ws, and Cooney hit his second 3 of the game to give the Orange a 12-po

TORONTO – His teammates have said all the right things. Theyve defended him, branded the furious finger-pointing as unfair and claimed that they, not he alone, were responsible for the anxious beginnings of a slide that nearly and may still sweep them out of the playoff picture in the East. With Jonathan Bernier sidelined for the remainder of the regular season – he has an MCL strain in his left knee and will be out three weeks – the Maple Leafs will turn once more to the beleaguered, doubted and frequently dissected James Reimer in what may be his final days as a Leaf. But their goal of reviving playoff hopes that simmer tepidly with four games left dont rest solely on his 26-year-old shoulders. "Now its about time we have his back and step up to the plate," said Nazem Kadri defiantly after a much-needed overtime win against Boston on Thursday night. That wasnt the case the first time around. Reimer, who hasnt won a start in more than two and a half months, may have struggled badly in his first rescue attempt for Bernier last month – he posted an .871 save percentage in five starts (all losses) – but he was deserted on an island through much of the wreckage. Of the 18 goals he allowed in relief of his younger counterpart, four came via breakaway, two via odd-man rush and two more from the back-door with little to no opportunity for a save. "At that point when we were losing the team in front of him just couldnt bring it together and figure things out and obviously the goalies left out there to dry by himself," Kadri said. "We didnt play too good as a team," Carl Gunnarsson concurred. "We didnt help him out." That will have to change, starting Saturday when the Leafs host the Jets in the final regular season game at the ACC this spring. Trailing Detroit and Columbus for the final two wild card positions in the East, their hopes cannot rest on Reimer alone – especially at a point when his confidence has sunk to its lowest at the NHL level. Improvement isnt likely to magically appear in the teams defensive play – a struggle from start to finish – but the glut of glaring and often fatal mistakes needs to be kept to a minimum. Errors like two-time Rocket Richard winner Steven Stamkos being left alone to score three goals or Gustav Nyquist burning away for a pair of breakaway markers on the same night. Until recently, Bernier proved an acrobat at masking such deficiencies, piling up eight wins when he faced more than 40 shots in a game this season. Those theatrics, however, have evolved into expectation in Toronto, an unfair burden that became Reimers to shoulder when Bernier went down with a groin injury last month. The situation may have bubbled over in Detroit on Mar. 18. It was after that game against the Red Wings – a 3-2 loss for the Leafs – that head coach Randy Carlyle described his struggling goaltenders performance as "okay, just okay", comments that ignited a firestorm back home. While he later downplayed the remarks – addressing them with Reimer personally a day later – Carlyles blunt post-game observation seemed to ignore the manner in which Reimer was beat that night – two of the three goals came via the Nyquist breakaway, the third circa the odd-man rush – and thereby singled out the goaltender on a night when he was left alone on far too many occasions. It was the culmination of doubt which has surrounded Reimer upon his landing in Toronto for good in January 2011. "Its a non-issue as far as were concerned," Carlyle said Friday of the since quieted controversy. Reimer hasnt won a start since Jan. 21. Like his teammates, his level will need to rise substantially from where its been for the Leafs to have any hope of spicing up a late season race. For all the follies of those around him during the spiral last month, he could not deliver the one or two timely, game-changing saves needed most nights for success. That will have to change in the days ahead. A restricted free agent and almost certainly playing elsewhere next season, Reimer wondered before Thursdays surprise relief appearance if he had seen his last game as a Leaf. Now comes one final (in all likelihood) opportunity to exit on a positive and perhaps even uplifting note – if he and the Leafs can somehow defy the odds and get into the playoffs. "Honestly right now theres lots of thoughts swirling in your head about a lot of things," he said ahead of a clash with the Jets, "but now its just time to stop the puck. It doesnt really matter what transpires after the season or all that white noise per se. All Im trying to do is just play my best, get those two points (Saturday), and then go on to Florida. Try not to think about other stuff." "Ive had a lot of success in the past and had to carry the load in different scenarios and Ive been successful in that. I feel confident." Nike Vapormax Plus Rebajas . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (5) – He had good saves on Giroux, Akeson, and Hartnell tonight. Comprar Vapormax Falsas .Leicester won 25-21 in a heated European Rugby Champions Cup group match on Sunday.Toulon said on its website on Wednesday that it decided to open an investigation after Leicester complained about the behaviour of prop Martin Castrogiovanni and fullback Delon Armitage. http://www.vapormaxbaratas.com/ . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. Comprar Vapormax Plus Baratas .com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to play spoiler as the Los Angeles Kings will try to match their longest winning streak in over four years in Thursdays battle at Staples Center. Comprar Nike Tn Baratas . Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said he was worried about facing a team coached by one of his former assistants and that employs his signature zone defence. Jerami Grant helped ease those nerves in a hurry. Making his first start of the season and 10th of his career, the sophomore forward scored 11 points in the first 7 minutes as the No. 2 Orange built an early 20-point lead and beat Eastern Michigan 70-48 on Tuesday in the final nonconference game for both teams. It was a far cry from Saturday, when Syracuse trailed then-No. 8 Villanova 25-7 before rallying for a 78-62 victory. "We just wanted to come out and be aggressive," said Grant, who started in place of injured Dajuan Coleman and finished with 15 points. "We didnt want to let them get to a big lead like we did against Villanova. We just came out aggressive, but we kind of let up after that." Syracuse (13-0), one of seven unbeaten teams in Division I, has won 51 straight nonconference games in the Carrier Dome and begins its first season of play in the Atlantic Coast Conference at home against Miami on Saturday. "We really have come through this first 13 games as well as you could ever hope for," Boeheim said. "We played some really good teams. Its ironic the one game we could have lost was St. Francis. Weve put ourselves in the best position we could possibly put ourselves in." Rakeem Christmas matched his career high with 15 points, C.J. Fair finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Trevor Cooney had 10 points for the Orange. Freshman point guard Tyler Ennis, second nationally in assist to turnover ratio (4.69), matched his season high with nine assists to go with two turnovers and pulled down five rebounds but did not score. Glenn Bryant led Eastern Michigan (7-5) with 19 points and eight rebounds and Raven Lee had 12 points. Leading scorer Karrington Ward had five points, 10 below his average, on 2-of-10 shooting. Former Syracuse centre DaShonte Riley, a 7-footer, was a nonfactor, failing to score or snare a rebound in 15 minutes of play. The Orange put together a 19-4 spurt as the Eagles sputtered mightily, making just 3 of their first 16 shots and committing eight turnovers in the opening 12 minutes. After Darell Combs hit a 3 to pull Eastern Michigan to 11-6, Cooney started the Syracuse run with a 3 from the left wing and Fair and Grant followed with dunks to give Syracuse an 18-6 lead at 13:28.dddddddddddd Christmas converted a lay-in to complete a pretty passing play under the basket with Ennis and Tyler Roberson and boost the Orange lead to 30-10 at 7:33. "I knew with Jerami starting it makes them better offensively," Eastern Michigan coach Rob Murphy said. "He was able to get into the high post and create some havoc. When we figured that out, it was a game." The Orange got sloppy after their spurt, committing five turnovers, Christmas was called for two fouls, and Ennis missed the front end of a 1-and-1 as the Eagles clawed back with a 15-6 surge keyed by two three-point plays from Bryant. "The first four minutes determined a lot," Bryant said. "We came out kind of sluggish and were down so much. We just talked to each other, said we had to bring more energy, consistency, and we were able to fight and get back into the game." In the final 80 seconds of the period, Fair and Christmas missed dunks and Grant was called for goaltending. A pair of free throws by Mike Talley with 1.7 seconds left narrowed the Oranges lead to 36-27 at the break. EMU moved within 36-30 in the first minute of the second half when Talley drained a 3-pointer from the wing, but Christmas responded with a putback, Fair sank two free throws, and Cooney hit his second 3 of the game to give the Orange a 12-point lead less than 4 minutes in. After Lees 3-pointer closed the gap to 44-37 at 15:53, Syracuse responded with a 14-2 run to clinch it. Christmass putback capped it at 7:46 and gave the Orange a 58-39 edge. Syracuse committed 13 turnovers, finished 3 of 14 from long range, Fair missing all five he attempted, and misfired on 10 of 25 free throws. "We started to play at a very high level," Boeheim said. "We played at a very low level the rest of the game. Its something to think about. I think we felt we had the game under control and offensively settled a little bit. They made a couple of good offensive plays. We had a really bad stretch at the end of the first half, made some turnovers we dont usually make." Coleman, who has a contusion in his left leg, watched the game dressed in sweats on the Syracuse bench. Hes been receiving treatment for the injury and Boeheim called the injury day-to-day. ' ' '