were to strike a portion

OTTAWA – Carl Gunnarsson had a simple explanation for the sky-high shot totals peppered at Leaf goaltenders on a nightly basis and once more in the nations capital on Saturday evening. "You know what? I think its a conspiracy," Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report with a large, sarcastic grin in the bowels of the Canadian Tire Centre. "I think the guys counting the shots, theyre doubling up on it." Two nights after Jonathan Bernier stopped 48 of 50 shots in an overtime win against the Stars did James Reimer stop 47 of 50 in a shootout victory against the Senators, one that also snapped the Leafs seven-game road losing streak. The primary force in the teams success so far this season (16-11-3,) goaltending, after a slight dip under increasing strain in late November, have re-emerged as the backbone of victory in the early days of December. "When we get those wins on a night like this its their win," Gunnarsson said of the goaltenders, Reimer on this particular night. "We need them right now and theyre really showing [up.]" While they raced out to a 3-1 lead on goals from James van Riemsdyk, Phil Kessel and Jake Gardiner, the Leafs nearly fumbled victory away again on this night. Another late letdown, highlighted by continued discipline issues, saw the Senators push back with a pair of goals from Erik Condra and Erik Karlsson, the latter coming on a power-play midway through the third. "When we skate and we attack we can be a hockey club that can have success," said Randy Carlyle, pleased with the effort through two periods, but not so much in the third. "And when we sit back and receive the game, we allow the opposition to dictate the pace of the game." Only the efforts of Reimer kept Ottawa, now nine points back of Toronto in the Atlantic Division, from swiping the lead and two points entirely. "My job is to stop them, whether its 10 shots or 100 shots," said Reimer, who remains unbeaten in Ottawa. "We dont really care how many shots were giving up. Our job is just to stop the puck from going in the net." "We feel were fortunate to have the level of goaltending from Reimer and Bernier," said Carlyle. "We can go with either of them on any given night." Five Points 1. Challenges of a Busy Night Interestingly, Reimer explained that bloated shot totals arent what wear down a goaltender. "They threw a lot of pucks at the net," he said of the Senators, "but what tires a goaltender out on pretty much any team [is] their in-zone time. Its not necessarily the shots, its them working, cycling. Thats when youre in your crouch and youre looking at the pass across and youre moving trying to fight through traffic. Thats whats the most tiring." Regardless, the Leafs are forcing their goaltenders to be spectacular on too many nights. Theyve yielded 37 shots per game against this season, most in the NHL. 2. Reimers Capital City Dominance The unbeaten streak and brilliance for Reimer in the nations capital continued on Saturday. With the 47-save performance – and two more in a perfect shootout – Reimer improved to 7-0-0 lifetime at the Canadian Tire Centre with a .970 save percentage. The 25-year-old, for his part, had no explanation for his success in Ottawa, attributing it to simple randomness. Date Shots Faced Goals Against Jan. 11, 2011 33 1 Apr. 2, 2011 25 2 Feb. 4, 2012 49 0 Mar. 17, 2012 30 1 Mar. 30, 2013 31 0 Apr. 20, 2013 50 1 Dec. 7, 2013 50 3 3. Liles Season Debut John-Michael Liles hadnt played a game for the Leafs since Game 7 of a first round playoff series with Boston last May. He returned from the Marlies on Saturday, playing nearly 18 minutes alongside Mark Fraser against the Senators. "I thought he gave us a good game," said Carlyle of Liles. "He gave us what he does best. Hes a puck-moving defenceman. I thought he did a heck of a job for us." The 33-year-old, who has seen his role in the NHL dwindle in recent years, said he chose to assess his situation in the minors without negativity. "Theres an opportunity to dwell on it and maybe give the kind of woe is me but at the same time thats not really who I am," said Liles, recalled to help a struggling Toronto defence in their puck-moving pursuits. "That was something I tried to not let myself get caught up in." By all accounts, Liles had been terrific with the Marlies, totaling 13 points in 16 games. He credits Steve Spott, the Marlies head coach, for helping to ease his transition to the American League. "Spotter has been fantastic for me," said Liles. "He said he expected a lot of me [and] I expect a lot of myself." 4. Late Meltdowns Just as they did in near-defeat to the Stars on Thursday night, the Leafs very nearly let victory slip away against the Senators. Rather than attack with the lead, they simply sat back and saw it evaporate. "I guess its when we get a lead we freeze, do we freeze up or what are we doing?" said Carlyle, searching for answers himself. "Weve talked about it a lot. Were beating it to death. If we had the answer right now, we wouldve corrected it a long time ago." Ottawa cut the lead to one in the opening minutes of the third frame with Colin Greening outmaneuvering Gardiner for a puck in the Toronto zone, before feeding Condra high in the slot. Karlsson then tied it on the eighth Leaf minor penalty. "It seems we work hard for 40 minutes of the game and establish the type of game we want to play and then we take some penalties that change the momentum and we dont seem to be able to get it back," Carlyle said. "But we won the hockey game, found a way to win and thats the most important thing. Weve had some pretty down times here prior to the last two games, so no matter how you get the points, were going to take them and move on." "Its just a good feeling," said Gunnarsson. "We got the two points. Its not the way we wanted, but in the end the points matter so well take that." 5. Clarksons Production The first 20 games in a Maple Leafs jersey have passed rather quietly for David Clarkson. Clarkson has just two goals and five points, numbers that, while disappointing in the scope of his more recent production, align more closely to the bulk of his NHL career previously. On pace for just seven goals and 18 points this season, Clarkson averaged a not so dissimilar 12 goals and 24 points in his first four NHL seasons with the Devils. Though he played slightly less then – between 12-14 minutes – the 29-year-old garnered similar power-play time and a similar number of shots to those hes put forth this winter as a Leaf. His more recent outbursts,perhaps unsustainable, seemed to alter the conversation though as far as expectations for the Mimico, Ontario native are concerned. Two years ago, Clarkson posted career-highs with 30 goals and 46 points. That year he averaged a then-career-high of 2.85 shots per game, while shooting a career-high 13.2 per cent. While slightly less accurate the next year – a lockout shortened 48 games – Clarkson shot the puck with even greater frequency, establishing a new career-high of 3.75 shots per game. Also notable was the first unit power-play time he gathered in those two potent seasons, a fact of life thats diminished in Toronto to opportunity more closely aligned to those first four seasons in New Jersey. All of which is to say that Clarksons offensive production in the previous two seasons (120 games) may prove more exception than rule. Stats-Pack .970% - Career save percentage for James Reimer in Ottawa. 22 – Career goals for Phil Kessel in 44 games against the Senators. 42 – Career points for Kessel in 44 games against the Senators. 17:51 – Ice-time for John-Michael Liles in his season debut. 0.47 – Goals per game for James van Riemsdyk, who scored his 12th this season on Saturday. 6 – Consecutive games with a point for Kessel, who has four goals and eight points in that span. 28:32 – Ice-time for Dion Phaneuf, a season-high. 4 – Goals from the Toronto defence this season, Jake Gardiner scoring his first this season against the Senators. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-6 Season: 24.7% PK: 6-8 Season: 78.2% Quote of the Night "You know what? I think its a conspiracy. I think the guys counting the shots, theyre doubling up on it, I think thats what it is." -Carl Gunnarsson, musing on the amount of shots the Leafs have given up this season. Up Next The Leafs return home to host Boston at the ACC on Sunday night. Darius Leonard Colts Jersey . -- Steven Stamkos scored his first goal since returning from a major injury, Ryan Callahan had his first goal with Tampa Bay, and the Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Thursday night. Matt Slauson Colts Jersey . -- Jim Furyk was 10 shots worse and right where he wanted to be Saturday in the BMW Championship. http://www.coltsofficialstore.us/authent...h-colts-jersey/. The Goldeyes (10-7) lost 4-1 to the Saltdogs (8-9) Sunday afternoon before 5,834 sizzling fans at Shaw Park. The loss drops Winnipegs record to 3-4 during this past weeks seven-game homestand. Nyheim Hines Colts Jersey . -- Howie Kendrick had a two-run single in his first game batting leadoff this season, Chris Iannetta hit a pair of RBI singles and the Los Angeles Angels beat Cleveland 6-4 Tuesday night, sending the Indians to their fifth straight defeat. Quenton Nelson Colts Jersey . Wearing bib No. 1, Maze skied through the gates cleanly to defend her big first-run lead and finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third, trailing 0.Theres a reason there hasnt been a meaningful work stoppage in pro football for almost 27 years, and its not because this is a sport where the players have nothing to complain about. The very nature of the sport makes it difficult - some might say near impossible - to keep players united during a work stoppage because work stoppages are always about making sacrifices in the short term to benefit in the long. And for a great number of players in a sport with short careers and non-guaranteed contracts, there is no long term. But perhaps even more difficult to overcome is the fact that in football a small number of players on every team are paid far more than the rest, especially the large number of players on every team who will earn at or near the league minimum. And it is those star players, who already enjoy the biggest paydays and the most job security, wholl gain the most as the result of a successful work action. Look at any roster in either the CFL or NFL and youll probably be surprised to earn how many players are earning at or near the league minimum, which this NFL season will ranges between $420,000 and $645,00 for players from zero to three years of service in the league. In the CFL, that figure will go from $45,000 to $50,000 for this season based on what the parties have agreed to so far during current CBA negotiations. Since payrolls for CFL teams arent public, lets use an NFL team as an example to illustrate the payroll dynamics in pro football, which are similar in both leagues, albeit on a different scale. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers enters this season with an average salary of $22 million, nearly double that of anyone else on the team. Among Packers currently under contract, there are only four with an average salary of more than $7 million season, and another four at more than $4 million. There are eight players listed at between $2 million and $4 million, and 67 whose average salary is less than $1 million, 49 of whom are due to earn less than $600,000. The numbers in the CFL are obviously smaller but the manner in which they compare to one another is similar, with star quarterbacks earning roughly $500,000 per season while a large portion of each roster earns less than $60,000 per season. The truth is that whatever gains are made for the players in either league usually mean the rich will get richer. For example, the NFL will operate this season with a salary cap of $133 million dollars. But if that figure was suddenly increased to $200 million, the primary beneficiaries would be the Peyton Mannings, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Bradys and Richard Shermans of the world, while the leaggues rank and file would essentially remain un affected.dddddddddddd Same thing in the Canadian Football League - where if the CFLPA were to get its wish and have the salary cap jump immediately from $4.4 million to $5.8, the benefits would go to players such Ricky Ray, Darian Durant and the rest of the players whom fans pay to see. Of course theres another dynamic in the CFL game that doesnt exist south of the border. And thats that starting Canadian players - the ones mandated by the leagues quota system - also stand to benefit handsomely from any increase because of the laws of supply and demand. But the question becomes how do you convince the great number of players earning at or near the league minimum - young American players or backup Canadians - to commit to a work stoppage when theres little or no chance many of them will benefit from it? Standing up for a much higher minimum salary might help boost support among the rank and file, but that never seems to be the priority in either league. And therein lies the challenge of trying to keep a union full of professional football players all on the same page during a negotiating process. Consider that, despite having the leverage of being able to shut down the most profitable sport in North America, NFL players werent much interested in testing the resolve of their membership by missing paycheques when the league locked out its players during the off-season three years ago. They settled before that could happen. In Canada, the CFLPA has made a lot of noise about being disappointed in the leagues various offers this spring. But it hasnt said anything about having all of its membership on side, or being unbreakable, or being willing to miss game cheques in order to reach their goals in negotiation. The truth is that if the CFLPA were to strike a portion of the season, a great number of players will never get that money back - even if the owners were to capitulate completely. Many would simply be out of the league before they could benefit or would be left to watch the windfalls go to star players while they continue to earn similar amounts. All of these dynamics play to the owners advantage. And in the CFL, where were talking about players needing money to simply pay for the cost of living, the advantage is even greater. Will we see a CFL players strike later this month? Perhaps while its just training camp being missed, when no one has to make a true financial sacrifice to benefit the group for the long term. But in a sport where the rewards of such an action are likely to wind up in the hands of a select few, expecting anything more may be asking too much. ' ' '