Things started off quite well for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their January slide has pushed them out of playoff position. So whats exactly wrong with the Blue and White these days? The team opened 2014 on a high, defeating the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in a shootout in front of more than 105,000 fans at Michigan Stadium for the NHLs Winter Classic. Since the outdoor win, the Leafs have dropped three straight games and have been outscored 18-5 in those contests. On top of that, the club has just five regulation/overtime victories over their last 31 games and a 4-13 record in the 17 games that ended in regulation. By comparison, the Leafs had 13 regulation/overtime wins in their final 31 games under Ron Wilson. Going into Friday nights game against Washington, theyve gone 2-7-4 in their last 13 road games, are 4-for-43 on the power play and their last road regulation win was Oct. 30 in Calgary. Is it the coaching? Many fans have called for the firing of head coach Randy Carlyle. In his lone full season with the Leafs, he led the team to their first playoff appearance since 2004. But is it possible that his good will with the players has taken a turn south? Many observers have blamed Carlyle for the Leafs defensive system, which has allowed a league-high 36.4 shots on goal per game and league-worst minus-9.2 shot differential. Others argue that the shot totals have been high all year and are nothing new for the Leafs. Their goaltending struggles, however, certainly are. Is the problem in goal? The Leafs relied on the strong play of James Reimer and more specifically Jonathan Bernier to get wins this season, but both have struggled of late. Bernier played 29 games with the Leafs this season before getting pulled for the first time on Saturday in a 7-1 loss against the New York Rangers. He allowed five goals on 32 shots in just under two periods of play. And Bernier struggled again the next time out against the New York Islanders, allowing four goals on 24 shots, three of them that Carlyle said Bernier wanted back. The Leafs lost again, 5-3. The team turned back to Reimer on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, but he allowed six goals on 36 shots and the team lost its third straight game, 6-1. As TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger noted on TSN Radio 1050 on Friday morning, the Leafs, "played 60 minutes like they were killing a 5-on-3." At the same time, Torontos offence hasnt been anywhere near good enough to make up for the defensive shortfall. The Leafs top two scorers, Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, have just one point between them over the last three games. The losing skid could be attributed to many things, but is it as simple as a Winter Classic hangover? The Leafs played most of December under the watchful eyes of television cameras documenting their lives, on and off the ice, for HBOs 24/7 Winter Classic series. When they won the game and shook their opponents hands at centre ice, the camera crews packed up and life was supposed to return to normal. But since then victories have been hard to come by. And now the Leafs find themselves on the outside looking in for a playoff spot with just under half the season remaining and Olympic break four weeks away. The time has come to ask, whats wrong with the Toronto Maple Leafs? As always, its Your! Call. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Sale . Venable and Jeremy Hermida drove in three runs apiece, and the Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Sunday to snap a nine-game losing streak. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/. 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He picked this place in free agency because they have all the ingredients: A goal-scoring phenom in rookie of the year Nathan MacKinnon, a top-notch goaltender in Semyon Varlamov and an unorthodox coach in Patrick Roy who has a knack for pushing all the right buttons.Given his age, Iginla doesnt have much time left to hoist a Stanley Cup.Given their youth, the Avs sure could use another leader like him.Theres going to be some fun nights because of the things they can do a€” the skill level to go with the speed, said Iginla, who scored 30 goals for Boston last season. Very impressed with the tempo and the creativity.Iginla has been enthralled by the Avs for quite some time, too, watching from afar last season as the Avalanche tied a franchise record with 52 wins in Roys first season behind the bench. It was difficult not to pay attention with Colorado catching the hockey world by surprise and returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2010.What happened next, though, has haunted Roy all off-season a€” an overtime goal by the Minnesota Wild in Game 7 to end their season.We still think about that goal, Roy said.Thats why Roy and his former teammate turned executive Joe Sakic infused some grizzled veterans into their youthful squad, just to give them more leadership when times turned tough. They traded for Daniel Briere and Brad Stuart. And then, when Paul Stastny bolted for St. Louis, they brought in Iginla.The more leaders you have in the dressing room the better off youre going to be, Sakic said.Now comes the real challenge a€” winning when all eyes are upon them.Sure, theres a little more pressure, Briere said. But Id rather be a team that everybody is expecting to win, because that means you should be winning if you do your job right. I like the makeup of this team. What they did last year was tremendous.So far, Collorado has looked rather sluggish in the preseason, but Roy hardly gives it a second thought.dddddddddddd. Hes tinkering with different line combinations, trying to decide the best pairings between Matt Duchene, Ryan OReilly, captain Gabe Landeskog, Alex Tanguay, Iginla and MacKinnon.Here are some things to watch as the Avalanche prepare to open at Minnesota on Oct. 9:EVEN FASTER: Believe it or not, the already lightning quick MacKinnon may have found another gear this off-season working out with Duchene and Penguins standout Sidney Crosby. MacKinnon is coming off a season in which he scored 24 goals on his way to rookie of the year honours. I do have more jump in my step, MacKinnon said.FEELING HIP: Tanguay dealt with nagging knee and hip injuries all last season before finally electing to have hip surgery in February after playing in just 16 games. Healthy again, hes using this preseason to gain trust in that hip. He could again be paired with Iginla. The two were once teammates in Calgary.ANY ROLE WILL DO: When he arrived in Denver, Briere wasnt informed of his role by Roy but given some advice. Told me to come in and have fun, to relax, said Briere. He played a limited role most of last year for Montreal, which advanced to the Eastern Conference Final. Personally, a frustrating season as far as responsibilities went on the ice, Briere said. So that was (Roys) words of advice, just to come in here and have fun and good things will happen.VARLY, VARLY: Colorado will keep leaning heavily on Varlamov, who broke Roys team record for most wins (41) in a single season. He showed the world last year that he was a No. 1 goalie and Im sure Varlys going to continue to do that, Roy said. Varlamovs backup will be Reto Berra after Jean-Sebastien Giguere retired.LATE KNACK: Roy was revered last season for taking chances, like pulling the goaltender with plenty of time left in the third period, just to give his team more of a chance to score the equalizer. Hes one of the best in-game tactical coaches that Ive had, defenceman Erik Johnson said. ' ' '