points in the third were the most the Rockets have allowed in a quarter

TORONTO – High above the ice, while practice took place on Thursday afternoon in Toronto, stood Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis. He watched his team work through various drills, hash out lingering points of confusion and prepare for the latest biggest game of the year - a Friday clash with the Philadelphia Flyers. Nonis can do nothing, however, to affect the fortunes of his skidding team at this very late stage in the season, one tumbling precariously close to another late-season collapse. "Eight games left," said Phil Kessel, shortly before departure to Philadelphia. "Weve got to win some games and get in the playoffs here." "This is desperation time," Nazem Kadri added. "Were playing for our lives, so weve got to go start acting like it." It was exactly two years ago that the 18-wheeler of 2012 officially crashed for good. Losing for a stunning 19th time in 24 games against the Carolina Hurricanes on a late March night, the Leafs were eliminated from the postseason, the culmination of an epic unraveling that would cost Ron Wilson his job. Can they avoid a similar and yet perhaps more stinging fate this time around? The thought would have been almost unthinkable only two weeks earlier, but with six straight losses - all in regulation - and not a single point gained, the Leafs are indeed facing that reality. With a blink or two of the eye, theyve been passed by seven teams, now trailing the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets for the final two wild card positions, and are in danger of fumbling away a second-straight trip to the postseason. Aspirations of capturing second spot in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in the first round have been replaced by simply making it outright. The shift has been stunning. "I know right now it seems like were at a low point, but we will come through it," said captain Dion Phaneuf, speaking after a near 90-minute practice in Toronto, his performance and subsequent absence afterward a point of much consternation just a couple days earlier. "Im not going to stand here and say that weve played well. We havent. We havent won games, but theres been stretches that weve done some good things, we just havent found a way to win a game and were going to have to do that Friday." The pressure to do so has never been higher. At some point, the pit of despair becomes just too deep to dig out of, the snowball too large to stop from rolling. That was the case for the club in 2012. Four straight early February losses rapidly morphed into nine of 10, a souring fan-base and the sudden dismissal of Wilson. Things would get no better in the early days of Carlyles tenure with 10 more losses in the next 14 games, including the aforementioned knockout blow on March 27. "Theres pressure in any situation like this," said Kessel, "[but] weve just got to bounce back. If we can get a couple wins here, it would be positive for our group. Weve just got to keep going then." Fear of it all slipping away has seemingly seeped in. Head coach Randy Carlyle observed "tenseness" in the early stages of Tuesdays loss to St. Louis, pushing his club to be more assertive against Philadelphia, currently third in the Metropolitan Division - three points ahead of Toronto. "If youre going to stand there and youre in a street fight and youre not going to move, youre going to allow somebody to swing away, youre going to get hit," said Carlyle. "But if you move and try to avoid the hit and do what you do youre not going to get hit as many times, simple as that." Starts have become the most obvious foe to success during the two-week slide, early and often deep deficits too much to overcome. "So we have to move ourselves," said Carlyle. "We have to move our feet, we have to continue to move the puck effectively, we have to skate … Those are the things that we have to correct and we have to correct it for [Friday] night." "Were starting the games terrible," Kessel said. "Were getting down a couple goals. Theyre out-playing us the first half of the game and then all of a sudden we wake up and we come [back] and its just too late." The same could be said of their playoff fortunes. A collapse under these circumstances might pale in comparison to 2012, given their comfortable state with just weeks to go - they were up three points on the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning as recently as two weeks ago, now trailing both by a wide margin - and the heightened expectations of a club seemingly on the rise. Its a sting they wont want to experience again. "It snowballed on us," Phaneuf said after that season-sealing loss to Carolina two years ago. "We lost a lot of tight games and we just could not recover or find a way out of it as a group." Will they this time around time around? The answer will come soon enough. Paul Richardson Jersey . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution. Geron Christian Redskins Jersey . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Duck Calling With several marquee centres available via trade and expected to be available via free agency, the Anaheim Ducks could be primed to be big players in the coming days. http://www.redskinsrookiestore.com/Redskins-Paul-Richardson-Jersey/ . John Albert Elway, 24, was booked into jail early Saturday morning after an incident near a college campus in downtown Denver, according to jail records. Geron Christian Jersey . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. Troy Apke Jersey . And thats good news for Canada. Kelly, who plays No. 8 at the back of the scrum, is captain of the Canadian womens team.HOUSTON - Klay Thompson had a great night offensively on Saturday.More impressive, though, was his work on defence as he limited NBA leading scorer James Harden to just 11 points.Stephen Curry and Thompson scored 27 points each and the Golden State Warriors used a huge third quarter to roll to a 131-106 win over the Houston Rockets.Thompson was asked if he takes pride in building a reputation as someone who can be dominant on both ends of the floor.I do. I really do, he said. I just want to continue to prove that and get better every game.Coach Steve Kerr raved about Thompsons work on Harden, who went 4 of 15, including 0 of 4 on 3s, to finish well below his average of 27 points a game.Klay did a great job, Kerr said of the guard, who had a career-high five blocks. I thought Klay did a good job of avoiding fouls and then contesting late.Golden State rebounded from a loss to Oklahoma City on Friday night that snapped an eight-game winning streak.Anytime you get a bounce back win and finish a four-games-in-five-nights stretch 3-1, thats big, Curry said.The Warriors led by five at halftime and used a 38-point third quarter, with 15 points from Curry, to take a 22-point lead into the fourth.Dwight Howard, who missed the first two games against the Warriors, led Houston with 23 points and 10 rebounds.The Rockets got five straight points from Kostas Papanikolaou to cut the lead to 110-94 with seven minutes left, but Golden State scored nine quick points after that, led by Currys five, to make it 119-94 and cruise to the win.It is Golden States NBA-leading 24th double-digit victory and its third win over Houston this season. Its the first time the Warriors won a season series against the Rockets since 2006-07.They finish the series on Wednesday at Golden State.A 3-pointer by Josh Smith cut Golden States lead to 10 with three minutes left in the third quarter. But the Warriors capped the quarter with a 12-0 run, with eight points from David Lee, to go up 102-80 entering the fourth quarter. Houston had four turnovers to help the Warriors build the lead.That third quarter was ridiculous, coach Kevin McHale said.dddddddddddd We couldnt get a stop, we turned it over and we just lost all of our fire. We had nothing.The Warriors scored the first five points and the second half to push the lead to 69-59. The Rockets used a 7-1 run, with four points from Howard, to get within 70-66 a couple minutes later.Curry, who had 11 assists, got Golden State going again after that, making an off-balance layup as he was fouled. He tumbled backward and landed on top of a cameraman on the sideline before falling to the court.He made the free throw and those three points were the start of a 10-2 run that extended the advantage to 80-68 midway through the third quarter.The lead had changed 11 times and it had been tied 11 other times before Houston used a 7-0 run to make it 59-55 with about two minutes left in the first half.Kerr called a 20-second timeout and the Warriors regrouped and finished the half with a 9-0 spurt to a take a 64-59 lead into halftime.Our guys did a great job the two minutes of closing the quarter and getting a couple of hoops and re-establishing ourselves and I think that carried over to the third quarter when we really went on a good run, he said.TIP-INSWarriors: Andre Iguodala got a technical foul in the second quarter. ... Its the first time Golden State has swept a road series against the Rockets since 1975-76.Rockets: Howard received a technical with about 10 minutes left in the first quarter for arguing an offensive foul. ... Golden States 64 first-half points were the second-most Houston has allowed before halftime this season. ... Golden States 38 points in the third were the most the Rockets have allowed in a quarter this season.KERRS QUIPKerr rested Andrew Bogut and Iguodala on Friday night against the Thunder and was asked before the game if he has a better handle on when to give players time off since he played for 16 seasons.My coaches often rested me when I was fine, he deadpanned. So Im not sure if really have a handle on it or not.UP NEXTWarriors: Host Nuggets Monday.Rockets: Host Pacers Monday. 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