Dein erstes Forum » – Shootout victories this season, most

TORONTO – This weekends series against the Tampa Bay Rays is important for the obvious reason: the Blue Jays are running out of time and games to make up the three-and-a-half game deficit for a playoff spot they had entering Fridays action. There are other reasons, too. Take a look at the leagues schedule. The Blue Jays are one of six teams, seven if you count Kansas City thanks to its precarious half-game lead on Detroit in the American League Central, competing for two wild card spots. As Toronto is hosting the Rays, four of those teams are squaring off. Cleveland (tied with Toronto) is visiting Detroit (which holds the second wild card spot). Meanwhile, nighthawks will stay up enjoying the Athletics (which holds the first wild card spot) versus the Mariners (a half-game behind the Tigers) from Seattle. If the Blue Jays sweep the Rays, it will mean they gained ground on at least two teams (because one of Oakland, Seattle and one of Cleveland, Detroit will lose) each day. On the days Toronto loses, it loses ground to at least two teams, a situation the Jays cannot afford as the regular season enters its final two weeks. "Well, I mean, were coming out here trying to win this game regardless of the circumstances," said manager John Gibbons. "We dont have a whole lot of room to play with so we need to win some games." With a seven-game road trip to Baltimore and New York looming, followed by home series with Seattle (four games) and Baltimore (three games) to end the year, as of Friday Tampa Bay was the lone remaining sub-.500 opponent on the Jays docket. "We dont think about what other teams are going to do," said Jose Reyes. "We think about us, about taking it one game at a time because youre not going to win three games in one day." Reyes hammered the old cliché but its the truth. While theres reason to root for Baltimore to beat New York (there was a loud cheer during Jays batting practice when the Orioles walked off an 11th inning victory over the Yankees on Friday afternoon) and Boston to beat Kansas City, the other two results are saw offs. Simply, the Jays must win. Rotation switch Manager John Gibbons is taking advantage of the off day on Thursday to slightly reconfigure his starting rotation. Left-hander Mark Buehrle, originally scheduled to open the series in Baltimore on Monday, instead will start Sundays finale at home against Tampa Bay. Rookie Marcus Stroman moves to Monday. He had been set to pitch on Sunday. "Give (Stroman) another extra day," said Gibbons. "Weve been trying all year long to protect these guys, young guys especially." Another reason for the switch: Buehrles numbers against the Rays are much better than his numbers against Baltimore. In five starts against Tampa Bay this season, Buehrle is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA. In three starts against the Orioles, hes 1-2 with a 4.67 ERA. Stroman has yet to face Baltimore. Yet another reason for the switch: despite injuries to Manny Machado and Matt Wieters and a 25-game suspension to Chris Davis for a positive test for amphetamines, the Orioles are a home run hitting team. The recent development of Stromans dominating sinkerball, a groundball pitch, plays well in Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which is prone to allowing the home run. Davis suspension helps Blue Jays The AL East-leading Orioles, already without Wieters (elbow) and Machado (knee) for the remainder of the season, lost first baseman Davis for 25 games. This will not disappoint Blue Jays pitching, on whom Davis has feasted. Since the start of the 2012 season, in 47 games, Davis has hit 21 home runs against Toronto. No opposing player has more in that span. Davis, 28, has had a disappointing season. After leading baseball with 53 home runs and 138 RBI and posting a 1.004 OPS in 2013, his numbers have dropped dramatically (20 home runs, .704 OPS in 2014). Davis tested positive for amphetamines, which he said were the result of his use of the stimulant Adderall. Davis said he had a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Adderall through to the end of last season, a prescription which, apparently, was not renewed. Nike Shoes From China .28 for a combined time of 1:14.70, also an Olympic record. Lee won the gold medal, defending her title from the Vancouver Games. Fake Nike Shoes From China ." Bach is in Rome for the European Olympic Committees general assembly and meetings with Pope Francis. He also visited with Italian Premier Enrico Letta. "The prime minister appeared to be interested in a bid from Italy for 24, because he has realized that the games can serve as a catalyst for development for a city and a country," Bach told The Associated Press on Saturday. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ .J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. Discount Nike Shoes From China . His chance at winning a Stanley Cup in Philadelphia is over. Same with Jeff Carter. And Brian Boucher. Throw in Ville Leino and Dan Carcillo. Fake Nike Shoes . PAUL, Minn.TORONTO – When he lines up at centre ice, James van Riemsdyk has an idea of what he might attempt, but doesnt quite know for sure. Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. He and the Leafs continue to find good fortune in the individual reality that is the shootout, now up to a league-leading nine victories following a 4-3 edging of the Sabres at the ACC on Wednesday night. "The shootout is a game in itself obviously," said head coach Randy Carlyle afterward, his team boasting a 9-4 record in such situations. "When you win them its a positive. When you lose them its a negative. Thats the bottom line. "Were fortunate this year that our record in the shootout is a real strong positive for our hockey club and its earned I dont know how many extra points." Still trying to establish who and what they are, the Leafs have needed each and every one of the nine additional points theyve gained from their success in the shootout. On a whole lot of nights, including Wednesdays against the league-worst Sabres, theyve struggled to find a complete performance only to emerge with a victory of sorts in the shootout. Carlyle assigns shootout selection duties to assistant coach Greg Cronin. His choices have narrowed recently around three shooters – van Riemsdyk, Joffrey Lupul, and Tyler Bozak – each of whom has been better than 60 per cent on the season. Leaf shooters have actually been among the most accurate in the league this season after posting the worst mark in 2013. Led by Lupul, who has scored on six of seven attempts, including the winner against Buffalo, Toronto owns a 48.6 per cent success mark in the shootout – good for second-best in the NHL. Last season, a year in which they dropped every one of their five shootouts, the Leafs had the most futile shooters in the league – just 12.5 per cent on 24 attempts. Bozak, in fact, was the lone shooter to even score. Toronto boasts eight shootout victories since the start of November, owning just five in regulation in that same span. Now streaking with wins in three consecutive games, they sit seventh in the East with 53 points. "Theres been a lot of extra points gained by it," said Carlyle of the shootout, which sealed the season series with Buffalo. "If we can continue to find a way to get points, thats what our job is [to] get ourselves back [on track] and climbing into a playoff position." Five Points 1. Balance Rare is the night in which the Leafs have received offence from many different sources, but against the Sabres that was just the case. Each of the top three units accounted for a goal in victory, including Phil Kessels 22nd of the year, Nik Kulemins sixth and the second in the NHL career of Morgan Rielly, set up by generally quiet second unit (more on that below). "Its always an advantage if you can get three lines providing certain levels of offence," said Carlyle, who moved Peter Holland onto a third unit recently in hopes of spurring more of an attack. Toronto had scored eight goals in the previous three games, all of which came from a scorching top line of Kessel, van Riemsdyk and Bozak. "We need everybody contributing," Carlyle continued. "If you look at the teams that are having success theyve spread that offence around and theyve been able to get quality minutes from everyone in their lineup." Often over-dependent on that top unit – each member played more than 22 minutes vs. Buffalo – Wednesday marked just the 13th time in the past 35 games that the Leafs have managed three goals or more. 2. Second Line Slumber Aside from an occasional burst or odd contribution – the line had a hand in the third goal from Rielly – Torontos second line of Nazem Kadri, Mason Raymond and Joffrey Lupul has remained an infrequent source of offence. Kadri has just one goal in the past 16 games, Raymond has two goals in the past 21, and Lupul, the most effective of the group recently, has still gone pointless in 12 of the past 18 outings. A source of production for the trio earlier in the year, some of the trouble stems ffrom lacking success on the power-play.dddddddddddd. Kadri has just one power-play point in the past 19 games, Raymond owns three in the past 21 and Lupul, just four in the previous 28 outings. 3. Reimers Night Making just his second start since Dec. 21, James Reimer showing some rust in yielding three goals on 30 shots to the Sabres, including an unlikely game-tying goal from Cody Hodgson. The first marker from Matt Ellis snuck through short side. The second goal, a Matt Moulson snipe from an odd-man Sabres rush, went post to post and under the bar, a slick shot from the former Islander. The final strike, a power-play marker from Hodgson, found an unlikely hole between Reimer and the post – one that still puzzled the 25-year-old afterward. "I still dont really know how it went in," said Reimer, who earned his first win since Dec. 19. "My foot was against the post. Thats my play. Thats what I do. Ill look at the video and see if it squeaked in somewhere where I can close it. I do that every play, every time and its never gone in." 4. Stacked Deck Jonathan Bernier has unquestionably grabbed hold of the Toronto crease in recent weeks, but theres also no doubting that Reimer has been handed a bad deck of cards. A look at the 25-year-olds five starts prior to Wednesday night and the poor performances which surrounded them: • Dec. 12 at St. Louis: 6-3 LReimers Night: 3 goals/15 shots*Post-Game Quote: "Tonight it looked like we were totally brain-dead in a lot of areas." – Randy Carlyle • Dec. 17 vs. Florida: 3-1 LReimers Night: 3 goals/23 shotsPost-Game Quote: "We simply got embarrassed." – Mason Raymond • Dec. 19 vs. Phoenix: 2-1 SOWReimers Night: 1 goal/35 shots.Post-Game Quote: "Thats the one thing we know we can count on Reims for is compete level and battle." – Joffrey Lupul • Dec. 21 vs. Detroit: 5-4 SOLReimers Night: 3 goals/12 shots* Post-Game Quote: "Obviously we didnt have a very good first period." – Randy Carlyle • Jan. 9 at Carolina: 6-1 LReimers Night: 6 goals/36 shotsPost-Game Quote: "We stood around for most of the hockey game tonight." – Randy Carlyle *Pulled after the first period 5. Riellys Progress Morgan Rielly is now 40 games into his NHL career, adding his 13th point against the Sabres. The 19-year-old has, according to Carlyle, "taken some steps and then has taken a few sideways", evaluated with a similar lens as his 23-year-old defence partner Jake Gardiner. "Our expectations for Morgan arent as high as they are for Jake at this point just being where he is in his career," said Carlyle. "Theyre both talented young players. We think that theres a future for those two guys to be a big part of our defence. We want to make sure were handling them the right way." Unlike Gardiner, who was pulled from the lineup last week, Rielly has played in every game since early December, when he sat for three consecutive games with World Junior speculation swirling. Stats-Pack 9 – Shootout victories this season, most in the NHL. 48.6 per cent - Effectiveness of Toronto shooters in the shootout this season. 1 – Goals in the past 16 games for Nazem Kadri. 5-6-0 – Record in the second end of back-to-back sets this season. 2 – Goals in the past 21 games for Mason Raymond. 3-1-1 – Record versus Buffalo this season. 4 – Consecutive games with a point for Phil Kessel. Kessel has two goals and eight points in that span. 23:33 – Ice-time for Kessel against the Sabres, most among forwards. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-2Season: 22.1 per cent (5th) PK: 1-2Season: 77.5 per cent (27th) Quote of the Night "Youre in the same locker room then youre in the same bus, the same plane, the same hotel. The hardest part is trying to stop it from going through the entire team. Those guys have kind of been quarantined off and the rest of us have been just washing our hands and trying to stay away from it." -Joffrey Lupul, on stopping the spread of the flu bug through the Leafs dressing room. Up Next The Leafs host Montreal at the ACC on Saturday. ' ' '