Jersey Devils in the final two years ago before ultimately lifti

TORONTO – It was a cool March morning in Montreal when Brian Burke, then the leader of the Maple Leafs, sat at a podium, full of piss and vinegar over the 18-wheeler collapse, to explain why it was time to fire the head coach. Burke claimed it would be cruel and unusual punishment to let Ron Wilson coach another game at the Air Canada Centre, where chants of Fire Wilson rained down less than a week earlier. He claimed that the players werent paying attention, werent buying the product Wilson was selling. And thus, he said, it was time for a new coach to assume control. …at some point players tune out the coach, Burke said in the spring of 2012. And I think the shelf life of a coach is tied directly to how hard that coach is. The harder that coach is on players, the shorter the shelf life usually is unless you have success. Under Brendan Shanahan and a revamped management team, the Leafs are once again staring at that same question, only for the coach who replaced Wilson on that day more than two and a half years ago, Randy Carlyle. The Carlyle-led Leafs are under the microscope again after two disastrous defeats in a matter of days, one to the worst team in the league and another which saw Nashville score nine times. Youre always in a position of doubt when things go awry with your hockey club, Carlyle said of his job security, less than 24 hours after the 9-2 loss at home to the Predators. Firing Carlyle would be the easy decision, the simplest choice to make for the short-term. The more difficult questions, however, lie at the core of a roster which has proven to be flawed, a roster thats questionable to even reach the postseason with all parts functioning, let alone compete for a Cup. Its not Randys fault, said Phil Kessel after a 90-minute practice on Wednesday morning. Obviously were on the ice. Were the ones that are playing the games. I dont think people should be blaming him. Like Wilson, Carlyle bears his share of blame. Hes been unable to sell his product, hasnt affected defensive improvement and has proven mostly stubborn to change. But bigger than him is that core – one thats mostly locked up for the long-term – and what to do about it. A crowd of sizeable contracts make it an especially difficult challenge to confront. Eight players are on the books until 2018, three more until 2020 and beyond. How to wade through those waters, free up cap room and start rebuilding from the ground up is the real task at hand for Shanahan, both this season and beyond. Because hes never run an NHL front office before, its difficult to predict where he might go, though his measured approach shortly after being hired in April may provide a road map for his first real crisis-point as team president. Rather than react instinctively to the destruction of another late season collapse, Shanahan took a more careful, introspective look at what he had. He assessed all corners of the organization before ultimately deciding upon a course that saw Carlyle kept, three assistant coaches fired, two more hired, two longtime front office members dismissed and then three more hired after that, including Mark Hunter as director of player personnel most recently. Comprehensive evaluation of the roster would seem to be the wisest path in the present and right now, that evaluation is limited to just 19 games – though the failure of the roster in each of the past three seasons would seem to be difficult to ignore. The Leafs boast and have boasted one of the highest payrolls in the league and thats a problem given their limited success – just one playoff appearance and nothing more – a problem that Shanahan and his staff need to somehow alleviate. Does that mean parting with Phaneuf, who still has six years left with an annual cap hit of $7 million? (Is moving a contract of that size even possible?) Does that mean scrounging desperately for a suitor for Clarkson, who is on pace for 26 points this season, or Lupul, whos been hurt for much of his Toronto tenure? Might the deconstruction of the core even extend to the extreme of trading Kessel, by the far the most talented player in an organization short on high-end talent? The latter is a difficult, franchise-changing decision, one that would be hard to make given Kessels unique skill-set. (Like Phaneuf, how tradable he is given the size of the contract is another issue to confront.) Shanahan is ultimately tasked with determining which pieces are worth keeping toward the goal of Cup contention, which are not and then what can be done about it. Were going to be as patient as we have to be, Dave Nonis, Shanahans second in command, said Wednesday. Were not going to make a deal just to make one. Were not going to do some things that maybe would look pretty or sexy, but would set our team backwards. These are big decisions, decisions that need to be made with a measured approach and not at the whim of a frustrated fan-base; decisions that the new leader of the Leafs needs to contemplate if the goal is to ultimately capture the Cup and not simply land a playoff spot and hope for the best. Wholesale Air Max 1 UK . -- Brady Heslip scored a season-high 20 points to help Baylor beat No. Nike Air Max 1 Sale UK . The young man, never lacking confidence, thought he could be really good. http://www.cheapairmax1uk.com/ . After making his All-Star debut in Fridays Rising Stars Challenge, the Raptors sophomore centre wont be sticking around for the duration of the weekends festivities, thinking about the big picture instead. Nike Air Max 1 Cheap UK .A caravan greeted the former Boston Red Sox pitcher at the airport and took him to a public park in Santo Domingo, where a crowd lined a 19-mile stretch of highway to catch a glimpse of him.Once at the park, Martinez went on stage accompanied by players David Ortiz and Robinson Cano as merengue music played and fireworks lit up the sky. Air Max 1 Sale Cheap . It was the first game back in Columbus for Rangers star Rick Nash, the Blue Jackets franchise leader in goals, assists and games. He was given a standing ovation during a video tribute in the first period, but was booed loud and long after a second-period, two-handed shove up high on Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.NEW YORK -- Accustomed to clawing back from deficits, the comeback Los Angeles Kings now must figure out how to play with a series lead. Despite not leading for a single second in this Stanley Cup final, Los Angeles has a two games to none lead on the New York Rangers. Thats not something players are proud of, but somehow it has worked. You can listen to Game 3 on TSN Radio at 8pm et/5pm pt and watch the post-game news conferences on TSN.ca and TSN GO. "We find ourselves in the same situation reguritating the same mumbo jumbo every time," winger Justin Williams said. "Were in a results-oriented league, and the results are were up 2-0. I dont care how we got here." The Kings have gotten to Monday nights Game 3 by winning four times in these playoffs after falling behind by at least two goals. One more would tie the record set by the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers. Adept, if not comfortable, at coming from behind, the bigger question for the Kings is how theyll handle what on paper is a comfortable lead over the Rangers through two games but based on the play is far from it. They already saw their 2-0 series lead over the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division turn into a 3-2 deficit, and theyre hopeful that history wont repeat itself. "Momentum is a big part of playoff hockey and once a team has it, its important to try to switch the tide in your favour as quick as possible," forward Dwight King said. "The longer you let that go, like in the Anaheim series, they get a little more confident and feeling good about their game. When youre playing a team thats got that going for them, its a little tougher to defend." The Rangers sound like a confident group because theyve gone stride for stride with the seasoned Kings and could believe theyre a couple of bounces away from being up 2-0. Coach Alain Vigneault has been satisfied with his teams play save for one period, and his players are attempting to focus more on the positives on the ice than the deficit in the series. "I think we played two good games over there," forward Mats Zuccarello said after landing in White Plains, N.Y. "I think we played the best hockey." Maybe the Kings havent played their best hockey, and certainly they havent at the start of games. Theyre the first team in NHL history to win three straight playoff games after trailing by two goals, having also done it in Game 7 of the Western Conference final against the Chicago Blackhawks. Williams said he can tell a lot about teammates from studying their faces in trying times. "You can read a lot (about) what someones thinking by just looking at their face," he said. "Between the second and third (Saturday) night I looked around and I didnt see anyone scared. I saw a prepared team that knew what they had to do." Thats thanks in large part to being here before. From Williams to captain Dustin Brown, defenceman Drew Doughty, centre Anze Kopitar and goaltender Jonathan Quick down the roster, this core group has experience going deep in the playoffs. The Kings also now have a resume full of multi-goal comebacks, which hasnt necessarily made digging out of holes easier but provided perhaps some muscle memory when playing from behind. "I feel together as a team weve been through almost all of them you can imagine, and weve pulled through," Williams said. "So when were down, do we feel comfortable? No, we dont feel comfortable. But we feel like were able to come back. And belief is a very underrated attribute, and we have that going on within our team right now." Experience from the 2012 Cup run could serve Los Angeles well right about now. That Kings team went up at least two games to none in every series on the way to the franchises first championship. In these playoffs, they havent been as much of a buzz saw. They fell behind 33-0 to the San Jose Sharks in the first round before pulling off the improbable series comeback and needed seven games against the Ducks and Blackhawks, too.dddddddddddd What the Kings havent had in the same vein as their 2012 domination theyve made up for with resilience. Coach Darryl Sutter sees experience as the root of that. "Weve played a lot of hockey in May and June over the past three seasons," Sutter said. "For us, youre never not of the belief that you cant come back or youre not going to win." The Rangers, who came back from being down 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division final, share that same belief. Vigneault was short and to the point on what he thought New York needed to do to get back into this series: win Game 3 at Madison Square Garden. "We need to hold serve," Vigneault said in White Plains. "Were back in our building. Weve played some good hockey. We might feel that we deserve a better outcome than what we have right now, which is trailing by two games. But it doesnt matter. At the end of the day we got to take care of business tomorrow, and thats what were going to do." If anyone understands the mental approach of coming back, its the Kings, who havent led for over 228 straight minutes dating back to the conference final. And while the Kings are quick to point to results, they cant believe theyve broken the Rangers spirit already. "We should know that more than anybody, that its tough to put a team down," Williams said. "Especially when youre playing for the Stanley Cup, its going to be hard to put a team down. But we need to try to step a little bit more on the throat tomorrow." Stepping on the Rangers throat might as well be code for dont fall behind by two goals again. Marian Gaborik, whom the Rangers traded at the 2013 deadline, knows more than anyone on the Kings just how the Garden can sound and feel if things get hairy for the visiting team. "To look around the building itself, it has some sort of energy that you want to be in there and just play," Gaborik said. Sutter, who has been coming to the Garden for 30 years, knows it looks different now following renovations but that the fans still have the same moxie. "They love their team and they hate the other team," he said. "Thats what you like. You like going into buildings that are like that. Theyre loud, they say they hate you, all those things, its good." Plenty of hatred has already built up between the Kings and Rangers already after two physically gruelling games. Fatigue could be a factor as well, as the teams flew back from Southern California on Sunday and did not take the ice for practice. But the Kings are used to this. They made similar trips against the New Jersey Devils in the final two years ago before ultimately lifting the Cup back home in Game 6. Theyre two victories away from doing it again. And while this group is similar to the 2012 one, Williams said he gets a similar feel to the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes Cup-champion team he was on about never being out of games. That kind of belief can go a long way, no matter the score in a game or the situation in a series. "Now we feel that anythings possible out there," Williams said. "You get down two goals, it doesnt matter. You get down three, I dont care. Were going to keep pushing, and the term 60 minutes-plus certainly applies to anyone who wants to beat us." NOTES -- Sutter did not provide an update on Jeff Carter, who left Game 2 briefly after taking a hip check from Ryan McDonagh but finished with 24:01 of ice time. The Kings coach said he wouldnt talk about injuries because he didnt have to. ... Vigneault similarly had nothing new to say about Rangers backup goalie Cam Talbot, who has been unavailable in the Cup final with an undisclosed injury. ' ' '