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RALEIGH, N.C. – You could hear a pin drop in the visitors dressing room at PNC Arena after yet another blowout defeat. "I think the talking has to stop," said Jay McClement with evident frustration. "Weve talked all year all about all these things and were just not getting the job done. Nothing seems to be changing. Were just still very inconsistent with our efforts. Somethings got to change. I think weve done so much talking, we just need a little more action." The Maple Leafs lost their third straight and 20th in the past 31 games on Thursday night, blown out 6-1 by the surging Hurricanes. Months of brewing trouble saw the club finally knocked out of a playoff position for the first time all season, now 10th in the Eastern Conference. "I think were searching for answers and thats the hard part," Mason Raymond said. "Its a cliché, but were the only ones that are going to get ourselves out of this mess." It was more of the same from a wildly inconsistent, unpredictable group that has just five wins in regulation since the start of November and not one during that span on the road. The Leafs have been outscored 18-5 during this most recent three-game slide, an "exclamation point" in the words of Randy Carlyle, for the ills of a troubled hockey club. Just when it appears, however, that a low point has been reached does another disastrous performance occur, this one to a Carolina squad that has now won five straight. "We stood around for most of the hockey game tonight," said a noticeably deflated and dejected Carlyle afterward. "For whatever reason that nobody seems to have an answer to right now is were doing things standing still. Were watching teams skate and were not engaged in the hockey game to a level that is required to give yourself a chance for success." Carlyle urged his group to play with more tenacity and bite in recent days, something more in wake of a season veering dangerously off course. But aside from a late and rather meaningless push, he didnt get it. The urgency and intensity remained mysteriously absent as domino after domino toppled over on the ice in Raleigh. "Theres no excuse why we dont compete every night," said McClement. "Thats something that has to be there every night. Youre not going to win every night, but the effort and the compete has to be there every night. Theres no excuse for that." It was yet another mess in a season thats had too many to count already. An identity-less team to this point, the Leafs are searching for answers on how to right the wrongs of a season thats teetering closer and closer to the edge of something perilous. The problem is, these troubles have been brewing for the better part of the season with little to no change in performance. These are tough times in Toronto with no readily apparent end in sight. "It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that things arent going anywhere near what our expectations are, thats for sure," said Carlyle. Five Points 1. Pushing the Message Preaching for improvement all year, but especially in recent days, Carlyle wouldnt cast the full weight of whats taken place onto the shoulders of his players alone, but what has to be distressing for the head coach and his staff is how few results the message has yielded. Nothing, it seems, has been able to lift the Leafs from a year-long funk. "Theyre not an island out there," he said before Thursdays game. "We dont put our players on an island. We think its very improper to put our players in a situation to say that we dont support them. We support our players to the utmost. And we look back to the players because theyre the ones that are out there doing it. Theyre the ones that are out there sacrificing. Theyre the ones that are out there putting on the performance." Carlyle said that his staffs role is one of guidance. "Were just in a position to try and guide them as a coaching staff. Theres different ways to guide. Weve tried numerous ways to stimulate our group to play a much more competitive brand of hockey. Well continually push for more of that." 2. Reimers First Start in 19 Days Questioned before the game on how he managed to stay sharp with a long layoff – 19 days – between starts, James Reimer, as is the norm, found the bright side. "Its just good preparation for the Olympic break, I guess," he said with a grin. Reimer had no chance yet again in his first start since Dec. 21, on the hook for all six goals in the 6-1 defeat. "Our goaltenders are strung out and left hanging high and dry if you look where the quality of the scoring chances are coming from, theyre coming from that critical area," said Carlyle. "You cant continually give those chances up." Leaf goaltenders were frequently heroic in the opening half of the season, despite inflated shot totals, but have understandably buckled under helpless conditions recently. Reimer and Jonathan Bernier own a .846 save percentage during this most recent three-game slide. "You just want to hang in there and keep it as close as you can so that you can give the boys a chance," said Reimer, who dropped to 4-2-1 lifetime against Carolina. 3. Gardiner Scratched For the second time this season, Jake Gardiner landed as a healthy scratch. Carl Gunnarsson returned from an elbow injury, while Mark Fraser was inserted into the lineup for just the second time in 12 games as Carlyle shook up the defence. "We felt that Jake has struggled in the last couple games," said Carlyle, "his puck movement and decisions with the puck and we felt had a better option in the other two guys at this point with the way our mix was put together." 4. Phaneufs Production Recently signed to a seven-year extension, Dion Phaneufs offensive production has dipped this season, his fifth with the Leafs. Phaneuf totaled a hearty nine goals and 28 points in 48 games in 2013 – a pro-rated 15 goals and 47 points – adding 12 goals and 44 points in 2011-12. But just beyond the midway point this year and the 28-year-old has just four goals and 17 points, an eight-goal and 33-point pace. "I feel good about my game and the way that Ive played," he told the Leaf Report generally on Thursday morning, "But the bottom line is individual seasons dont matter. It matters about team success and weve got to be better as a team and we know that." One area of admitted focus and needed improvement for Phaneuf is the number of pucks directed to the net. He leads the team with 75 shots, but is on pace for a career-low in shots per game, way down from the numbers he accumulated previously. Season Shots Per Game 13-14 1.76 13 1.83 11-12 2.46 10-11 2.88 09-10 2.78 08-09 3.46 07-08 3.21 06-07 2.91 05-06 2.95 5. Ashton, Holland Trade Places The Leafs deemed Wednesday that Peter Hollands progression wasnt being served by remaining on the fourth line, where hes been slotted since the return of Tyler Bozak. They opted to send the 22-year-old to the Marlies, recalling Carter Ashton, who has strung together 15 points in 14 AHL games this season. "He wasnt going to play on the top two lines," Carlyle said of Holland, who had eight points during a 10-game stretch with Bozak out. "We felt it was probably hurting his development curve to leave him as a fourth-line centre." The challenge for the 22-year-old Ashton meanwhile is translating the success hes attained in the minors into something substantial in the NHL. Ashton has just one assist in 33 games with the Leafs, offering only fleeting glimpses of readiness in a bottom-six role. "A young player that has got size and skill and the ability to skate and protect the puck at the American League level doesnt always translate to that in the NHL," said Carlyle. "Its much more difficult, obviously. Youve got a lot less time and space and [youre] playing against bigger and stronger men. We think that hes continually showed some progress." A natural winger, Ashton slotted into the fourth line centre spot against the Hurricanes and barely played, totaling just under four minutes. Stats-Pack 0 – Regulation road victories since Oct. 30. 19 – Days between starts for James Reimer. 3 – Consecutive games with a goal for Joffrey Lupul, who scored his 14th this season in defeat. 18 – Goals allowed by the Leafs in the past three games. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-2Season: 21.4% (5th) PK: 3-5Season: 76.9% (27th) Quote of the Night Up Next The Leafs visit the Capitals in Washington D.C. Friday for the second end of a back-to-back set. Womens DeVante Parker Jersey .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Womens Dan Marino Jersey . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. http://www.shopdolphinsauthentic.com/Youth-Jarvis-...te-Jers ey/ . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). Cheap Larry Csonka Jersey .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Ryan Tannehill Dolphins Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration.OTTAWA -- Jason Spezza always believed he could score in the shootout and on Monday he was finally able to prove it. Spezza scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Ottawa Senators a 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. This was Ottawas first shootout win of the season after losing their four previous attempts. "Id been good in the shootout historically," said Spezza. "You take pride in that stuff and especially when youre losing games. There was definitely a little extra fist pump and it felt good." Spezza wasnt the only one feeling relief at winning in the shootout as Craig Anderson was clearly elated after stopping Sean Couturier to seal the win. "Its about time," said Anderson, who made 25 saves. "I think weve been in this situation a few times and havent been on the right side of that and (Monday) we find a way to get two points and thats really all that mattered. Youve got to be excited about two points." Clarke MacArthur struck twice for the Senators (12-14-5) in regulation time. Patrick Wiercioch and Kyle Turris also scored for Ottawa. Michael Raffl, Jakub Voracek, Luke Schenn and Kimmo Timonen scored for the Flyers (13-14-3). Steve Mason stopped 30 shots. With the win the Senators put an end to a five-game losing streak on home ice. "Home ice has been a struggle and we want to give the people something to cheer about," said Spezza. "Weve been frustrated with the fact we cant win and it was nice to finally send the fans home happy." Turris gave the Senators a 4-3 lead with his first in eight games as he carried the puck from his own end, moved in along the side boards and fired a shot that went in off Luke Schenn at 8:21 of the third. The lead was short lived as Timonen tied the game with his second of the season with a floater from just inside the blue-line. Trailing 3-2, the Senators tied the game early in the third as a Bobby Ryan rebound went in off MacArthur for his second of the night. "Anytime you go in the third period with a lead you want to keep it," said Flyers captain Claude Giroux. "You want to make sure everyone is accountable for what they do and they were able to get a couple of goals. We fought back and got a point, but its tough to lose in a shootout.&quoot; MacArthur now has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his last ten games.dddddddddddd "(MacArthurs) probably been our most consistent guy all year," said Spezza. "Even at the start of the year when he wasnt scoring you just knew it was a matter of time and now that he is hes driving us offensively and doing a lot of great things. Hes been a heck of a pick-up." Ottawa got off to a better start in the second and was able to take the lead on a power-play goal. Ryan made a back pass to Wiercioch who scored on an open net to make it 2-1. While the Senators will definitely take the two points they admit there remains a lot of room for improvement. "It was good to get rewarded," said MacArthur. "Were still sloppy in some areas. We still can play better, weve still got to play harder if we want to win every night." The Flyers regained the lead with two goals in less than a two-minute span midway through the period. Voracek tied the game on a power-play goal and shortly after that Luke Schenn made it 3-2 with a shot from the boards. Anderson, with traffic in front, never even reacted to the shot until he heard the crowd of 15,786. Raffl, with his first NHL career goal, gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the eight-minute mark of the first. "Its nice to get the first goal, but it would be even nicer with the win," said Raffl. "Its kind of disappointing at the same time." Ottawa did manage to end the period tied 1-1. Spezza fed MacArthur who broke in alone on Mason and was able to get a stick on a bouncing puck to pick up his tenth of the season. This was the final meeting between the two teams this season with the Flyers winning the series 2-1. With three games in the next five nights the Senators see an opportunity to gain ground in the standings. "This is a great week for us to get some points," said MacArthur. "If we want to get back in the hunt youve got to string some games together so thats what it comes down to." Notes: D Eric Gryba and C Mike Hoffman were healthy scratches for the Senators. a The Flyers were without C Vincent Lecavalier (back fracture, indefinitely). 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