next trip down the court, but Loving crashed into the lane fo

ST. Buy Adidas Ultra Boost . LOUIS – On the heels of their best game all year came one of the worst. The Maple Leafs were blasted 6-3 by the Blues at Scottrade Center on Thursday night. It was Torontos eighth loss in the past 10 games (2-6-2), 13th in the past 19, and a drastic reversal in course from an inspired home loss to the Kings one night earlier. "Tonight it looked like we were totally brain-dead in a lot of areas," said Randy Carlyle, following the defeat. All the persistence, feistiness and energy of their effort against Los Angeles deteriorated in a hurry against the Blues. St. Louis buried three goals on its first 15 shots in a dominant opening frame – chasing James Reimer from the crease – before adding a goal in the second and a pair in the third. "It just looked like we werent there mentally at the start," said Carlyle. It was a stinging return to the inconsistent, chaotic hockey which has plagued the group for the better part of the season. Most baffling, however, was the dramatic shift in performance from the night previous. Though they ultimately fell 3-1 to Los Angeles at the ACC on Wednesday night, the Leafs were the superior team and played their most complete game of the season. The starting point they hoped to gain from the effort – a largely stingy defensive effort – never materialized against the Blues, dominant with 21 wins in 30 games this season. "Even though we lost that game [against the Kings] it was something to build on," said Carl Gunnarsson, "and tonight its like it was all gone." Concern has to be inching ever upward with the mounting losses and little to no sustained improvement. The Leafs have just two regulation victories since the start of November and face the defending Stanley Cup champs at home on Saturday. "Our concern has been very high for a while here," said Carlyle. "We thought with our performance [Wednesday] night it would be something we could build on, but we just didnt have any kind of an energy to be able to put forth an effort that was needed." Five Points 1. Defensive Issues In describing his team as "totally brain-dead", Carlyle was referring mostly to the areas in which St. Louis managed to score. David Backes opened the scoring untouched from just outside the slot. Jaden Schwartz had two whacks just outside the blue paint for the second St. Louis goal. Derek Roy pranced in untouched through the slot on the third. Chances and opportunities of that kind continued throughout the night. "I dont know any other way to describe it from a standpoint of where the goals were being scored from again," said Carlyle. "We have systems that our coverage has to be in place and if you vacate those critical areas youre going to give up quality scoring chances." Revealingly, the Leafs have allowed three goals or more in 13 of the past 19 games, losing all but one. "They had a lot of freedom in our zone," said Carlyle of the Blues. "Look where they scored the goals from." 2. In Need of Urgency Carlyle has been beating the drum of urgency from the opening days of the season when his team won games on the shoulders of terrific goaltending and special teams. But at this point in the year, more than a third of way through but with plenty of time still remaining, the urgency level appears mixed in the Toronto dressing room. A clear understanding of just how long this skid has lingered seems lost. "Theres lots of time," said Nazem Kadri. "Fifty games left, theres no reason to panic. Its just something weve got to figure out in the dressing room." "We started off playing terrific," he said later of the teams start to the season. "Obviously some things made us take a couple steps backward with injuries and things like that. Its tough to be mentally and physically prepared when things like that just keep happening. But its up to us. Were professionals. We do have a good team inside this dressing room. We believe we can win and were confident still, weve just got to figure out ways around these games." 3. Urgency v. Intensity James Reimer had interesting insight on the need for urgency amid a skid thats lingered for more than a month and longer than that if you include October. "Sometimes its hard to differ between urgency and intensity," he said. "If you get tense thats the worst-case scenario. If you can get some urgency in your game without squeezing your stick then thats important. But in the market we play in the biggest key is keeping the pressure off and trying to stay as loose as possible. Thats the main thing. Its really easy to get too intense. Do we need some more urgency? Probably. But you have to be careful when you start going down that path." 4. Reimers Quick Night Reimer got the hook after third Blues goal. He allowed three goals on 15 shots and was replaced by Jonathan Bernier. "Too many goals," Reimer said of the performance, coming on the heels of a 47-save effort in Ottawa. "I felt good out there, felt good in warm-up, felt like I was seeing the puck. But just a couple got by, obviously a couple too many. "I felt like I was on my game, pucks just found a way in." "Im not blaming the goaltending specifically," said Carlyle. "I just think it was part in parcel with our hockey club." 5. Western Exposure The Blues were the fourth Western Conference team on the Leafs docket in the first two weeks of December with Chicago and Phoenix lying ahead in the days to come. "Guys say its more defensive in that conference," Jake Gardiner said prior to the loss to St. Louis. "I was talking to [former Leaf] Matt Frattin and he said the same thing. He said its a lot harder to score and get points and get production. Yeah, definitely noticed a difference." (Frattin had seven goals and 13 points in 25 games with the Leafs last season, but has just two goals and six points with similar ice-time through the same number of games with the Kings). "Theres definitely a different style," said Jay McClement, who spent all but his last two seasons in the West. "Theres obviously a lot of big, strong teams out here." The Leafs are now 7-7-1 versus the West this season. Stats-Pack 13 – Losses for the Leafs in the past 19 games. 13 – Number of times in those 19 games that the Leafs allowed three goals or more, losing all but one. 7-7-1 – Leafs record versus the Western Conference this season. 14 – Goals for James van Riemsdyk this season. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-3Season: 23.3 per cent (4th) PK: 3-3Season: 77.2 per cent (27th) Quote of the Night "Tonight it looked like we were totally brain-dead in a lot of areas." -Randy Carlyle, following the loss to St. Louis Up Next The Leafs host the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks at the ACC on Saturday evening. Discount Adidas Ultra Boost . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer. Cheap Ultra Boost Mens . The 24-year-old right winger has one assist in nine games this season with the Sabres. In his career, he has three goals and six assists in 43 NHL games. http://www.wholesaleultraboost.com/ . TSNs Farhan Lalji reports the Edmonton Eskimos non-import DT has a workout scheduled with an NFL team next week and isnt expected to sign a deal with any team until then.Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Ohio State continues to pile up wins at home. Thad Mattas Buckeyes and star freshman DAngelo Russell beat another ranked opponent at Value City Arena. Russell had 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as Ohio State easily knocked off No. 16 Maryland 80-56 on Thursday night for its 103rd win at home since 2009. Thats the most in the country by a healthy margin over national powerhouses Kentucky and Syracuse. Russell continued to impress, making half of his 12 shots and four 3-pointers on the heels of being named Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring 55 points in wins over Northwestern and nationally-ranked Indiana. Russell is pretty special, especially when hes making those tough shots over hands, said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon. Hes a special player and time will tell that as he moves on in his career. The Hoosiers were No. 23 when they came to Columbus and lost 82-70 on Sunday. Matta said he was surprised by the back-to-back wins over ranked opponents. But weve practiced well, he said. I thought we had a good energy the last couple days in practice. I thought today in shootaround, they were good. I wouldnt have predicted this size of a win tonight, but we got rolling, they were into the game and they did a nice job. Marc Loving led the Buckeyes (17-5, 6-3) with 19 points, making all five of his 3s, and JaeSean Tate scored 16. Dez Wells scored 12 points to lead Maryland (18-4, 66-3) and Jake Layman had 10. Wholesale Ultra Boost. The Terrapins beat Northwestern 68-67 on Sunday despite trailing by 11 points with less than 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Wells tip-in with 1.4 seconds left sealed the victory. There was no such rally against the Buckeyes, who led by double digits for almost the entire second half after Anthony Lees layup out of intermission made it a 10-point game. Maryland was within nine before the Buckeyes scored seven consecutive points in about a minute for a 48-32 lead. Later, Lovings fifth 3-pointer made it 54-38 and Russell banked in a 3 from the top of the arc for a 63-47 lead. Kam Williams missed a 3 on Ohio States next trip down the court, but Loving crashed into the lane for a two-handed putback dunk. It gave the Buckeyes an 18-point advantage with 6:42 remaining and Maryland was never closer than 17 the rest of the way. Terrapins freshman Melo Trimble missed all eight of his field goal attempts and scored three points. Game Notes The Buckeyes are 103-9 at home over the past six seasons. Kentucky and Syracuse have 96 home wins over the same span ... Ohio State is 5-2 in the all-time series. Thursday marked the first meeting between the teams since Maryland became a Big Ten member last year ... Maryland will host Penn State next Wednesday ... Ohio State is also off until Wednesday, when it faces Purdue on the road. ' ' '