int Cup championship and finished a career-best eighth in t

TORONTO - Following a somewhat predictable letdown in Carolina on Thursday night – a 4-1 loss that snapped a season high six-game winning streak - the Leafs began what would be a relatively relaxed hour-long practice on Friday with a somewhat unpredictable activity. Right-handed shooting players held their sticks as lefties and left-handers held their sticks as righties. Everybody took the ice along with a couple of pucks and fun was had for five minutes or so. For head coach Randy Carlyle, there’s a method to this madness. “There’s a heavy workload coming so it can’t be all doom and gloom,” said Carlyle, whose team will play three games in four night beginning on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers before the Christmas break. “When you come to work, we believe that you have to come in a positive frame of mind. We met before [practice] and went over some video; we explained what we were seeing and how it has to change going forward. We find that if you can lighten up the start of practice a little bit, it usually is more productive and you get a more productive group coming [Saturday], which we feel is the most important day.” Players begrudgingly recalled some aspects of a disappointing loss to the Hurricanes when asked, but it was clear that the team’s focus was solely pointed at rebounding on Saturday night, their final home game before embarking on a seven game road trip that won’t see them back at Air Canada Centre until January 7 against the Washington Capitals. “It’s a long season and you’re not going to have your “A” game for all 82, unfortunately,” explained James van Riemsdyk. “That’s what you strive for, but realistically, that’s not what happens.You take it for what it’s worth and move on to get ready for the next one.” The challenge now for the Leafs is to ensure a poor result does not shake the confidence developed over a stretch that saw them earn 21 of a possible 24 points prior to the loss. Where at times earlier in the season, the Leafs would appear fragile in the face of adversity, letting poor starts in games against Pittsburgh, Detroit and Boston snowball into one-sided defeats or allowing the quality of their play to erode from game to game to game in losses to Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Nashville in mid-November, Dion Phaneuf insisted the team has moved beyond those dark days. “[The media] want to look back on the past and the negatives of our year and I respect that. Thats what you have to do. You have to ask those questions,” Phaneuf acknowledged. “But for us as a team, we have to focus on [Saturday]. We can sit here and say we got beat in Carolina and hang our heads and mope and pout, but that doesnt do any good. We have to come back, we have to be focused, we have to be ready to play Philadelphia. Weve got a big weekend ahead of us here. We have to respond the right way and I believe well do that.” Perhaps the most reassuring message the Leafs have delivered this season is an acknowledgement of deficient areas in their play when ugly habits have cropped up. Throughout the 10-1-1 run that ended with Thursday’s loss, there were wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and a pair against the Detroit Red Wings that perfectly illustrated the desired style the coaching staff is consistently pleading for. However, recently the Leafs have returned to a heavier reliance on spectacular goaltending and high octane offence in order to see success. “We can’t start the way that we started [against Carolina] or the game previous [against Anaheim],” said Phaneuf. “We’re giving up too many shots in the first period, we’re receiving the game too much. That’s on us as players to be more prepared to start games.” Saturday’s match up will be the first of the season for the Leafs against the struggling Flyers, winners of just three of their last 10 games. While Philly sits eight points out of a playoff spot, the Leafs learned the hard way on Thursday that no game is a given anymore. “We know what they’re capable of over there and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, any team can beat any team if you’re not ready to go,” said van Riemsdyk. PRACTICE NOTES Komarov Skates Leo Komarov skated with strength and conditioning coach Anthony Belza prior to practice on Friday for about 20 minutes. It marked just the second time Komarov had skated since taking a hit to the head from Alexander Ovechkin on November 29. But despite missing nine games thus far, his return is still uncertain. “Its the first step back into the process that a player returning needs to be testing himself both in the gym and on the ice, said Carlyle. Other than that, hes in testing mode.” Carlyle Assesses Jake Gardiner Jake Gardiner has had an up and down season to this point, but this past week has arguably been his toughest stretch. A pair of mistakes on Sunday against the LA Kings directly led to two goals against. On Thursday against Carolina, Gardiner was unable to tie up Chris Terry at the top of the crease despite being in good position. Terry tapped in a pass from Eric Staal to get the Hurricanes on the board first. Asked about Gardiner’s play of late, head coach Randy Carlyle was succinct in his assessment, “I think Jakes been very erratic, simple as that.” Already a healthy scratch twice this season in consecutive games (wins against the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche in October) and now with seven defencemen healthy once again, could Gardiner be sat in favour of Korbinian Holzer with back-to-back games this weekend against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday? Polak Returns Roman Polak played 18:58 in his return to the line-up on Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes after missing the past 10 games with a knee injury. He admitted on Friday that the long stretch of time off left him feeling somewhat behind in terms of game speed. “Of course, I didn’t have any practice with the boys; I was skating a lot on my own,” Polak explained after practice. “Ten games out, you can feel it; it was like three-and-a-half weeks or so. You feel a little slow out there, my reads are maybe not as accurate as you did before. You need a couple games to get back into shape and the groove that you were in before.” But other than being a little sore and tired on Friday, Polak declared himself all good. New Look Lines Randy Carlyle shuffled his forward lines against the Hurricanes in an effort to spark some offense after a lacklustre first period. Those same lines remained intact at practice on Friday. “I thought we were getting we were getting a little bit more from that group and who knows, we could change it back tomorrow,” said Carlyle. “We don’t know if we’re going to go with that specifically but we liked what we saw last night.” NEW LINES Left Wing Centre Right Wing Joffrey Lupul Tyler Bozak Phil Kessel James van Riemsdyk Nazem Kadri Mike Santorelli Daniel Winnik Peter Holland David Clarkson Richard Panik Trevor Smith David Both OLD LINES Left Wing Centre Right Wing James van Riemsdyk Tyler Bozak Phil Kessel Daniel Winnik Nazem Kadri Mike Santorelli Joffrey Lupul Peter Holland David Clarkson Richard Panik Trevor Smith David Booth Robin Lopez Jersey .During the week, McCoy told reporters he respected Hoyer for his intelligence, athleticism and how he conducts himself on and off the field. This wasnt an act, some attempt at psyching out Hoyer. Custom Milwaukee Bucks Jerseys . has left the San Jose Sharks to become the Boston Bruins director of player personnel. https://www.bucksrookiesshop.com/Ray-Allen-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Bryant underwent an operation in December to correct an irregular heartbeat. His season ended with four games left because of a rapid heartbeat, a condition he has known about for several years and had been treated for in the past. George Hill Jersey . "Hes over there," the first baseman said. "You dont need to talk to anybody else." Indeed, Peralta did it all as the majors top team won again. Giannis Antetokounmpo Bucks Jersey . - While he appreciates suggestions from Packers fans of remedies for his sore left calf, Aaron Rodgers is not necessarily going to listen to the advice.MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Juan Pablo Montoya is turning Indianapolis into his own triple play. Roger Penskes team announced Wednesday that the Colombian driver will add two NASCAR races -- Indianapolis and Michigan -- to his full-time IndyCar schedule. Montoya already is scheduled to compete in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 10. One week later, he will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Now hell return to Indy for the Brickyard 400 in July, too, and if he qualifies for each one, Montoya would be the first driver to start three feature races at Indy in the same season. "Three chances gives me a better chance of winning one of them now," said Montoya, who will drive the No. 12 Ford Fusion for Penskes team at Indy and Michigan. No driver has won even two of the biggest feature races at the track -- the 500, the Brickyard, the U.S. Grand Prix or the MotoGP race. Montoya wants to be the first to have it on his already unique resume. The 38-year-old was dominant in his 2000 Indy win, becoming the first rookie winner in 34 years. He completed another first Wednesday -- becoming the first driver to experience every racing configuration at the historic Brickyard. In addition to competing on the 2.5-mile oval in IndyCars and Cup cars, he also has competed on the original road course in Formula One, did a two-seater ride on the MotoGP course and was one of about two dozen drivers testing Indys new road course Wednesday. This years return to open-wheel cars could help him prepare for the June 15 and July 27 Cup races. He has competed in that series for the previous eight years. "I think running Michigan and here are two tracks where running open-wheel helps you, especially Michigan, which is a lot like an open-wheel car because you dont slow down much and use momentum and lot of high speed," Montoya said. "Coming here to the Brickyard, its one of those places where I feel like I got robbed a few times. To be able to come here and be able to close that deal will be really, really nice."" Montoya has two wiins, 24 top-five finishes and nine pole awards in his Cup career.dddddddddddd. He has one top-10 finish in three IndyCar races this year. He will join Penskes full-time Cup drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, both of whom have already visited Victory Lane in 2014. Ryan Blaney will drive the same No. 12 car for NASCAR races in Kansas and Talladega. SKF will sponsor all the races except Indianapolis. Until moving back this season, Montoya hadnt driven IndyCars since 2000 when he was competing with Chip Ganassis team, Penkses biggest rival. Montoya won seven races in CART and the 500 in his two open-wheel seasons with Ganassi. Their run together also included the 1999 CART championship. He then moved to Formula One, where he spent six seasons before abruptly quitting to return to the United States to compete in NASCAR. He reunited with Ganassi, but the results never came. His last win in NASCAR was in 2010, a year after he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and finished a career-best eighth in the standings. Montoya was in serious contention to win at least two Brickyard 400s, but both chances slipped away in the waning laps. Montoya led 116 laps in 2009 until a speeding penalty on his final pit stop cost him the win. He was also leading in 2010 with 20 laps to go before a late caution sent him to pit road, where he got four tires while everyone else took two. Stuck deep in traffic with little time to make up the ground, Montoya crashed and finished 32nd. Penskes team is willing to give him another chance. "It (the Brickyard) is one of the biggest races of the year and to go there with somebody that could have won the race a few of times already is something that were looking forward to," Team Penske President Tim Cindric said. "To just run the Brickyard would be a pretty big ask of our team and of Juan, without having spent much time in our cars or having been out in a Cup car for a while, so we felt like we needed to give him another shot at it prior to the Brickyard so he could get ready for us." ' ' '