By DAVE MCCARTHY

The Leafs never, ever get any help on the out of town scoreboard – that is the familiar refrain from so many Leaf fans who are so quick to blame the shortcomings of their own team on others.

And frankly, it’s getting a little tiring.

When the Washington Capitals beat the Florida Panthers last Friday by a score of 2-1 in come-from-behind fashion, people were so quick to forget their previous two games where the Rangers and Sharks beat the Capitals in regulation time.

Add in last night’s abysmal 5-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and it’s safe to say the Leafs are getting more than enough help.

At this point, it’s time for the Leafs to start helping themselves by winning some games.

If the Caps had won those four games, they would have been seven points ahead of the Leafs, which would have presented a different scenario.

But thanks to that help, the Leafs still find themselves clinging to the eighth playoff spot in the East despite losing five of six.

Before the Leafs faced the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 7, Toronto held an eight-point gap on the Jets, one that could have grown to 10 if they had won that night.

But now the Leafs and Jets are tied at 64 points. Why? Not because the Jets got help, but because they’ve taken care of their own business.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 23-25)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By CAROLINE CAMERON

Could this be the year? Did I just jinx it?

Let’s start again.

This could be the year. For a championship? No. For the playoffs? Yes.

The Toronto Blue Jays ended last year at .500, placing them fourth in the American League under new manager John Farrell.

And while some may say the offseason was a disappointment, with GM Alex Anthopoulos missing out on big names like Yu Darvish and Prince Fielder, the team kept most of its players while making a few additions.

Not only that, but the Jays have locked up some key young pitchers for their bullpen in Brandon Morrow and Casey Janssen.

Headed into spring training, Ricky Romero and Morrow are the clear No. 1 and No. 2 in the rotation, and if Morrow can continue his impressive play from the end of 2011, he can rise to Romero’s level.

The main goal for the 2012 Jays is consistency. They’re a young team with a lot of (here comes that dreaded word) potential. And the Jays’ success relies on their young core.

It’s nice having top slugger Jose Bautista on the roster, but he can’t win alone.

Starting catcher J.P. Arencibia is headed into his sophomore season on a high note after setting a franchise record for home runs by a catcher last season.

With the addition of veteran catcher Jeff Mathis as backup, Arencibia will have the breathing room to get better.

As for Canadian Brett Lawrie, it didn’t take him long to win over the hearts of Jays fans last season, and they can only hope his exciting and impressive play will continue.

Anthopoulos’ plan is working.

He’s building from within, and with the Jays’ crop of young, talented players it will just take time.

Let’s just hope we’re not waiting much longer.

By DAVE MCCARTHY

After an embarrassing 5-0 loss against the Montreal Canadiens in front of Mats Sundin on Saturday, the Leafs held a closed-door meeting, presumably to discuss the importance of halting what was then a two-game losing streak.

Given an almost equally poor performance in their next game – a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames last night – I’m not quite sure what was said at that meeting.

Not only did the Leafs’ effort show little improvement, it came at the hands of a team in a similar fight for the playoffs.

It was not like the Leafs were run over by the powerhouse Vancouver Canucks – they’ll face them on Saturday – they simply couldn’t match Calgary’s heart and desperation.

With every point so crucial, the Leafs have now lost four straight for the first time this season, and at the worst possible time.

Remarkably, though, they haven’t slipped out of the top eight in the East, largely due to the similar struggles of the Washington Capitals, who have lost their last two games to the Rangers and Sharks.

The Leafs should consider themselves lucky; they could easily be sitting three points out of the playoffs at this point.

Tonight the Leafs face the Edmonton Oilers, who are second-worst in the NHL standings.

Maybe the mediocre opposition will prompt a return to the win column.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 22-25)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

Joffrey Lupul brought up an interesting point this past weekend.

It was one that seemed so elementary, so obvious, that quite frankly I wondered why I was so surprised by it.

Lupul essentially said the Leafs have to stop worrying about teams behind them; instead, they need to start thinking about catching some of the teams ahead in the standings.

And then it hit me. We in Toronto have been exposed to mediocrity for so long that not only the team itself but also the fan base as a whole has lost its killer instinct.

The focus has always been finding a way to squeeze into that final playoff spot.

So who was this defiant figure to suggest that eighth shouldn’t be the target, but rather seventh, sixth or even fifth in the East?

But perhaps that feeling of inadequacy has been the Leafs’ biggest problem – that it’s somehow presumptuous to think that anything above eighth could be reached.

For the Leafs, the belief that they are a contender is arguably the most important step in becoming one, and it appears that belief is starting to take hold within the team.

Tonight, the Leafs face the Philadelphia Flyers, who currently sit in fourth.

With a regulation win, that gap would shrink to just three points and could put the Leafs in a battle for home ice advantage in the first round.

In other words, the Leafs should be more worried about making it to fourth than how much of a cushion on eighth they have.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 22-24)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

For about the first five minutes last night, saying the Leafs looked sluggish would be putting it nicely.

Quite simply, they didn’t look prepared to play, and quickly found themselves down 1-0 just 21 seconds into the game, thanks to Jordan Eberle’s 23rd goal.

But unlike what we’ve seen so many times in recent years, a poor start for the Leafs didn’t pave the way to a lopsided defeat.

Instead, the Leafs’ top two lines – Tyler Bozak between Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel, Mikhail Grabovski centring Nik Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur – both found traction as the first period wore on, and collectively lifted the team to a much-needed 6-3 victory.

The two points lifted them over the Ottawa Senators into seventh spot in the East, three points clear of ninth-place Washington.

Tonight, the Leafs look for some redemption against the Winnipeg Jets after losing 3-2 in their previous visit to Winnipeg back on New Year’s Eve.

A win tonight would put them 10 points ahead of the Jets in the standings, virtually eliminating the concern of Winnipeg catching them.

Since that loss on New Year’s Eve, the turning of the calendar seems to have represented a change in fortunes for the Leafs, as they have posted a record of 10-4-1 while not allowing a power play goal – a drastic improvement from the 4-6-3 record they managed during 13 games in December.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 22-23)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

There is red hot, white hot and now Gagner hot.

Over the last two games, Sam Gagner of the Edmonton Oilers has been about as productive as humanly possible, registering 11 points, including an eight-point performance on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

In fact, Gagner has been involved in each of the past 11 goals scored by the Oilers, who are on a bit of a hot streak with three straight wins.

The Leafs will have to find an answer to Gagner as they host the Oilers tonight at Air Canada Centre in the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

The Leafs have also been rolling lately, having won their past two games – both by shutout – while accumulating nine of the last 10 available points.

Thanks to a 3-0 Montreal Canadiens win over the Winnepeg Jets yesterday that kept the Jets six points back of the Leafs and a 4-1 Boston Bruins win over the Washington Capitals that held the Caps two points back of Toronto, the Leafs have an excellent opportunity to move up in the standings tonight, against the Oilers and tomorrow, when they play the Jets.

The Oilers have been hot lately, they still have the third-worst record in the NHL. If the Leafs are serious about the playoffs, they can’t squander these points.

The Leafs could find themselves ten points ahead of the Jets and 6 ahead of Washington, depending on the outcome of the Caps’ game against Florida tomorrow.

Ron Wilson indicated no lineup changes would be made, which suggests James Reimer will likely make his third consecutive start.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 21-23)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

It wasn’t so long ago that the Ottawa Senators could seemingly do no wrong.

Winners of 10 of 12 games from Dec. 30 to Jan. 19, everything was going right for the team that, to the surprise of many, was not only competing for a playoff spot but appeared to be turning into an Eastern Conference force.

That was about the same time the Pittsburgh Penguins appeared to be in a complete freefall, losing six straight games.

However, order was soon restored in the East as the Pens reeled off eight wins in a row before finally losing 1-0 to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday, while the Senators dropped their last four games in January.

All of a sudden the Penguins find themselves back ahead of the Senators by two points in the East, and the Leafs, depending on what happens tonight between Ottawa and the New York Islanders, could be in a position to tie the Senators with a regulation win tomorrow.

The two teams meet head-to-head for the first time since Jan. 17 when the Senators knocked off the Leafs 3-2.

Even if the Senators do defeat the Islanders tonight and increase the gap to four points, a regulation win is vitally important for the Leafs, who could close the gap back to two points and put themselves in a good position going forward while still holding three games in hand on Ottawa.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Leafs Season Record: 20-23)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

For about 51 minutes last night, the Leafs turned in arguably their best effort of the season, finding themselves ahead 4-1 over the Penguins.

Pittsburgh seemed unable to handle the Leafs’ speed through the neutral zone, and the Leafs held their top two players, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal, under control.

But as soon as Steve Sullivan beat Jonas Gustavsson to bring the Penguins within two goals at 8:33 of the third period, the momentum started to shift away from the Leafs.

With 6.6 seconds left, Malkin deflected in the game-tying goal before notching the winner in a shootout.

Still, missed opportunities are really the story of the game for the Leafs.

Luke Schenn had a pair of excellent scoring chances that he couldn’t take advantage of in the second period, missing a tap-in at the side of the net as well as ringing a shot off the post while staring down a wide-open net minutes later.

Nik Kulemin also flubbed a tap-in during the second.

In overtime, Phil Kessel couldn’t handle a loose puck in front of the net with Fleury down and out, a chance he would normally capitalize on.

Add up all those missed chances, and this is a loss that really stings.

The Leafs were just 6.6 seconds away from pulling to within three points of the Penguins, but instead go into tonight’s rematch six points back.

Call it a missed opportunity in a game full of missed opportunities.

Dave’s Pick: Penguins (Leafs Season Record: 20-22)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

By DAVE MCCARTHY

Before the season began, if someone had said that the Leafs would be tied for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference when the unofficial second half of the season begins after the All Star break, would you have taken that deal? I suspect many of you would have said yes.

If anything, the Leafs are in a far better position this year than they were a year ago when they kicked off the post-All Star portion of their schedule sitting 12 points back of the final spot.

Once again, though, the Leafs face another pivotal stretch of games where the results will have an immediate impact on the standings.

Tonight, the Leafs will face the surging Pittsburgh Penguins – winners of seven in a row heading into the break – on the road before returning home for a rematch at the ACC tomorrow.

Sitting five points back of the Penguins in the standings, a pair of regulation losses in these next two games would mean the Leafs could pretty well forget about catching Pittsburgh, as the gap between the teams would increase to nine points.

A year ago, the Leafs went 18-9-6 in the 33 games after the All-Star Break. If they did that again this year, they would end up with 97 points, virtually guaranteeing a playoff spot.

In the six years since the lockout, 91.5 points has been the average amount required to squeeze into the last playoff spot, so assuming 92 points gets the job done again this year, 16-12-5 is all it would take for the Leafs to secure their first playoff berth since 2004.

Frankly, if a record of 16-12-5 is too much to ask down the stretch, they probably don’t deserve to make the playoffs anyway.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Season Record: 20-21)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy

January 30, 2012 (TORONTO) – t.o.night Newspaper Group Inc. (t.o.night) is pleased to announce the launch of the new t.o.night iPad App.

t.o.night is known for delivering Toronto’s popular evening newspaper in its easy-to-read magazine format with the freshest news and entertainment for commuters.

Users of the iPad App can now enjoy the replication of the groundbreaking print design converted into a digital magazine.

With reader usability in mind, t.o.night has delivered a design that allows users to flip pages, zoom into text and find content in a familiar format.

“Given that we have the youngest average readership out of any daily in Toronto, we viewed our iPad App as an important step in our evolution. We took our time to make sure we did this right – for both readers and advertisers,” said John Cameron, Publisher, t.o.night.

The iPad App is available for free through the iTunes App Store.

About t.o.night

t.o.night, a publication of t.o.night Newspaper Group Inc., is Toronto’s free evening commuter newspaper. Published on weekday evenings, t.o.night offers the latest news and entertainment for transit commuters on their way home. t.o.night is available through an extensive downtown distribution network of handlers (Newsies), boxes, PATH billboards, outside most TTC stations and on the iPad.