Basisphilosophie » ing good defence, so it feels bad kind of le

TORONTO - The Leafs are hanging onto what positivity they can muster amid a season-long losing streak that struck five games on Tuesday night. "We try to accentuate the positives," said Randy Carlyle after a 4-2 loss to the Sharks, "but the big negative is we lost." It was the fifth straight defeat and six in the past seven games for the Leafs. Despite an engaged effort, they were beaten on this night by one of the leagues premier teams, San Jose now a winner in nine of the past 10 games. Discipline issues continued in the loss, but maybe more concerning for the Leafs were ongoing struggles to generate offence at even-strength, both goals coming via the leagues top-ranked home power-play. Toronto has scored just 18 even-strength goals in the past 14 games, held to two goals or fewer in 11 of those games. The Sharks outshot the Leafs by a wide 35-19 margin at even-strength, scoring three of their four goals in such situations, including the eventual winner from Joe Pavelski, a sequence that saw Torontos fourth line pinned in its own zone for nearly two minutes. Certainly dinged by a rising tide of games missed due to injuries, suspensions and other maladies - they were without Nazem Kadri due to a death in the family, Cody Franson to an injury and Tyler Bozak for most of the night with an upper-body injury - the Leafs have nonetheless struggled to find depth offensively all season. In fact, 84 per cent of their total offence has come from just seven players, one of those being Dave Bolland, who hasnt played in over a month. Lacking much punch from their defence, theyve also gotten very little in the way of contributions from their bottom-6 forwards. Tuesdays fourth line of Colton Orr, Jerred Smithson and Frazer McLaren, for instance, has combined for zero points all season. Perhaps the key to unlocking more consistent success offensively is the Leaf forecheck, productive with pressure during an energetic opening 10 minutes of the second frame - theyd be rewarded for those efforts with a pair of power-plays, scoring on both. "The forecheck creates offensive zone time, it creates and draws penalties, creates scoring chances, wears opposition down," Carlyle said. "We have stressed that weve got to do a better job of getting in there and establishing a forechecking game and establishing offensive zone time. Weve been talking about it. And there are periods of games that we do it very well." But as has been the case throughout the opening two months of the season and more specifically during a dreadful November, which saw them win just twice in regulation, the Leafs have been unable to establish such pressure for a complete night. "We have spurts where were good, I think we play well," said Mason Raymond, who scored the first Leaf goal and his 10th this season. "But again its only spurts. We need to figure out how to put those spurts together into 60 minutes." Five Points 1. Discipline A focal point of concern for Carlyle entering the game, discipline became an issue once more on this night, the Leafs yielding four power-plays while drawing just three themselves. Unhappy with Andrew Desjardins body-check on Smithson midway through the opening period, McLaren drew a roughing penalty and while the Sharks wouldnt score with that man advantage they would grab control of the period thereafter. Theyd score once at even-strength on a goal from former Leaf Mike Brown before adding a power-play marker from Joe Thornton during a five-on-three advantage; Raymond and Jay McClement called for hooking and tripping respectively. "That took momentum totally for the period in their favour," Carlyle said of the penalties. "Disciplines a huge part," said Raymond. "Youre killing penalties, youre not playing offence and youre playing in your own zone so were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot there." The Leafs have taken 125 minor penalties this season, second most in the league. 2. Busy Outings James Reimer has faced an average of 36 shots per game in his 12 full starts this season (he left one start after 32 seconds because of injury). But in spite of the heavy nightly workload, Reimer, who faced 40 shots against the Sharks, refuses to be consumed with frustration. "The only reason you get frustrated is if youre focusing on what other people are doing or not doing," Reimer said. "And thats not in my job description. My job description is to stop the puck and do the best I can to give the boys a chance, so whether were giving up 50 [shots] a night or 10 [shots] a night thats what youve got to do. "If were giving up shots because some players arent playing well or maybe were not playing well as a team thats irrelevant. Theres games where Im not going to play well and I dont want guys jumping down my throat because I didnt play well or play well for a couple games. Its not how it goes. We each work our butts off, we support each and we believe in each other and thats the only thing you worry about. I dont worry about what other guys are doing or how many shots [Im facing]." Reimer is now 6-3-0 when making 30 saves or more this season. 3. Raymond Tied for the team lead in November scoring with seven points, Mason Raymond has already matched the 10 goals he scored all of last season with the Canucks. A bargain free agent find at $1 million for one season, Raymond has 19 points in 28 games, third on the Leafs in scoring this season. The most striking difference for the 27-year-old between this season and last is opportunity. Raymond is averaging a career-high of over 18 minutes per game this year, his speed and pluck offensively a valued asset amid a string of early injuries and suspensions. Raymonds numbers this year in contrast with 2013 Year Games Goals Points Shooting % Minutes 2013-2014 28 10 19 14.3 18:10 2013 46 10 22 12.7 15:49 4. More on the Forecheck Following the opening frame, one that saw the Leafs down 2-0, Raymond harped on the need to "create a forecheck". After the game he expanded upon those thoughts. "I think theres a lot of factors that are going to add up to make a team more successful, but thats definitely one of them," he said of the forecheck. "I dont think anybody wants to be playing in their defensive zone if you can be playing in your offensive zone." "When you stick to the game-plan of just keeping things simple, getting pucks deep, getting a good forecheck, thats just kind of the template that I think most teams have when theyre successful in the league," added James van Riemsdyk. 5. Bad Month Over Phil Kessel finished the month of November with just six points in 13 games. It was among the worst months hes had in a Leafs uniform, just one assist to his name along with five goals. Only Nov. 2010 compares with the mild output he managed last month; Kessel had three goals and five points in 13 games en route to 64 points in 82 games. The 26-year-old scored his team-leading 15th goal against the Sharks on Tuesday, now riding a four-game point streak. Kessel sits 20th in league scoring, boasting 25 points this season. Stat-Pack 18 - Even-strength goals for the Leafs in the past 14 games.6-3-0 - Record for James Reimer when making 30 saves or more this season. 23 - Games this season the Leafs have allowed 30 shots or more. 41 - Shots for the Sharks on Tuesday. San Jose leads the league in shots per game while Toronto yields the most against per game. 12:33 - Ice-time for Tyler Bozak against the Sharks. Bozak left the game for good after the second period with an upper-body injury. 8 - Power-play goals scored against the Leafs in the past five games. 14-41 - Leafs power-play on home-ice this season. Special Teams Capsule PP: 2-3Season: 24.7 per cent PK: 3-4Season: 78.5 per cent Quote of the Night "Sometimes you dont play well and you lose and its pretty disappointing, but thats one of the best teams in the league over there and in my mind it was anyones game. Sometimes they dont go your way." -James Reimer, following the loss to San Jose. Up Next The Leafs host the Dallas Stars at the ACC on Thursday night. Steph Curry Shoes Free Shipping . Patrik Bartosak turned away 50-of-52 shots for the Rebels (28-26-4), who halted their losing streak at seven games. Trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes of play, Feser forced overtime with his second goal of the game at 5:35 of the third period. Cheap Steph Curry Shoes .com) - Jeff Teague had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 90-85 on Saturday night. https://www.stephencurryshoescheap.com/ . I suppose Sternberg has earned the right to speak out since his Rays, despite one of the lowest payrolls in the Majors at $58 million, are entering the final weekend of the regular season holding down the first Wild Card spot in the American League, one game ahead of Cleveland and two up on Texas. Steph Curry Shoes From China .com) - The Carolina Panthers won for the first time in seven games last week, were without Cam Newton due to a car accident this week, but somehow sit atop the much-maligned NFC South. Steph Curry Shoes For Sale . Colton Sissons also scored for Milwaukee (19-12-8), which went ahead with a two-goal third period. Wade MacLeod and Greg McKegg replied for Toronto (23-12-4). CHICAGO -- Oswaldo Arcias first hit of the season helped give the Minnesota Twins their first win. Chris Colabello had a career-high six RBIs and doubled twice, Arcia hit a go-ahead triple in the ninth inning and the Twins avoided a season-opening sweep with a 10-9 comeback win Thursday over the Chicago White Sox. Manager Ron Gardenhire got his 999th career victory, and Glen Perkins picked up his first save after squandering the lead Wednesday. "Obviously, every day were just going out and trying to compete," Arcia said through a translator. "We competed the whole series and looking forward to carrying this one over." On Thursday, it was the White Sox who couldnt finish. Trailing 9-8 heading into the ninth after Marcus Semien homered in the bottom of the eighth off Caleb Thielbar (1-0), the Twins scored twice off Chicago closer Matt Lindstrom (0-1), who blew his first save chance in two opportunities. Trevor Plouffe singled with two outs in the ninth to tie the game before Arcias triple off the wall in centre gave Minnesota a 10-9 lead. Arcia had been 0 for 13, but his empty start ended at the best time for Minnesota. Colabellos three-run double in the third gave Minnesota a 3-1 edge, and his fifth-inning double off Jose Quintana gave the Twins a 5-1 lead. He also had an RBI groundout in the seventh to complete a career game when the raw conditions (37 degrees at game time) were challenging. "Obviously, I had to have guys on base in front of me," Colabello said. "Just tried to have good at-bats." What Colabello and Arcia did helped the Twins win in starter Phil Hughes debut. Signed by the Twins to a three-year, $24 million contract after seven years with the Yankees, he lasted five innings in his debut and allowed four runs, seven hits and two home runs while striking out seven. Over his last two seasons with the Yankees, Hughes gave up 59 home runs. The two he allowed Thursday were to Alejandro De Aza and Adam Dunn, but he left with a 5-4 lead. Jose Abrreu, signed to a six-year, $68 million contract, helped erase that lead.dddddddddddd He went 2 for 4 with a double and triple and four RBIs. His fifth-inning double cut the Twins lead to 5-2, and then his bases-loaded triple against Anthony Swarzak gave the White Sox an 8-5 edge in the sixth. De Azas home run was his third of the season and Dunns tied Dave Kingman for 38th all-time with 442, while Tyler Flowers had a career-high four hits. That put Quintana in position for his first win of the year after he went six innings and allowed five runs -- two earned. "He pitched fine," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "I think he had a couple innings there where it got away on him but other than that, he gave us what we needed." He got that no-decision when Josmil Pinto homered in the eighth off Ronald Belisario, and the White Sox lost in the ninth when Lindstrom allowed two runs. "We put up some runs on the board," Lindstrom said. "We came back when we were down, guys putting together great at-bats, playing good defence, so it feels bad kind of letting the team down in that sense." NOTES: The Twins reinstated LHP Brian Duensing from the paternity leave list before the game. RHP Michael Tonkin was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. ... Gardenhire said theyd try to avoid using RHP Casey Fien after Fien sustained a left ankle bruise Wednesday. ... Ventura joked that delays for instant replays are annoying "if they go against us" before saying "thats part of it and were going to have to deal with it." ... The White Sox went 26-50 against the AL Central last season, and Ventura stressed that the White Sox must improve against the division. "You got some people that made the playoffs probably because of our won and loss record." ... Twins RHP Mike Pelfrey will face Indians RHP Danny Salazar on Friday in Cleveland. ... RHP Erik Johnson is scheduled to start Friday for the White Sox in Kansas City against RHP Jeremy Guthrie. ' ' '