joining Cliff Battles and Chris Johnson. "I knew

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. Nike Cortez Saldi .com) - Markus Granlund scored the game-winning goal as the Calgary Flames used an early offensive flurry to defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, on Monday. Nike Air More Uptempo Bianche . "Weve given ourselves now a tougher task," said Carlyle after the Friday practice, the Toronto head coach notably chipper and upbeat throughout. "But the bottom line is we just have to win our share of games [and] not worry about what anybody else is doing. http://www.scarpenikescontate.it/nike-shox-in-offerta.html . The Jets have now won three straight at home and four of the last five at the MTS Centre. After a scoreless first period, Brad Marchand scored his first goal in eight games eight seconds into the second. Nike M2k Tekno Uomo . Pillar is batting .305 with 17 extra-base hits, 19 RBI and five stolen bases in 34 games for Buffalo this season. The right-handed hitter had an International League high, 18-game hitting streak this season and currently owns an IL high 26-game on base streak. Scarpe Nike Scontate Al 70 . The England international had both goals in TFCs season-opening 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Titans squandered a golden opportunity to turn up the heat on the Indianapolis Colts in the race for the AFC South crown. Mike Munchaks club will get another chance starting Thursday in Music City when the two clubs meet in the first of two matchups over the next three weeks. The sequel is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 1 at Indianapolis. The 6-3 Colts currently hold a two-game edge over Tennessee in the division and if the Titans are going to make a move they will have to do it knowing that starting quarterback Jake Locker is lost for the season due to a Lisfranc injury. Locker suffered the problematic injury in his right foot during Sundays 29-27 loss to the previously winless Jaguars after taking a hard hit during the second quarter. "I dont know exactly how it happened, but when I got up from that run I could feel it," Locker said. "Its tough. You want to be on the football field with your teammates." The oft-injured Locker had thrown for 1,256 yards and eight touchdowns this season while completing 60.7 percent of his passes. He also ran for 155 yards with a pair of scores despite missing two games in October with a hip injury suffered in a Sept. 29 win over the Jets. Veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick took over at quarterback against the Jags and completed 22-of-33 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. The veteran has thrown 96 touchdowns in his career, and is expected to start for Tennessee for the remainder of the season with the unproven Rusty Smith backing him up. "Were just concentrating on these seven weeks," Munchak said. "Thats all were concerned about. Next year is next year. Right now we just got to go forward and try to win a game." Sloppy play cost the Titans against Jacksonville in a setback tight end Delanie Walker called "disgusting." Tennessee was unable to overcome four turnovers, including two by Locker before he left. Although they fared better than the Jaguars in total yards (362 to 214), first downs (19 to 13) and third down conversions (56 percent to 25 percent), the Titans lost three fumbles and threw an interception, leading to 17 of the Jaguars points. Jacksonville also scored two points on a safety. Chris Johnson fumbled on Tennessees first play from scrimmage when Jags LB Paul Posluszny stripped him and as he hit the ground and recovered the miscue, leading to a Maurice Jones-Drew 6-yard touchdown run.dddddddddddd Locker was also intercepted and fumbled as the Titans lost for the fourth time in five games. "The roles were reversed. We looked like an 0-8 team. We deserved to lose," said Titans safety Bernard Pollard. "To lose to a team like this, the way we did, we had countless self-inflicted wounds," added linebacker Colin McCarthy. Indianapolis hardly comes in burgeoning with confidence either after St. Louis rookie Tavon Austin scorched the club with three long TDs last Sunday in an emphatic 38-8 Rams win. The dynamic Austin, who came into Sundays game with just two touchdowns, returned a punt 98 yards for a score and caught TD passes of 57 and 81 yards. The rookie wide receiver became the third player in NFL history with three touchdowns of 55 yards or longer in a single game, joining Cliff Battles and Chris Johnson. "I knew the day was going to come," Austin said. "It was just me being patient and me being true to myself and to keep working. Im just glad that I had an opportunity." Andrew Luck connected on 29-of-47 passes for a career-high 353 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions for the Colts, who maintained that two-game gap over the Titans despite their worst performance of the season. Donald Brown caught five passes for 64 yards and a touchdown for Indianapolis, which suffered its biggest home defeat since losing 31-0 to Chargers in 1993. "Certainly were not going to bury our head in the sand on this past ball game," Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. "Well address the issues like we always address them. We know there are things that need to be fixed and well go to work on fixing those things." The Colts have won three consecutive games against the Titans and eight of the last nine in the series, which marks its 38th all-time installment this week. The last time the Titans, who are 14-23 all-time versus Indy, got the better of the Colts was Oct. 30, 2011 at LP Field (27-10). ' ' '