the Leafs coach said

The struggling Toronto Maple Leafs are headed to St. Louis to face a Blues team hoping to start a new winning streak. Toronto (22-20-3) suffered back-to-back shutouts at Los Angeles and Anaheim before falling 3-1 at San Jose on Thursday. The Maple Leafs fell behind 2-0 before Roman Polak scored 11:57 into the game for Torontos first goal in just over 133 minutes. We have to find a way to score, we have to figure it out, star forward Phil Kessel said. Its not going in for us right now and that gets frustrating. ... We have to find a way to get back in the win column. Were close but were just not there yet. Kessel is tied with James van Riemsdyk for the team lead with 19 goals despite scoring twice in the last 14 games. Hes been held pointless over the last five on the road. The Maple Leafs are in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with 47 points, 10 behind Montreal and Detroit for the second and third playoff spots. In this league you cant go through stretches like this, Kessel said. Were not out of it, theres still quite a bit of hockey left to play. We just have to stay positive and hopefully well get some results here. Kessel has eight points in eight games against the Blues. St. Louis is 5-0-2 in the past seven meetings behind Backes 10 points, including five of the clubs 11 goals in last seasons two-game sweep. Backes has seven goals and four assists over a five-game point streak. Polak, who spent the previous eight seasons with St. Louis, faces his former team for the first time since getting shipped to Toronto in exchange for fellow defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and a draft pick in June. St. Louis looks to avoid back-to-back home losses for the first time this season when it faces Toronto, which tries to avoid a winless four-game road trip Saturday night. The Blues (27-13-4) are second in the NHL with 3.1 goals per game, and they proved all the more potent during a recent five-game winning streak as they outscored opponents 28-10. However, St. Louis saw that run come to an end in Thursdays 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit. David Backes got the Blues on the board early in the third period and Alexander Steen tied things up with 48 seconds left in regulation, but the Red Wings scored 4:57 into OT. We showed a lot of character in coming back, getting a 6-on-5 goal which has eluded us for that first part of the year, Backes told the leagues official website. We need to close that out after a lot of good efforts to come back. The Blues are 15-2-2 in their last 19 on home ice, tied for the NHLs most home wins since Oct. 25. They havent dropped two in a row in St. Louis since closing the 2013-14 regular season with three straight defeats there. I think thats the best somebodys played against us in this building for a long time, coach Ken Hitchcock said. Im disappointed in some aspect, but I think theres some real good lessons here. This was like a playoff game. This matchup doesnt figure to have the same feel given Torontos recent efforts. The Maple Leafs are mired in a 3-11-0 funk and have been limited to a combined three goals in dropping all five road games in 2015. Doug Ault Jersey . Weise will have his hearing with the NHL head office over the phone, while the league has requested an in-person hearing with Kassian. Oilers centre Sam Gagner suffered a broken jaw after getting hit with a high stick from Kassian in Edmontons 5-2 win. Justin Shafer Jersey . Many of those eyes are in the United States of America, a country that the sport has wanted on its side for some time. On Sunday the football Gods delivered once again, only this time it was time for good old USA to experience as much heartache as joy. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/2916h-rich...-blue-jays.html. Redden played a total of 1,023 regular-season games with Ottawa, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Boston. He finished with 457 points (109 goals, 348 assists) and a plus-160 rating over his career. Anthony Alford Blue Jays Jersey . -- Phil Mickelson will be watching the final two rounds of the Masters from home for the first time in 17 years. Justin Shafer Blue Jays Jersey . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league. TORONTO -- When the Toronto Marlies and Grand Rapids Griffins open the AHL season next week, the rosters should look similar to the ones the Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings put on the ice Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. This was an NHL pre-season game, the finale for both teams, but it wasnt much of a dress rehearsal for the regular season. Two dozen players expected to start in the minor leagues helped decide the Leafs 3-1 win. One of those players was Toronto defenceman John-Michael Liles, who scored on the power play in the second period and picked up a primary assist in the third. Waivers could await the 32-year-old, whos likely on the outside of the Leafs picture on the blue line. "Weve got a lot of depth on the blue line, a lot of really good players -- good, young players, as well," Liles said. "Its never easy. There hasnt been a camp in my NHL career where its your position set in stone. It just makes it even tougher when youve got kids pushing you. Youve got some great, young blue-liners in this organization, and they should be proud of the camp they had." Liles has a $3.875-million salary-cap hit, and his contract has two years left on it after this one. The Leafs have Dion Phaneuf, Carl Gunnarsson, Jake Gardiner, Mark Fraser, Paul Ranger and the recently signed Cody Franson ahead of him, and thats not even counting prospect Morgan Rielly. Riellys status remains in question, and the Leafs must decide whether to keep the 19-year-old around for at least a nine-game cameo or send him back to Moose Jaw of the WHL. He was satisfied at how he acquitted himself during the pre-season, but coach Randy Carlyle wasnt revealing much when asked about Riellys chances of playing in the NHL right now. "I think Morgan Riellys very close," Carlyle said. "To say that, unequivocally, hes ready to play in the NHL is a tough question to ask and a tougher question to answer at this point. We know hes played very well for our hockey club, hes a talented young man and hes only going to get better. Those are the tough decisions that youre faced with." Carlyle also mentioned the idea of tough decisions when asked Saturday to review Liles play in his previous two pre-season games. Liles was largely a nonfactor with a plus-2 rating in those games. Toronto is over the cap ceiling and the roster the team submits Monday at 5 p.m. is expected to have fewer than 23 players. Right-winger David Clarksons 10-game suspension complicates the situation in general, but its likely nott something that factors in with Liles.dddddddddddd. Instead, he very well could be on the bad end of a numbers game. If nothing else, Liles may have used an afterthought of a pre-season game to show another team why he deserves a chance to stick around in the NHL. "I think every time you step on the ice youre trying to build toward something," Liles said. "For me, this is my third pre-season game, youre trying to build toward the regular season. I dont necessarily think it was a conscious thing to say, I need to go out there and assert myself. I think youre trying to build and prepare for the regular season, and thats all you can do as a player. Im no different than any other guy." Liles performance probably wont make enough of a difference within the Leafs organization, but in the long term forward Josh Leivo made a nice impression. The 2011 third-round pick who is about to embark on his first professional season scored twice Saturday and was the first star of the game on national television. "I slid under the radar my whole life, so I think today was a pretty big game for me, and hopefully I can keep it going," Leivo said. Leivos first goal, a deflection that was "a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill," was made possible by Fransons shot from the point. Unlike Liles, Franson knows he will be around Tuesday when the season opens at Montreal. But that was a late-camp development after the 26-year-old signed a one-year, $2-million deal Thursday. Goaltender James Reimers spot in the opening-night lineup isnt so secure even after a strong pre-season that wrapped up with 24 saves on 25 shots against a Red Wings team that dressed one over the minimum amount of veterans required for pre-season games. Competing with Jonathan Bernier for playing time, Reimer finished the exhibition season with a .923 save percentage. "I tried to prove myself every day in practice and preparing myself and taking care of myself off the ice," Reimer said. "I feel like Ive done the best that I can, and now its up to Randy." Carlyle already said Reimer and Bernier would split the regular seasons first two games. Who starts the season opener "probablys going to be the toughest decision," the Leafs coach said. "Those are good decisions," he said. "Its tough on coaches and tough on management to pick one guy when both have played well. But the underlying fact is its a great decision because we have 1A and 1B quality goaltenders. Both guys can start." ' ' '