WASHINGTON D. Wholesale Air Max 1 .C. – The hole was three goals deep after just eight minutes and 44 seconds. And it would ultimately prove too daunting for the Maple Leafs to overcome in the U.S. capital. Doomed by the drudge of a sleepy start they fell in regulation Sunday afternoon for just the fifth time in the past 23 games (15-5-4), their comeback attempts sullied a 4-2 loss to the feisty Washington Capitals. Coming off a successful swing through the California triangle – they won twice – Toronto mustered just two shots in a stunted opening 20 minutes back east, down 3-0 before the frame was even halfway over. Washington scored twice on its first two power-play attempts, adding another from Jason Chimera at even-strength. “It looked like we were still in for our afternoon nap,” mused head coach Randy Carlyle of the period with some frustration afterward. “We werent good enough in the first 10 minutes,” added James Reimer, appearing in his third straight game. “You cant spot a team three goals. We just werent sharp, myself included, and it cost us. I thought we dominated the second and the third was anyones game, we just couldnt quite climb out of the three-goal hole.” The Leafs did dominate the middle period with the same emphasis as the Capitals did the first. They outshot the home-side 10-1 in the opening 11 minutes and 20-6 overall. But with three power-play opportunities and a slew of chances to score they could only get one by Jaroslav Halak, the eighth this season from Dion Phaneuf. David Clarkson had maybe the best opportunity to even the proceedings at three. Stuck with just one goal in the past 21 games and only four this season, the 29-year-old thought hed beaten Halak only to see the puck trickle off the goaltender and out. “Thats been the story this year,” Clarkson said. “I think even if I didnt celebrate it was still laying there for me to poke in.” Never coming closer he and the Leafs fell for the second time on a season-long road trip that wraps up Tuesday in Detroit against the hurting Red Wings. The momentum of emphatic wins in Anaheim and L.A. failed to carry over on the road back east. Knowing that first place in the Atlantic division is lost – Boston is up 15 points – Toronto has set its sights now on securing second spot and home-ice advantage in the first round. With 13 games to go they have 80 points, one up on Tampa and Montreal, who each carry games in hand. “If we wouldve won this one we wouldve been in a great spot,” said Carl Gunnarsson of the road trip at large. “Weve got a big one coming up here in Detroit to make it a good one.” Five Points 1. First Periods A nemesis on Sunday afternoon and all season for that matter, first periods have been a regular sore spot for the Leafs. Washington scored three unanswered in the opening frame on this day. Troy Bodie added a late goal to cut the deficit to two, just the second of two shots in the period for Toronto. Utterly displeased with his teams performance, Carlyle gathered the entire team for a chat during the second TV timeout. “It was more or less just get going,” Bodie said of Carlyles message. “We didnt have our feet going. We werent ready to play.” The Leafs boast a minus-15 goal differential in first periods this season, by far the worst of the three stanzas. Scoring their second of the night while out-shooting the Capitals 20-6, they improved to plus-13 in second periods. “I think finally we got our legs under us,” said Clarkson. “We started going and we kind of put them back on their heels a little bit.” 2. PK Stumbles The rising Leafs penalty kill entered the day with an 88 per cent success rate in the previous 14 games, turning the corner from an awful first half. “We knew we couldnt give up on it,” Jay McClement told the Leaf Report before the game. “We just had to keep working and wed get better because virtually its the same group of us from last year. I dont know what the reason was [for our struggles], but now it seems like weve got the confidence back.” That is until they faced the second best power-play unit in the league at the Verizon Center. Shadowing Alex Ovechkin, who leads the league with 19 power-play goals, the Leafs gave up a pair on Washingtons first two opportunities with the man advantage, once from an open Troy Brouwer in the slot, a second from Joel Ward on the back-door. “We missed assignments on our coverage,” said Carlyle. “You cant let Troy Brouwer shoot the puck from 10 feet in front of your goaltender. Theres obviously a missed assignment and missed coverage in that situation.” 3. Man Advantage Yields Little Boasting just two goals now in the past 11 games – 7 per cent in that span – the Toronto power-play meanwhile continued its dry spell. The Leafs grappled with three consecutive power-plays in the middle period, but failed to score even once. “We believe in our power-play,” said Joffrey Lupul prior to the game. “And theres going to be stretches when you dont get those goals, but as long as we keep doing things right with some of the scorers we have on the team eventually the power-play opportunities are going to turn into goals.” Punch-less on many recent nights, the Leafs did have their opportunities against the Capitals, mustering eight shots. Sneaking in from the right point Cody Franson had maybe the best opportunity to beat Halak, but was ultimately turned aside. The unit currently sits in a four-way tie for third overall at 20.7 per cent. 4. Goalies James Reimer made his third straight appearance Sunday, starting in place of the injured Jonathan Bernier. Fighting the puck early, Reimer yielded three goals on the first five shots, but settled as the night wore on. He made key stops in the final frame, including one on Jason Chimera breaking in partially alone.Citing the now 26-year-olds rebound trouble in that opening frame, Carlyle said he considered pulling Reimer in favour of Drew MacIntyre after the third Washington goal. “We did think about that,” said Carlyle. “But I didnt want to throw Drew into that type of situation without giving him a heads up …Weve got Reims here and weve got to show the confidence for him to fight through some of those situations. We know that Reims is going to start the next game in all probability.” Carlyle had little to offer as far as an update on Bernier, who remained with the team in Washington Sunday ahead of the trip to Detroit. Its clear the 25-year-old will miss his second straight game against the Red Wings Tuesday, the clarity of lower-body injury yet to be fully revealed. 5. Kadris Evolution Nazem Kadri said recently that “I want to become a complete player that this team can trust” and among coaches and teammates that desire for evolution has been seen on the ice. “I think hes maturing as a player,” said Carlyle of the 23-year-old, who established a new career-high for points in Los Angeles this past Thursday night. “I still think theres some room for Nazzie to grow. But I still think youve got to give the kid credit. Hes under a microscope. Hes under a lot of pressure to come in as a young player and play those minutes. We have all kinds of confidence [in him]. [But] maybe not as much confidence as he has if you know what I mean.” “Hes better in his defensive zone for sure,” added Lupul. “Just positioning and using his body and his stick down low. I think everyone probably saw the offensive talents [which] have always been there, but now – Ive been playing on his line for a while now – hes pretty reliable defensively. And as a winger he gets in a spot where youre able to find him, get him the puck.” For Lupul, thats the indicator for when Kadri is at his best. “I think thats one thing for me that when hes playing really well thats what I notice about being on his line is hes putting himself in a spot where hes basically demanding the puck and that he gets it. That shows his confidence and thats how you can kind of tell when hes on the top of his game.” Kadri finished with two shots in 20 minutes against the Capitals. Stats-Pack 35-40 – Toronto penalty kill over 14 games preceding Sunday in Washington. 54 – Consecutive games missed by Dave Bolland, who is still recovering from a left ankle injury, his return status as yet unknown. 15-5-3 – Leafs record in the past 23 games. 2-28 – Toronto power-play over the past 11 games. 29 – Points this season for Dion Phaneuf, eclipsing the mark he set in 48 games last season. Fighting the flu, Phaneuf had a goal and an assist in defeat against the Capitals. 42-57 – Goal differential for the Leafs in first periods this season, favouring the opposition. 8-15-4 – Leafs record this season when trailing after the first period. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-3Season: 20.7% (T-3rd) PK: 2-4Season: 78.4% (28th) Quote of the Night “It looked like we were still in for our afternoon nap.” -Randy Carlyle, on his teams performance in the opening period Sunday. Up Next The Leafs conclude their five-game road trip with a division battle against the Red Wings on Tuesday. Discount Air Max 1 . -- Louisville backup quarterback Reggie Bonnafon ran for two touchdowns and passed for another and the No. Cheap Air Max 1 . Ronaldo netted his 14th goal of the season in Europes top competition to give Madrid a clear advantage ahead of next weeks quarterfinal return leg in Germany. But it came at a price as the Portugal forward, who came into the first-leg nursing a sore left knee, came off in the 80th minute. http://www.cheapairmax1.net/ . James Harden wasnt worried and told his coach as much. "He was fired up but I told him: Its OK. Were going to be all right," Harden said. And they were. Houston scored 17 straight points after that timeout, led by 10 from Harden, to take the lead and roll to an easy 129-106 win.Budapest, Hungary (SportsNetwork.com) - Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull battled changing weather conditions, benefited from a pair of safety-car periods and capitalized on superb pit strategy to win Sundays Hungarian Grand Prix. Ricciardo overtook Ferraris Fernando Alonso for the lead with three laps remaining and then beat Alonso to the finish line by 5.2 seconds for his second career win in Formula One. The 25-year-old Australian scored his maiden victory in the June 8 Canadian Grand Prix. Winning this today, it honestly feels as good as the first [in Canada], Ricciardo said. This one sank in a lot quicker. Crossing the line today, I knew what was going on a bit more. And I could enjoy it immediately rather than it being delayed. It was awesome. To have to pass guys again to win the race, as I did in Canada, makes it a lot more satisfying, knowing that we did have a bit of a fight on our hands. After starting from the 22nd position and from pit lane, Lewis Hamilton charged through the field in this 70-lap grand prix to finish third, one spot ahead of his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, the current F1 championship leader. Hamilton started from the pit lane for the first time in his F1 career after he suffered an engine fire in the early going of Saturdays qualifying at the Hungaroring. His team had to make a chassis, engine and gearbox change, which forced Hamilton to start the race from the pits. On the opening lap, Hamilton experienced a brake issue, causing him to slide off of the slippery track and into the barrier. He did not sustain any significant damage to his car during the incident. It is a great result today, Hamilton said. I was just pushing as hard as possible to get as high as I could. It was obviously damage limitation after what happened yesterday. I cant express the pain I feel when we have issues such as in the last couple of races. Its hard to swallow and difficult to come back the next day and get the right balance between not attacking too much but pushing to the limit. A heavy shower moved over this 2.722-mile (4.381-kilometer), 14-turn circuit shortly before the start of this race. The wet surface caused numerous crashes, forcing the deployment of the safety car two times. It was deployed for the first time on lap 8 when Marcus Ericsson from Caterham lost control exiting turn 3 and slammed hard into the barrier. The final safety-car period occurred on lap 23 when Force Indias Sergio Perez ran wide coming out of a corner and made heavy impact with the wall. The two periods set up various tire strategies for teams when they pitted. The strategies worked towards Ricciardo and Hamiltons favor. The weather improved and the track surface had dried for the second half of the race. Cheap Air Max 1 China. Hamilton trimmed Rosbergs lead from 14 points to 11. The two safety-car periods helped quite a lot, but naturally I looked fast and had the pace this weekend, so there was an opportunity for more points, Hamilton said. I would like to say a big congratulations to Daniel and Fernando. It was close at the end, and it was getting very hard to keep Nico behind, as he was catching at close to three seconds a lap. Coming back, through, shows how great this car and team is, and this result is much more satisfying than an easy win. Going into the break, Im still in the fight for the championship, which is very satisfying. Rosberg started on the pole and ran in front until the first round of pit stops during the safety-car period. The separation between race winner Ricciardo and fourth-place Rosberg was only 6.3 seconds. That was a disappointing afternoon, Rosberg said. A few things didnt work out for me and it was a very up and down race. In the beginning it was all under control. Unfortunately the safety car cost me the lead, because I just missed the pit entry and then I couldnt pit. I also had some braking issues after the safety car went in and a difficult period of time with handling this, which cost me some positions. Alonsos second-place run marked his best finish of the season. He also earned his and Ferraris second podium this year. I think it has been a tough weekend, a tough season in general, so to get a podium is always a nice surprise, lets say, Alonso said. We took a gamble. We risked today just trying to get the victory. Felipe Massa from Williams finished fifth, while Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen placed sixth. Ricciardos teammate, Sebastian Vettel, the four-time F1 world champion, finished seventh after rebounding from a spin at the halfway point. Vettel ran wide just past the entrance to pit lane and did a 360-degree slide before making slight contact with the wall. It wasnt a great race, Vettel said. I spun, which was my mistake, and before that, I was unlucky with the safety car in the first stint. The timing meant the first four cars lost positions to those running behind. Unfortunately, we were then in the wrong mode for the restart, and I lost two positions. Its good for Daniel that he won today, Im happy for him. Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Jean-Eric Verge (Toro Rosso) and Jenson Button (McLaren) completed the top-10. With 11 races completed, Rosberg, Hamilton and Riccardo are the only drivers who have won a grand prix this season. F1 takes a three-week summer vacation before it resumes its schedule on Aug. 24 with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa- Francorchamps. ' ' '