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CHICAGO – Moral victories count for nothing at this point in the season. Will Montgomery . The Leafs effort may have improved considerably in a 5-4 loss to the Blackhawks on Wednesday night, but the result was ultimately the same: nothing gained, just the 10th loss in the last 11 games (1-9-1). "Its not really the time of year where theres any silver lining," Joffrey Lupul told TSN.ca following the game. "We dont sit around after the game and say Oh, we played good." "Its all about just getting the two points. Right now, we need a win, whatever way we can get it, we need a win." Plagued by poor starts in recent weeks, the Leafs stormed out of the gate at the United Center, jumping ahead 3-1 on goals from Tyler Bozak, Lupul and Clarke MacArthur. The Blackhawks cut the margin in half with 30 clicks left in the opening frame and then raced past their original six rivals for good with two goals in a three and a half minute spurt in the second. Ray Emery did the rest, relieving Corey Crawford with 23 saves in the final two periods. "No excuses," a frustrated Luke Schenn said afterward. "Were just not getting the job done." "Whether you want to say were not playing great defensively or not chipping in the powerplay, penalty kill, scoring goals, whatever it is, just bottom line were not getting the job done and its frustrating." "It feels terrible," added Lupul. "You never want to go on a skid like this, but especially not at this time of year." "We were saying we wanted to get the lead and then we got the lead tonight and we couldnt do the job. Its definitely a frustrating feeling." With just one win in the final three and a half weeks in February, the Leafs enter March four points back of the Capitals for the final playoff spot in the East. They have another critical matchup on deck with the Habs in Montreal on Saturday. "There is enough time," Lupul said of the teams 18 remaining games. "Maybe not because [of] what were doing, but other teams are losing too so were still right there and again we need to get one game, regroup and try and put a little run together." Five Points 1. The Leafs lead evaporated in a stretch of three minutes and 33 seconds in the second period as a series of miscues in the defensive zone lead to goals from Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa. "We lost our coverage along the boards two times and they were able to walk right down the middle," head coach Ron Wilson said. "We have to do a better job of stapling people to the boards than we did in the second period. And even the first period we allowed the same thing to happen on two of their goals; they came up with the puck in battle situations where we lost the battle." 2. Struggling in particular on that note was Jake Gardiner who was on the ice for three of the first four Chicago goals. The 21-year-old was beaten out of the corner by Andrew Shaw on the first goal, outmuscled for a puck along the wall by Viktor Stalberg leading to the second goal, and was on for perhaps a bit soft on the fourth goal. All in all, just an off-night for the rookie defenceman, who logged fewer than 17 minutes, his lowest total of the New Year. "Hes been our best defenceman," Wilson said. "Those things are going to happen. But if one guy makes a mistake youve got to have two and three other people in position and in couple of those situations we didnt and a breakdown ensued." 3. Lupul offered an interesting observation on the loss. "Its not making the big play at the big time," he said. "Theres time in the games where youve got to score a goal, make a big play defensively and right now were just not getting it done for whatever reason." 4. Loss after loss has made for a rather excruciating feeling in the Leaf dressing room. "Weve tried having different meetings, not like inspirational, but just better talks among the guys in our dressing room, coaches, everything," Schenn explained. "Today we tried to keep it a little bit looser. We talked about having fun out there and just playing, not worrying about all the systems and everything thats going on around us. Hockeys not a job or work; its a game and were supposed to have fun and just go out there and play and not worry. I think we did that off the start and got off to a good start and a lead obviously. Its tough to see a lead like that slip." Bozaks 14th of the year marked just the second time in the last 10 games the Leafs have scored first. 5. Under considerable scrutiny with his team sliding Wilson deflected any notion of added pressure. "I dont look it as pressure like what you think," he said. "Pressure is when youre fighting for your life and youve got cancer or something like that. This youre trying to win hockey games." The Leafs effort on Wednesday – albeit in losing fashion – should quash any present notion of a team quitting on its coach. "Tonight I have no argument with the effort," Wilson noted. "When you put an effort like that more than likely youre going to win. Tonight we didnt." Bonus Points Jonas Gustavsson was solid between the pipes with 30 saves. "I thought he was pretty good," Wilson said. "Chicago plays a scrambly game in front of you and it was difficult, but again we allowed them to come down the pipe a couple times because of mistakes along the wall."…Mikhail Grabovski failed to score for the 14th consecutive game, though he did notch an assist on MacArthurs 19th of the year…With the benefit of last change Joel Quenneville was able to match his top unit of Hossa, Kane and Andrew Brunette opposite the Leaf fourth line on both second period goals…Matthew Lombardi was a healthy scratch for the first time this season…Schenn fought Brandon Bollig in the second period, his fourth scrap this season…Bozak led all Leaf forwards in ice-time at 20:02, also finishing 14-21 (67%) in the faceoff circle. Bradley Roby . Parker had 22 points in his return from an eight-game absence, Tim Duncan added 19 points and 16 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a 104-97 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz on Friday night. Danny Trevathan . United, which is enduring a lacklustre season under new manager David Moyes, dropped to fourth behind European champion Bayern Munich in the Football Money League compiled by accountancy firm Deloitte.PHOENIX -- Eric Bledsoe scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and the Phoenix Suns pulled out a 98-92 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Goran Dragic added 20 points, 15 in the first half, and Markieff Morris scored 16 for the Suns. Rodney Stuckey scored 23 and Andre Drummond had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Pistons in their fourth overall loss and 12th straight on the road. Bledsoe, in his biggest game since returning from knee surgery March 12, made a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to put the Suns ahead for good 89-86 with 3:22 to play. Detroit was just 10 of 26 at the foul line, to Phoenixs 24 of 35. Phoenix outscored Detroit 12-6 over the final 3:22. The victory pulled the Suns within a half-game of Memphis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, although the Grizzlies have the tiebreaker. Detroits worst culprit at the foul line was Josh Smith, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds but missed all eight of his free throws. Greg Monroe scored 16 for the Pistons. After quickly erasing a 12-point Phoenix lead in the third quarter, Detroit played the Suns close and had an 82-80 lead when Drummond made one of two free throws with 6:31 left. The game was tied three more times before Bledsoe, as the shot clock neared zero, hit a 3 from the top of the key to maake it 89-86. Shannon Sharpe. Monroe made two free throws with 3:02 left to cut it to 89-88, Morris scored on a drive, Channing Frye blocked Kyle Singlers layup try. Morris and Bledsoe each made free throws to put Phoenix up 93-88 with 1:05 to go. Will Bynum scored, then Bledsoes driving layup had the Suns ahead 95-90 with 48.9 seconds to play. Neither team led by more than six points in the first half, with Phoenix up 51-50 at the break. Dragic hit a 3 and Miles Plumlee made two free throws to put Phoenix up 51-46 with 1:59 left in the half. Drummonds layup with 1:22 left, followed by his tip-in with 6.8 seconds to go, left the Suns with a one-point halftime lead. Phoenix opened the second half with a 14-3 run to go up 65-53 on Plumlees reverse dunk on a pass from Bledsoe. Plumlee scored seven in the spurt. But Detroit responded, outscoring the Suns 14-2 to tie it at 67-67 when Drummond made one of two free throws with 3:34 left in the quarter. Smith was fouled by Dragic on a 3-point try but missed all three at the line and Phoenix led 73-71 entering fourth. Notes: The Suns Markieff Morris drew his 12th technical foul, fourth-most in the NBA. ... Detroits last road win was at Washington on Jan. 18. ... Nine of the Suns remaining 13 games are on the road. ... The teams split the season series 1-1. ' ' ' |
