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TORONTO - There are many questions surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs, namely: How did this happen? How, in less than two weeks, did a team that was sitting pretty in second place in the Atlantic Division fritter away a three-point lead over the Montreal Canadiens and nine-point advantage over the Detroit Red Wings? As the players come to grips with the roots of their six-game losing streak, Tuesdays almost-comeback against the St. Louis Blues highlighted a big issue: Why cant the Leafs play with the desperation they show when down two or three goals at the start of games? "Thats the million-dollar question right now," winger James van Riemsdyk said. "It seems like every time we get down we start to ramp it up, and then its always just a little too little, too late at the end." It may be too little, too late for the Leafs if they cant figure out how to solve that problem. Theyre tied at 80 points with the Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals but are fourth among those teams for the Eastern Conferences two wild-card spots because theyve played the most games (74). Of course that also means their eight remaining are the fewest among those in the race and theres not much time to figure out slow starts, a central problem during this losing skid. Against the Blues, the Leafs scored first for the first time since March 10, but they also gave up a season-high 23 shots in the opening period and were hemmed in their zone often. "We just couldnt get out of our zone," winger Joffrey Lupul said. "They put a lot of pressure on us, and we couldnt handle it." Coach Randy Carlyle noticed some of the pressure that has been building on his team early on Tuesday night. "Theres a lot of tenseness in our players," he said after the 5-3 loss. "The first three puck recoveries, we just slapped the puck away. We didnt pick up the puck and skate with it at all. Thats showing signs of being nervous, tense, (a lack of) confidence not wanting to make a mistake, which led to more offensive-zone time (for St. Louis)." The listless Leafs led for less than five minutes, then trailed from the time David Backes scored with 32.3 seconds left in the first period until the end of the game. It was only after ex-Toronto forward Alex Steen scored to make it 4-1 that the Leafs showed some fire and launched a comeback bid that fell short. At this point, players are even self-aware that the transformation is happening once they fall behind. "It seems like when we get down, then were playing with no fear, were letting some of our skill take over, our defencemen are rushing the puck out of the zone and making plays," Lupul said. "Theres something to be said about being down and not having that fear anymore, but realistically weve got to play like that right from the start. Its more of a psychological thing than it is a physical thing." If its a mental problem, defenceman Carl Gunnarsson doesnt have the answer. "Weve been talking about it," he said. "I dont know whats going on there, but weve got to figure out a way here to change it." Changing it and managing to play as well as they did in the bulk of the third period against the Blues would give the Leafs a good chance of coming out of this tailspin and making the playoffs. Gunnarsson and goaltender Jonathan Bernier agreed that, although thats a challenge, the end result could be scary for opponents. "If we play like we did in the third period for 60 minutes, I dont think theres a lot of teams that can beat us," Gunnarsson said. Of course if the Leafs make mistakes like they did in the first half of the game and throughout this losing streak, they can lose to any team left on the schedule. They visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday before returning home to face the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and also have games against the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators to close out the season. We have a lot of fight left in us," van Riemsdyk said. "Theres eight games left, and well have to leave it all out there in every game." Swell Lahev Cz . -- Its been 21 years since Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated its only Daytona 500 victory. Swell Levně . Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. http://www.swelllahevcz.com/ . MLB executive Joe Torre ruled on Tuesday nights game at Wrigley Field that was called after 4 1-2 innings. The Cubs were declared the winners by a 2-0 score. Now, it is instead a suspended game that will resume at 4:05 p.VANCOUVER - A better effort produced the same the result for the Vancouver Canucks. Martin St. Louis scored his first goal with the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves Tuesday as New York defeated Vancouver 3-1. It was another frustrating night for the Canucks, who are all but assured of missing the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Coming off a demoralizing 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, the Vancouver players showed the fight they have been preaching in the locker-room, but were unable to translate that effort into a result on the scoreboard. "I thought we should have won this game but it doesnt matter right now," said Canucks forward Daniel Sedin. "We are where we are because weve been on the wrong side of these kind of games throughout the season." Where the Canucks are is 10th in the Western Conference, six points back of the final wild-card berth with just five games left on their schedule. While the team has not been mathematically eliminated, the website sportsclubstats.com currently pegs Vancouvers chances of making the playoffs at zero. "Its always difficult. You battle all year to play in the playoffs and work to get a chance to play in the playoffs. Thats what its all about," said Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows. "When youre on the outside looking in youve got to keep playing and be a pro and work for each other." Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot had the other goals for New York (43-30-4), which has won seven of its last eight games and sits comfortably in an Eastern Conference playoff spot. Ryan Kesler replied for Vancouver (34-32-11), while Eddie Lack finished with 28 saves. "I think good teams find a way to win and right now were not finding that way," said Kesler. "Im not saying that were not a good team, were just not getting the job done." The game marked the regular-season return of Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault to Rogers Arena. Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven seasons, winning six division titles and leading the Canucks to within a victory of the 2011 Stanley Cup. The Canucks fired Vigneault last summer after the clubs first-round playoff exit and replaced him with John Tortorella after the latter was axed by the Rangers. The flip flop of coaches has worked out much better for New York, with Vancouver limping towards an uncertain off-season. The Rangers led 2-1 after two periods and St. Louis, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Lightning, put the game out of reach while killing a penalty at 10:15 of the third. Vancouver defenceman Yannick Weber dove trying to keep the puck in at New Yorks blue-line but failed to do so, allowing Rick Nash and St. Louis to race the other way on a 2-on-1. Nash fed a perfecct pass to St.dddddddddddd Louis, who ripped his 30th of the season and first in 15 games since joining the Rangers. "I love to score goals, everyone loves to score goals, and 15 games plus the two prior to coming here, thats as long a drought as I have had in a while," said St. Louis. "There is a lot of things playing against you a little bit with a new team and new environment, but you try to stay the course, play the right way and find that fine line of anticipating and not cheating. "I feel like I am getting more comfortable finding that line." Vigneault said the commitment to defence shown by star players like St. Louis and Nash allows him to put them on a penalty kill that has 10 short-handed goals this season, and three in the last two games. "Those guys are willing to do that it takes to kill penalties, which is get in lanes and block shots and have good sticks and its paid off," said Vigneault. The Canucks trailed 2-0 after the first period but showed fight in the second for the embattled Tortorella, with Kesler cutting the Rangers lead in half at 6:21. Sedin grabbed the puck off an offensive zone faceoff and found Kesler in the slot, who snapped his 24th of the season through a surprised Lundqvist. "I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought we played better through the game than the other night (against Anaheim)," said Tortorella. "I thought our team played hard. We dont score. They score three, we score one." The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 4:59 of the first when Carcillo banged home his fourth of the season on a play that had the Canucks fuming. Lack appeared to have the puck covered but Rangers forward Brian Boyle jarred it loose moments before the goal. "I felt like I had it under my glove and then I get a pitchfork and I lost it and they scored," said Lack. "(The ref) said that he was going to look at it after." New York stretched the lead to 2-0 at 14:43 on the power play. Lack made a great blocker save on Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, but the puck bounced to Derick Brassard, who in turn fed a wide open Pouliot for his 13th. "No whining. We lost. Were losing," said Tortorella. "Weve just got to keep on trying to get better." NOTES: Burrows was assessed a five-minute penalty for elbowing on Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh late in the third period. McDonagh appeared to be in some discomfort as he left the ice, but Vigneault did not provide an update after the game. ... New York set a franchise record with its 25th road victory of the season. ... The Rangers and Canucks played during the pre-season at Rogers Arena in September. The Canucks honoured Vigneault on the videoboard during that game, but did not pay tribute to their former coach on Tuesday. ' ' '