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TORONTO - Whatever momentum they built up before the 18-day Olympic break is suddenly gone. Three straight losses have quieted the Maple Leafs - winners of 11 of 14 before the stoppage - who dropped a 2-1 decision to Columbus at the ACC on Monday night, their third loss in as many games to the Blue Jackets this season. Alongside overtime defeats in Long Island and Montreal, the interim trends in Toronto are subtly veering in the wrong direction, though they still have ownership of the first wild card position in the East. "The three losses hurt because we had points available to us on the road," head coach Randy Carlyle said, referring to overtime defeats against the Islanders and Canadiens. "Thats the hard part is when you lose two overtime games on the road and we had a one-goal lead in both games. That kicks you. That doesnt feel very good." The most recent case saw his team start strong, stall midway through and eventually push back with a charge that was ultimately too late. "I think part of it is somewhat of an Olympic hangover," said James Reimer, making a rare start in place of Jonathan Bernier. "The last three games its been anyones game, its been a one-goal game and two of them have gone into overtime. I think were right there; were just missing it by a little bit. All three games couldve been Ws for us so I dont think its anything to worry about." The Leafs started the evening strongly with a flurry of opportunities and pair of power-plays, but failed to get anything beyond the reach of Sergei Bobrovsky, nor the multiple bodies that stood at his defence. Phil Kessel snuck one shot through the pads, but it spun just above the goal-line before Bobrovsky rushed it to cover. The home foot came off the gas in the middle period with Columbus scoring twice in less than three minutes. The Leafs turned pucks over, lost battles and wandered around hopelessly in the defensive zone. They failed to even record a shot before Dalton Prout scored the games first goal. Cody Franson labeled it a "mediocre" 20 minutes. "We tried to get cute with the puck and turned it over too many times," he said. "When you play a team that has that type of forechecking style and transition ability its not what you want to do ideally." "I think that was more of a mental lapse than anything because we just started wandering around," Carlyle said. "For the first period we had lots of life, we were on our toes and jumping to pucks and we were winning our battles. In the second we just started to stall in the neutral ice." A late third period rally yielded a goal from Mason Raymond, but nothing more as the Blue Jackets swept the season series from their new Eastern Conference counterpart, outscoring them 13-3 in the process. The Toronto dressing room was hardly in a state of panic afterward. Though dismayed with their performance against a mediocre Islanders squad last week, they were generally pleased with their effort in Montreal over the weekend - outside of penalty trouble and another lost third period lead - and pointed to the loss to Columbus as an incomplete effort, but not one that should cause alarm. They cant hide from points left on the table, however, especially against those theyre either chasing (Canadiens) or those chasing them (Blue Jackets) and a difficult schedule ahead. Just behind the Leafs (72 points) in the standings are the likes of Detroit (68), Washington (68) and these very Blue Jackets (67), all with games in hand and opportunity to narrow the gap further. The alarm should not be sounded with three straight losses, but some degree of caution should be taken by those wearing the blue and white. "Were fine," said Joffrey Lupul afterward. "Were certainly not losing perspective, but were not happy about losing two points to a team below us in the standings." Five Points 1. Rare Start James Reimer hadnt made a start for the Leafs since Jan. 25, a long stretch of 37 days that saw Jonathan Bernier gripping tight on the starting job right into the 18-day Olympic break. "Besides an injury I dont know if Ive ever had this much time in between starts," Reimer said. In spite of the long layoff, the 25-year-old looked sharp, stopping 31 of the 33 shots peppered by Columbus, including a Nick Foligno breakaway in the opening five minutes. "There was a little rust there," said Reimer, "but honestly I felt pretty good. I felt like I battled as hard as I could and tried to fight to see the puck and its unfortunate we came up a little short tonight." The two that passed could hardly be pinned his way. The first from Prout sailed through a maze of traffic from the point, the latter from Artem Anisimov coming by way of a laser back-door point pass from Nikita Nikitin. "I dont think you can point to the goaltending as a deficiency, thats for sure," said Carlyle. "He did his part to give us a chance." 2. Rare Night off the Scoresheet Kessel missed his 34th goal of the year by mere inches. The 26-year-old had a rare night off the scoresheet, finishing with two shots in just over 23 minutes of ice. It was just the third time in the past 18 games that the scorching Kessel failed to register a point. Indicative of his value, the Leafs dropped to 4-17-2 this season on such nights, a rarity these days for sure. 3. Power-play Life Unhappy with the state of his clubs special teams, Carlyle directed that the near-entirety of Sundays practice be spent on the matter. Much of the focus a day before the game against Columbus centered on a power-play that was suddenly missing much of its pep. "We stood around," he said of the man advantage in losses to New York and Montreal. "And other teams have made adjustments to our break-out and we havent reacted to what we normally would do in situations. Obviously other coaches in the league do pre-scout. They do work to devise plans against what you do." Though they failed to score in two attempts on this night - now 0-13 in the past six games - they did manage some signs of life, including a good opportunity for Morgan Rielly in the first frame. "At least today our power-play created some momentum for us whereas in the past couple games it seemed like itd been a bit of a momentum killer," said Lupul. The Leafs own the leagues fifth-best power-play this season with much of that success coming on home ice – they sit second in the NHL at 26.5 per cent. Considering their ineffectiveness on the penalty kill its an area theyll want to right soon. 4. Trade Deadline Dave Nonis made a minor move at the trade deadline last season, adding Ryan OByrne from Colorado for a fourth round draft pick. The Leafs general manager and his management team have essentially shunned the idea of adding another such rental this time around. Unlike in years past theres not much in the way of frenzy surrounding the club heading into the Mar. 5 deadline, but in Carlyles eyes - traded himself once at the deadline - it remains a distraction for players. "The trade deadlines always a factor in any hockey players life," said Carlyle, traded to Winnipeg from Pittsburgh for a first round pick on Mar. 5th, 1984. "Having played for a number of years and lived and died in one. It was one of those situations that you remember. Its not a lot of fun being a player at this time of year. In todays Twitter world and blogging and that, theres a lot more rumours floating around so its obviously a lot more to it than when I was moved in 84. I dont think they had Twitter then did they?" 5. Rare Home Ice Defeat Before falling Monday to the Blue Jackets the Leafs hadnt lost in Toronto since Jan. 7, a 5-3 defeat that night to the pesky New York Islanders. They had reeled off seven consecutive wins at home for the first time since the 2006-07 season, Stats-Pack 13-3 - Goal differential between Leafs and Blue Jackets this season, favouring Columbus. 4-17-2 - Leafs record this season when Phil Kessel fails to record a point. 0-13 - Toronto power-play in the past six games. 24:46 - Ice-time for James van Riemsdyk versus Columbus, leading the team. 21-11-1 - Leafs record at home this season. 2:54 - Amount of time it took the Blue Jackets to score twice in the second period on Monday. 37 - Days between starts for James Reimer. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-2Season: 21.2% (5th) PK: 1-1Season: 77.6% (28th) Quote of the Night "In todays Twitter world and blogging and that, theres a lot more rumours floating around so [theres] obviously a lot more to it than when I was moved in 84. I dont think they had Twitter then did they?" -Randy Carlyle, speaking about Wednesdays trade deadline. Up Next The Leafs head to the Big Apple for a trade deadline day clash with the Rangers. Shoes Australia Outlet . The turf is scheduled to give way to actual grass that is bright green, so we dont have to complain any more—we just have to wait a few years. Instead, do feel free to complain if the roof is closed for any reason other than to allow a game to be played. Cheap Nike Shoes Australia . Its been a successful Games for Canada, which will finish near the top of the medal standings again. From repeat gold medal winners to multiple medal winners to undefeated teams to acts that define the Olympic spirit, there are many solid candidates who could be considered to receive the honour. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/. Felton was in court as the Manhattan district attorneys office outlined the agreement, which would resolve a gun case that arose amid the breakup of his marriage. Hes expected to admit June 30 to at least one charge, attempted criminal possession of a weapon -- he wont have to come to court to do so -- and get a $5,000 fine and 500 hours of community service. Cheap Shoes Australia Free Shipping .What they got was a bevy of players chipping in to pick up the slack.Josh Smith scored 18 points and James Harden added 17 as the Rockets used a balanced scoring effort to outlast the Mavericks for a 99-94 victory. Buy Shoes Australia . To be fair, the celebrations are already anything but tame. Nerf ball tricks shots are just the tip of the iceberg for a group that has performed in zero gravity, faced pro-skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and an assembled team on the MTV series "Fantasy Factory", and even hit a basketball trick shot from a passing blimp.I am writing this the day after the British Grand Prix and after a mammoth ten-hour sleep. Thats what the British GP does to you - it takes every ounce of energy, but its totally worth it. I spent Wednesday in the office at Sky Sports researching a piece I was doing about team orders and when team-mates collide. Its easy to recall events like Suzuka 1989 and Malaysia 2013s multi-21 but finding the exact footage you want, post-race interviews and team radio clips takes time. Once I had finished I packed my bags and headed up to our hotel in Northampton. A look back at some of the more testing relationships between F1 team-mates On Thursday I wrote the plan for my team-mates piece and filmed some links as well as preparing for our live F1 Show on the grid which I was presenting with Simon and the rest of the guys. A lot of planning goes into it, to get as many drivers as possible to join in and come out and see the fans but for once in Formula One, things dont run to plan. F1 is an unusual sport in that if someone says you can speak to their driver at say 11.44am - they will be there for the interview at 11.44. They wont be there any earlier or any later, and you will have the exact amount of time they have said you have and then the driver or team principal will be gone to the next thing. So you would think that makes the live F1 show easier, not exactly. For example, on Thursday someone was late and someone else was early. We just switched things around in our running order but with 15 or so guests to fit in you always end up talking to someone you werent expecting to. A couple of years ago the drivers had to take part in a football goalscoring challenge, which they loved, and this year a lot of them were asking what the task was. In order to fit all the guests in we didnt have time for one, but I think we will have to bring it back next year.They are a competitive bunch! Talking of which, Johnny had been showing us his hoverboard skills in our TV compound, so we challenged him to show us how quick he was down the straight during the show. As it turned out we only had time for him to have a quick spin, and a big fall! Johnny Herbert shows off his skills on a hoverboard but it doesn’t all go to plan Some of you reading this will have been there and some will have seen it on TV. All I can say is thank you, the atmosphere was fantastic as always and I think there were even more of you than ever before. When we went back into the paddock everyone who hadnt been there was talking about the noise they could hear and how amazing it was. You really did get the weekend off to a wonderful start.After the show we made our way to the McLaren brand centre for their media quiz night. Ted, Crofty and I have a decent record of podiums in every quiz night in F1 so far but its fair to say we were still smarting a little from losing out on the top prize by a single point in the Williams quiz night in Austria to Simon and Johnny! How they won is slightly controversial and not for this diary, but lets just say we were the moral victors! Competitive? Us? You bet!A great night was had by all with good food, good company and I have to say some very difficult questions! Maybe thats why we reclaimed our crown from Simon and Johnny. Or maybe its because with Croftys rock music knowledge and my radio DJ background, we nailed the music rounds. In fairness it probably came down to the fact that on our team we had another F1 journalist, Adam, who identified every single one of the Argentinian F1 drivers in the picture round. Either way, victory was ours and Jonny and Simon were sulking. On Friday we had another F1 Show including an interview I had done with Fernando Alonso the evening before. The last time I sat down with Fernando for any length of time was after the Spanish GP last year and I found him honest and open but still hopeful for the project as he called it.A lot has happened since then and I wanted to know if he still felt the same way. He told me that he has no regrets because it was the right time to leave Ferrari and that they had not won the title since he left. If they had he might feel differently. He still believes the project can work. He admitted that he is pushing Honda and Mclaren hard to improve things and that he makes sure they are not taking too many holidays because he said, I dont take holidays.It is clear he still wants more from his F1 career but admitted there are frustrations at times. Who can blame him? He added that he is not OK at leaving the sport with just two world titles but considers himself lucky to have them. Jenson, meanwhile, is now the subject of much speculation about a potential move to Williams. During our F1 show on Thursday, he talked about wanting to challenge for podiums, the audience were shouting Williams at him and he smiled. Ironically the two Mclarens finished the British GP in 12th and 13th with the Williams 11th and 14th so it may not be a straightforward decision, if that option is available to him. Lewis Hamilton says pipping Nico Rosberg to pole for the British Grand Prix will be a mental blow for his team-mate On Saturday Lewis blew the rest of the field away with a fantastic lap to secure pole.dddddddddddd He described it to me afterwards as a mental blow to whoever he was racing against. If you saw Nicos interview with me after qualifying you could see what he meant. The confidence of the previous few races was gone. I hope he gets it back in time for Hungary as we want them competing and we want an exciting second half of the season. On Sunday morning we were out of the hotel and on our way by 7.15am due to the 1pm race start. After our production meeting we go into the paddock to see what news there is overnight and as its Silverstone, to look at weather forecasts. I love the pitlane before a race as the lucky VIPs wander around given garage tours, while the teams try to make sure everything is ready and in place for the race. I have to wait for my cameraman to finish what he is doing before he is free for the toilet-run interviews with me. We have just met up and I am one of the only people carrying an umbrella. Its cumbersome in the busy pitlane and I dont always use one in the rain but on this occasion it came into its own.As we are waiting for drivers to come off the grid, the heavens opened. The pitlane was suddenly deserted and guests and drivers disappeared. As I looked through one doorway Fernando and Valtteri Bottas were queuing for a toilet while others used the corridor as shelter. On the grid some hardy souls were sticking it out while others were running for cover, including British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua. As he sprinted off the grid he spotted my umbrella and made a beeline for it so I grabbed a quick word with him. Tinie Tempah then joined us as I was still the only umbrella in the pitlane at the time. Anthony Joshua was joined trackside by Tinie Tempah as he spoke to Rachel about his future title ambitions The race was a busy one for me. Once the first car retired I was based entirely in the drivers interview pen. You never know when they will arrive for their interview, so with a race like that where there are retirements at different times throughout you just have to man your post.I have to say though, I think it is the grumpiest interview pen I have done for a long time. Every driver who spoke to me was unhappy about their race, bar two.All who came in before the top three had wanted and expected a better result. So it made a nice change to talk to a happy Max Verstappen, although even he wished his incredible move on Nico Rosberg had stuck for the rest of the race. He now has three podiums in five races since joining Red Bull. What a talent and what a future he has. There wont be many betting against him winning a world title in the next few years. If Red Bull can give him a car to challenge next year there will be worried faces at Mercedes and Ferrari, if there arent already.Dont be fooled by his mature, considered answers in interviews. Out of that situation he is fun and full of life and I am sure we will get more of that side from him as he gets more experienced.For Hamilton it was another fantastic British GP. You will have seen what he said but if you got a chance to see him just staring at the fans and taking it all in you will have a better idea of what it meant to him. He has his critics, dont we all, but nothing was going to stop him thanking the fans on Sunday. He did his media duties, team photo call and interviews but the pictures dominating now are those of him crowdsurfing. Following his British Grand Prix win, Lewis Hamilton celebrates with the fans and goes crowd surfing before joining the Sky F1 team in the pit lane After the team photo he ran to the fence and climbed up. I stood back and to the side knowing he would move along the fence afterwards and sure enough he came running towards me and climbed the fence where I was standing. He sat on top and the crowd started shouting jump, jump. You could see him think about it for a minute and then he climbed down into the crowd and was carried back a few rows before returning to the fence.I took some pictures through the hole in fence while a photographers foot rested on my head as he took pictures from above. Whenever you write or talk about Lewis you get grief from some people. He polarises. However, I am not ashamed to say that in my time in F1 this is one of my favourite photos. Not because of who it is, but because I know the money it will have cost those fans to be there, I know they will have queued at the fence to get on the track from about two thirds of the way through the race, they will have been stood there squashed for an hour at least, and all for just a glimpse of Lewis. Instead they got so much more. He got in there with them and no money in the world can buy that.RB Also See: Martin Brundle: Special Silverstone delivers Full 2016 schedule and TV times ' ' '