Neues » the end of the game.

MIAMI -- LeBron James set the tone pregame. Ryan Miller Jersey . Dwyane Wade took over in the fourth quarter. And the Miami Heat got a win they desperately wanted. Wade scored 13 of his 22 points in the final period and led a critical 12-0 run down the stretch, James led all scorers with 23 points and the Heat clinched a playoff spot by beating the Washington Wizards 99-90 on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak. "We needed a win," Wade said. "We needed this win." Chris Bosh scored 22 for the Heat (44-17), who moved within one game of Indiana (46-17) in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and 1 1/2 games behind San Antonio (46-16) for the leagues best record. Ray Allen added 13 for Miami, which was coming off a trip where it lost at Houston, San Antonio and Chicago, the last of those coming in a late collapse on Sunday. Wade hasnt typically played back-to-backs this season. He did this time, and the Heat simply rolled with him in the final minutes on the way to avoiding what would have been their first four-game slide since 2011. "He made the right plays," James said. Bradley Beal scored 18 points, Martell Webster added 17 and Drew Gooden scored 15 for the Wizards. Marcin Gortat finished with 14 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds -- 10 of them in the first quarter alone. John Wall finished with eight assists for Washington. "Im proud of our guys," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "They kept battling, working. We didnt shoot it the way were capable of. We got some good looks. We shared the ball. We attacked the whole game." Washington led 84-83 midway through the fourth, when Wade took over. A three-point play put Miami ahead to stay and he then had assists on Miamis next three baskets -- a short jumper and then a 3-pointer from Bosh, then a layup by James. Wade capped the run with a score of his own, on the way to his first 13-point, three-assist fourth quarter since Feb. 18, 2009. His 13 in the fourth marked his highest-scoring quarter this season, and came with him playing consecutive days for the first time since Jan. 4 and 5. It was only the third time all season hes appeared in both nights of a back-to-back. Both teams shot only nine free throws; despite being in attack mode, James didnt shoot one for the second straight game, just the second time thats happened in his career, the first coming in December 2003, early in his rookie season. "Very surprised," James said. James went scoreless for a stretch of nearly 15 minutes in the first half, and still easily led everyone with 19 points by intermission. The entirety of his first-half scoring came in two impressive spurts -- three 3-pointers in as many tries over a span of 2:43 early in the game, then 10 straight Heat points in a stretch of 3:23 late in the half. "I felt good about this game the minute, the second I saw LeBron come into the gym today," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We had an early walkthrough and he ran in the gym. Came up to every single person, player and coach and shook everybodys hand and said, Lets go. Lets get ready for this game. Thats what leaders do." Miamis lead was 12 early in the third before Washington went on a 10-0 run, with Gortat scoring the first eight and Trevor Bookers jumper getting the Wizards within 59-57. And after Miami rebuilt the lead to seven, Washington took off on another quick burst, this one enough to give the Wizards their first lead since 1-0. In less than 2 minutes, Washington outscored Miami 11-0, Webster scoring six in 25 seconds. He head-faked James in the air to start what became a four-point play, then had an alley-oop dunk off a Wall pass on the next possession as Washington took a 65-64 lead. "I think we match up with those guys perfect," Wall said. "We battle those guys." Allen had two 3s for the Heat late in the third, and it was 73-all entering the fourth. The Wizards scored only 17 points in the final 12 minutes. "We saw a few things," Wade said, "and we were able to take advantage." NOTES: Gortat had never grabbed more than nine rebounds in a quarter. Hes the 12th player with 10 boards in a quarter this season. ... Washington missed its first six shots, as Miami took a 10-1 lead. ... March 10 matches the second-earliest date for Miami clinching a playoff spot. The Heat did it on March 8 last season. ... Heat F Udonis Haslem made his 700th regular-season appearance. ... Washington outrebounded Miami 50-33. Hampus Lindholm Ducks Jersey . The 27th-ranked Austrian underwent surgery on a torn tendon in October and needs more time to recover, the Austria Press Agency reports on Saturday. John Gibson Jersey .com) - Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar and New York Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo were named the NHLs players of the week on Monday. http://www.authenticduckspro.com/Korbinian-holzer-ducks-jersey/ . Wheeler scored two goals, including the winner, as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 6-4 on Friday in a game that featured a seven-goal first period.TORONTO – Joffrey Lupul wanted to apologize to the fans that paid good money to see what was dubbed an embarrassment by those in the Toronto dressing room. "Were getting booed off the ice in the first period, second period and the end of the game," said Lupul. "And we deserved it." He and the Maple Leafs were hammered 7-1 by the New York Rangers on home ice, their three-game win streak and six-game point streak ending with a loud thud on Saturday evening. "Sometimes you have losses where you take some positives," Lupul said. "Tonight we did nothing well. Theres nothing we can take out of this other than just not wanting to have this feeling in here again." It was an all too familiar reminder of the inconsistency and unpredictability that has plagued the Leafs all season. All that seemed to be trending in mildly positive directions in the past week and a half was blown up in yet another embarrassing loss for the club at the ACC. "We felt that we were becoming more competitive in the [required] areas and this one sent an A-bomb [through that]," said a despondent Randy Carlyle afterward. With plenty more determination and good bursts of speed on the second end of a back-to-back – they were thumped by Pittsburgh on Friday – New York pounded 50 shots at the helpless Toronto pair of Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer, the former pulled for the first time all season. Carlyle was taken aback by the hapless effort, most disappointed by the lack of pushback at any point in a flat night. "We didnt check," he said. "They had the freedom to roam about the ice and do what they wanted to do. We didnt engage in the competitiveness side of it of limiting their space, stepping in front of anybody, skating in front of anybody to impede the progress. Obviously we left our goalies hanging high and dry." Unpredictability has been an unfortunate staple of the Leafs identity at the midway point of the season. Theyve shown the ability to look so thorough, determined and capable one night only to emerge as something much different the next. Coming off a triumphant result at Wednesdays Winter Classic and their first three-game win streak since the end of October, Carlyle mused that "we just need a performance to support that now", the uncertainty of what might lay ahead evident in his voice. "Now its back to the drawing board," he said. "Were not proud of that game," Lupul concluded of the defeat. "Its embarrassing. [We] apologize to the people who paid money to see us play like that." Five Points 1. Berniers Roll Ends Just when it appeared that Jonathan Bernier might be wrangling full control of the Maple Leafs crease did the 25-year-old suffer his worst fate this season – through little fault of his own. Bernier, who was making his fifth consecutive start in goal – the longest stretch for any Leaf goaltender this season and longest of the Quebec natives career – was pulled for the first time all year, yielding five goals on 32 shots. Only the second marker, a sneaky shot from the right circle by Dominic Moore that snuck five-hole could be pinned on the goaltender. "Obviously the second goal shouldnt go in the net and hed be the first guy to tell you that," Carlyle said of Bernier. "But we gave up three breakaways in the second period where our defenceman got beat and they went clearly uncontested to the net." One such example saw Chris Kreider blow by Cody Franson before beating Bernier with a backhand for the Rangers fourth goal. Another, the fifth for New York, saw Moore burst by Jake Gardiner from deep in the Toronto zone. Hours before the game, Carlyle, who has been firm in his stance on the two-goalie tandem, conceded to thoughts of declaring Bernier Torontos no. 1. "There are times when you look it and say, Is this the time? Well, Im not ready quite yet to say that hes this or hes that," offered Carlyle on Saturday morning. "I know were going to need both of our goaltenders to play to the top of their ability and I dont think were any different than any other team in the league." Bernier owned a .950 save percentage in his previous six games and had picked up at least a point for his team in five straight. He was replaced by James Reimer, who made his first appearance since Dec. 21 and allowed two goals on 18 shots. 2. Bad Losses The Leafs have been on the receiving end of a handful of bad losses like the one that took place on Saturday. Among them was a 4-0 defeat to Vancouver on Nov. 1, a 6-0 home loss to Columbus on Nov. 25, a 6-3 putdown in St. Louis on Dec. 12 and a flat 3-1 loss to the Panthers on Dec. 12. The seven goals against was the most the club has allowed in a single game all season. "It was just a bad game for us all around," said Dion Phaneuf afterward. "The whole night we seemed to be out of sync." Toronto has just four regulation victories in the past 29 games with the Rangers, Capitals, Flyers, Senators and Hurricanes trailing close behind their 47 points (good for fifth in the Atlantic division) on the season. "We werrent good enough in any aspect," said Lupul. Rickard Rakell Jersey. "We werent moving the puck out of our zone. We were getting beat off the rush, one-on-one, and offensively we werent really creating anything. We can all share the blame equally in this one." "We got outworked to put it mildly," added Cody Franson. 3. Second Line Silence The silence of the Leafs second line has been a source of frustration in recent weeks. "I just think that the group, the sum of the group should equal more than what Im getting right now," Carlyle said before Wednesdays Winter Classic. The trio, which includes Nazem Kadri, Joffrey Lupul and Mason Raymond, remained quiet for the meaningful portion of Saturdays action against the Rangers (and was later broken up in the third frame). Kadri has just four points in the past 14 games, Raymond has only one goal in the past 15, and Lupul, with his 12th this season against New York, hit the scoresheet for just the third time in the past 12 games. "Were not getting much done offensively right now," Lupul said before the game. "Its frustrating for us. We need to control the puck a little bit better in their zone and create some chances that way. Its been a frustrating stretch for us, but were certainly going to work on things and get better for sure." 4. Stable on Defence Acquired from the Hurricanes earlier this week, 30-year-old Tim Gleason did not make his Leafs debut against the Rangers. That was due in part to the recent performance of Paul Ranger, who played in his fifth consecutive game Saturday following a stream of stints in the press box. "The one thing with Paul Ranger and a lot of our defencemen is that when you dont notice them its because of the good reasons," said Carlyle, who challenged the 29-year-old Ranger to increase his physicality defensively in recent weeks. "The good reasons are theyre playing safe, theyre making good plays, [and] theyre [making] strong plays. Where we tend to focus on [them], and were all guilty of it, is when they make mistakes. And everybody out there does make them. We want to focus on the positives and these guys have started to give us more of what weve asked and were going to continue to push for more." The recent uptick for the Whitby native failed to continue against the Rangers. He was among the many struggling Leafs on Saturday, on the ice for four goals against (three at even-strength) in the defeat to New York. As for Gleason, who played eight seasons in Carolina, Carlyle added that hed like to give the long-time Hurricane defender an opportunity to get accustomed to a new environment in Toronto. "I think wed just like to get him acclimated to our style of play, the way we do things, our systems, everything before we put him in the lineup," said Carlyle. "And he will get a chance. We all know at the NHL level theres a very tough schedule. I think our next stretch of (nine) days we play six games. So we know theres lots of hockey coming and therell be lots of opportunity for people to get in the lineup." That opportunity may come sooner than later. Carl Gunnarsson left Saturdays game in the first period with an undisclosed upper-body injury, seemingly suffered on a hit from Carl Hagelin. David Clarkson meanwhile, blocked a Michael Del Zotto shot with his left foot in the opening frame. He returned briefly for one shift of 21 seconds in the middle period only to shut it down thereafter. The Leafs offered little in the way of an update on either player following the game. 5. Fleeting Signs of Optimism Prior to the hapless effort, Carlyle touched on a few aspects of his teams game that had improved amid a season-long six-game point streak. "I think were getting back to playing with the puck more," he said. "I think at times weve been guilty of receiving the game and putting too much pressure on our goaltenders. Weve talked about it. Its an easy stat to record when youre getting outshot." Saturday marked the 35th time in 43 games that the Leafs have been outshot this season; now sitting 17-13-5 in those games. It was also the 13th time already that theyve allowed at least 40 shots in a game and the fourth time in the past five games. Stats-Pack 13 – Number of times this season the Leafs have allowed at least 40 shots. 7 – Goals for the Rangers on Saturday, the most for any Leaf opponent this season. 5 – Consecutive starts for Jonathan Bernier, the longest stretch for either Toronto goaltender this season. 4 – Number of times this season the Leafs have allowed 50 shots. 4 – Victories in regulation for the Leafs in the past 29 games. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-1Season: 21.8% (5th) PK: 2-3Season: 77.8% (27th) Quote of the Night "Its embarrassing. Were getting booed off the ice in the first period, second period and the end of the game. And we deserved it. We were not good in any aspect. We dont feel very good about ourselves right now." -Joffrey Lupul, following Saturdays 7-1 defeat. Up Next The Leafs host John Tavares and the Islanders at the ACC on Tuesday night. ' ' '