Chatecke » 164 check-out from Barney The BDO...

TORONTO – As he does throughout most games, Randy Carlyle kept his arms tightly and tensely crossed on the Toronto bench as his team swiped another victory, now six in the first seven games this season. "Every win is not going to be a work of art," he would say shortly after the finish of a 4-1 win against Minnesota. Though not the least bit pretty in their performance, the Leafs (6-1-0) found another avenue for manufacturing victory, with special teams and sturdy net-minding the difference on this night. Without the puck for most of the evening, the Leafs were badly outshot 37-14, totaling just 30 attempts on the net compared with 68 for the Wild. They also dropped 62 per cent of the faceoffs. But as has been the case in the opening weeks of a strong start, one with many incomplete victories, Carlyle couldnt harp too strongly on the negatives in light of his team ultimately finding success. "Its hard to be critical when youre getting points," he said. "[But] were not going to continue to accept whats happening. We have to find a way to mold this from a different angle. Our level of play has to increase. We were on the receiving end. You cant continue to play that way and expect to have success." Perhaps most important to their success in the early going, special teams were a key point again versus the Wild. The continually potent Toronto power play scored twice in three opportunities – Tyler Bozak and Mason Raymond with the goals – and now ranks as the third-best so far this season with a success rate of 33.3 per cent. Additionally strong once more was the penalty kill, also ranked third overall with an 89 per cent success mark, stymying the previously scorching Wild power-play on four of five attempts, including three of four in a penalty-laden first frame. Raymond added an empty-netter and now, with four goals this season, is also tied for the team lead with eight points. "I think the stats are showing it," said the 27-year-old of special teams. "Theres no secret. At the end of the day, in my opinion, its winning us games." The coach agreed with his forwards sentiment. "Timely goals on special teams make the difference in games like tonight," Carlyle observed. Continued stability in goal also proved consequential, especially in light of 23-year-old Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper yielding three goals on seven shots. Though not without flurries of noise in his performance, James Reimer managed to stop 36 of 37 shots in his first start since the home opener 10 days earlier. He was busy throughout the proceedings, memorably stopping breakaway attempts from Mikael Granlund and Torey Mitchell in the middle period. As one of the more prominent flaws in their performance as a team thus far, the Leafs remained far "too loose" in their defensive play against the Wild (more on this in Five Points) and were again sloppy with the puck. They have allowed an unmanageable 35 shots per game so far this season, good for 14 more on average than first-ranked Minnesota. Such flaws have been masked with strong and timely goaltending, elite special teams and plenty of offence. Carlyle fears this will catch up with his team soon though, especially with far superior opponents from Chicago, Anaheim and Pittsburgh looming soon on the calendar. "The message has to be delivered and framed in the proper way that youre not tearing them down," he stated of his approach in the days ahead. "Even though were not playing the way wed like to play, were still finding a way to win hockey games. This is what the league is about. Youre here to win. You can talk and describe and theres ample footage and theres ample evidence that were not playing to the high enough level, but were playing high enough to win hockey games." Carlyle concluded his thoughts bluntly. "The worry for coaches is that some night were going to get our butt kicked playing like this." Five Points 1. Fighting the puck Despite his 36 saves, Reimer wasnt entirely thrilled with his performance against the Wild, this in his first start since Oct. 5. "Honestly overall I wasnt that happy with my game," he said. "I just didnt feel that I was as sharp as I couldve been in some instances. I was focused, I was intense, I was mentally in the right frame of mind, but I think just the rhythm of stopping pucks; I felt I could never get into that rhythm, I guess you could say, where things were sticking to me." Reimer was hooked after yielding four goals on 21 shots in his previous start against the Senators. He improved to 2-0-0 lifetime against Minnesota. "Its like as a player when you feel you dont have your hands so then you chip the puck in and go to work," he continued of this most recent start. "Thats kind of how it was for me." 2. Goaltending decisions Earlier in the day, Carlyle spoke to the decision of going with Reimer against the Wild, Jonathan Bernier making the previous three starts. "You try to balance and you try to do an assessment on performance of individuals and how our team has played in front of [the goaltender] and the chances that were giving up and the quality of chances," he said. "And all those things go into the decision-making process along with number of games in a row. You dont want people to get stale. We have a decision to make based upon three or four factors." The Leafs face the Hurricanes next on Thursday, to whom Reimer owns a 4-1-1 career record and .927 save percentage. Bernier yielded five goals on 31 shots in his last start, a 6-5 win against the Oilers. 3. Defensive improvements Asked to pinpoint one needed improvement as it pertained to his teams defensive game, Carl Gunnarsson cited an area of will. "If I could pick one thing I would say weve got to win more one-on-one battles along the boards mainly," he told the Leaf Report before Tuesdays game. "Just have more, what would you call it, mental ability to go in there and you want to not kill a guy, but you really want to go in there and win that battle because not only are we talking about winning the game, but theres games in the game too and you want to win that one, every one-on-one battle that you can. I think we can be better at that." 4. Defensive improvements pt. 2 Questioned on the subject shortly thereafter, Carlyle added, "I just think overall were too loose in the three zones. Its not so much as the winning of the one-on-one battles, I think its the ability to step inside and be first on pucks; talk about team toughness and all those things, its willing to take a check to make a play; stop on pucks instead of circling away; win your share of one-on-one battles; start with the puck more on face-offs. All those things are factors that go into improving your team play." 5. JVR Out James van Riemsdyk sat out Tuesdays game with a mysterious upper-body injury. Carlyle wouldnt provide much in the way of details as to the injury, but noted that it did not occur during a game. Since the Leafs had the day off Sunday and the 23-year-old missed practice Monday, one would be led to believe that the injury occurred off the ice. "Were surprised with what happened," Carlyle said without further explanation. Bonus Point I Morgan Rielly got his first extended look on the power-play, replacing Paul Ranger on the second unit with Jake Gardiner. The 19-year-old notched the second of his two assists there on the first of two goals from Raymond. Additionally garnering opportunity on the penalty kill was Nazem Kadri. For the second straight game, the 23-year-old received second shift duty, totaling 1:29 on Tuesday. Bonus Point II Now the number one faceoff team in the NHL, the Wild took 34 of 55 draws against the Leafs, who fell to fourth-worst overall at 44.7 per cent. Boasting a 52.6 per cent success rate in 2013, Tyler Bozak has notably fallen to 48.6 per cent through seven games. He won just 9 of 21 faceoffs against the Wild, owned mostly by Mikko Koivu. Stat-Pack 68-30 – Difference in total shots attempts, widely favouring the Wild. 14 – Difference in average shots allowed nightly between the Leafs and Wild. 9-27 – Toronto power-play through seven games. 24-27 – Toronto penalty kill through seven games. 21:02 – Ice-time for Jay McClement on Tuesday, leading all Toronto forwards. 1:42 – Ice-time on the power-play for Morgan Rielly against the Wild. 8 – Points for Mason Raymond, matching Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul for the team lead. Special Teams Capsule PP: 2-3 PK: 4-5 Quote of the Night I "Every win is not going to be a work of art." -Randy Carlyle on a 4-1 win over the Wild. Quote of the Night II "I saw it just trickling over the line. It was a great feeling. I didnt know what kind of celebration I was going to do, but the crowd was up behind me. It felt really good." -Lifelong Leaf fan Trevor Smith on scoring his first goal with the club on Tuesday. Up Next The Leafs host Eric Staal and the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Cheap Atlanta Hawks Jerseys . "It was a little weird looking over and seeing all the green uniforms," he said of his first game against the Boston Celtics. John Collins Jersey . And like the near entirety of last season, Jonathan Bernier and Torontos goaltending tandem is up to the task. http://www.authenticbasketballshophawks....e-hawks-jersey/. One out away from finishing off an impressive shutout, they let a must-win game slip away. Justin Anderson Jersey . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. Josh Smith Jersey . The group of Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, & Slava Kozlov were a dominant force for The Wings at one point in the 90s.Sky Sports take a look back at the moments that made us smile from the Grand Slam of Darts... Wayne Mardles verdict MVG deserves more! The best check-outMichael Van Gerwen (obviously) and the BDOs Jeff Smith nailed 170 check-outs to scoop the prize for the Grand Slams most impressive finish. Van Gerwen saw off Robert Thornton in the knock-out stages with the help of his 170, while Smith got past Simon Whitlock in the group phase. Michael van Gerwen hits a 170 checkout... Have a look at Van Gerwens 170 finish in the video above.The biggest shockIt must be remembered that Phil Taylor had already safely navigated his route through to the knock-out stages but, nevertheless, it remained a shock to see him whitewashed 5-0. Darren Webster stunned Phil Taylor... The thrashing in the final group game was dished out by Darren Webster, the world No 41, who achieved a career-best result but still couldnt follow Taylor into the next phase of the Grand Slam. Its a funny old game.The best legChris Dobey and Jamie Hughes served up a classic leg - their knock-out game went to the wire, requiring a shoot-out to decide the winner with the scores locked at 9-9. Was this the most exciting leg in Grand Slam history? Hughes missed five match darts, and Dobey needed seven efforts before finally confirming the win in a breathless final leg.dddddddddddd Both players found themselves down at 24, but when Hughes missed three shots at double 12, Dobey finally made him pay.The legends...There was much to fawn over when Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld threw their finest arrows in the tournaments early stages, but ultimately a promising challenge from both players was humbly ended at the quarter-final stage. Phil Taylor beat Darryl Fitton 5-1 in his opening match Van Barneveld, particularly, was arguably the most in-form player after three group games. Having won all three at a canter, the veteran Dutchman appeared to be an outside bet to go all the way. Then he ran into the uncompromising Gary Anderson, losing at the same stage as Taylor against Peter Wright. For the PDC legends, its a timely reminder that their brilliance at the dart-board isnt enough to stave off the sports newer, younger leaders. A 164 check-out from Barney The BDO...The BDO had half of their representatives qualify for the knock-out stages, the same ratio as their PDC counterparts. But none of the BDO gang were able to progress into the quarter-finals, although there remains plenty for them to be proud of. Martin Wolfie Adams was another fun addition Glen Durrant, the organisations No 1, and Danny Noppert were the outstanding representatives. Durrant lost a hard-fought match against Van Barneveld and Noppert, a promising Dutch thrower, almost pulled off a major shock but fell to Anderson in a last-leg shoot-out. Well see more of these guys, without a doubt.The World Darts Championship at Ally Pally is live on Sky Sports between December 15 - January 2. Also See: Mardle thinks MVG deserves more MVG retains Grand Slam title Schedule Features Get Sky Sports ' ' '