at 44.7 per cent. Boasting a 52.6 per cent success rate in 2013, Tyler Bozak has notably fallen to 48.6 per cent through seven games. He won just 9 of 21 faceoffs against the Wild, owned mostly by Mikko Koivu. Stat-Pack 68-30 – Difference in total shots attempts, widely favouring the Wild. 14 – Difference in average shots allowed nightly between the Leafs and Wild. 9-27 – Toronto power-play through seven games. 24-27 – Toronto penalty kill through seven games. 21:02 – Ice-time for Jay McClement on Tuesday, leading all Toronto forwards. 1:42 – Ice-time on the power-play for Morgan Rielly against the Wild. 8 – Points for Mason Raymond, matching Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul for the team lead. Special Teams Capsule PP: 2-3 PK: 4-5 Quote of the Night I "Every win is not going to be a work of art." -Randy Carlyle on a 4-1 win over the Wild. Quote of the Night II "I saw it just trickling over the line. It was a great feeling. I didnt know what kind of celebration I was going to do, but the crowd was up behind me. It felt really good." -Lifelong Leaf fan Trevor Smith on scoring his first goal with the club on Tuesday. Up Next The Leafs host Eric Staal and the Hurricanes on Thursday night.
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Discount Shoes Online Free Shipping .com) - Jeff Teague finished with a game-high 26 points and eight assists as the Atlanta Hawks held off the Utah Jazz, 98-92, on Friday.SEATTLE - If this all seems familiar for the Seattle Seahawks, thats because it is.A season ago, the Seahawks beat the St. Louis Rams in Week 17 of the 2013 season to wrap up the NFC West title and home-field advantage throughout the post-season.Nearly the exact same scenario is in play this Sunday when the Seahawks close out the regular season hosting the Rams. A victory would give the Seahawks (11-4) their second straight NFC West title. And barring a rare tie between Green Bay and Detroit, a Seahawks victory would route the NFC playoffs through Seattle for the second straight season.Not a lot of people want to come to Seattle, so if we make everybody fly out to Seattle and come enjoy our wonderful weather and our great fans, I think they kind of enjoy it — a little bit, Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said.Seattle is riding a five-game win streak, mowing through Arizona and San Francisco twice and knocking off Philadelphia to put the NFC playoff race back under the Seahawks control. It was a significant turn from where Seattle sat after losing at Kansas City in Week 11 and falling to 6-4.Sitting there is the opportunity for home-field advantage and making the rest of the NFC come to CenturyLink Field, where Seattle is 23-2, including the playoffs, over the past three seasons.St. Louis (6-9) beat Seattle 28-26 in October, but hasnt beaten a team on the road with a winning record. A win over the Seahawks would throw the entire NFC playoff seeding into turmoil and give the Rams a third straight seven-win season.Its not about rocking their world and affecting their playoffs, its just trying to find a way to win the last game, St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said.Heres what else to watch as the Seahawks and Rams meet in Week 17 for the fourth time in five seasons:WILSONS FINALE: Along with Seattles win streak has been some of the best play of Russell Wilsons young career. The Seattle QB has a passer rating of 106.2 during the five-game span, with seven touchdowns and one interception. Hes also averaging nearly 55 yards per game rushing during the span.With one more big game, Wilson could become the first quarterback in league history with 3,500 yards passing and 900 yards rushing in a single season. Wilson would need 58 yards rushing and 264 yards passing to reach those benchmarks.The best way to describe it is that hes an extra player on offence.
Shoes Clearance Sale Online. Theyre playing with 12 and thats very hard to defend, Fisher said.SACKS-A-PLENTY: The Rams pass rush was mostly silent the first five games of the season. The Seahawks served as a kickstarter.St. Louis sacked Wilson three times in October. That was just the start. Over the past 10 games, the Rams have 36 sacks, including eight against San Francisco, seven against Washington and six vs. Oakland. The Rams are now tied for 15th in the league.Its one you dont necessarily look forward to all the time because they do so many different looks, theyre physical, they know how to get to the quarterback, Wilson said.DEFENSIVE HISTORY: With another stellar defensive performance, the Seahawks could join a rare fraternity in NFL history as the best defence in the league for consecutive seasons. Seattle led the NFL in yards and points allowed last season and is in position to do it again. The Seahawks would become just the fourth team in league history to lead those categories in consecutive seasons. Seattle can also become the third team the lead the league in scoring defence in three straight seasons, the last being the Vikings from 1969-71.BEAST MODE: Marshawn Lynch likely wont set a single-season career high in yards rushing on Sunday. But he could cap off arguably the best all-around season of his career. Lynch has 1,246 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns, along with four TDs receiving. The 16 total touchdowns lead the NFL.Hes the hardest tackle in the NFL, in my opinion, St. Louis linebacker James Laurinaitis said.SPECIAL TEAMS DIFFERENCE: St. Louis won the first meeting largely because of its special teams. There was the 90-yard punt return touchdown by Stedman Bailey when the Rams duped Seattles coverage unit by running to the opposite side of the field of where the ball was kicked. Benny Cunningham had a 75-yard kickoff return to set up another score.The capper was punter Johnny Hekker, a Seattle area native, completing his second career pass against the Seahawks on a fourth-down fake punt with less than two minutes remaining in the game.Being able to play for a coach that does like to throw that kind of stuff in quite frequently is kind of fun, Hekker said. It throws the players a bone that sometimes doesnt get recognized.___AP NFL websites:
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