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TORONTO – The earliest foundations of the partnership that would rally the Leafs to victory on Tuesday night began almost 10 years earlier in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Then an 18-year-old, Phil Kessel had just completed his second season with the U.S. National Development Team Program and was headed to the University of Minnesota. Nearly two years younger, James van Riemsdyk was just arriving. “We got to watch their highlight film the first day at the program,” van Riemsdyk recalled of a team that featured Kessel and Patrick Kane. “They were just showing us what the two years of work will get you. You see a lot of highlights of his goals. Hes definitely a special player to watch.” Running and gunning with van Riemsdyk after a three-game slowdown of just one point, Kessel would net his fourth career hat trick – second in Toronto – lifting the Leafs from a two-game losing skid and beyond a Ducks squad that had won seven straight. “JVR made two great passes to me and was fortunate to bury both of them,” Kessel said succinctly afterward. His team desperately needed the lift. Full of tension in the first 20 minutes against Anaheim, the Leafs would muster just two shots on Jonas Hiller – down 1-0 – the third time in a week they had managed fewer than three shots in a period. “The first period we were awful tight,” said Randy Carlyle of the early effort, imploring his team to “relax” in the first intermission. Though Hiller would rob Jay McClement with a theatrical glove save on the first shot of the frame that followed – Mathieu Perrault had upped the lead to two – the Leafs would lose some tension and find some energy. A man advantage fewer than two minutes later – Corey Perry whistled for boarding – would swing the door open for the teams top duo, quiet three nights earlier in a one-sided loss to Chicago. Snatching a rebound from just beyond the blue paint, van Riemsdyk, falling to the ice, would twirl around and find an open Kessel on the door-step for the Leafs first goal. Dion Phaneuf would even the proceedings at two just over a minute later. The Leafs would go on to erase a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage later in the period before Kessel and van Riemsdyk would connect once more. Bursting down the right side, Kessel would employ his towering linemate as a decoy, firing a laser under the bar and beyond the blocker of Hiller. “I was just trying to drive and hopefully get the goalie distracted a little bit,” van Riemsdyk said of Kessels go-ahead goal. “I dont think he really needed me to do that because he put it right under the bar, right in the elbow. No goalies going to stop that.” He and the 26-year-old would put a wrap on the evening in the third. Charging with speed on yet another odd-man rush, van Riemsdyk would feather a backhand pass beyond the last defence of a sprawling Francois Beauchemin, Kessel tapping it in for his second Leaf hat trick. “He made some great shots tonight and showed why he has that world-class finishing ability,” van Riemsdyk concluded. Five Points 1. Kessel Recollections JVR first learned of his future teammate when he watched the 2005 World Junior Championships. There in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Kessel scored four goals and six points in seven games. “I see this guy, what was he? 16? 17-years old, and he was just flying down the wing, toe-dragging guys and putting it low-blocker,” van Riemsdyk recalled. Playing alongside younger brother Blake Kessel at the University of New Hampshire, van Riemsdyk met the elder Kessel on occasion, even attending the odd Bruins game with his Wildcats teammate. 2. Searching for Identity Randy Carlyle requested an increase in work ethic before facing his former Ducks squad for the first time since being fired in the winter of 2011. “We havent looked back on many games this year and said weve outworked the opposition,” he said before the game. “Our work ethic has to be elevated to a point where we can create more of an identity for ourselves. I dont know if we can say what type of hockey club we are yet.” That identity began to establish itself in the opening minutes of the second frame, the Leafs creating havoc with improved pressure on the Ducks defence. “Our hockey club is based upon our ability to get in on the puck,” Carlyle would note of the forecheck after the game. Speaking prior to the victory, Carlyle suggested that underlying elements such as the forecheck would improve with greater intensity. “And once we start to establish more of that dogged work ethic then I think the other things will fall into place,” he explained. “And its not that we havent worked hard, its just that we havent worked hard enough in the small areas of the ice and havent won enough one-on-one battles to establish any momentum and keep the momentum going.” 3. Shots vs. Scoring Chances The Leafs allowed a season-low 25 shots against Anaheim, the first time all year they yielded fewer than 30. Never in Los Angeles did Jonathan Bernier face the nightly quantity of shots that have come his way early as a Leaf, but as he explained to the Leaf Report, shot totals form only one half of the picture. “Its more the scoring chances,” said Bernier. “You can look at having 40 shots and five scoring chances its going to be a pretty easy night. But if you get 20 shots and 16 scoring chances thats going to be a really tough night.” “Its all about where you get your shots from,” he continued. “If you get them from the outside and you control your rebounds all night thats going to be a pretty easy night.” All that being said, “In a 40-shot [night] usually youll get more scoring chances against than on a 20-shot night.” Bernier stopped all but two of 25 Anaheim shots. He made his best stop to preserve the Leafs lead early in the third. Sprawling with both pads flaring outward, his left pad would keep a Teemu Selanne shot on the outside. 4. Draft Day Jake Gardiner was picked 17th overall by the Ducks in 2008. “It was one of my most memorable days Id say,” he recalled in conversation with the Leaf Report. “I remember my Dad just being so excited for me; I think he was a little bit more excited than I was.” All the speculation that day in Ottawa had Gardiner either going to the Ducks at 17 or the Senators at 15. Ottawa sprung for Erik Karlsson with their first pick, the Ducks landing Gardiner two spots later. “Youre surprised,” he said of hearing your name called. “You never think youre going to go in the first round of the NHL Draft when youre a kid. Obviously everybody wants to, but its never that realistic. And then when it actually happens its a crazy feeling. That day, being said, its special, but at the same time youre not in the NHL yet; some guys think you are but theres a lot of work to be done.” Gardiner logged 21 and a half minutes on Tuesday night. 5. Bozak on the Draw Tyler Bozak entered Tuesday in midst of a year-long struggle on the draw – 47.2 per cent, 65th among qualifying centres – but he got the job done against the Ducks. Bozak finished 12-24, including 4-5 in the defensive zone opposite Ryan Getzlaf. “You get bounces,” he said before the game. “Ill go on a 10-game stretch where Ill get all the 50/50 bounces and my wingers will get the bounces and theyll come back to our D and Ill win them. Theyre not all clean and they never will be all clean wins and losses; a lot of it is other things. Just havent maybe been getting the bounces, obviously havent been winning as many as I want, but hopefully just key in on the defensive zone ones, win those most importantly and go from there.” Stat-Pack 4 – Career hat tricks for Phil Kessel, including his second as a Leaf against Anaheim. 25 – Shots for the Ducks, the fewest the Leafs have allowed all season. 2 – Number of shots for the Leafs in the first frame against Anaheim. 3 – Number of periods this season that the Leafs have registered three or fewer shots. 11 – Points for Phil Kessel this season, leading the team. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 PK: 4-4 Quote of the Night “You can tell when your group cant make a 20-foot pass to somebody whos wide open.” -Randy Carlyle on how he knew his group was pressing early against the Ducks. Up Next David Clarkson makes his debut when the Leafs visit the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday. Tom Seaver Jersey . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. Lenny Dykstra Jersey . The Miami Heat star tops the leagues global list of top-selling jerseys for the 2012-13 season, edging Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder and James Heat teammate Dwyane Wade for the No. http://www.metssale.com/mets-mike-piazza-jersey/.C. -- Ryan Sproul scored the winner late in double overtime to lift the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 2-1 win over the Abbotsford Heat on Friday in Game 1 of their American Hockey League playoff series. New York Mets Jerseys . -- Golden State Warriors reserve centre Ognjen Kuzmic is expected to miss at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured right hand. David Wright Jersey . The Toronto Argonauts (11-7) look for an opportunity to repeat as CFL champions when they host the surging Hamilton Tiger-Cats (10-8) on Sunday.After winning the Phoenix Open twice in a three-year span, J.B. Holmes was starting to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour. Thanks in part to his second victory at the greatest show on turf, Holmes made his first Ryder Cup team, and looked destined to be a long-standing member of U.S. international teams. That was all derailed when he began battling vertigo-like symptoms in the 2011 season. In his last three starts that year, he missed two cuts and had to withdraw from the PGA Championship. Shortly thereafter, Holmes was on the operating table undergoing brain surgery. He was diagnosed with structural defects in his cerebellum, or Chiari malformations. During the surgery, he had a quarter-sized piece of his skull removed. He came back and played a full season on the PGA Tour in 2012, but managed only two top-10 finishes, both of which came before the Masters. In March of last year, Holmes was roller-blading as part of his conditioning routine, but suffered an awkward fall in which he broke his left ankle. As he rehabbed that injury, Holmes decided it was time to go under the knife, again. This time, Holmes was going to have his troublesome left elbow fixed. Why not? He wasnt fully ready to come back to the tour anyway. Once the calendar changed to 2014, Holmes was ready to go. He waited until late January at the Farmers Insurance Open to make his debut. It has been a slow build to fully get back into game shape. He had more finishes outside the top 50 -- five -- than he had inside the top 20 -- four. However, all four of those top-20 finishes came in his last five starts before the Wells Fargo Championship. Entering the Wells Fargo, Holmes had shot par or better in 14 or his last 20 rounds, and that trend continued at Quail Hollow. Holmes shot 2-under 70 in the opening round, then went 11-under par in the middle two rounds to take the lead entering the final round. Coming down the stretch, he led by two and made the finish interesting. Jim Furyk sat two strokes back and had been in the clubhouse for nearly two hours. He started to pack his things while Holmes was on 18, but stopped when Holmes hit a poor chip shot. Needing to get down in two putts for the win, Holmes did just that to close out a 1-under 71. The win was his third on the PGA Tour. Among the biggest aspects of the victory for Holmes is that he now qualifies for all four majors. When he tees it up at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open next month, it will mark his first start in a major since that 2011 PGA Championship, which he had to withdraw from. Next spring, hell return to Augusta National for the Masters for the first time since 2008. He also moved himself into conttention for a spot on the U.ddddddddddddS. Ryder Cup team. Holmes did go 2-0-1 as a captains pick at the 2008 Ryder Cup, and not many Americans in line for this years team have winning records. Those things are far off at this point, but for Holmes to even be in that conversation is a huge victory by itself. Now that he is healthy, we are seeing what kind of player Holmes once was, and can be again. A word of warning, though. After Holmes other two wins, which were in February 2006 and February 2008, he posted only two more top-10 finishes in those seasons and both were in 08. The way Holmes is playing now, it isnt hard to see him bucking that trend the rest of this season. LPGAS BEST AMERICANS TOO HOT, TOO SOON? Whether it is the Solheim Cup, Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, each teams captain wants her players to be playing their best heading into that event. Three potential U.S. Solheim Cup team members are off to scorching starts this year on the LPGA Tour. Stacy Lewis just earned her first win this past weekend in Texas, and that was her eighth top-10 finish in nine starts. Michelle Wie also has a win and six top-10s in nine events, while team stalwart Cristie Kerr has six top-10s in eight tournaments. Is it too much too soon? The Solheim Cup wont be played for another 16 months. Captain Juli Inkster has to be happy to see how well some of her potential team members are playing right now. The Americans suffered a crushing defeat last year at the Solheim Cup, and the players from that team, and those hoping to make the 2015 squad, want to make sure what happened last year doesnt happen again. Five of the 10 winners this year on the LPGA Tour have been Americans, while two wins were by a European, Anna Nordqvist. With many of the tours top players hailing from Asia, having Americans winning half of the tours events is a great start for the team. Lets just hope they can keep the momentum going. MINI-TIDBITS - Dont try to blame John Daly for slow play problems, whatever tour he may be playing on. Daly was the first out in the final round of the Web.com event last weekend, and played as a single. Daly cruised around in 2 hours, 21 minutes. There are twosomes that dont play nine holes that fast at some tournaments. - From the where-are-they-now category, we bring you the curious case of Anthony Kim. According to a Golf Channel report last week, Kim rarely plays golf anymore. Kim had three PGA Tour wins by the age of 25, but he hasnt been seen on tour since 2012. The 28-year-old battled wrist, forearm and elbow injuries before tearing his Achilles. We might never know how great he could have been had he stayed healthy. 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