WASHINGTON D. Nicholas Morrow Jersey .C. – The hole was three goals deep after just eight minutes and 44 seconds. And it would ultimately prove too daunting for the Maple Leafs to overcome in the U.S. capital. Doomed by the drudge of a sleepy start they fell in regulation Sunday afternoon for just the fifth time in the past 23 games (15-5-4), their comeback attempts sullied a 4-2 loss to the feisty Washington Capitals. Coming off a successful swing through the California triangle – they won twice – Toronto mustered just two shots in a stunted opening 20 minutes back east, down 3-0 before the frame was even halfway over. Washington scored twice on its first two power-play attempts, adding another from Jason Chimera at even-strength. “It looked like we were still in for our afternoon nap,” mused head coach Randy Carlyle of the period with some frustration afterward. “We werent good enough in the first 10 minutes,” added James Reimer, appearing in his third straight game. “You cant spot a team three goals. We just werent sharp, myself included, and it cost us. I thought we dominated the second and the third was anyones game, we just couldnt quite climb out of the three-goal hole.” The Leafs did dominate the middle period with the same emphasis as the Capitals did the first. They outshot the home-side 10-1 in the opening 11 minutes and 20-6 overall. But with three power-play opportunities and a slew of chances to score they could only get one by Jaroslav Halak, the eighth this season from Dion Phaneuf. David Clarkson had maybe the best opportunity to even the proceedings at three. Stuck with just one goal in the past 21 games and only four this season, the 29-year-old thought hed beaten Halak only to see the puck trickle off the goaltender and out. “Thats been the story this year,” Clarkson said. “I think even if I didnt celebrate it was still laying there for me to poke in.” Never coming closer he and the Leafs fell for the second time on a season-long road trip that wraps up Tuesday in Detroit against the hurting Red Wings. The momentum of emphatic wins in Anaheim and L.A. failed to carry over on the road back east. Knowing that first place in the Atlantic division is lost – Boston is up 15 points – Toronto has set its sights now on securing second spot and home-ice advantage in the first round. With 13 games to go they have 80 points, one up on Tampa and Montreal, who each carry games in hand. “If we wouldve won this one we wouldve been in a great spot,” said Carl Gunnarsson of the road trip at large. “Weve got a big one coming up here in Detroit to make it a good one.” Five Points 1. First Periods A nemesis on Sunday afternoon and all season for that matter, first periods have been a regular sore spot for the Leafs. Washington scored three unanswered in the opening frame on this day. Troy Bodie added a late goal to cut the deficit to two, just the second of two shots in the period for Toronto. Utterly displeased with his teams performance, Carlyle gathered the entire team for a chat during the second TV timeout. “It was more or less just get going,” Bodie said of Carlyles message. “We didnt have our feet going. We werent ready to play.” The Leafs boast a minus-15 goal differential in first periods this season, by far the worst of the three stanzas. Scoring their second of the night while out-shooting the Capitals 20-6, they improved to plus-13 in second periods. “I think finally we got our legs under us,” said Clarkson. “We started going and we kind of put them back on their heels a little bit.” 2. PK Stumbles The rising Leafs penalty kill entered the day with an 88 per cent success rate in the previous 14 games, turning the corner from an awful first half. “We knew we couldnt give up on it,” Jay McClement told the Leaf Report before the game. “We just had to keep working and wed get better because virtually its the same group of us from last year. I dont know what the reason was [for our struggles], but now it seems like weve got the confidence back.” That is until they faced the second best power-play unit in the league at the Verizon Center. Shadowing Alex Ovechkin, who leads the league with 19 power-play goals, the Leafs gave up a pair on Washingtons first two opportunities with the man advantage, once from an open Troy Brouwer in the slot, a second from Joel Ward on the back-door. “We missed assignments on our coverage,” said Carlyle. “You cant let Troy Brouwer shoot the puck from 10 feet in front of your goaltender. Theres obviously a missed assignment and missed coverage in that situation.” 3. Man Advantage Yields Little Boasting just two goals now in the past 11 games – 7 per cent in that span – the Toronto power-play meanwhile continued its dry spell. The Leafs grappled with three consecutive power-plays in the middle period, but failed to score even once. “We believe in our power-play,” said Joffrey Lupul prior to the game. “And theres going to be stretches when you dont get those goals, but as long as we keep doing things right with some of the scorers we have on the team eventually the power-play opportunities are going to turn into goals.” Punch-less on many recent nights, the Leafs did have their opportunities against the Capitals, mustering eight shots. Sneaking in from the right point Cody Franson had maybe the best opportunity to beat Halak, but was ultimately turned aside. The unit currently sits in a four-way tie for third overall at 20.7 per cent. 4. Goalies James Reimer made his third straight appearance Sunday, starting in place of the injured Jonathan Bernier. Fighting the puck early, Reimer yielded three goals on the first five shots, but settled as the night wore on. He made key stops in the final frame, including one on Jason Chimera breaking in partially alone.Citing the now 26-year-olds rebound trouble in that opening frame, Carlyle said he considered pulling Reimer in favour of Drew MacIntyre after the third Washington goal. “We did think about that,” said Carlyle. “But I didnt want to throw Drew into that type of situation without giving him a heads up …Weve got Reims here and weve got to show the confidence for him to fight through some of those situations. We know that Reims is going to start the next game in all probability.” Carlyle had little to offer as far as an update on Bernier, who remained with the team in Washington Sunday ahead of the trip to Detroit. Its clear the 25-year-old will miss his second straight game against the Red Wings Tuesday, the clarity of lower-body injury yet to be fully revealed. 5. Kadris Evolution Nazem Kadri said recently that “I want to become a complete player that this team can trust” and among coaches and teammates that desire for evolution has been seen on the ice. “I think hes maturing as a player,” said Carlyle of the 23-year-old, who established a new career-high for points in Los Angeles this past Thursday night. “I still think theres some room for Nazzie to grow. But I still think youve got to give the kid credit. Hes under a microscope. Hes under a lot of pressure to come in as a young player and play those minutes. We have all kinds of confidence [in him]. [But] maybe not as much confidence as he has if you know what I mean.” “Hes better in his defensive zone for sure,” added Lupul. “Just positioning and using his body and his stick down low. I think everyone probably saw the offensive talents [which] have always been there, but now – Ive been playing on his line for a while now – hes pretty reliable defensively. And as a winger he gets in a spot where youre able to find him, get him the puck.” For Lupul, thats the indicator for when Kadri is at his best. “I think thats one thing for me that when hes playing really well thats what I notice about being on his line is hes putting himself in a spot where hes basically demanding the puck and that he gets it. That shows his confidence and thats how you can kind of tell when hes on the top of his game.” Kadri finished with two shots in 20 minutes against the Capitals. Stats-Pack 35-40 – Toronto penalty kill over 14 games preceding Sunday in Washington. 54 – Consecutive games missed by Dave Bolland, who is still recovering from a left ankle injury, his return status as yet unknown. 15-5-3 – Leafs record in the past 23 games. 2-28 – Toronto power-play over the past 11 games. 29 – Points this season for Dion Phaneuf, eclipsing the mark he set in 48 games last season. Fighting the flu, Phaneuf had a goal and an assist in defeat against the Capitals. 42-57 – Goal differential for the Leafs in first periods this season, favouring the opposition. 8-15-4 – Leafs record this season when trailing after the first period. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-3Season: 20.7% (T-3rd) PK: 2-4Season: 78.4% (28th) Quote of the Night “It looked like we were still in for our afternoon nap.” -Randy Carlyle, on his teams performance in the opening period Sunday. Up Next The Leafs conclude their five-game road trip with a division battle against the Red Wings on Tuesday. Jordy Nelson Jersey . Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg were each convicted on four charges of aggravated rape, one of attempted aggravated rape and two for aggravated sexual battery. Vandenburg was also found guilty of tampering with evidence as well as an unlawful photography charge. Wholesale Raiders Jerseys China . Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that years post-season. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban. http://www.cheapraidersjerseysonline.com/?tag=shilique-calhoun-jersey-online . The young man, never lacking confidence, thought he could be really good.Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Philip Rivers stalked the sideline, yelling. Under pressure all day, the San Diego Chargers quarterback spent too much time on the ground to lead his team back into the playoffs. The Kansas City Chiefs and their sack-hungry defense wouldnt let that happen for a second year in a row. The Chiefs sacked Rivers seven times in a 19-7 win on Sunday that eliminated the Chargers from playoff contention on the final day of the regular season. It came almost a year to the day that San Diego clinched a berth with an overtime win against Kansas City at home and some help from the rest of the league. It was simple this year: The Chargers (9-7) controlled their own fate after a comeback win over San Francisco in overtime last Saturday. Needing only a win, they never even had a lead, their only points coming on Branden Olivers 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to get them within 10-7. Shoot, said Rivers, its a tough league. Last Saturday night, we were as fired up as you can imagine and then even more fired up Sunday when Baltimore lost knowing we control our own (fate) coming to Arrowhead, a great place to play, great fans, a good team, and we win and get in. And then we dont win. Its just tough. Its a humbling game. Its one that can, shoot, build you up and put you right back down. But theres nothing to hang our heads about in that locker room, Rivers said. Shoot, were a team that fought until the end, all 16 of them, and we came up one short of getting a 17th game. Linebacker Justin Houston dropped Rivers four times by himself, breaking Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas single-season franchise record with 22 sacks, just a half-sack from Michael Strahans NFL mark. Rivers finished 20-of-34 for 291 yards with two interceptions and a fumble in the third quarter that was caused by Houston and led to one of Cairo Santos four field goals. The Chiefs (9-7) were in position to steal a playoff berth with a win before Baltimore and Houston both came back to win their games. The Ravens ended up with the AFCs final wild-card berth by beating Cleveland. Chase Daniel made his second NFL start, completing 16-of-27 passes for 157 yards with Alex Smith sidelined because of a lacerated spleen he suffered last week against Pittsburgh, but that was only diagnosed after he had practiced twice, leading Daniel with less time to prepare. For (having) one day of practice, my hats off to him, said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Thats a tough thing to do at the top level of football. The Chargers missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five years and havent reached 10 wins sincee going 13-3 in 2009. Jerry Rice Jersey. TV cameras showed Rivers walking the sideline in the third quarter, grimacing and yelling toward the field. Emotionally, its just tough when it ends, the quarterback said. You never expect for it to end. And its tough when we didnt play our best. ... But they beat us both times (this season) and you have to give them a lot of credit. They had a touchdown overturned with 8:42 remaining in the game when a replay review determined the ball touched the ground as Eddie Royal slid for a catch in the back of the end zone. They went for it on fourth down from the 3-yard line, but Rivers pass to Antonio Gates was broken up by Husain Abdullah. Abdullah then stuffed Donald Brown up the middle on a 4th-and-1 play on San Diegos next possession and Rivers was intercepted for the second time at the end of the game. Earlier, Houston set the Chiefs record on his third sack of the game, fighting through D.J. Fluker to strip Rivers early in the third quarter. The turnover led to Santos 31-yard field goal for a 19-7 Kansas City lead. Protection was a problem all game long against a very good pass rush, said Chargers coach Mike McCoy. That was nowhere close to where we needed it to be. After Chargers kicker Nick Novak was wide-left on a 52-yard field goal attempt near the end of the third quarter, Santos missed a 50-yard attempt after the Chiefs moved within range on DeAnthony Thomas 30-yard catch. Santos kicked a 43-yard field goal at the end of Kansas Citys first drive of the game and the Chiefs took a 10-0 lead when tight end Travis Kelce recovered Dwayne Bowes fumble in the end zone early in the second quarter. Bowe was a half-yard from scoring the first touchdown by a Kansas City wide receiver this season when he was hit helmet-first by safety Jahleel Addae and lost the ball. Rivers 44-yard completion to Royal set up San Diegos touchdown at the other end, where Oliver went untouched through the right side of the line. Later, Thomas had punt returns of 41 and 22 yards for Kansas City to set up two Santos field goals for a 16-7 lead with 33 seconds left in the first half. Game Notes Rivers went over 4,000 yards passing for the sixth time, tying Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Brett Favre for fourth-most in NFL history ... Gates had four catches for 67 yards and became the fourth tight end in league history with 10,000 receiving yards ... Jamaal Charles rushed 13 times for 54 yards for the Chiefs ... Oliver had 14 carries for 71 yards ... Thomas had 20 sacks for the Chiefs in 1990. He died in 2000 following a car accident. 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