TORONTO – Amongst the data gathered by the Maple Leafs coaching staff and available to the team at large after every game is the total number of scoring chances created by each individual player (not to mention those generated by the opposition). And so despite the fact that James van Riemsdyk has scored just once in the past 10 games and has just three goals since the start of December, the 24-year-old believes he is generating opportunities that, for the time being, are going unrewarded. "Im creating a lot of chances," said van Riemsdyk, following a grueling Sunday practice which followed an ugly 7-1 showing at the ACC a night earlier. "As long as thats there I know Im going in the right direction. I know that its going to go in eventually." van Riemsdyk has blossomed into a bona-fide force during his brief tenure in Toronto. In 89 games with the club, hes scored 33 goals, totaled 62 points and was named to the U.S. Olympic team for the first time following Wednesdays Winter Classic in Ann Arbour. He remains on pace this season for career-highs in goals, assists, points, ice-time and just about every other offensive category. But after a torrid start – 12 goals in the first 25 games – he, like a number of Leafs, has cooled off into something of a slumber offensively. van Riemsdyk managed his 15th of the year against the Red Wings during the snowy New Years Day bash. The goal snapped an eight-game drought and was just his third since the outset of December. "Its a long season," he said. "You go through ebbs and flows; youve just got to stick with it." Luck has not been on his side amid the cool spell. A career 11 per cent shooter, van Riemsdyk has been successful on just 5 per cent of his 59 attempts during the 16-game struggle. A flurry of chances opposite Cam Talbot in the opening moments of Saturdays embarrassing showing against the Rangers ultimately went unfulfilled – as they have been in the past month. A confident personality, his swagger doesnt appear rattled. "Obviously its a game of bounces," said van Riemsdyk, who remains second on the team in scoring with 30 points in 41 games. "Its weird how sometimes you can get a lot of grade-A chances and the goalie makes big saves and you cant buy one. And then you maybe throw one at the net from a crazy angle and it hits off something and goes in. Youve just got to stick with, stay positive and go from there." That advice could well be served for 23-year-old Nazem Kadri. Kadri is lumbering through one of the driest spells of his short NHL career. He has just one point in the past nine games and only four points in the past 14 outings. His growing pains have been notable after a quick start of 13 points in 14 games. "He seems to be in a little bit of a funk," said Randy Carlyle, observing that Kadri had been standing still too often in recent weeks and not moving his feet. "Our advice to him is commit to the time off the ice and when youre on the ice you work extremely hard and then you do extra and thats what hes doing right now." Kadri has seen some of his luck flounder this season - he posted an impressive 44 points in 48 games last year while owning the highest on-ice shooting percentage of any player in the league - while facing a nightly barrage of increased competition. A year ago, he lined up in the Leafs no. 3 centre hole, but with the offseason departure of Mikhail Grabovski and long-term injury to Dave Bolland, has been forced to rise up the depth chart, squaring off with a new level of talent every night. He even saw 12 games on the top line with Tyler Bozak sidelined by an oblique injury. Paired almost exclusively with Phil Kessel since he was traded to the Leafs, van Riemsdyk endured a similar challenge when he landed in Toronto. "Obviously being on [Kessels] line you see a lot of that [increased competition] and its a great challenge," said van Riemsdyk. "[But] its definitely a little bit different. When I was in Philadelphia I was definitely in more of a secondary role where youre expecting to play against probably their third [defence] pairing and not obviously their top checking line; you get a little bit more room out there." Carlyle pulled Kadri aside for a brief word at the end of Sundays practice, preaching persistence and hard work. "When things arent going well for yourself you have to be selfish and take a look in the mirror and say Hey Ive got to work myself out and the old adage was you put your nose to the grindstone and work your way through it," said Carlyle of Kadri, who wasnt available for interview on Sunday. "And I dont think that is too far from the way young players today should approach it." "Youve just got to stick with it I think," added van Riemsdyk, trying to break free from a slump himself. "You cant beat yourself up too much. Its a game of confidence and youve got to try to keep that confidence high throughout the whole year, get to work, and improve upon the things you can improve upon." Mitch Richmond Kings Jersey . "Well over 50 (per cent)," coach Claude Noel said Tuesday after practice, where the Jets were looking at ways to cut down the scoring chances theyve been giving away. Rudy Gay Jersey .Cullen scored the go-ahead goal at 13:47 of the third period and Nashville beat the slumping Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday in a game that wasnt decided until the last shot of the night. http://www.kingsbasketballpro.com/Oscar-...n-Kings-Jersey/. These teams will see plenty of each other in the next few weeks as three of the Canucks next nine games are against the Wild (after today they meet February 9th in Minnesota and again February 16th at Rogers Arena). Mitch Richmond Jersey . - Connor McDavid scored twice and added two assists as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 7-3 on Saturday night in Ontario Hockey League action. Buddy Hield Jersey . Thats when the eight-time champion revealed that a painful back is slowing his serves -- and, all in all, giving him more trouble than his opponents so far.LOS ANGELES -- Bubba Watson wasnt about to let another chance get away. Two weeks after Watson made a pair of late bogeys in the Phoenix Open, he delivered the best closing round at Riviera in some three decades. Watson played the final 39 holes without a bogey and shot a 7-under 64 on Sunday to win the Northern Trust Open. It was his first victory in 22 months and 41 tournaments worldwide dating to the 2012 Masters. Watson wound up with a two-shot victory over Dustin Johnson, who closed with a 66 for the second straight week and got the same result. This wasnt Bubba golf as much as it was simply great golf. Watson, who also shot 64 on Saturday to start the final round four shots behind William McGirt, made up ground so quickly that he broke out of a four-way tie for the lead with a birdie on the eighth hole and made the turn in 30. Equally critical were a pair of par saves with 7-foot putts on the 12th and 13th holes. Johnson, who was second at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last week after a final-round 66, made birdie on the 15th hole to get within one shot. He didnt give himself good birdie chances on the last three holes. Watson made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to cap off the best closing round in this tournament since Doug Tewell shot a 63 in 1986. Even sweeter was going up the steps toward the famous clubhouse to see his 2-year-old son, Caleb, whom Watson adopted just before his Masters victory. Watson finished at 15-under 269, and he wasnt the only big winner. Jason Allred, who went to college up the coast at Pepperdine, played bogey-free for a 68 and tied for third with Brian Harman, who also had a 68. Allred was a Monday qualifier, and this was his first regular PGA Tour event since he last had his card in 2008. The tie for third was a career-best for the 33-year-old Allred. He earned $388,600, which is more than he had made in his entire career, which included two full seasons on the PGA Tour. He now is exempt into the Honda Classic, which starts in two weeks -- about the time his wife is due with their third child. "Well have fun figuring out what that looks like," Allred said. Watson won for the fifth time in his career, and hee had to earn it.dddddddddddd With no margin for error over the closing holes, he managed to get out of a deep fairway bunker on the 15th hole to the front edge of the green. He smartly played to the middle of the green on the par-3 16th hole for a par. Facing the uphill tee shot on the 18th, he blasted his drive down the middle of the fairway and hit wedge into 15 feet to the right of the pin. And when it was over, he felt a lot better than he did two weeks ago in Phoenix, where he missed a short par putt on the last hole to lose by one to Kevin Stadler. Johnson, meanwhile, now has finished among the top six in all four tournaments this season -- including a win in Shanghai and consecutive runner-up finishes. His other start was at Kapalua, where he tied for sixth. "I had a chance there on the back nine, I just didnt have good looks on 16, 17 and 18 to give myself a chance," Johnson said. "I was still right there. Thats all you can ask for." McGirt, who had a two-shot lead to start the final round as he tried to win for the first time, opened with a birdie and stalled after that. And on yet another gorgeous day at Riviera, this was not a day to stall. The pack behind took aim and made birdies, particularly Watson. Watson hit a perfect tee shot on the par-3 fourth that rode the slope to 15 feet for birdie. He holed a bunker shot from left of the sixth green for birdie. And a 15-footer on the eighth gave Watson his fifth birdie of the round, and the outright lead. That allowed him to break out of a four-way lie among McGirt, Schwartzel and Harman, who made three straight birdies in the middle of the front nine. So many others were positioned just one shot behind, including Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Allred. The tournament was decided by birdies -- and not making bogeys. The pivotal stretch came on the back nine. The 12th through the 16th were the five toughest holes at Riviera in the final round. Johnson got through them in 1 under, despite hitting only one green. Watson made a pair of 7-foot par saves on the 12th and 13th holes, and he made a 4-foot par putt on the 14th. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., closed with a 73, and finished at 4-over 288. Cheap Jerseys Store Jerseys NFL Cheap Cheap NFL Black Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys Camo China NFL Jerseys ' ' '