TORONTO -- Randy Carlyle had plenty of chances to hold his breath. [url=http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-720-rabatt.html]Nike Air Max 720 Rabatt[/url] . At one point his Toronto Maple Leafs gave up the lead on a breakaway and another time had a power-play goal waved off. But when goaltender Jo

TORONTO -- Randy Carlyle had plenty of chances to hold his breath. Nike Air Max 720 Rabatt . At one point his Toronto Maple Leafs gave up the lead on a breakaway and another time had a power-play goal waved off. But when goaltender Jonathan Bernier stopped Reid Boucher in the shootout, the coach and players got a chance to exhale with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils Sunday night at Air Canada Centre that snapped their losing streak at four. "Well, we can breathe," Carlyle said. "Theres been a lot of gasping going on, and even in this game there was a lot of gasping going on (with) how tight it was. ... Hopefully this relieves a little bit of the stress thats involved for our hockey club." Plenty of stress had been building up for the Leafs (22-20-5), who hadnt won since the Winter Classic. They still have just two regulation victories in 26 games dating to Nov. 21 and arent yet back in a playoff spot, but the sound of their victory song -- "We Cant Stop" by Miley Cyrus -- brought with it some relief. "Well take any points we can get right now," defenceman Cody Franson said. "Weve had some tough bounces lately, and weve put in some efforts that couldve went either way, and fortunately tonight we were able to get a couple points due to a shootout. You try and manage your emotions with shootouts not getting too high, but for us its a little bit of weight off our shoulders." Bernier made 36 saves on 38 shots in regulation and overtime and stopped all three he faced in the shootout to do his part to end the skid. James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak had the Leafs goals, and van Riemsdyk scored in the shootout to beat a fatigued Devils team playing its third game in four nights. "I think under the circumstances, that team over theres desperate (and) we were coming in here short-handed and under a tough schedule," New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer said. "I thought we gave them everything they could handle. Theyre probably pretty fortunate they got two points and we feel a little bit robbed, but thats the game and weve got to pick up and move on to Montreal." Adam Henrique and Ryane Clowe scored for the Devils (19-19-9), who fell to 0-7 in shootouts this season. Jaromir Jagr, Clowe and Boucher were all unsuccessful this time. "The way weve been in shootouts, lets get it out," Henrique said with a laugh. "I mean, they try things with shootouts, I think everyone has different opinions on it." Opinions varied during the game, too, especially on the call by referee Ghislain Hebert that negated Bozaks power-play goal at 6:23 of the third period. Hebert ruled that van Riemsdyk interfered with Devils goaltender Cory Schneider. Carlyle said it was one of those plays it was hard to agree with the official after looking at it on the replay. Van Riemsdyk agreed. "I was very surprised," said van Riemsdyk, who scored his 17th goal of the season in the second period. "I looked at it after on video in between periods and Im still kind of wondering. He gave me his thought and I asked him if he could watch it after the game and maybe next time we have a game he can apologize or something because that was pretty brutal." It would have been Bozaks second of the night and eighth of the season. Instead, it represented another roadblock for the much-maligned Leafs to overcome. Carlyle estimated his team had 15 scoring chances leading up to that point. "For the next 12 minutes we didnt get any," he said. "So it just shows the mental state and how, I guess, fragile we were at that point." But the Leafs didnt cave. Earlier on in the night they withstood a 7-1 shot deficit and gave up a breakaway goal to Clowe -- his first of the season -- 27 seconds after van Riemsdyk scored to give them the lead. In managing to push the game to overtime and then a shootout, Toronto left things to chance. But players were happy to get tangible evidence of the improvement they saw in a loss at Washington on Friday night. "Our job is to win games," captain Dion Phaneuf said. "We know that the points just keep getting bigger and bigger, and I felt that we stuck with it tonight against a team that played very well." DeBoer was more than satisfied with his teams effort, saying players competed their butts off. "The shootout doesnt take away from the effort that we gave tonight," DeBoer said. Schneider, who made 23 saves on 25 shots, said it was a bit upsetting not to come away with the victory. On Saturday night, the Devils beat the Florida Panthers with two seconds remaining in overtime but couldnt pull off a similar trick against the Leafs. That wouldve been a crushing result for Torontos players, who needed something to go right. "We needed this bad," Bernier said. "We found a way. If thats what it takes to go into a shootout and get points and move on like this, it feels good for the confidence." NOTES -- Five Leafs players -- Bozak, winger Jerry DAmigo, defencemen Tim Gleason and Mark Fraser and goaltender James Reimer -- missed Sundays morning skate with illness. All but Fraser were in the lineup. ... Schneider started for the Devils despite making 29 saves in an overtime victory Saturday night at home. Coach Peter DeBoer said its "always a decision" because of franchise goaltender Martin Brodeur but elected to go with Schneider because of his strong performance against Florida. Nike Air Max Tn Sverige .C. -- Eric Staal kept his focus after his apparent breakaway goal was waived off early in the third period. Nike Air Max Rea . -- Center Max Unger and tight end Zach Miller are both probable for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday against the New York Giants and Percy Harvins recovery continues to be slow. http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-95-rabatt.html . Speaking on Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan on Thursday, Bernier said it was "very hard" at times being entrenched behind Jonathan Quick and is now excited at the prospect of getting an opportunity to compete with Reimer for the top spot with the Leafs.UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Randy Carlyle could handle and might even expect some rustiness for 20 minutes or so after an 18-day Olympic break, but not for the entirety of what proved a dud for the Maple Leafs on Thursday in Long Island. "We gave them three goals," said Carlyle, still steaming after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders. "You cant win in the NHL giving three goals. Gifts. Total gifts." This was not the way Carlyle imagined his team starting the final lap of a long race to the playoffs – a blistering stretch featuring 21 more games in a hectic 44 days – but thats what he got, a sloppy, uninspired performance opposite a team that had lost seven of its previous eight games and was without its best player, John Tavares. Lacking the zip of their pre-Olympic pace – which included wins in 11 of 14 games – the Leafs managed to give away two shorthanded goals in a span of 48 seconds on the same two-minute power play before dropping a pair of third period leads. They lost the undeserved extra point in overtime when James van Riemsdyk could not corral a bouncing puck in the slot, essentially handing it to incoming Islander defender Lubomir Visnovsky, who snuck one through Jonathan Bernier. "I think mentally we looked like we were going to out-skill the hockey club we played against and they had a different attitude. They tried to grind it with us," said Carlyle afterward. "We tried to out-skill a hockey club tonight." Rust was to be expected after the two-plus week Olympic break, but not to the degree that it lingered on this night against a vastly inferior opponent. Two times in the third period did the Leafs vault in front – on goals from Dion Phaneuf and Joffrey Lupul – only to be jilted twice for that lead by Anders Lee, who scored twice in his first NHL game. Lee tapped in his first on a New York power-play, evading Phaneuf and Bernier on the fourth and final game-tying goal late in regulation. "You can expect it for a period," Carlyle said of rust, "but I think when you get down to the third period and youre up in a hockey game youd expect to be able to grind it out, tighten it up and finish the team off. "We were lucky to get a point." Perhaps the effort will offer an early warning to a club itching for a second consecutive spring of playoff hockey. While still comfortable as the first wild card in the East with 71 points that comfort has the potential – however unlikely at this point – to disappear if the Leafs were to catch a fever of bad hockey down the stretch. And with rivals in Montreal and Tampa Bay still there to be caught and Detroit just a smidge behind, heavy incentive remains to lay the foot on the pedal with just over a month left to play. "We know that we left a point here," said Phaneuf. "Thats something we have to recognize and learn from." Five Points 1. Stretch Drive Mentality It was a race to the 2008-09 postseason and Tim Gleason and the Carolina Hurricanes were in a desperate hunt to claim one of the final spots in the East. Winning 13 of their final 18 games they snuck in, landed the sixth seed and proceeded to march all the way to the conference finals. "Thinking back I think thats what it was," Gleason told the Leaf Report. "You play as hard as you can because you needed those two points every night." Though his current team sits firm in a playoff position at the moment, Gleason hopes they latch onto his former clubs sense of nightly desperation. Thursday was in no way, shape or form a good start. "Its like a new season, a new beginning and you know youve got to come and play and get the wins when you can," said the 31-year-old. "...youve got to push when everyone else is pushing and you have to push harder than everybody else." The Olympic break could not have come at more inopportune time for the Leafs, who entered the stoppage on a scorching run that saw them emerge with points in 12 of 14 games (11-2-1). Gleason too was settling into a groove in Toronto after eight seasons in Carolina. "Its interesting because everybody is anxious for the break because its good to have a break, but you think in the back of your mind you dont want it to end because it was going in the right direction," he said. "Now I think its just more of a mental thing, knowing where we left off and what we have to do to keep the pace and pick up points when we can." 2. Lacking Defence In winning 11 of those 14 games before the break, the Leafs scored and scored quite a bit – averaging 3.64 goals per game, a number that would easily lead the league if somehow sustained. And yet in that same stretch, Toronto also gave up nearly three goals perr game itself and still ranks as one of the NHLs worst defensive clubs (all of this with terrific goaltending from Bernier). Nike Air Max 97 Rea. Team defence remains a sore spot for the Leafs and a worrying concern ahead of the playoffs when the hockey tends to tighten with goals ever the harder to come by. "Weve talked so much about defence and we havent really applied ourselves as a team in that area," said Carlyle on Thursday morning, "and thats one of the things that weve stated from the beginning of the season that we wanted to be stingier on the defensive side of it." No team allows more shots nightly than do the Leafs and only five teams have yielded more goals, none of them currently in a playoff position. The Islanders managed five on this night, playing without their top centre, Tavares, and their second-best centre, Frans Nielsen. "Weve talked about it so many times about our goaltenders having to be taxed in too many situations," Carlyle said. "Wed like to be able to say that its a new season for us, were starting over. The defensive aspect of it has to be part of it. But it takes goals to score in the league too. We just dont want to give up too many of the quality scoring chances..." 3. Bernier Workload Only one goaltender in the NHL has faced more shots this season than Bernier and thats Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes. Of course, Smith has also started 10 more games than the 25-year-old, who made his 39th start of the season at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday. Bernier faced 35 shots and allowed five goals, ending a run of 12 consecutive starts yielding three or fewer. "I thought my rebound control wasnt great tonight and Ive got to make more saves," he said afterward. "Five goals, its not a good night, but at the same time we got a point and weve got to move on." Shining in his first go-around as an NHL no. 1, the stretch drive will prove an interesting testing ground for Bernier. He has not played this many games in a season since 2009-10 when he was still in the American League with Manchester. 4. No Olympic Letdown? Back in 2010 and then the bench boss in Anaheim, Carlyle had a slew of players return from the Olympics in Vancouver emotionally spent and missing the gas required to carry the Ducks as per usual. But on Thursday morning, Carlyle raised the belief that Sochi Olympians Phil Kessel, James van Riemsdyk and Nik Kulemin could actually have a leg up on their teammates having played the past few weeks. And he turned out to be fairly prescient, at least for a game. van Riemsdyk had a hand in three of the four Toronto goals, matching a career-high with three assists, while Kessel chipped in with his 32nd goal of the year, also adding a helper to what has been a scorching 2014. The 26-year-old is now tied for second in league scoring with 67 points, 30 of which have come in the New Year. "Its not too hard to get back into it," van Riemsdyk said prior to the game. "Obviously we know whats at stake. All my attention is here on the Maple Leafs. The Olympics is done and over with. Its all about the rest of the season here and what we have to accomplish here." 5. Olympic Experience An Olympian with the American squad for the first time, the 24-year-old van Riemsdyk said the experience was memorable despite a disappointing finish which saw the U.S. bounced by Canada in the semifinals and then trounced in the bronze medal game by Finland. "Obviously the ending wasnt necessarily how we wanted it go which is unfortunate, but in a tournament like that where its single elimination thats how it goes sometimes unfortunately. As far as the whole Olympic experience I thought it was pretty cool. It almost reminded me of being back in college again as far as just even the dorms and being at the cafeteria with all the other athletes." Stats-Pack 1479 – Shots faced by Jonathan Bernier this season, second most in the NHL. 67 – Points this season for Phil Kessel, now tied for second in league scoring. 29 – Points for Kessel in the past 16 games. 12 – Goals for Kessel in that same 16-game stretch. 2 – Shorthanded goals scored by the Islanders in 48 seconds of the same Toronto power-play on Thursday. 3.67 – Goals per game for the Leafs since Jan. 12. 3 – Goals against per game for the Leafs this season. 3 – Assists by James van Riemsdyk against New York, matching a career-high. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-4Season: 21.8 per cent (4th) PK: 3-4Season: 77.9 per cent (29th) Quote of the Night "Gifts. Ive got no other word to describe the goals that we gave up." -Randy Carlyle, following the overtime loss to the Islanders. Up Next The Leafs head to Montreal for a Saturday showdown with the Canadiens. ' ' '