PITTSBURGH – Save for the voice of Randy Carlyle and members of his coaching staff, Maple Leafs practice was generally an eerily quiet affair on Tuesday afternoon. Tension lingered from what occurred less than 24 hours earlier. "Push him!" Carlyle bellowed at the morning session in Toronto, the team departing to Pittsburgh shortly thereafter for a Wednesday affair against the Metropolitan division-leading Penguins. "Get up! Get up!" It was the voice of a head coach frustrated with his group. Spanked 6-0 by the ailing Blue Jackets at home on Monday evening, the Leafs were dealt a thunderous reality check at the ACC, the year-long woes and concerns of Carlyle culminating in an embarrassing defeat. "Its not like he came in and really reamed us out," Nazem Kadri said of Carlyle following arguably the teams worst game this season. "I think we all knew what we thought of the game. We just want to flush it as fast as possible and get to the next one." Outshot, outworked, outplayed, there was not much to like about the effort against Columbus, nor the concerning trends it brought to the forefront. The alarming defeat came just two nights after 50 shots were pelted at James Reimer in a shootout victory over Washington and a mere four nights after a puzzling, uninspired defeat to Nashville. With just two regulation wins all month and a difficult schedule looming in December, improvements are increasingly urgent in need. "The fact is we havent played to where we think were capable of playing and we havent played to the template that we think we have to play to," said Carlyle. Among the concerns is an offensive attack thats fallen into slumber. Shut out for the second time this season against the Blue Jackets, the Leafs have scored just 16 goals in the past 10 games, a mere 10 of those coming at even strength. Phil Kessel notably has one even-strength point all month, the team led in November scoring by Mason Raymond and Trevor Smith. Most frustrating to Carlyle is the manner in which his team has generated offence all season – save for a still potent power play – the bulk of it coming in speedy transition. Last week, Predators coach Barry Trotz referred to the Leafs as a "rush team", a distinction that while accurate based upon evidence, infuriated Carlyle to no end. "Thats what people perceive us as," he said. "[But] is that what we are? We dont want to be that." Carlyle has pushed and prodded for his group to wade away from that dazzling show-and-go (and often one-and-done) attack which has generated much of the goal-scoring and stray toward a blue-collar cycle game. He wants more shots to the net – the Leafs average the third fewest in the league – more second and third chance opportunities and more goals from the "dirty areas" of the ice. "And truthfully, our defence has got to do a better job of getting pucks into that area when our forwards are there," he said. Its a brand thats emerged in bits and pieces, most prominently during a dominant 20 minutes in a loss to Boston earlier this month. "Not for 60 minutes," Carlyle said. "Thats the issue. You have to be prepared to play to your style, your template for a majority of the game for you to have success." "Thats been our problem this year," Kadri said in full agreement. "Well play some good hockey, but it hasnt been for 60 minutes. And thats really what we need to focus on." Yielding a flood of odd-man opportunities to the Blue Jackets on Monday and a boatload of shots and opportunities to the Capitals over the weekend, defensive improvements are also suitably on the agenda, even moreso with the high-powered Penguins on deck. Toronto goaltending has been so good most nights that its cloaked the teams troubles in these areas, but its been a problem no less. Only the Senators and Sabres allow more shots nightly than the Leafs. One minor change designed to help ease those troubles would see Mark Fraser reunite with Cody Franson. Paired together for most of last season, Fraser and Franson evolved into a second pairing for Carlyle, broken up this fall with a new mix of defenders. Jake Gardiner is also expected to be scratched for the first time this season in favour of Paul Ranger. A weak link all year, the Leaf defence has proven unstable beyond the top pairing of Carl Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf. Yet to field a full roster, the Leafs will also be without Joffrey Lupul for the next two weeks. The 30-year-old suffered a grade-2 groin strain on Monday night. "We were lucky in a lot of ways that our goaltending and our special teams were winning us hockey games when the shot clock was lopsided and we werent creating enough and we were being hemmed in [our own zone]," Carlyle said. "That, to me, is a sign that weve got to change some of the things that were doing out there. Weve tried to implement that on a day-to-day basis, but [Monday] night mightve been a culmination of the grand scheme of things. It was a pretty ugly game for us. "What were looking for from our group is a response." Optimism for the group lies in the fact that they remain third in the Atlantic division with 29 points, though after a furious 6-1-0 start, the Leafs are just 8-8-1. "Our game hasnt been really where we wanted it to be for most parts," Gunnarsson said. "I think we can step it up. [But] were in a good spot. Weve still got a lot of points and thats a good thing, right?" Stitched Seattle Seahawks Jerseys . Asdrubal Cabrera had four hits and three RBIs, Michael Brantley also homered and the Indians beat the injury-riddled Minnesota Twins 9-4 Thursday for their first three-game winning streak this season. Cheap Seattle Seahawks Jerseys Online . a€“ All signs point to the Maple Leafs having their top offseason acquisition in the lineup on opening night. http://www.cheapseahawks.com/. Louis Blues have returned to the top spot in the TSN. Seattle Seahawks Jerseys Outlet . Expensive. The NFL fined Tomlin $100,000 on Wednesday for interfering with Baltimores Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return in the third quarter of a 22-20 loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. Seattle Seahawks Jerseys China . Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come.Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Gerald Green scored 24 points off the bench and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Denver Nuggets, 120-112, on Wednesday. Eric Bledsoe deposited 21 points with 10 assists, Goran Dragic scored 20 and Markieff Morris totaled 15 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Suns, who have won five of their last six. Wilson Chandler led the Nuggets with 19 points, while Timofey Mozgov and Arron Afflalo each contributed 18 points, with Mozgov pulling down 13 rebounds in the setback. Denver had its five-game winning streak snapped. The pace was fine for us, scoring over 100 points, said Afflalo. But you cant turn around and give the same amount up. With the game knotted up at 64-64 at halftime, Phoenix opened the third on a 14-4 run. Dragic scored the first five points of the run, then capped it with a layup with 7:06 left in the quarter. There was a stretch there in the third quarter where we played pretty good defense, then we made some shots, Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. Greens 3-pointer made it 85-74 minutes later, but Denver countered with eight straight to cut the deficit to three. However, Green knocked down a pair of 3s over the final 1 1/2 minuttes to help the Suns take a 93-86 lead into the fourth.dddddddddddd Phoenix slowly built its advantage back to double digits in the final frame, with Green scoring seven straight points to give the hosts a 110-94 edge. Green hit a falling-away 3 before punctuating his little run with a thunderous alley-oop slam that lifted the Suns faithful to their feet. The Suns took their foot off the gas over the final six minutes of play, but their lead held up to snap the Nuggets winning streak. Although Phoenix jumped out to a quick lead in the first, the Nuggets took advantage on a 14-4 run that gave them a 14-9 lead. The Suns regained control later in the frame on an 11-0 run and they had a 34-30 lead entering the second. There were seven lead changes and three ties in the second quarter as the two teams headed into the locker room all tied up. Game Notes Denver has lost 16 of its last 19 trips to Phoenix ... Marcus Morris had 14 points while Alex Len and PJ Tucker chipped in with 10 points apiece off the bench for the Suns ... Phoenix made 52 percent of its 3-pointers and limited the Nuggets to 32 percent from beyond the arc. 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