ands, was sent up to pinch-hit for his big leagu

TORONTO - The home locker-room at Air Canada Centre stayed closed for a few extra minutes on the night of Oct. 25. The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to clear the air after a demoralizing 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.Basically, we had an agreement that that was enough, coach Randy Carlyle said. Enough was enough. Because we couldnt continue to go the way we were going, and our performance against Boston was one where in our minds and in their minds was unacceptable.Since that unacceptable performance, the Leafs are 3-0-0 with victories over the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks. The wins have moved them from 14th to seventh in the 16-team Eastern Conference.Along the way, the morale gradually improved. Taking care of business against lowly Buffalo led to what centre Nazem Kadri called a complete 180 after some tension amid the losing.Goaltender James Reimer, who on Saturday night became the first goaltender since 2008 with 25-plus saves and no goals allowed in a third period, didnt like how things were going.I think its one of those things where we werent all pulling on the same rope, for lack of a better word, Reimer said. We werent on the same page.Victories against stronger competition had the Leafs feeling pretty good about themselves going into this weeks Western Conference road trip.We knew what we were doing was unacceptable and we needed to get back to playing Toronto Maple Leaf hockey, said centre Peter Holland, who has a bigger role in the absence of injured forward Joffrey Lupul. When we play our brand of hockey were a good team, were tough to beat.The Leafs brand of hockey will get tested on the road, even if its not against the best of the West. They visit the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday before returning home to face the New York Rangers on Saturday.Our hockey club has played pretty good on the road, Carlyle said, referencing the Leafs 3-0-1 road record. You have to win on the road to climb in the standings.It could help the Leafs that they have some Western influence on the roster, including forwards Peter Holland (Anaheim Ducks), Daniel Winnik (Ducks and Coyotes) and Mike Santorelli (Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators) and defencemen Stephane Robidas (Ducks and Dallas Stars) and Roman Polak (St. Louis Blues). Even new assistant coach Peter Horachek had been in Nashville before a stop with the Florida Panthers.That certainly will help having Roman and Danny Winnik, myself, who have been in the Western Conference a lot, Horachek said last week. Randys been out there before, he came out there and (has an) understanding of some of the way teams play and some of the characteristics of some of the players. ... Any time you can have familiarity, I think it helps, for sure.It also doesnt hurt to have some momentum. Reimer said the teams confidence is in a good place right now, something Carlyle credited the players for.Captain Dion Phaneuf just sees it as the machinations of a season that are magnified in Toronto.Theres lots of ups and downs, Phaneuf said. Believe me, when youre in a market like this, you can feel the ups and the downs. ...But I think that we did a good job of sticking with it and turning it around because we werent feeling very good about ourselves about five, six days ago. We beared down, we talked about (how) we expected more out of each other and we expected more out of our team and weve shown that.Note — Before leaving for Phoenix, the Leafs recalled centre Sam Carrick and defenceman Stuart Percy from the AHLs Marlies. Carrick, who made his NHL debut Saturday night and then was sent down for salary-cap reasons, is expected to remain in the lineup as the fourth-line centre. Percy will most likely serve as the seventh defenceman on the trip.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter Oliver Drake Jersey . The 17-time Grand Slam champion, who lose three straight finals in Monte Carlo to Rafael Nadal from 2006-08, has not played in the tournament since 2011, when he lost to Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. Brent Honeywell Rays Jersey . Edmonton opened the season with 14 straight victories before falling Friday night 10-8 to the host Colorado Mammoth in National Lacrosse League action. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/146i-tyler-glasnow-jersey-rays.html . 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Ryan Howard had four hits, including a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning, and Jimmy Rollins homered and scored four times to lead Philadelphia past the slumping New York Mets 5-4 on Saturday night. Chase Utley drove in two runs for the Phillies, who have won the first two games of the series against their NL East foes after dropping four straight to Toronto. Rollins, Utley and Howard, the All-Star core of Phillies teams that won five straight division titles and a World Series championship from 2007-11, combined to go 9 for 12 with four RBIs. "Yeah, it felt good. It felt like old times out there," Howard said. "If we can get everybody going all at the same time, itll be a force to be reckoned with." David Wright hit his first home run since opening day, ending the longest drought of his career, and had three RBIs. But the Mets wasted another great chance to score in the late innings, losing their season-worst fifth straight and eighth in nine games. Following some confusion in the eighth, Philadelphia reliever Mike Adams (2-1) escaped a major jam by retiring pinch-hitter Bobby Abreu on a bases-loaded comebacker to keep it tied. "Obviously, I had to make him swing the bat," Adams said. "I threw a two-seamer that ran down and made him hit my pitch." With runners on second and third earlier in the inning, the Phillies held a meeting at the mound and threw an intentional ball to Eric Campbell in his second major league plate appearance. Thats when Utley and catcher Carlos Ruiz noticed the 40-year-old Abreu, cut by Philadelphia near the end of spring training, getting ready in the dugout. Utley and Ruiz persuaded Adams to go after Campbell before Abreu had a chance to bat. "We decided to change our minds," Utley said. "We saw him coming up there. We try to see everything, but we dont always." Adams said the chat pumped him up, and Utley is "always on top of it." The intentional walk was called off and Campbell eventually took strike three. "That was pretty neat to watch," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. Rollins drew a two-out walk from Kyle Farnsworth (0-3) in the ninth and went to third on Utleys single. Howard followed with a line-drive single to centre. Jonathan Papelbon worked a hitless ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances. With a runner on second, he retired Wright on a foul popup to end it. A fruustrated Wright held his bat above his head most of the way back to the dugout, then lingered on an otherwise empty bench for a few minutes with the lumber still in his hand.dddddddddddd "The frustrating part is losing," Wright said. "An inning here, an inning there is costing us multiple games over the last few weeks." After the start was delayed 39 minutes by rain, the Phillies wasted no time jumping on Dillon Gee, who had a 7.46 ERA in nine previous starts against them. Philadelphia began the game with consecutive singles and a stolen base before Utleys sacrifice fly ended Gees career-best scoreless streak at 16 innings. Domonic Brown blooped an RBI single, but Gee dodged additional damage when Cody Asche lined out with the bases loaded. Wright tied it with a two-run shot on an 0-2 pitch from Kyle Kendrick, snapping a streak of 136 at-bats without a homer since March 31 against Washington. "I dont build my game around hitting home runs, so it wasnt too much of a monkey at all," Wright said. Rollins homered off the facing of the second deck in right to put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 in the second. Kendrick retired 14 of 15 batters after Wrights long ball and took a two-hitter into the sixth, when he walked leadoff man Juan Lagares. Daniel Murphy singled and Wright plopped an RBI double into right field, just beyond a diving Marlon Byrd. Campbell, with his parents taking pictures in the stands, was sent up to pinch-hit for his big league debut. He gave the Mets a 4-3 lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly against lefty reliever Jake Diekman -- and was all smiles while receiving a high-five from Murphy and congratulations in the dugout. "It was a real up and down day," Campbell said. Rollins legged out an infield single in the seventh and advanced on Scott Rices wild pitch. Utley doubled off the centre-field fence to tie it at 4. NOTES: Kendrick, hurt by poor run support, is 0-8 in 14 starts since beating the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 6 last season. ... Howard is 9 for 18 against Gee with six homers and 14 RBIs. Rollins is 11 for 22. ... Ben Revere made a terrific, tumbling catch in deep centre to rob Travis dArnaud of extra bases. ... LHP Cole Hamels (0-2, 7.02 ERA) will try again for his 100th career win when he makes his fourth start of the season Sunday in the series finale against LHP Jonathon Niese (2-2, 1.82). Hamels was hit hard in a 6-1 loss to Niese at home on April 29 and is 7-14 with a 4.65 ERA in 27 starts against New York. ' ' '