Off Topic » unlike any of his first five

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Coming off a four-game losing streak, the Toronto Maple Leafs put an emphasis on getting off to better starts. Theyve been doing just that and its led to their longest win streak in seven years. Jonathan Bernier stopped 39 shots and the Maple Leafs used a fast start to kick off another big scoring night, beating the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 Monday for their first five-game winning streak since 2007. "It feel great and feels great for a goalie too," Bernier said of getting off to fast starts. "Thats our main focus; we know if we score the first goal in this league, you have a good chance to win." With Bernier making some tough saves early, Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead by early in the second period. The Maple Leafs withstood a flurry of shots by Phoenix, thanks to some tough saves by Bernier and some near-misses by the Coyotes, and pulled away to win five straight games for the first time since Jan. 27-Feb. 6, 2007. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to six games. Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri also had a goal and an assist, and Carl Gunnarsson scored his first goal in nearly a year. Buoyed by their fast starts, the Maple Leafs have scored 20 goals during their winning streak. "We feel this group can continue to grow and play to a higher level -- enough talking about it," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. "Action speaks louder than words and we have to continue to challenge this group to play better and become a playoff team." The Coyotes had plenty of chances. Most of them were turned away by Bernier, a few by the goal posts and numerous others just missed the mark, leading to a frustrating loss. Phoenix matched a team record by scoring a power-play goal in eight straight games when Mike Ribeiro scored early in the third period and Antoine Vermette added a short-handed goal. "Its disappointing," Vermette said. "We felt out there we had a lot of great scoring chances and we had a good night, but it went to them." The Maple Leafs followed their four-game losing streak by pouring in goals during a four-game winning streak. Toronto kept it rolling against the Coyotes, scoring two goals in 2:02 late in the first period. After both teams traded good scoring chances, Gardiner scored by gathering a loose puck out front and beating Mike Smith from close range. Phoenix defenceman Zbynek Michalek went to the penalty box for sending the puck over the glass in his own end and then Kessel capitalized on the ensuing power play, scoring his 24th of the season with help from a screen by James van Riemsdyk out front. Gunnarsson made it 3-0 with his first goal since Jan. 24, 2013, controlling a pass from Dion Phaneuf with his foot and beating Smith to the stick side. The first two periods were filled with near-misses for the Coyotes: Lauri Korpikoski hit the crossbar in the first period, Oliver Ekman-Larsson the post in the second and Shane Doan couldnt corral a stretch pass for a breakaway. Phoenix had numerous other shots just miss the goal and Bernier made some spectacular saves, including a sliding stop on a one-time by Ekman-Larsson on a power play. The Coyotes had 27 shots on goal and 16 other shots through the first two periods. "Their goalie was playing well," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "I think he was fortunate to have a few pucks hit the crossbar and things like that, but when youre having a night we were, those bounces go the other way." They finally broke through on a power play early in the third period, when Keith Yandle found Ribeiro at the side of the net and he knocked it in past Bernier. The Coyotes had a slew of penalties after that and Kadri cashed in on the third one with his first goal in 12 games to put the Maple Leafs up 4-1. Vermette scored Phoenixs first short-handed goal of the season after that, but the Coyotes couldnt get anything past Bernier, who is 3-0 against Phoenix. Notes: Coyotes C Martin Hanzal, tied for the team lead with 14 goals, did not play and is listed day to day with a lower-body injury. ... Kessel and Coyotes RW David Moss, who are cousins, played against each other in the NHL for the eighth time. ... Toronto won at Phoenix for the first time since 2003, a span of four games. ... Yandle extended his points streak to four games with his assist on Ribeiros goal. Replica Shoes .Tatjana Haenni, FIFAs head of womens competitions, told a FIFA Live Your Goals Tour news conference Friday that the artificial turf is being tested to make sure it meets standards. Fake Sneakers . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss. https://www.fakeshoes.net/wholesake-fake...dan-1-f139.html. Giants manager Bruce Bochy told The Associated Press of the decision before NL West-leading San Francisco opened a 10-game homestand Monday night with the first of three games against second-place Arizona. Fake Shoes . The post-season, Pierce said repeatedly, is no time to panic. And the Heat, apparently, are nothing to fear. Discount Fake Shoes . People familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Friday that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could issue his decision this weekend. PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Defence is the primary focus of everything the Miami Heat does, and its been that way since Pat Riley arrived. It might be more than a mantra this year. Miami started the season playing defence at a level that made no one in the organization happy last season, allowing 100.6 points per game, ranking only 23rd-best league-wide after 17 games. In the 65 games that followed, they gave up just 93.6 points per game, the fourth-best rate in the NBA over that span. Playing defence better from the start of the season has emerged as a top priority for the Heat, who left the Bahamas on Friday after wrapping up six practices of training camp that were devoted almost entirely to that end of the floor. "We knew we didnt start off the season like we wanted to defensively," said Heat forward LeBron James, the leagues two-time reigning MVP and a four-time winner of the award overall. "But we knew. I think when you have a problem and you face it, its very correctable, and we knew that. So one thing we talked about was defending and finishing." Training camp officially ended just before 1 p.m. Friday, though the way James sees it, camp actually lasts until Oct. 28, the day before Miami hoists its second straight championship banner and opens a new season against the Chicago Bulls. Theres a ton of things for the team to do in the next 3 1/2 weeks, including play eight preseason games, but continuing to hone that defence-first approach will remain paramount. They remember how frustrating it was to have an almost porous-looking defence for the first few weeks of last season, a year where the Heat wound up winning 66 regular-season games, 27 straight in one stretch. "Sharpen. Sharpen the sword," Heat forward Shane Battier said. "We won games early last year and didnt look good. We dropped a few that, looking back at it, we should have won. We know the Eastern Conference is highly competitive. Not that we cant afford to get off to a slow start ... but we cant afford to get off to a slow start." Chicago will be better, with Derricck Rose healthy again.dddddddddddd Indiana figures to be better. Brooklyn has eyes on a title. Its clear that Miami will not have an easy time in the East, and the Heat remember how vital getting that No. 1 seed was a year ago. It gave them the right to play Game 7 in the conference finals against Indiana at home, along with Game 7 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio. "We know the competition got better," Battier said. "We scraped by to get out of the Eastern Conference last year. Obviously, we want to play our best basketball at the end. That doesnt mean we cant start at a higher level and build toward that." Even though the background was paradise -- sun, sand, tropical music and water slides -- the ballroom where the Heat did the bulk of their work on this trip was hardly a vacation destination. James posted a photo of himself, grimacing in a chest-deep ice bath, to his social media accounts. Ray Allen said he dealt with some mild foot soreness while waking up muscles that had not been used since last June. Michael Beasley described camp as exhausting. Udonis Haslem said he was originally excited to spend some free time in the casino, then quickly realized that he would better serve himself by getting off his feet. Point guard Mario Chalmers said this was a camp unlike any of his first five with the Heat, mainly because he didnt recall a camp where everyone arrived in such good shape. "Last year I think we had a little hangover coming off that first championship," Chalmers said. "Maybe we celebrated a little bit too much. We didnt come into camp as focused and ready as we did last year. You can tell right now, everybodys hungry for that threepeat." Which, the Heat know, will start at the defensive end. "I would probably say 70 per cent of our camp was defence, other than player development," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That makes me a little bit uneasy. While we have corporate knowledge of our offence, we will need to spend a lot more time on it next week. And we will. Well address that." ' ' '