Grüße und Vorstellung » Robin Ventura said. "Any time you get the

TORONTO - Following a somewhat predictable letdown in Carolina on Thursday night – a 4-1 loss that snapped a season high six-game winning streak - the Leafs began what would be a relatively relaxed hour-long practice on Friday with a somewhat unpredictable activity. Broncos Womens Jerseys . Right-handed shooting players held their sticks as lefties and left-handers held their sticks as righties. Everybody took the ice along with a couple of pucks and fun was had for five minutes or so. For head coach Randy Carlyle, there’s a method to this madness. “There’s a heavy workload coming so it can’t be all doom and gloom,” said Carlyle, whose team will play three games in four night beginning on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers before the Christmas break. “When you come to work, we believe that you have to come in a positive frame of mind. We met before [practice] and went over some video; we explained what we were seeing and how it has to change going forward. We find that if you can lighten up the start of practice a little bit, it usually is more productive and you get a more productive group coming [Saturday], which we feel is the most important day.” Players begrudgingly recalled some aspects of a disappointing loss to the Hurricanes when asked, but it was clear that the team’s focus was solely pointed at rebounding on Saturday night, their final home game before embarking on a seven game road trip that won’t see them back at Air Canada Centre until January 7 against the Washington Capitals. “It’s a long season and you’re not going to have your “A” game for all 82, unfortunately,” explained James van Riemsdyk. “That’s what you strive for, but realistically, that’s not what happens.You take it for what it’s worth and move on to get ready for the next one.” The challenge now for the Leafs is to ensure a poor result does not shake the confidence developed over a stretch that saw them earn 21 of a possible 24 points prior to the loss. Where at times earlier in the season, the Leafs would appear fragile in the face of adversity, letting poor starts in games against Pittsburgh, Detroit and Boston snowball into one-sided defeats or allowing the quality of their play to erode from game to game to game in losses to Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Nashville in mid-November, Dion Phaneuf insisted the team has moved beyond those dark days. “[The media] want to look back on the past and the negatives of our year and I respect that. Thats what you have to do. You have to ask those questions,” Phaneuf acknowledged. “But for us as a team, we have to focus on [Saturday]. We can sit here and say we got beat in Carolina and hang our heads and mope and pout, but that doesnt do any good. We have to come back, we have to be focused, we have to be ready to play Philadelphia. Weve got a big weekend ahead of us here. We have to respond the right way and I believe well do that.” Perhaps the most reassuring message the Leafs have delivered this season is an acknowledgement of deficient areas in their play when ugly habits have cropped up. Throughout the 10-1-1 run that ended with Thursday’s loss, there were wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and a pair against the Detroit Red Wings that perfectly illustrated the desired style the coaching staff is consistently pleading for. However, recently the Leafs have returned to a heavier reliance on spectacular goaltending and high octane offence in order to see success. “We can’t start the way that we started [against Carolina] or the game previous [against Anaheim],” said Phaneuf. “We’re giving up too many shots in the first period, we’re receiving the game too much. That’s on us as players to be more prepared to start games.” Saturday’s match up will be the first of the season for the Leafs against the struggling Flyers, winners of just three of their last 10 games. While Philly sits eight points out of a playoff spot, the Leafs learned the hard way on Thursday that no game is a given anymore. “We know what they’re capable of over there and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, any team can beat any team if you’re not ready to go,” said van Riemsdyk. PRACTICE NOTES Komarov Skates Leo Komarov skated with strength and conditioning coach Anthony Belza prior to practice on Friday for about 20 minutes. It marked just the second time Komarov had skated since taking a hit to the head from Alexander Ovechkin on November 29. But despite missing nine games thus far, his return is still uncertain. “Its the first step back into the process that a player returning needs to be testing himself both in the gym and on the ice, said Carlyle. Other than that, hes in testing mode.” Carlyle Assesses Jake Gardiner Jake Gardiner has had an up and down season to this point, but this past week has arguably been his toughest stretch. A pair of mistakes on Sunday against the LA Kings directly led to two goals against. On Thursday against Carolina, Gardiner was unable to tie up Chris Terry at the top of the crease despite being in good position. Terry tapped in a pass from Eric Staal to get the Hurricanes on the board first. Asked about Gardiner’s play of late, head coach Randy Carlyle was succinct in his assessment, “I think Jakes been very erratic, simple as that.” Already a healthy scratch twice this season in consecutive games (wins against the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche in October) and now with seven defencemen healthy once again, could Gardiner be sat in favour of Korbinian Holzer with back-to-back games this weekend against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday? Polak Returns Roman Polak played 18:58 in his return to the line-up on Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes after missing the past 10 games with a knee injury. He admitted on Friday that the long stretch of time off left him feeling somewhat behind in terms of game speed. “Of course, I didn’t have any practice with the boys; I was skating a lot on my own,” Polak explained after practice. “Ten games out, you can feel it; it was like three-and-a-half weeks or so. You feel a little slow out there, my reads are maybe not as accurate as you did before. You need a couple games to get back into shape and the groove that you were in before.” But other than being a little sore and tired on Friday, Polak declared himself all good. New Look Lines Randy Carlyle shuffled his forward lines against the Hurricanes in an effort to spark some offense after a lacklustre first period. Those same lines remained intact at practice on Friday. “I thought we were getting we were getting a little bit more from that group and who knows, we could change it back tomorrow,” said Carlyle. “We don’t know if we’re going to go with that specifically but we liked what we saw last night.” NEW LINES Left Wing Centre Right Wing Joffrey Lupul Tyler Bozak Phil Kessel James van Riemsdyk Nazem Kadri Mike Santorelli Daniel Winnik Peter Holland David Clarkson Richard Panik Trevor Smith David Both OLD LINES Left Wing Centre Right Wing James van Riemsdyk Tyler Bozak Phil Kessel Daniel Winnik Nazem Kadri Mike Santorelli Joffrey Lupul Peter Holland David Clarkson Richard Panik Trevor Smith David Booth Keishawn Bierria Jersey .J. -- Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils took a lot of grief considering his scored the first of his career-best three goals just 12 seconds into a crucial game against the Florida Panthers. DaeSean Hamilton Jersey . The lightning strike was in the parking lot of Crew Stadium on Saturday night, but its not known if the off-duty lieutenant was struck directly, Columbus Fire Department Battalion Chief Tracy Smith said. The firefighter, identified as Lt. http://www.authenticbroncosshopnfl.com/sam-jones-jersey/ . -- Darrelle Revis says at least 26 teams called after he was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.HOUSTON -- Matt Dominguez provided a big boost to the Houston Astros on Sunday. Dominguez homered twice and had four RBIs, helping the Astros to defeat the Chicago White Sox 8-2. Dominguez hit his sixth and seventh homers of the season off White Sox lefty John Danks (3-4) in the third and fifth innings. The first was hit to deep left-centre on a full count that followed a double by Dexter Fowler. The second was hit to the left-field Crawford Boxes, also with Fowler on base, putting the Astros up 8-1. "Hes a guy that can turn around anybodys fastball," Astros manager Bo Porter said of Dominguez. "Hes got power to all fields." Backed by early run support, Astros right-hander Brad Peacock (1-4) earned his first win of the season, allowing two runs and five hits and four walks, while striking out five in 6 2-3 innings. The Astros scored two runs or fewer in six of Peacocks previous nine outings entering Sunday. Since Peacock became a starter on April 20, the offence provided 13 runs of support in his previous five starts. "Our hitters came out swinging," Peacock said. "Its a big confidence builder for them and a big confidence builder for us." The Astros have won four of their past five games, while the White Sox have lost six of eight. After taking two of three from the Rangers and White Sox, Houston has won back-to-back series for the first time since last August. The Astros improved to 12-3 when hitting two or more home runs. They are 1-17 when they fail to hit a homer. After a Chris Carter homer in the second inning gave the Astros an early lead, Jonathan Villar sparked a rally with a two-RBI single that scored Jesus Guzman and L.J. Hoes. Guzman advanced to second on a throwing error by left fielder Alejandro De Aza theen stole third and scored when catcher Adrian Nietos attempt to throw him out skipped into the outfield. Broncos Official Jerseys. The Astros had 10 hits in the game and have had at least nine hits in eight straight games, the clubs longest such streak since 2008. "They were swinging it good," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Any time you get the ball up, especially in this ballpark, youre going to create a lot of problems." Villar later left the game in the seventh inning with a right hand injury, but Porter said the injury was not serious. The White Sox were playing without first baseman Jose Abreu, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with ankle tendinitis. "Everything gets frustrating, especially when you have games like this," Ventura said of Chicagos two errors. "It just needs to be cleaned up." Danks allowed eight runs -- seven earned -- and 10 hits and three walks while striking out seven in 4 2-3 innings. He allowed at least one homer for his fourth consecutive start and fell to 1-3 in that stretch after allowing just one homer through five starts in April, when he was 2-1. "I did a terrible job of keeping the ball in the ballpark," Danks said. Notes: Despite having the worst record in the AL at 16-28, the Astros are 15-11 when hitting home runs. The Astros rank third in the majors and second in the AL with 15 multi-homer games. ... Dexter Fowler has walked in eight straight games, Houstons longest streak since 2006. ... Astros prospect C Brian Holberton hit for the cycle at Class A Quad Cities, going 5 for 5 with two singles, a double, triple, two-run homer and five RBIs in a 10-3 win. ... The Astros begin a 10-game road trip to Anaheim, Seattle and Kansas City, and the White Sox travel to Kansas City for a three-game series. Cheap Panthers Jerseys Cheap Bills Jerseys Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Patriots Jerseys Cheap Saints Jerseys Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Cheap Cardinals Jerseys Cheap 49ers Jerseys Cheap Seahawks Jerseys Cheap Rams Jerseys Cheap Bears Jerseys Cheap Lions Jerseys Cheap Packers Jerseys Cheap Vikings Jerseys Cheap Bengals Jerseys Cheap Browns Jerseys ' ' '