It took the Leafs 7:19 before they were finally able to register a shot on goal against the Florida Panthers - a harmless drive from the point by Carl Gunnarsson. Ian Thomas Jersey . The shot clock then read 9-1. It was a sign of things to come. By the time the first period had ended, the clock read 19-4. After forty minutes: 37-12, yet remarkably the Maple Leafs still had a chance to win, solely due to Jonathan Bernier, who, among other examples, denied Jonathan Huberdeau and Scottie Upshall on clear cut breakaways. "We didnt really have anything going other than one person in the line up who was outstanding for our hockey club and it was our goaltender," said a baffled Randy Carlyle. "We just didnt seem to have any jump or any passion to play the game and its kind of mind boggling right now." Jesse Winchester eventually put the Panthers up 2-0 before David Clarkson finally got the Leafs on the board, scoring his fourth goal of the season. But four minutes later, Shawn Matthias restored the Panthers two goal lead, putting the game out of reach. "Those are wasted efforts as youd call them," Carlyle explained. "Over the course of the season when you get an effort like that from your goaltender, its a like a pitcher throwing a no hitter. Thats the same analogy that you use when you have a performance like he was supporting our group with tonight." It marked the third straight game against the Panthers this season that the Maple Leafs got out to a poor start. A 3-1 loss on December 17th reflected a similarly uninspired effort. Last week, the Leafs were able to overcome an early 2-0 deficit but there would be no improvement found on this occasion as they went on to fall 4-1 to Florida. "The first ten minutes we were just standing around and they were jumping by us," said Carlyle. "It was like we werent engaged in the hockey game at all." Five Points 1) Raymond Calls Loss The Worst Effort of the Season While the Leafs have suffered worse losses this season – 6-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 25th, 7-1 to the New York Rangers on Jan. 4 and 7-1 to the Dallas Stars on January 23rd – Mason Raymond suggest he felt tonights effort fell to the lowest hed seen it so far. "No excuse for the way we played, weve had a few tough games this year but I dont think anywhere as this bad," said Raymond. "We were outplayed almost in all aspects of the game." In terms of lessons to be learned, just moving on, Raymond said, might be the best way to go. "Im sure well do a little reflecting on it but I think its one you flush pretty quick and move on," the 28 year old explained. "Those were important points that we let slip away and thats unfortunate." 2) Carlyle Juggles The Lines After two periods of lethargic play, Randy Carlyle opted to shuffle his lines, looking for any kind of a spark with the Leafs still within striking distance. "Just tried to get something going because we had nothing going and just pleading to the group that we have a goaltender thats standing on his head here and its a 1-0 hockey game, tried to give ourselves a chance with a decent period to steal some points," explained the head coach. The move worked, at least temporarily, leading to David Clarksons goal on a nifty set up from Nazem Kadri. Start of the Game James Van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak- Phil KesselJoffrey Lupul - Nazem Kadri - Nikolai KuleminMason Raymond - Jay McClement - David ClarksonTroy Bodie - Jerred Smithson - Colton Orr Third Period Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil KesselJames Van Riemsdyk - Nazem Kadri - David ClarksonMason Raymond - Jay McClement - Nikolai KuleminTroy Bodie - Jerred Smithson - Colton Orr 3) Gardiners Fight Marks An NHL First A pair of unlikely combatants, Jake Gardiner and Jonathan Huberdeau dropped the gloves 6:31 into the second period in a fight that was more of a wrestling match than a typical NHL scrap. "It wasnt much of a fight," said Gardiner. "Stuff happens in the game, you get emotional and sometimes you have to fight." Just how unlikely was it for Gardiner to find himself in a scrap? To the best of his recollection, he could only come up with one other instance where he dropped the gloves. "It was in practice when I was in college (at the University of Wisconsin), it was a while back," Gardiner recalled. 4) Clarkson Hoping To Hit "Reset Button" After missing the first ten games of the season due to a suspension, another two contests in mid-December to a second suspension, a game on January 7th against the Islanders because of a foot injury and most recently, eight games because of an elbow injury, David Clarkson marked his fourth separate return to the line up on Tuesday against the Panthers. With 25 games left to go, Clarkson is looking to hit the reset button and put all his nagging issues behind him. "Im hoping, Ive had a chance to hit that button a couple times," said Clarkson, who has just four goals and five assists in 37 games. Coach Randy Carlyle insisted patience is the right approach for Clarkson, who seems like he has continually been trying, unsuccessfully so far, to live up to massive expectations this season. "I dont want to put too much emphasis on Clarkson when a player is coming back into your line up after missing an extended period of time," said Carlyle. "Were more suited to let the player get his feet underneath him before we make these great proclamations of what hes going to do and where hes going to be at." While sitting and watching, Clarkson has admitted, is never easy for him, the Leafs solid run, going 6-1-1 in the eight games he missed made it somewhat tolerable. "The fact that weve been winning, it makes it a lot easier sitting there because youre not in the stands or after the game upset," Clarkson explained, who has watched the Leafs amass a record of 14-6-1 without him in the line up compared to 16-16-5 with him dressed. As for what set Clarksons season off on the wrong foot, Carlyle didnt have to think long for an explanation. "I think the ten game suspension obviously had an effect, simple as that," said Carlyle. 5) JVR Plays Despite Battling Flu Bug James Van Riemsdyk seems to have it all figured out. The Middletown, New Jersey native has not participated in a full practice since January 24th in Winnipeg – he left part way through on January 26th – but has not missed a game during that stretch. Last week, JVRs absence was due to an undisclosed injury. On Monday, it was a bout of the flu that forced him to miss the teams workout at MasterCard Centre and subsequent charter flight to Fort Lauderdale. But there was still one Van Riemsdyk on the teams flight on Monday; James father Frans, who accompanied the other dads on the Leafs annual fathers trip. "I made the decision to send him along on the charter so he gets that whole experience and Im sure he had a great time last night," said James. James made his way down to Florida early Tuesday morning on a 6:30am commercial flight and received well wishes from other travellers. "I got a couple tweets in the airport, a couple good lucks," he explained. Asked how his day of recovery from the flu went on Monday, James smiled, laughed and said, "I dont want to get into it." Stats Pack - 9-0: Shot total in favour of Panthers when Carl Gunnarsson registered first shot for the Leafs at the 7:19 mark of the 1st period - 19-4: Shots in favour of Panthers after 1st period - 37-12: Shots in favour of Panthers after 2nd period - 44: Stops made by Jonathan Bernier, his second highest total this season behind only the 48 stops he made on Dec. 5 against Dallas - 16:30: David Clarksons ice time in his return to the line up after an 8 game absence - 7: Hits Clarkson registered, leading the Leafs in that category - 3: Leafs win streak snapped at three games; Panthers losing streak snapped at three games - 16: Number of times the Leafs have allowed more than 40 shots - 2: The amount of power play goals the Panthers have scored in their last 53 opportunities after Tom Gilberts goal against the Leafs Quote of the night: - Mason Raymond on whether the team felt added pressure with playing in front of their fathers, who are along on the annual dads trip: "No, again, were professional athletes. Were expected to have mental preparation and be prepared for the game and we werent, we were flat from the start. Thankfully Bernie was playing well at the start or it would have been a lot worse." Up next: The Leafs are in Tampa Bay on Thursday for their second of four head to head meetings with the Lightning. Toronto won the first game on Jan. 28 3-2 at Air Canada Centre. Torrey Smith Jersey . - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin has cleared league-mandated concussion protocol and has returned to practice as a full participant. DaNorris Searcy Jersey . Keenum will make his first appearance in a regular-season game against the rugged defence of the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, where the fans just set a Guinness record as the noisiest outdoor stadium in the world.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Kerry, I appreciate your earlier comments on Torontos handling of the Vanek goal, and Im sure youve seen the Howie Rose-Kris King interview by now. Im still left with some basic questions about what the actual NHL rules are at this point, and was hoping you could provide some insight. 1. Does the situation room still need clear, incontrovertible evidence to overturn calls made on the ice? Every NHL announcer seems to think so, but Kris King clearly indicates that while that logic held in many cases there was a specific subset of calls (including kicking motion) where the situation room could take the on-ice call as purely advisory and didnt have to find incontrovertible video evidence in order to overturn. Is Kings view backed up by formal statements/rule changes? Do NHL refs uniformly understand that Toronto needs clear evidence to overturn in some cases but not in others? 2. Kings comments seemed contradictory in that he said the rules regarding kicking were defined so that neither refs or the situation room needed to make any judgment as to the players intent (i.e goals scored by kicking should be disallowed even if they could be considered unintentional or inadvertent), but also raised the point that "foot dragging" could be defined as "kicking" in this context. First of all, Rule 38.4 which you quoted in your initial comment does not mention foot dragging, and the "pendulum" motion it prohibits would seem to explicitly exclude the possibility of disallowing goals based on foot dragging. Has there been an internal memo or formal rule change that all NHL refs would be aware of that expands Rule 38.4 to include foot dragging? Secondly, outside of extraordinarily blatant cases, how could anyone disallow a goal on foot dragging grounds without judging the players intentions? Hundreds of goals go off skates where there has been no "pendulum" type kicking motion. How could anyone distinguish good from bad goals without determining whether they thought the player was trying to intentionally redirect a puck, as opposed to simply position themselves near the goal mouth where lucky bounces sometimes occur? We all understand that no set of rules can ever be perfect. The issue here is that you and most fans that saw the Vanek video believed the rule to be applied in that situation was one thing, and King may have implied (but never clearly said), no - the rule to be applied in that situation is different. If the rules are 100 per cent clear to refs and everyone in the league, it would still be useful to communicate changes more clearly so that announcers and journalists arent confusing the fans. Of course, if situation room personnel think they can establish rule interpretations that the on-ice staff isnt in sync with, that would raise a different set of issues. Hoping you can clarify what the real situation is. Hubert Horan Hubert: I truly believe that each person who staffs the Situation Room on a nightly basis in Toronto is a man of integrity and cares deeply about the game. They do not take the huge responsibility handed to them lightly and they do strive to get every call right through videoo review to the best of their ability. Ian Thomas Panthers Jersey. When a play, subject to review, is taken over by the Situation Room their judgment is independent of the referees and any decision rendered through video review is final. The only exception is when video review returns an "inconclusive verdict" at which time the call reverts back to the referee on the ice. In almost every case the referees initial call will then stand. The referees make the call from their vantage point in real time based on the rules as written and with the direction and expected standard of enforcement they are handed from their superiors. The refs recognize that their decision on the ice can be overturned for any reason, whether they agree or even like it! It would appear, at least from the perception of the personnel conducting the video review, that clear and incontrovertible evidence is present for them to overturn a referees call on the ice. That perception and ultimate decision is always subject to debate and scrutiny from the hockey community. While I cant ever recall Kris King agreeing with a penalty I assessed against him during his 14 season NHL career I know him to be a very good, honest and charitable person. As a former player that was most often cheered by adoring fans, Kris and his colleagues in the Situation Room can sometimes find their decisions challenged rather vehemently by various members of the hockey community. No differently than a referee experiences throughout his career, it goes with the territory! This might explain some of Kris apparent defensiveness during the interview with Howie Rose. What Kris didnt explain, but only alluded to, were instructions provided them by the general managers how to ascertain a "distinct kicking motion" beyond the definition provided in rule 38.4 (iv). If such instructions include a skate drag or worse yet, unintended contact with a players skate resulting from physical contact by an opponent, these new criteria should be clearly communicated to the rest of the hockey world. That I believe is the question that Howie Rose and the rest of us would like a clear answer to. I would be most curious to know if Isles GM Garth Snow and Habs GM Marc Bergevin (following Brendan Gallaghers disallowed goal) among others have signed off on the instructions Kris King alluded to. A referee often factors in "player intent" when imposing his judgment on infractions and calls. To suggest otherwise is illogical. At the present time a vast majority of the hockey community, including current and former officials, current and former players, broadcasters and fans cant logically understand decisions to disallow goals like the one that went into the net off the skate of Thomas Vanek. The answer to that question has to come clearly and definitively from Colin Campbell, current Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations who holds the keys to the Kingdom. Finally, the integrity and accuracy of the video review process would be greatly enhanced if the NHL were to employ former referees to provide their specialized expertise and INDEPENDENT judgment in these matters no differently than the other major professional sports leagues have recognized is necessary. 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