BOSTON – Joffrey Lupul knows this could be it. That something is bound to change if this Maple Leafs team doesnt do something in the New Year to alter the bad taste of continued failure. That something has to change without some sign of growth from an organization with eight playoff misses in the past nine seasons. If youre not having success and youre not showing that growth, theres going to be changes, Lupul said from the bowels of Northeastern University on Wednesday morning. And we know that; whether its me or Bozie or Phil or Dion or Naz or Clarkie, weve got to be better and weve got to show ourselves and coaches and management that this team is growing and theres been times we have and times we havent. The now 31-year-old forward is envious of what teams like Chicago, L.A., Boston and Pittsburgh have built, hockey clubs that are capable of contending and even winning the Cup nearly every year. He hopes the Leafs are moving toward such a class, that their future involves something more than constant elimination from the postseason. But he also knows that time is likely drawing short, that change will come soon with more of the same. Brendan Shanahan, Lupul knows, is unlikely to wait around and witness more of the same, especially after the various meltdowns of recent seasons. I know people hate to hear it, but it takes time, said Lupul, forced to leave an eventual victory Wednesday night with a lower-body injury. When I got here three years ago, I saw the roster and there was not a chance we were going to win the Stanley Cup. I see our roster now and its a lot of good players that have grown a lot and young players who have a ton of potential that are just starting to scratch the surface. So I think that parts exciting, but to sum it up, yeah we have to show growth. It has to happen soon. The trouble is that many of the same problems that existed nearly four years ago – when Lupul first joined the Leafs from Anaheim – still linger today, albeit with a different coaching staff and different (and generally) improved roster. Core pieces of the team – Lupul, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, Dion Phaneuf among them – have remained the same though and thats whats troubling. Toronto continues to be a scoring machine that cant keep the puck out of its own net, such troubles progressively getting worse again this season. And thats not growth, at least not in the sense of a team. Which is where change will ultimately enter the picture, barring some drastic improvement in the coming months (and perhaps even with it). Shanahan and the Leafs revamped management group will have to closely scrutinize the likes of Lupul, Kessel and Phaneuf, determining why it hasnt worked and then whats to be done about it. Shanahan didnt touch those core players one bit last summer, even after a nosedive out of a playoff spot. He appeared willing to let the group try it again, inclined perhaps to see how the team worked up close as president. Would he be willing to sit tight again? Unlikely, it would seem. Lupul, for his part, believes youth has a large role to play in determining which direction the Leafs turn. The Blackhawks and Kings, he notes, thrived when their young players rose to the forefront. That argument fails, however, to account for the quality of top-end talent those clubs boast and their ability to accept, embrace and thrive under a style conducive to team success. Regardless, Lupul – who went to the Conference Finals with the Ducks and Flyers – believes this is a group capable of getting to such a point down the line. He was there when the club came oh so close to upending the Bruins here in Boston nearly two years earlier. I dont think at this time last year someone would look at the New York Rangers and say thats a team that can be one or two wins away from a Stanley Cup, he said. They just improved as the year went on and came together at the right time. Were a young group, but that being said, youve got to grow every year. And I think its on us to show that were growing and learning from mistakes; young players are getting better, older players are becoming better leaders. I think thats how well be judged ultimately. Ultimately, the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, Lupul continued, but right now the goal is to show improvement every year, every day and get into that class where were at least talked about with the Pittsburghs and Chicagos and these teams every year at the start of the year [where] theyre saying these guys can win the Cup. Five Points 1. Needed Victory Losing five of the previous six, the Leafs got a victory they needed in Boston. Structured, sturdy and engaged, they managed to play an effective game for the better part of two periods against the Bruins before hanging on dangerously in the third and overtime after blowing another two-goal lead. Wednesday marked just the 10th time in 38 games that Toronto has held an opponent under 30 shots, the Bruins testing a returning Jonathan Bernier 28 times. We needed it, thats for sure, head coach Randy Carlyle said of the 4-3 shootout win. The one thing that weve tried to preach to our group [is] that there has to be a stop sign in what was happening. We were playing too loose. We cant continue to play no-touch hockey and thats what we felt we were playing. The Leafs outshot and outplayed the home side for a good chunk of the night but were under siege in the final 25 minutes. They managed just two shots in the third period and none in overtime. Nazem Kadri ended it in the shootout, however, beating Tuukka Rask five-hole. Its not an ideal way to win the game Ill tell you that, but the bottom line is, we found a way to win it in a shootout, said Phaneuf afterward. I thought that we played real structured and we did a lot of the things that we knew that we were capable of doing. 2. Slump Busted Phil Kessel didnt think he was slumping, but broke a season-long six-game goal drought against his old team anyways. With a multitude of chances previously in the game, Kessel finally came through on a power play in the middle period, beating Rask from his usual spot on the half-wall. It was just the second game in the past 10 that the 27-year-old had scored and his 18th this season. Interestingly enough, it was his third goal in the past two games versus the Bruins. Kessel had scored just three times in the first 27 meetings against the team that picked him fifth overall in 2006. I dont know if Im really slumping, said Kessel before the game. Im getting chances. Im just kind of cold right now. Im just not putting them in. Im missing by a little bit. Theyll come eventually. As his custom when the Leafs play the Bruins, Carlyle worked like heck to get Kessel away from former teammate Zdeno Chara. Both at the teams morning skate and during the pre-game warmup, Carlyle paired Kessel with usual linemates Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk before working him onto different lines throughout the night. Struggling with the breakaway recently, Kessel had three of some kind on this night. He was stopped on the first by Rask, but hooked in the process by Chara. Awarded a subsequent penalty shot, Kessel was turned down again when he attempted a backhand on Rask. Then just before finally scoring, Kessel picked the puck from Torey Krug in the Boston zone and was stoned there, too. I used to be good at them, he said of breakaways earlier in the day, I dont know what the hell happened. I used to be able to score on them, but lately Ive been cold as ice. 3. Offensive Zone Of all 30 NHL teams, the Leafs have the lowest percentage of faceoffs taken in the offensive zone. And thats part of the problem toward the club giving up piles and piles of shots. The biggest reason why weve been giving up so many shots is the amount of time that weve spent in our D-zone, Phaneuf said Wednesday morning. Its our job as [defencemen] to get our forwards the puck to move out of the zone and possess the puck and when were not doing that, we get hemmed in and we give up shots. We want to spend time in their zone because when were down in their zone, were spending less time in our zone and thats obviously a key to success. Its not all about what were doing in our zone. Its how we get out of our zone and how we possess the puck. 4. Offensive Zone II Prior to returning from the flu, Bernier observed that his team could benefit from spending more time cycling pucks down low in the offensive zone. Thats counter, however, to the manner in which the Leafs typically get their No. 1 ranked offence. Weve had success scoring and when you have success scoring, it kind of tends people to go back to their trusted method, Carlyle said. We cannot just be a rush team. We know that. Usually youll get away with it for certain periods of the hockey game, but in the end, you have to have a complete puck possession game and right now, we havent done a good enough job of that over the last little while and were looking to improve on it. The Leafs actually had good and rare success at sustaining zone time against the Bruins for the first two periods, just about even in the possession battle to that point. They even scored the first goal from Leo Komarov with pressure from Peter Holland on the forecheck. 5. Injured Players More than a month after he was first concussed by Alex Ovechkin did Leo Komarov finally return to the Leaf lineup. Komarov missed 14 games in all with the concussion, scoring his fifth this season (a new career-high) in the opening frame. Its been a tough month, said Komarov afterward. Just felt bad for a while. Lupul, meanwhile, was forced to leave the game midway through the middle frame with a lower-body injury. He got tangled up in the neutral zone with Torey Krug before the sizeable Milan Lucic fell onto him. Hobbling off the ice, he required assistance from team trainers just to make it to the dressing room. Lupul, who has already missed 12 games this season due to injury, was spotted on crutches after the game and will travel back to Toronto for an MRI on what looked to be a left leg issue. The team declared it a lower-body injury. Stats Pack 10 – Number of times this season that the Leafs have held opponents under 30 shots. 3 – Consecutive games in which the Leafs have blown a two-goal lead. 3 – Goals for Phil Kessel in his first 27 career meetings with Boston. 3 – Goals for Kessel in his past two meetings with Boston. 27% – Career scoring percentage for Nazem Kadri in the shootout. 5 – Goals for Leo Komarov this season, a new career-high. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-2 Season: 20.6% (9th) PK: 1-2 Season: 82.7% (12th) Quote of the Night Every year, its not going to be all fun and games and smiles. Theres ups and downs in every year and right now, weve got to find a way to claw out of the rut that were in. - Dion Phaneuf, prior to Wednesdays game in Boston. Up Next The Leafs play the fourth game of a five-game trip in Minnesota on Friday night. .com) - The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms with running back Jackie Battle on a one-year contract Friday. . -- David Ortiz saved his only hit for a key moment for the Boston Red Sox.
http://www.cheaplionsjerseyssale.com/?t ... ersey-sale. He was attracted by the punishing defence, the strong running game and a coaching staff he trusted. The 49ers announced Thursday that Manningham had signed a two-year deal to join the team he helped knock out in the NFC championship game two months ago in their latest offensive upgrade at wide receiver. . She was 30. The former British No. 1 died peacefully surrounded by family and friends, the Womens Tennis Association said on its website. The Kyiv-born Baltacha, who represented Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, was diagnosed with the illness in January, two months after retiring from tennis and only weeks after she married her long-time coach Nino Severino. . - Christophe Lalancette scored a third-period goal and added the shootout winner to lead the Drummondville Voltigeurs to a 5-4 win over the Quebec Remparts in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play on Sunday.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Neither Floridas defence nor Alabamas mistakes could contain Blake Sims and Amari Cooper. Sims threw for 445 yards, the second-best passing performance in school history, and Cooper scored three touchdowns as the third-ranked Crimson Tide overcame a sloppy performance to beat the Gators 42-21 on Saturday. The Tide (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) committed 11 penalties for 80 yards and four turnovers that turned into 21 points for the Gators (2-1, 1-1), who still couldnt handle Sims and the prolific passing connection. Sims threw touchdown passes of 87 yards to Kenyan Drake on the opening play and 79 to Cooper later in the first quarter. Still, 400 yards for an Alabama offence known more in the past for bruising running games? "I didnt think it was possible," Sims said. "I just try to take what I take and what the defence gives me, and just try to trust my guys that theyre going to be there." Cooper, who came in leading the nation in receptions, caught 10 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He broke Dennis Homans 47-year-old record of 18 career touchdown catches. The Tides turnovers and miscues kept the game close into the fourth quarter. Alabamas 645 total yards was the most the Gators have allowed. The previous high was Nebraskas 629 yards in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. Sims was 23-of-33 passing with four touchdowns, and was already up to 335 by halftime. That placed him a yard shy of the Tides Top 10 passing games. "People have to respect his passing," Tide coach Nick Saban said. "He has made too many plays for people not to respect him as a passer." Derrick Henry gained 111 yards on 20 rushes. Sims deflected much of the credit, saying that when you have Alabamas offensive line, receivers and tailbacks, "Youre bound to have a good game." The Gators offence wasnt much more successful than its defence. Floridas Jeff Driskel was harassed and ineffective passing. He was 9-of-28 passing for 93 yards and was intercepted twice while the offence produced just 200 yards. Driskel did run for 59 yards, but it got sso bad that Florida legend Emmitt Smith called for the quarterbacks benching on Twitter.dddddddddddd Demarcus Robinson, who had 15 catches in an overtime win over Kentucky, was held to two receptions for 14 yards. Florida failed in its bid for a statement-making performance after a 4-8 season and to perhaps lift coach Will Muschamp, whose mentor Saban was on the opposite sideline, from the hot seat. The Tides blunders kept the game from being even more lopsided. "We had our chances and we didnt do it," Muschamp said. "Thats the frustrating thing." It was all Alabama after Driskels 14-yard touchdown run tied the game at 21-21 early in the third quarter. That came two plays after Neiron Ball got his left hand on a Sims throw at the line and Antonio Morrison scooped it up for a 20-yard return. All three of the Gators touchdowns came after turnovers. "Obviously everybody that watched the game could tell that there were some things that we did extremely well and some things (that) were pretty sloppy," Saban said. "But I thought in the second half we really controlled the game." Alabama answered the tying score with a 16-play drive sustained despite two penalties and a sack. Henry dodged a couple of defenders for a 29-yard catch on third-and-23 and scored on a 3-yard run on the next play with 5:27 left in the third quarter. "We didnt make the plays and they did," Driskel said. "We didnt get it done. Its a matter of execution. "It was a game of big plays. Alabama had a lot more than us." The Tide did get a scare when Sims went to the locker room after getting hurt on a 24-yard run late in the third quarter. He appeared to be clutching his right shoulder on the sideline but played again. Sims returned shortly after backup Jake Coker hit Cooper for a 4-yard touchdown and received a big ovation as he sprinted across the field to the sideline and congratulated Coker with Alabama having just extended its lead to 35-21. Saban said Sims had a bruised right shoulder, but the Tide has an open date next week to heal. ' ' '
