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TORONTO - Whatever momentum they built up before the 18-day Olympic break is suddenly gone. 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. Custom Utah Jazz Jerseys . It was the quickest three-goal sequence in Olympic history, with the latter two coming just eight seconds apart. Kessel, Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne all scored twice for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 10 saves in her Sochi debut. Adrian Dantley Jersey .com) - Al Horford collected 19 points and 16 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks held off a furious rally to beat the Detroit Pistons 106-103 on Friday night in a game between two of the NBAs hottest teams. http://www.officialjazzauthenticstore.com/kids-rudy-gobert-jazz-jersey/ .Lets go back to the Avs, who have become one of the funnest teams to watch in this years playoffs. Jae Crowder Jersey . McCutchen was cut before the series opener against Seattle on Monday night, when Lewis was set for his first start for Texas since July 18, 2012. Texas selected Lewis contract from Triple-A Round Rock. Karl Malone Jersey .com) - Minnesota Vikings fans would surely concede Teddy Bridgewater is not Peyton Manning.CALGARY -- On the night Calgary honoured former great Joe Nieuwendyk, an inspired new generation of exciting young centres led the Flames to a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Joe Colborne scored twice and Sean Monahan had the other in a furious third period comeback that saw Calgary overcome a 3-1 deficit with less than nine minutes to go to edge the New York Islanders 4-3 on Friday. Colborne was not yet born when Nieuwendyk scored 51 goals as a rookie in 1987-88. Nonetheless, the touching ceremony made an impact on the Calgary-born 2008 first round pick acquired from Toronto at the start of the year. "You forget how good he was," said Colborne, whos first career two-goal game gives him seven goals on the season. "You hear his points and stuff and you almost forget until they walk you through his career, and that was really cool for me. "I might have felt it a little more than some of the other guys because he was one of my favourites growing up." Colborne got the Flames comeback started at 11:29 when he knocked in a rebound off the end boards after Mark Giordanos point shot missed the net. After Monahan went forehand to backhand on a pretty play in-close to tie it at 14:22, Colborne completed the comeback, deflecting in Giordanos slapshot at 15:41. "Joe Nieuwendyk started the game and Joe Colborne decided that he would finish the game," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. The win gives Calgary seven in its last eight games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "Obviously its always fun after a win but after a game like that when youre down and you come back, it feels that much better," said Monahan, who leads the team with 19 goals. "After those couple goals by us, it felt like they stepped back a little bit. At that point when you have momentum like that, it almost feels like that next goals coming and thats what happened." Finnish rookie Markus Granlund, with his second goal in as many games, also scored for Calgary (25-31-7). The Flames, who had eight rookies in their line-up for the first time since Dec. 10, 1996, play in Vancouver on Saturday. Kyle Okposo, Colin McDonald and Brock Nelson scored for New York (24-33-9). The Islanders are 1-1-1 with one game to go on a four-game road trip. The Islanders also play in Vancouver next but not until Monday. Hartley said it was some words from veteran players at the second intermission that got his team going again. "We had a good little talk in the locker room and the boys got back and they were on their toes again," he said. &qquot;When we work, when we drive the net, were a pretty solid team.ddddddddddddI dont care how many kids we have in the line-up. Its all about passion. "We never quit. Im pretty proud of my boys." The third period unfolded just like it did Thursday night in Edmonton when the Islanders blew a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss. "We just stopped playing," said Okposo, who leads the team with 26 goals. "We gave up a goal and we stopped moving our feet and stopped going after them. We dominated the game for 50 minutes. Theres no reason we should lose that game." Tied 1-1, the Islanders took their first lead early in the second period on an uncharacteristic giveaway by Giordano, which led to a two-on-one goal finished off by Okposo. New York took a 3-1 lead to the third period. "We were playing well until 10 minutes left and they get one, they find a bounce off the end boards and score and we just pucker up," said Islanders defenceman Thomas Hickey. It is the 12th time the Islanders have lost a game in which they held a two-goal lead. "You look at it and were in the playoffs if we dont do that. But you cant even make that excuse. The good teams find a way to win those and were not doing that right now," said Hickey. After winning his first NHL game on Wednesday, Ortio had 23 saves in his third NHL start to improve to 2-1-0. Nilsson made 19 saves for New York and fell to 2-4-2. The Flames are 9-4-0 in their last 13 games. "Tonight was far from being the perfect game, lets be honest. It was an exciting game but Im not happy," said Hartley. "But that third period, just like the fans, Im thrilled. This building was electric in the third period. It was such a great atmosphere on the bench. "To feel the fans, it seemed like the entire crowd was sitting on the bench with us." Granlund opened the scoring at 2:01 with the second NHL goal of his career and second in as many games, this time shorthanded. Notes: Several of Nieuwendyks teammates from the Flames Stanley Cup winning team in 1989 were part of the ceremony for the Flames Forever a Flame recognition... Calgary D Tyler Wotherspoon played his first NHL game. He replaced Dennis Wideman (upper body), who was hurt in Wednesdays win over Ottawa. Wotherspoon is the fourth Flame to make his NHL debut in the past nine days... Between the two teams, there were 15 rookies dressed... Also out of the line-up for Calgary was Jiri Hudler (upper body)... Calgary had eight of its own draft picks in the line-up for the first time since Mar. 3, 2009. 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