fs is how little they’ve really gotten from van Rie

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. Mark Clayton Jersey . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Minkah Fitzpatrick Jersey . The Flames are in the midst of a six-game slide (0-5-1), their longest losing streak since an 0-6-3 skid from Jan. 11-28, 2010. They havent won since Nov. 3 in Chicago and most recently went winless on a three-game homestand. http://www.authenticdolphinspro.com/Dan-marino-dolphins-jersey/ . Freddie Roach said if the Rios fight "does not go well, we will seriously talk about his retirement," but that Pacquiao was training as well as ever for the Nov. Larry Csonka Jersey . In a matter of days, he went from unwanted to wanted, from fired to hired, from discarded by the Philadelphia Eagles with reputation tarnished to rock star treatment and a new fat contract from the Washington Redskins. Nat Moore Jersey . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans.CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Russ Smiths 18-foot jumper with 2.2 seconds left gave No. 11 Louisville a 58-57 victory win over No. 7 Cincinnati on Saturday, the Cardinals sixth straight win and 10th in 11 games. Louisville (23-4, 12-2 American Athletic Conference) started the winning streak after a last-second 69-66 home loss to the Bearcats (24-4, 13-2) three weeks ago. Cincinnati fought back from a 10-point second-half deficit to take a 55-52 lead with 90 seconds remaining in the game. Freshman Troy Caupain made two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Bearcats a 57-56 lead. Terry Rozier passed the ball to Smith, catching the notoriously stingy Cincinnati defence off guard and he made the jumper. The Cardinals tipped the inbounds pass, giving Cincinnati no opportunity to get off a shot before the buzzer sounded. Montrezl Harrell, who was just 5 of 12 from the free throw line, led the Cardinals with 21 points, Rozier had 11 and Smith finished with 10 on 3-of-10 shooting. Sean Kilpatrick had 28 points for the Bearcats, who had won 19 straight at home. Feeding off of the intensity of a sellout crowd at Fifth Third Arena, the game started fast-paced and physical in a matchup of two of the nations best defences. Louisville held Cincinnati to 6-of-31 shooting and the Bearcats limited Louisville to 8-of-30 shooting from the field in the first half. Louisville had held seven of its last 10 opponents to under 40 per cent shooting from the field, and continued that trend Saturday. Unlike in the teams first matchup in January, when Cincinnati shot 48.9 per cent, the Bearcats started 3 of 27 from the field. Louisville swarmed the Bearcats, intercepting passes, swatting away shots and forcing Cincinnati to rush itss offence.dddddddddddd Cincinnati missed 13 straight field goal attempts over an 8:25 scoring drought as the Cardinals built a 21-9 lead. Louisville found success by driving inside, outscoring the Bearcats 14-2 in the paint before halftime. But down 12 points with 4:41 left in the half, the Bearcats outscored Louisville 8-1 the rest of the way before halftime, capping the half with a jumper by Caupain to make it 22-19. On the Bearcats first possession of the second half, GeLawn Guyn hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. The Bearcats, fourth in the nation in scoring defence (57.4 points per game), held Louisville to just 22 first-half points. The output was the Cardinals second-lowest in a half this season, slightly higher than the 20 points they had in the first half of the teams first meeting on Jan. 30. Louisville found its touch in the second half, shooting 14 of 25 from the field and again building a 10-point lead. Cincinnatis shooting woes -- with the exception of Kilpatrick -- continued. Kilpatrick made 15 straight Cincinnati field goals in the second half, taking more than three times the number of field goal attempts (26) as any of his teammates. But Kilpatricks scoring was all Cincinnati needed. The Bearcats went ahead 52-51 on a free throw by Kilpatrick with 2:20 left. Louisvilles Luke Hancock finished with two points, fouling out with 1:40 left and his team down 52-51. Mangok Mathiang fouled out with 2:20 left and finished with four points. Kilpatrick entered the game needing 10 points to reach 2,000 for his career. 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