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TORONTO - Whatever momentum they built up before the 18-day Olympic break is suddenly gone. Where To Buy Cheap Jerseys . Three straight losses have quieted the Maple Leafs - winners of 11 of 14 before the stoppage - who dropped a 2-1 decision to Columbus at the ACC on Monday night, their third loss in as many games to the Blue Jackets this season. Alongside overtime defeats in Long Island and Montreal, the interim trends in Toronto are subtly veering in the wrong direction, though they still have ownership of the first wild card position in the East. "The three losses hurt because we had points available to us on the road," head coach Randy Carlyle said, referring to overtime defeats against the Islanders and Canadiens. "Thats the hard part is when you lose two overtime games on the road and we had a one-goal lead in both games. That kicks you. That doesnt feel very good." The most recent case saw his team start strong, stall midway through and eventually push back with a charge that was ultimately too late. "I think part of it is somewhat of an Olympic hangover," said James Reimer, making a rare start in place of Jonathan Bernier. "The last three games its been anyones game, its been a one-goal game and two of them have gone into overtime. I think were right there; were just missing it by a little bit. All three games couldve been Ws for us so I dont think its anything to worry about." The Leafs started the evening strongly with a flurry of opportunities and pair of power-plays, but failed to get anything beyond the reach of Sergei Bobrovsky, nor the multiple bodies that stood at his defence. Phil Kessel snuck one shot through the pads, but it spun just above the goal-line before Bobrovsky rushed it to cover. The home foot came off the gas in the middle period with Columbus scoring twice in less than three minutes. The Leafs turned pucks over, lost battles and wandered around hopelessly in the defensive zone. They failed to even record a shot before Dalton Prout scored the games first goal. Cody Franson labeled it a "mediocre" 20 minutes. "We tried to get cute with the puck and turned it over too many times," he said. "When you play a team that has that type of forechecking style and transition ability its not what you want to do ideally." "I think that was more of a mental lapse than anything because we just started wandering around," Carlyle said. "For the first period we had lots of life, we were on our toes and jumping to pucks and we were winning our battles. In the second we just started to stall in the neutral ice." A late third period rally yielded a goal from Mason Raymond, but nothing more as the Blue Jackets swept the season series from their new Eastern Conference counterpart, outscoring them 13-3 in the process. The Toronto dressing room was hardly in a state of panic afterward. Though dismayed with their performance against a mediocre Islanders squad last week, they were generally pleased with their effort in Montreal over the weekend - outside of penalty trouble and another lost third period lead - and pointed to the loss to Columbus as an incomplete effort, but not one that should cause alarm. They cant hide from points left on the table, however, especially against those theyre either chasing (Canadiens) or those chasing them (Blue Jackets) and a difficult schedule ahead. Just behind the Leafs (72 points) in the standings are the likes of Detroit (68), Washington (68) and these very Blue Jackets (67), all with games in hand and opportunity to narrow the gap further. The alarm should not be sounded with three straight losses, but some degree of caution should be taken by those wearing the blue and white. "Were fine," said Joffrey Lupul afterward. "Were certainly not losing perspective, but were not happy about losing two points to a team below us in the standings." Five Points 1. Rare Start James Reimer hadnt made a start for the Leafs since Jan. 25, a long stretch of 37 days that saw Jonathan Bernier gripping tight on the starting job right into the 18-day Olympic break. "Besides an injury I dont know if Ive ever had this much time in between starts," Reimer said. In spite of the long layoff, the 25-year-old looked sharp, stopping 31 of the 33 shots peppered by Columbus, including a Nick Foligno breakaway in the opening five minutes. "There was a little rust there," said Reimer, "but honestly I felt pretty good. I felt like I battled as hard as I could and tried to fight to see the puck and its unfortunate we came up a little short tonight." The two that passed could hardly be pinned his way. The first from Prout sailed through a maze of traffic from the point, the latter from Artem Anisimov coming by way of a laser back-door point pass from Nikita Nikitin. "I dont think you can point to the goaltending as a deficiency, thats for sure," said Carlyle. "He did his part to give us a chance." 2. Rare Night off the Scoresheet Kessel missed his 34th goal of the year by mere inches. The 26-year-old had a rare night off the scoresheet, finishing with two shots in just over 23 minutes of ice. It was just the third time in the past 18 games that the scorching Kessel failed to register a point. Indicative of his value, the Leafs dropped to 4-17-2 this season on such nights, a rarity these days for sure. 3. Power-play Life Unhappy with the state of his clubs special teams, Carlyle directed that the near-entirety of Sundays practice be spent on the matter. Much of the focus a day before the game against Columbus centered on a power-play that was suddenly missing much of its pep. "We stood around," he said of the man advantage in losses to New York and Montreal. "And other teams have made adjustments to our break-out and we havent reacted to what we normally would do in situations. Obviously other coaches in the league do pre-scout. They do work to devise plans against what you do." Though they failed to score in two attempts on this night - now 0-13 in the past six games - they did manage some signs of life, including a good opportunity for Morgan Rielly in the first frame. "At least today our power-play created some momentum for us whereas in the past couple games it seemed like itd been a bit of a momentum killer," said Lupul. The Leafs own the leagues fifth-best power-play this season with much of that success coming on home ice – they sit second in the NHL at 26.5 per cent. Considering their ineffectiveness on the penalty kill its an area theyll want to right soon. 4. Trade Deadline Dave Nonis made a minor move at the trade deadline last season, adding Ryan OByrne from Colorado for a fourth round draft pick. The Leafs general manager and his management team have essentially shunned the idea of adding another such rental this time around. Unlike in years past theres not much in the way of frenzy surrounding the club heading into the Mar. 5 deadline, but in Carlyles eyes - traded himself once at the deadline - it remains a distraction for players. "The trade deadlines always a factor in any hockey players life," said Carlyle, traded to Winnipeg from Pittsburgh for a first round pick on Mar. 5th, 1984. "Having played for a number of years and lived and died in one. It was one of those situations that you remember. Its not a lot of fun being a player at this time of year. In todays Twitter world and blogging and that, theres a lot more rumours floating around so its obviously a lot more to it than when I was moved in 84. I dont think they had Twitter then did they?" 5. Rare Home Ice Defeat Before falling Monday to the Blue Jackets the Leafs hadnt lost in Toronto since Jan. 7, a 5-3 defeat that night to the pesky New York Islanders. They had reeled off seven consecutive wins at home for the first time since the 2006-07 season, Stats-Pack 13-3 - Goal differential between Leafs and Blue Jackets this season, favouring Columbus. 4-17-2 - Leafs record this season when Phil Kessel fails to record a point. 0-13 - Toronto power-play in the past six games. 24:46 - Ice-time for James van Riemsdyk versus Columbus, leading the team. 21-11-1 - Leafs record at home this season. 2:54 - Amount of time it took the Blue Jackets to score twice in the second period on Monday. 37 - Days between starts for James Reimer. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-2Season: 21.2% (5th) PK: 1-1Season: 77.6% (28th) Quote of the Night "In todays Twitter world and blogging and that, theres a lot more rumours floating around so [theres] obviously a lot more to it than when I was moved in 84. I dont think they had Twitter then did they?" -Randy Carlyle, speaking about Wednesdays trade deadline. Up Next The Leafs head to the Big Apple for a trade deadline day clash with the Rangers. Cheap Jerseys Review .com) - Demario Richard posted four touchdowns and Kweishi Brown came up with a key late interception as No. Wholesale Jerseys Online .com) - Top seed Klara Zakopalova reached the second round, while former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone came up a loser Tuesday at the inaugural Rio Open tennis event. https://www.cheapjerseysreview.com/ . Hamilton signed offensive linemen Mike Filer, Joel Reinders, Landon Rice and Carson Rockhill.INDIANAPOLIS - Andrew Luck took advantage of every opportunity Washington provided.He exploited the Redskins blown coverages. He watched Coby Fleener turn a missed tackle into a 73-yard score. He enjoyed watching linebacker DQwell Jackson break open the game with a 35-yard fumble return in the third quarter.And now, after throwing for 370 yards and a career high five touchdowns on Sunday in a 49-27 victory over Washington, Luck expects the Colts to keep it up.I think we have incredibly explosive players all over the field, Luck said. You see a running back take it for 60-some yards to the house. You see Fleener run by defensive backs. You see our wide outs making monstrous plays.The combination made Indianapolis (8-4) virtually impossible to defend.Fleener had four catches for 127 yards with two TD catches, becoming the first tight end since Rich Caster in 1972 to have TD catches of 30 or more yards and 70 or more yards in the same game.Rookie Donte Moncrief had three catches for 134 yards, scoring on plays of 48 and 79 yards.Running back Daniel Boom Herron scored on a career-long touchdown of 49 yards to give Indy a 14-3 lead.Luck continued to pile up the milestones, too. He broke Peyton Mannings franchise record for most 300-yard games in a season (10), became the fifth quarterback since 1970 to win 30 games in his first three seasons, joined Manning and Dan Marino as the only players in NFL history with 4,000 yards in two of their first three seasons, and joined Manning and John Unitas as the only Colts quarterbacks with 30 TD passes in a season.His first TD pass, the 30-yarder to Fleener, gave Indy a 7-3 lead. His second, a 3-yarder to T.Y. Hilton made it 21-3. The third and fourth, a 48-yarder to Moncrief and the 73-yarder to Fleener broke open the game, and the last one to Moncrief made it 49-24 early in the fourth.Washington didnt have an answer. Colt McCoy was 31 of 47 for a career high 392 yards annd three touchdowns — also a career-high and one more than Robert Griffin III threw this season before getting benched — the Redskins (3-9) couldnt keep up. Cheap Jerseys For Sale. Washington has lost four straight.A lot of teams look good in a quarter, a drive or a half or maybe a couple games even, Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. Really good teams can do it week-in and week-out, and thats what were trying to figure out.Here are some other takeaways from Sundays game.JOB SECURITY: McCoy didnt get the win, but he certainly got Grudens endorsement to start next week. While Gruden acknowledged he would have done something things differently during the game, in terms of play calls and execution, he liked the way McCoy competed.TURNOVER TROUBLE: Colts coach Chuck Pagano spent all week preaching the importance of taking care of the ball, then watched the Colts give it away on their first two series. Herron also lost a fumble. Afterward, Pagano again started talking about the necessity of ball protection — something the Colts must fix before the playoffs.INJURY PROBLEMS: The long list of injured players certainly hurt Grudens team Sunday. They could have a long lasting impact, too. The list includes: Receiver DeSean Jackson, bruised leg; cornerback Chase Minnifield, concussion; safety Brandon Meriweather, sprained toe; linebacker Will Compton, sprained cervical spine; defensive lineman Kedric Golston, lower back; linebacker Keenan Robinson, medial collateral ligament in his knee; linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, wrist.UP-AND-DOWN Defence: The Colts allowed just 92 yards in the first half. In the second half, they gave up 333 yards and 17 points, a reflection of some of the problems that have popped up this season. While Pagano said Indys defence was on the field a long time in the second half because of the big plays, he wants to see more consistency.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '