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TORONTO – What a difference three and a half weeks makes. At about this point last month the Maple Leafs were embarrassed, disillusioned, and broken after the second serious drubbing in a matter of days. “It can’t get worse than that can it?” Phil Kessel wondered a day after his team was pumped for nine goals at the ACC. Completely unforeseeable then, the Leafs have emerged almost unscathed from that point, now pushing Tampa, Detroit and Montreal for a share of the Atlantic Division lead. They won for the ninth time in 11 games Sunday night (9-1-1) – fifth straight – edging past the defending champs in a shootout on the second end of a back-to-back. “I think we’ve definitely come a long way,” Cody Franson said after the 4-3 win over L.A., the 13th for Toronto in 20 home games. “We’ve paid attention to the details that make us successful and we’re becoming more consistent with it.” They’ve won in all kinds of ways since that low-point, but the Leafs have mostly relied on the league’s hottest offence, solid special teams and, of late, very fine goaltending. It’s not always been pretty or consistent in the manner conducive to long-term success, but this group has managed to stack chips in an unforeseen way since they were booed off the ice in mid-November. On this night Toronto built up a two-goal lead, fell back in a middle frame owned by the Kings, lost control of the lead and then rebounded to win on the strength of a power-play goal and perfect shootout effort by James Reimer. They did this just one night after outplaying the equally hot Red Wings in a game that showcased the kind of structure they’ve strived to play with more consistently. “I think it shows we’re growing as a team,” said Stephane Robidas, credited with 12 hits against the Kings. “We always talk about playing the right way and we want to do it for 60 minutes. And obviously playing two games in two nights you’d need to play the right way, you just can’t show up.” L.A.’s size presented a whole whack of challenges for the Leafs and they dominated the possession battle as such. But the home side stuck with it even after Marian Gaborik pushed the Kings ahead early in the third frame, tying the score on a James van Riemsdyk power-play goal. What’s maybe most impressive about this stretch for the Leafs is how little they’ve really gotten from van Riemsdyk and some of their top players. Power-play theatrics aside, the Leafs top line of Kessel, van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak has done little in the past month. Not only is the trio not producing offence at even-strength, but they continue to spend shift after shift in the defensive zone. The line held less than 30 per cent possession on Sunday and has been under 40 per cent for the past three-plus weeks. Instead it’s those like Mike Santorelli, Daniel Winnik and Nazem Kadri who continue to make contributions in their place. That trio not only produced two of the three goals on this night, but held L.A.’s top line of Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Dustin Brown off the board entirely. “I think this is probably the best our team’s been playing,” said Kadri. “These aren’t easy games to come out and play, especially off back-to-backs.” The Leafs have beaten a slew of quality teams during this hot streak, topping the Lightning, Canucks, Wings (three times) and now the Kings. They’ve outscored the opposition 44-25 in that span, the goaltending picking up steam along the way. Reimer, who made 33 saves Sunday, and Jonathan Bernier have combined to post a .957 save percentage in the past five games. “We’d like to keep this ball rolling in our direction and not allow it to go in any other direction,” Carlyle said. Five Points 1. Top Line in Name Only Continuing one of the better all-around stretches of his NHL career, Kadri led Toronto forwards in ice-time Sunday, also out-pacing Bozak in that department for the seventh time in nine games while adding his 10th point in the past 10 games. He and linemates, Winnik and Santorelli, were the Leafs most productive at playing in the offensive zone, thereby forcing the Kings top trio, whom they were matched up with, to defend. “They’re able to play their game and they’re able to create chances and positive possession time and positive zone time,” Carlyle said. “So I think those are the three things that you look at. If you’re playing in the other team’s zone it’s pretty hard for them to score on you.” On the opposite end of that spectrum were Kessel, van Riemsdyk and Bozak. They were the Leafs worst at possessing the puck and have been for the past month. 2. Unsustainable Only Kessel has more points at even-strength among Leafs than Santorelli, who celebrated his 29th birthday with his sixth goal of the year and an assist. Santorelli has an unlikely 18 even-strength points and is on pace for 60 points overall, a mark that would smash the career-high 41 points he managed as a Florida Panther in 2010-11. It’s unlikely though that he continues to produce offence at such a potent rate. The B.C. native entered the game against the Kings with an on-ice shooting percentage (which measures team shooting percentage when a player is on the ice) approaching 13 per cent, an inflated level that’s higher than the career mark of Sidney Crosby. Kadri thrived with such luck during the lockout campaign. He posted 44 points in 48 games on the strength of a league-best on-ice shooting percentage of nearly 15 per cent. That number tumbled to a more reasonable level of nine per cent last year and a dip in production followed; Kadri posted a respectable 50 points, not close though to the near point-per-game mark of that fortunate season. Likely offensive cool-down aside, Santorelli has nonetheless been a valuable find at $1.5 million for the Leafs. He was recently added to both the penalty kill and power-play units. 3. More Santorelli Daniel Winnik offered this assessment on Santorelli. “I think probably the most unique part of his game is his cutbacks,” Winnik said. “I don’t think I’ve played with a guy with quicker turn-backs than him.” That’s an area of the game – quickly changing directions along the boards – Santorelli targets daily after practice and during the offseason. 4. 48 Hours Sunday’s affair against the Kings completed the Leafs seventh back-to-back set of 18 this season. They improved to 5-1-1 in the second game of those sets, an impressive mark. Robidas, on the road to 1,000 NHL games, says two games in 48 hours should be no big deal. “You’ve just got to go out there and play,” he said. “We’ve done it in the past. You play in the minors [and] you play three games in three nights. For me it’s not an excuse.” The early 5 p.m. start time required some adjustments to routines, though, including the always important pre-game nap. “You address your schedule accordingly,” said Winnik beforehand. “Just push everything back two hours pretty much.” 5. Mumps Sidney Crosby’s positive mumps diagnosis dragged the issue into the NHL’s forefront, even pushing Carlyle to get his shot Sunday. “They dragged me in,” he said with a chuckle. “I was the last one. I thought that I had it 58 years ago so I didn’t think I’d need another one, but I guess there’s a new strain out...” Players have been offered the shot and advised to take precaution where possible. Crosby was the 13th NHL player diagnosed with the mumps this season, Rangers centre, Derrick Brassard joining that list later in the day. Stats-Pack 20 – Points combined in the past 10 games for Nazem Kadri and Mike Santorelli. 12 – Hits credited to Stephane Robidas on Sunday. 7 – Number of times in the past nine games that Kadri has gained more ice-time than Tyler Bozak. 5-1-1 – Leafs record on the second game of back-to-back sets. 6-2-1 – Leafs record vs. the Western Conference. 13-0-0 – Leafs record when scoring first. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 Season: 20.7% PK: 2-2 Season: 83.6% Quote of the Night “Looking back at that that was definitely a time of a little bit of soul-searching. We knew that’s not going to be acceptable, especially on home ice. The way we lost that game was very disheartening, but we took it the right way and were able to learn from it and it turned out to be a good thing I guess.” - James van Riemsdyk, on the Leafs response to a 9-2 home loss last month. Up Next The Leafs host the Ducks on Tuesday night. Kerryon Johnson Jersey . For the Miami Heat, that was outstanding news. LeBron James scored the last of his 32 points on a layup that put Miami up for good with 11. Detroit Lions Jerseys . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. http://www.officialdetroitlionspro.com/Marvin-jones-jr-lions-jersey/ . JOHNS, N. Custom Detroit Lions Jerseys . Some members of the U.S. Congress arent so sure. They say Russia isnt doing enough to assure that athletes will be protected at the Feb. 7-23 games, happening not far from an Islamic insurgency that Russias huge security apparatus has struggled for two decades to quell. Russia may run greater risks in towns outside the tightly controlled Olympic zone. Suicide bombs last month a few hundred kilometres (miles) away have increased concerns, and an Islamic warlord has urged his followers to attack the Sochi Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putins pet project. Calvin Johnson Jersey . - Anthony Beauvillier had the winning goal in the third period as the Shawinigan Cataractes edged the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2-1 on Wednesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play.PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Trail Blazers made their first seven 3-pointers against Charlotte and from there it almost seemed too easy. "Making shots is contagious," said Wesley Matthews, who had 25 points, including five of Portlands 21 3-pointers, in a 134-104 rout of the Bobcats on Thursday night. The 21 3-pointers matched a franchise high, set in a 139-105 victory at the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 14, and made Portland the first NBA team to have two games in one season with at least 20 3-pointers. Damian Lillard 24 points, making all six of his 3-point tries, and the Blazers finished by making 63.6 per cent of their 33 attempts. The NBA record for 3-pointers in a single game is 23. "It was a lot of fun," said Lillard, who has made at least four 3-pointers in four straight games. "Shots were falling." With the win, Portland upped its record to 26-7 and moved back into the top spot in the Western Conference. It was the season-high fifth-straight loss for the Bobcats, who were coming off a 112-85 loss to the Clippers the night before. Charlotte has lost six straight in Portland. Chris Douglas-Roberts came off the bench to lead the Bobcats with a season-high 20 points. Al Jefferson added 19. The 21 3s were the most the Bobcats had ever allowed in franchise history. "Our team is thinking too much about offence, we have individual guys who need to build their games around their defence and theyre worried about theyre offence," Bobcats first-year coach Steve Clifford said. "Were not built that way. Were not going to be outscoring people. If were not going to commit to defence and rebounding, then were limited in how good we can be." The Blazers were coming off a 98-94 come-from-behind victory at Oklahoma City on New Years Eve. The win snapped a two-game losing streak, the first back-to-back losses for Portland this season. Charlotte has been known this season for its defence. The Bobcats have held opponents to under 100 points 24 times this season, and they went into the game ranked third in the league for points allowed with an average of 93.8. But they couldnt sttop Portland, which led by as many as 32 points.dddddddddddd The Blazers went ahead 23-9 early after a 14-0 run that included four straight 3-pointers. Mo Williams 3 pushed Portlands lead to 33-13. Meyers Leonards dunk off a dish from Williams upped the lead to 49-29 and the Blazers were ahead 70-49 at the half. Matthews led all scorers with 17 points, while Jefferson had 11 for Charlotte. Matthews said hes just taking the shots that are there. "Im trying to focus on everything but shooting and it seems to be paying off for me," he said. Lillard hit a 3-pointer that gave the Blazers an 89-64 lead midway through the third, and Charlotte was essentially out of it. Portland led 100-77 going into the fourth quarter. "These are the games you love playing," said Williams, who had 15 points and 10 assists. LaMarcus Aldridge had 10 points and 15 rebounds for his team-leading 19th double-double of the season. Blazers coach Terry Stotts sat his starters early in the fourth quarter. "I knew about our record, I knew about the NBA record. But I didnt want to get caught up in that," Stotts said. "If we fell into it, then thats great, but I thought the guys who played in the fourth quarter played the game the right way. They were aggressive, they moved the ball. Defensively, they played hard. I think its bad karma to go out and try to do that." Clifford also rested most of his starters late in the game. "I dont feel we were ready to play," Douglas-Roberts said. "Theyre too good not to come out and give a 100 per cent effort. We kind of have to do some soul-searching and turn this thing around." NOTES: The Blazers have assigned guard C.J. McCollum to the Idaho Stampede, the Trail Blazers NBA D-League affiliate. McCollum, the 10th overall pick in last years NBA draft out of Lehigh, has been sidelined since fracturing his foot in training camp. ... Portlands 39 points in the first quarter matched their season high for this season. ... The Blazers have made at least eight 3-pointers in eight consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. 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