KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- A stolen deuce in the ninth end was the back-breaker for Saskatchewan Tuesday night at the Canadian mens curling championship, as Alberta claimed a share of the lead going into the home stretch. But Saskatchewan (4-2) skip Steve Laycock says they had no one to blame but themselves at the Tim Hortons Brier. "Odds were still stacked against us even tied up coming home," he said after losing 8-6. "The real problem was we had lots of chances in that ninth end to set up a two and just heavy on a few hit and rolls and taps and stuff." Until then it had been a horse race, although Laycock was clearly the underdog. "We expected a close game all the way," said Koe, who advanced to 6-1 along with John Morris of B.C. "I was a little surprised with that steal of two in nine." Perhaps he shouldnt be, since hes at the top of the list when it comes to shotmaking by skips at this event, although Brier rookie Greg Balsdon of Ontario sits just below him with the same overall percentage of 86. Balsdons numbers got a big boost Tuesday night Eddie Mackenzie from Prince Edward Island (3-4) didnt bother to throw his last rock in the eighth end as he dropped 8-3 to Ontario (4-2). Balsdon is still very much in the hunt but knows he has his toughest games ahead. "Weve got a tough stretch coming up," he said. "Weve got Johnny Mo (Morris), Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba our next four games. If we could even split those games and end up 6-4 going into the last draw I think wed take it." Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec (3-3) was down early, came back and forced an extra end, but still lost 10-8 to James Grattan of New Brunswick (2-5). Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories-Yukon (2-4) defeated winless Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia 7-4. Laycock says theyd be satisfied just to know theyre in the playoffs, but theyre not giving up hope of finishing in the top group. "We know we can beat these teams when it comes crunch time, weve just got to play better than we did tonight." Koe says it would be nice to stay on top of the leader board instead of having to work his way into the final through the 3-4 game. "Im not too worried about who were tied with at the top as long as you keep going and start looking at who plays who and probably where youre at Thursday." Manitobas Jeff Stoughton was another favourite heading into the Brier and he recovered from a 9-7 loss in the morning Tuesday to steal one in the 10th and beat Nova Scotia 8-6 in the afternoon. But a clutch shot through a narrow port even had his own team covering their eyes. Nova Scotia skip Murphy was light on his last-rock draw attempt to force an extra end. The Manitoba skip agrees he and third John Mead havent been as sharp as they need to be. "Both John and I need to make better shots," Stoughton agreed. "Weve just got to clean up the little mistakes." He says their draw weight is good but their hits and peels are a little off. "Were really close and were working hard." Newfoundland and Labradors Brad Gushue retained at least faint hope of making the playoffs with an 8-5 win over Grattan. But after dropping a morning game 7-6 to Saskatchewan, the 2006 Olympic champion said there is no room left for more losses if they want to stay alive. "Yeah, that fourth loss this morning was a punch in your gut," said Gushue. "You know your backs against the wall and you cant afford to lose any more. And its not only winning for more in the round robin, its probably winning a tiebreaker, the 3-4 game, semifinal and final against some world-class teams." The odds are long and it may not be entirely up to him, he admits. "Ive seen 7-4 get in the playoffs, Ive seen 6-5 get in the playoffs. But most of the time it probably doesnt. So youre going to need some help." Justin Reid Womens Jersey . Zdeno Chara scored with 13 seconds left in regulation after David Krejci tied it late, lifting the Bruins to a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night in a game that saw Orpik taken from the ice on a stretcher. Cullen Gillaspia Womens Jersey .Just like old times.Only this time, just one got to enjoy a victory.James return to Miami as an opponent was a success — for the Heat, that is. Wade scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half, Luol Deng had 25 points and dogged James defensively all night, and the Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-91 in a hyped Christmas matchup Thursday. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Arian-Foster-Jersey/ .Stanton suffered fractures in his face and other injuries when he was hit by a pitch Sept. 11. The Marlins are confident hell fully recover and be ready for spring training, and they hope to reach a long-term agreement with him. J.J. Watt Jersey . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. Lonnie Johnson Jersey . It will then be back to business once the puck drops as the two clubs battle for key points in their respective playoff races. Watch the game live on TSN Canadiens and listen on TSN Radio 690 starting at 7:30pm et.TORONTO -- Things looked bleak for the Maple Leafs, coming off a losing performance in St. Louis that coach Randy Carlyle termed "brain-dead" and with the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks in town. But the form sheet was thrown out the window Saturday as Joffrey Lupul and Peter Holland each scored twice and combined with linemate Mason Raymond for 11 points to lift Toronto to a commanding 7-3 win over the Stanley Cup champions. Toronto lost 6-3 to the Blues on Thursday with the scoreline flattering the losers. Toronto had played a strong game the previous night but was still beaten 3-1 by the visiting Los Angeles Kings. A 5-2 home defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins started a three-game slide. "We really felt we needed a win," Lupul said of the Chicago contest. "Its a hard stretch for us, a lot of games in a short stretch of time so Saturday night at home with a day of rest, we came into the game feeling like it was pretty close to a must-win for us. Things were kind of starting to snowball the other way." Tied 1-1 after the first period, Toronto outscored Chicago 4-1 in the second to pull ahead for its first win in regulation time since Nov. 19, a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders. The victory also snapped an eight-game losing streak to Chicago that dated back to February 2003. Jerry DAmigo, Nikolai Kulemin and Phil Kessel also scored for Toronto (17-14-3) before a season-high announced attendance of 19,603 at the Air Canada Center despite a cold, snowy night. Toronto outshot the opposition for just the fifth time this season, holding a 32-28 edge on the night. It was a welcome sharing on offence for the Leafs, who have had to count on their top line of Kessel, Nazem Kadri and James Van Riemsdyk in recent weeks. Lupul finished with two goals and two assists while Raymond had four assists and Holland two goals and an assist on a breakout night for the newly assembled Leafs second line. Patrick Kane, with two, and Brandon Saad replied for Chicago (23-7-5), whose league-best offence sputtered on the night. The Blackhawks had arrived riding a three-game win streak during which they had outscored the opposition 19-6. The Hawks were also 9-0-2 against Eastern Conference opposition. "We were not very good," said Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. "They were much better than us. We got what we deserved tonight. We still got ourselves back in the game, 1-1 at the start of the second period and put ourselves in a decent spot.... But basically we got what we deserved because we werent ready to play." The Leafs came into the game in a nose dive, with just two regulation wins in their last 19 outings. It was water under the bridge as they welcomed the Hawks with a season-high seven-goal scoring spree. The lack of pushback in the St. Louis performance had been a particular low for the Leafs. "They werent very proud of our performance. They knew we didnt do a lot of things that we set out to do," Carlyle said of the Blues game. "I thought our hockey club responded the way they needed to respond. They took responsibility for our actions and thats a good sign. The most encouraging thing for us tonight was our work ethic and we stuck to out system and played it." The game was Carlyles 100th as Leafs coach, improving his record at the Toronto helm to 49-40-11. Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf returned to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension for boarding Boston defenceman Kevan Miller. The Leafs revolving door kept turning, however, as forward David Clarkson was handed a two-game ban earlieer in the day for an illegal hit to the head of St.dddddddddddd. Louis forward Vladimir Sobotka. Finnish rookie Antti Raanta got the start again for Chicago in the absence of the injured Corey Crawford and Nikolai Khabibulin. He was pulled from his eighth career NHL game with the score 5-2 after two periods in favour of Kent Simpson, a 21-year-old from Edmonton making his NHL debut. "I think you could say that Chicagos goalies had a rough night ... and you have to take advantage of that when it comes your way," said Carlyle. It was a horrific start for the Blackhawks, who drew three straight penalties in the first period. But some indiscipline by the home team later in the period evened the score. Toronto was on its second power-play before Chicago got its first shot on net, some seven minutes into the game. Holland made the Hawks pay for the Andrew Shaw tripping call, tapping in a Lupul feed across the crease after a nice pass by Raymond at 7:14. "Not the start we wanted, getting the penalties and getting down a goal, then probably thinking too much offence as the game went on," said Kane. "The start wasnt good, especially the first 10 minutes. Three penalties kind of takes you right out of the game. "We tried to fight back and get ourselves into it but it was too little too late." Toronto faced a 58-second five-on-three after Raymond was called for tripping behind the Chicago goal while killing off a penalty to Holland. The Blackhawks scored 29 seconds later when a sprawling Phaneuf redirected Kanes pass from the side of the net past Jonathan Bernier into the goal at 16:14. It was his 18th goal of the season and marked the eighth straight game Chicago has scored on the power play. Kane, the leagues first star in the month of November, has collected points in eight straight games and 20 of his last 21. Van Riemsdyk could have made it 2-1 near the end of the period but, with a good portion of the Chicago goal empty after a pretty passing sequence, he couldnt connect on a Kessel feed that took a nasty bounce. Toronto had the first five shots of the game but the shot count was tied at 11-11 after 20 minutes. DAmigo made it 2-1 on the Leafs 13th shot just 42 seconds into the second period when he tucked in a Kulemin rebound that dropped out of Raantas glove. It was the first goal of his six-game NHL career. Both the puck and DAmigos stick will be displayed in a frame soon. "You guys cant see it but Im just going crazy inside here now," said DAmigo. A Chicago goal minutes later was called off for being directed into the goal by a Hawks hand (and then Phaneufs stick). Holland scored his second at 12:09 of the second period, left to finish all alone after taking a nice pass from Raymond. Kane replied at 13:30, snapping a wrist shot past Bernier after a Toronto turnover in the neutral zone. But Kulemin restored the Leafs two-goal advantage at 14:36, on a low shot from a Jay McClement feed. Lupul increased the lead to 5-2 on the power play, tipping in a Jake Gardiner shot from the point for his ninth of the season at 17:08. Simpson gave up a goal on his first shot when Lupul, just 28 seconds in, beat him from the faceoff dot after doing some good digging behind the goal. Holland had a chance at his hat trick but shot wide on a breakaway. Seconds later, Saad pulled one back for Chicago with a tip-in at 7:38 for his 12th of the season. Kessel made it 7-3 at 8:35 with a quick shot from the slot for his 17th of the season. Toronto heads to Pittsburgh next for a game Monday. The Hawks return home to host Los Angeles on Sunday. ' ' '