TORONTO – The earliest foundations of the partnership that would rally the Leafs to victory on Tuesday night began almost 10 years earlier in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Then an 18-year-old, Phil Kessel had just completed his second season with the U.S. National Development Team Program and was headed to the University of Minnesota. Nearly two years younger, James van Riemsdyk was just arriving. “We got to watch their highlight film the first day at the program,” van Riemsdyk recalled of a team that featured Kessel and Patrick Kane. “They were just showing us what the two years of work will get you. You see a lot of highlights of his goals. Hes definitely a special player to watch.” Running and gunning with van Riemsdyk after a three-game slowdown of just one point, Kessel would net his fourth career hat trick – second in Toronto – lifting the Leafs from a two-game losing skid and beyond a Ducks squad that had won seven straight. “JVR made two great passes to me and was fortunate to bury both of them,” Kessel said succinctly afterward. His team desperately needed the lift. Full of tension in the first 20 minutes against Anaheim, the Leafs would muster just two shots on Jonas Hiller – down 1-0 – the third time in a week they had managed fewer than three shots in a period. “The first period we were awful tight,” said Randy Carlyle of the early effort, imploring his team to “relax” in the first intermission. Though Hiller would rob Jay McClement with a theatrical glove save on the first shot of the frame that followed – Mathieu Perrault had upped the lead to two – the Leafs would lose some tension and find some energy. A man advantage fewer than two minutes later – Corey Perry whistled for boarding – would swing the door open for the teams top duo, quiet three nights earlier in a one-sided loss to Chicago. Snatching a rebound from just beyond the blue paint, van Riemsdyk, falling to the ice, would twirl around and find an open Kessel on the door-step for the Leafs first goal. Dion Phaneuf would even the proceedings at two just over a minute later. The Leafs would go on to erase a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage later in the period before Kessel and van Riemsdyk would connect once more. Bursting down the right side, Kessel would employ his towering linemate as a decoy, firing a laser under the bar and beyond the blocker of Hiller. “I was just trying to drive and hopefully get the goalie distracted a little bit,” van Riemsdyk said of Kessels go-ahead goal. “I dont think he really needed me to do that because he put it right under the bar, right in the elbow. No goalies going to stop that.” He and the 26-year-old would put a wrap on the evening in the third. Charging with speed on yet another odd-man rush, van Riemsdyk would feather a backhand pass beyond the last defence of a sprawling Francois Beauchemin, Kessel tapping it in for his second Leaf hat trick. “He made some great shots tonight and showed why he has that world-class finishing ability,” van Riemsdyk concluded. Five Points 1. Kessel Recollections JVR first learned of his future teammate when he watched the 2005 World Junior Championships. There in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Kessel scored four goals and six points in seven games. “I see this guy, what was he? 16? 17-years old, and he was just flying down the wing, toe-dragging guys and putting it low-blocker,” van Riemsdyk recalled. Playing alongside younger brother Blake Kessel at the University of New Hampshire, van Riemsdyk met the elder Kessel on occasion, even attending the odd Bruins game with his Wildcats teammate. 2. Searching for Identity Randy Carlyle requested an increase in work ethic before facing his former Ducks squad for the first time since being fired in the winter of 2011. “We havent looked back on many games this year and said weve outworked the opposition,” he said before the game. “Our work ethic has to be elevated to a point where we can create more of an identity for ourselves. I dont know if we can say what type of hockey club we are yet.” That identity began to establish itself in the opening minutes of the second frame, the Leafs creating havoc with improved pressure on the Ducks defence. “Our hockey club is based upon our ability to get in on the puck,” Carlyle would note of the forecheck after the game. Speaking prior to the victory, Carlyle suggested that underlying elements such as the forecheck would improve with greater intensity. “And once we start to establish more of that dogged work ethic then I think the other things will fall into place,” he explained. “And its not that we havent worked hard, its just that we havent worked hard enough in the small areas of the ice and havent won enough one-on-one battles to establish any momentum and keep the momentum going.” 3. Shots vs. Scoring Chances The Leafs allowed a season-low 25 shots against Anaheim, the first time all year they yielded fewer than 30. Never in Los Angeles did Jonathan Bernier face the nightly quantity of shots that have come his way early as a Leaf, but as he explained to the Leaf Report, shot totals form only one half of the picture. “Its more the scoring chances,” said Bernier. “You can look at having 40 shots and five scoring chances its going to be a pretty easy night. But if you get 20 shots and 16 scoring chances thats going to be a really tough night.” “Its all about where you get your shots from,” he continued. “If you get them from the outside and you control your rebounds all night thats going to be a pretty easy night.” All that being said, “In a 40-shot [night] usually youll get more scoring chances against than on a 20-shot night.” Bernier stopped all but two of 25 Anaheim shots. He made his best stop to preserve the Leafs lead early in the third. Sprawling with both pads flaring outward, his left pad would keep a Teemu Selanne shot on the outside. 4. Draft Day Jake Gardiner was picked 17th overall by the Ducks in 2008. “It was one of my most memorable days Id say,” he recalled in conversation with the Leaf Report. “I remember my Dad just being so excited for me; I think he was a little bit more excited than I was.” All the speculation that day in Ottawa had Gardiner either going to the Ducks at 17 or the Senators at 15. Ottawa sprung for Erik Karlsson with their first pick, the Ducks landing Gardiner two spots later. “Youre surprised,” he said of hearing your name called. “You never think youre going to go in the first round of the NHL Draft when youre a kid. Obviously everybody wants to, but its never that realistic. And then when it actually happens its a crazy feeling. That day, being said, its special, but at the same time youre not in the NHL yet; some guys think you are but theres a lot of work to be done.” Gardiner logged 21 and a half minutes on Tuesday night. 5. Bozak on the Draw Tyler Bozak entered Tuesday in midst of a year-long struggle on the draw – 47.2 per cent, 65th among qualifying centres – but he got the job done against the Ducks. Bozak finished 12-24, including 4-5 in the defensive zone opposite Ryan Getzlaf. “You get bounces,” he said before the game. “Ill go on a 10-game stretch where Ill get all the 50/50 bounces and my wingers will get the bounces and theyll come back to our D and Ill win them. Theyre not all clean and they never will be all clean wins and losses; a lot of it is other things. Just havent maybe been getting the bounces, obviously havent been winning as many as I want, but hopefully just key in on the defensive zone ones, win those most importantly and go from there.” Stat-Pack 4 – Career hat tricks for Phil Kessel, including his second as a Leaf against Anaheim. 25 – Shots for the Ducks, the fewest the Leafs have allowed all season. 2 – Number of shots for the Leafs in the first frame against Anaheim. 3 – Number of periods this season that the Leafs have registered three or fewer shots. 11 – Points for Phil Kessel this season, leading the team. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 PK: 4-4 Quote of the Night “You can tell when your group cant make a 20-foot pass to somebody whos wide open.” -Randy Carlyle on how he knew his group was pressing early against the Ducks. Up Next David Clarkson makes his debut when the Leafs visit the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday. Toronto Raptors Shirts .com) - Jahlil Okafor had 21 points, Tyus Jones scored 16 with 10 assists and No. Toronto Raptors Gear . "Its amazing to do this coming from such a small island, where tennis isnt necessarily recognized as one of the main sports," Puig said. "Im just happy Im able to be here playing tennis not only for myself, but for my country too. https://www.cheapraptors.com/ . He could have transferred when academic sanctions barred the Huskies from the NCAA tournament his junior season. Cheap Raptors Jerseys . The Montreal Canadiens goaltender has won three of his four games since returning from a lower-body injury that kept him out from the end of the Olympic break until March 15. Toronto Raptors Store . Catch the action live on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Wild lead the Northwest Division and look to get back into the win column after having a season-high seven-game winning streak cut short with Tuesdays 2-1 loss at Winnipeg in the finale of a five-game road trip (4-1-0).INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 8 Michigan ended 15 years of Big Ten tournament frustration Saturday. Theres still some work to do before it can really celebrate. After blowing a 12-point second-half lead against its most bitter rival, Michigan closed the game with a 7-1 run and survived a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds for its first tourney win over No. 24 Ohio State, 72-69. "We werent thinking about winning the Big Ten Conference championship, the tournament," Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas said. "We were thinking about just beating Ohio State. This is a rivalry game." For the Big Ten regular-season champs, it was a big moment. Michigan (25-7) hadnt won a semifinal game since 1998, when it won the inaugural tourney title only to vacate it because of NCAA rules violations. Since then, the Wolverines hadnt even won two straight games in the league tourney and had lost all six times it played the dreaded Buckeyes in Indianapolis or Chicago. Not this time. The top-seeded Wolverines started the game with an offensive flurry and ended it with a stout defensive stretch that ended with Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft losing control of the ball as he tried a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime. Instead, the Wolverines came up with the loose ball to eliminate the conferences defending tourney champion. Stauskas finished with 18 points. Ohio native Caris LeVert had 17 points and seven rebounds and Glenn Robinson III wound up with 11 points, including two free throws that gave Michigan the lead for good with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines won their seventh straight in large part because they were 12 of 23 on 3-pointers against the Big Tens top-rated 3-point defence and didnt allow a basket over the final four minutes. The only thing sweeter than beating the Buckeyes would be winning Sundays title game against No. 22 Michigan State. The Wolverines won both games against the third-seeded Spartans this season. Michigan State advanced with an 85-73 win over second-seeded Wisconsin in the second semifinal. "Those are the three best defensive teams in our league. Theyre just really difficult to score points on," coach John Beilein said, referring to thee Badgers, Buckeyes and Spartans.dddddddddddd. But getting to Sunday wasnt easy, either. Michigan blew a 13-point lead in Fridays quarterfinal victory, surviving a scare from ninth-seeded Illinois when Jordan Morgans layup rolled in with 7.9 seconds to go and Illinois guard Tracy Abrams missed a driving layup at the buzzer. It was more of the same Saturday. Michigan led by as much as 16 in the first half and 12 in the second and still needed another late miscue to seal the win. Ohio State (25-9) was led by LaQuinton Ross with 19 points and Shannon Scott with 18, nearly pulling off a second stunning comeback in two days. After digging out of an 18-point deficit to beat Nebraska in Fridays quarterfinals, the Buckeyes wound up losing for only the third time in 10 games. "I feel like as a team when our heads underwater, we start fighting more," Scott said. "We started doing that again today." Ohio State, which struggled to open both halves, just couldnt finish this one off. Michigan opened the game with three straight 3s and led 15-2 after its opening flurry. The Buckeyes clawed back late in the half, getting within 41-37. But Ohio State gave up three more 3s to open the second half, allowing the Spartans to push the lead to 54-42 with 16:02 left. Again the Buckeyes rallied, using a 10-2 spurt that ended with Sam Thompsons alley-oop dunk, giving Ohio State its first lead at 61-60. Thats when last years national runner-up buckled down defensively. Michigan cut the Ohio State lead to 68-67 on an 18-foot jumper from Stauskas and regained the lead when Robinson made the two free throws. The Buckeyes couldnt get anything to go over the final four minutes, missing five straight shots and three of four free throws before Craft said the ball slipped out of his hands at the end. "I feel so fortunate right now," Beilein said. "You look at so many of our games down the stretch here, theyve ended just like this and the ball keeps bouncing our way. You only can have that type of luck if you have guys like these guys sitting next to me. They make enough smart plays to keep you in the game, and some games the ball will just bounce your way." ' ' '