TORONTO -- It was nothing new to see these Toronto Maple Leafs beaten. A 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings was their eighth straight in regulation. But Saturday night in the home locker room at Air Canada Centre, the Leafs looked defeated for the first time during this losing streak or this once-hopeful season that has quickly gone off the rails. "I cant describe it right now," winger Joffrey Lupul said. "This was as close to a do-or-die as you can get. But obviously were not going to throw out hope until its mathematically set in stone. But we pretty much had to have this game." Seven losses piled up and yet the Leafs still sounded like a team that had hope. Giving up huge leads in the standings to the Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals to fall into a four-way tie at 80 points was one thing. Squandering the most important game of this stretch so far to a fellow Eastern Conference wild-card competitor felt like the breaking point. "This loss is the most disappointing out of the eight. Theres no hiding that," captain Dion Phaneuf said. "We come tonight against a team that was battling for that same spot and they win this hockey game. This is the toughest loss for sure." Detroit (34-26-14) got a hat trick from Darren Helm and another from the NHLs hottest goal-scorer, Gustav Nyquist, to reach 82 points. "It was the first hat trick I ever had, which is pretty special," Helm said. "Big game to win, too. I was happy to win the game, first off, but the hat trick is a nice thing to take home." The Red Wings werent the only ones in the race to win Saturday night, as the Blue Jackets beat the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime to take over the top wild-card spot in the East at 82 points. Columbus leads Detroit because they have more regulation and overtime wins (33 to 29). With just six games remaining -- two less than each of the three teams theyre competing with for two spots -- the Leafs are fourth among those teams and know the difficult task in front of them. "Weve got to win the rest of our games and get help now, I think," said Lupul, who scored the Leafs second goal of the night late in the second period to give some life that evaporated in the third. "All we can control right now is winning the rest of our games, and were going to have to have every one, probably." Phaneuf didnt want to consider that daunting task. The defenceman whose miscues cost the Leafs in previous defeats didnt want to think too far ahead but also called this a "very trying" time for a group that was in second place in the Atlantic Division as recently as Mar. 16. This was the first time in franchise history that Toronto (36-32-8) went eight straight games without a point since 1996 and the first time it lost eight consecutive in regulation since 1985. "Its not like were playing bad hockey, its just one of those things where every mistake that we do make ends up (in our net)," said defenceman Cody Franson, who opened the scoring 10:57 into the first period. "Its the end of the season, everybodys clamping down and your little mistakes end up costing you. Plain and simple." Mistakes like a turnover by Phil Kessel on the power play early in the second that led to Helms first, a short-handed goal. Or like the puck taking a bad hop off Franson and right to Helm for his third. "It just isnt meant to be for us right now, and this is the tough ones," coach Randy Carlyle said. Asked what he figured the difference was in the loss, his third straight since returning from a groin injury, goaltender Jonathan Bernier (24 saves on 28 shots) said: "Odd-man rushes." Lupul agreed. "We gave up odd-man situations repeatedly for whatever reason," he said. "Its tough to say from the bench, thats something you notice when you watch the game again. But the try is there, just we didnt get the job done and we have to pay for that now." The Leafs have been paying since they last won a game, Mar. 13 at the Los Angeles Kings. Most importantly they havent been picking up valuable points with the games whittling down to the end of the regular season. On the other hand, Detroit has picked up 11 points and gone on an impressive run without star forward Pavel Datsyuk and captain Henrik Zetterberg. The injuries have piled up, but the Red Wings have gotten 21 goals in 26 games from Nyquist and continued solid performances from goalie Jimmy Howard (25 saves) to remain in the playoff race. "Weve been devastated this year, no question about it, but we found all these kids and were better for it going ahead, so thats a positive thing," coach Mike Babcock said. "Weve had a lot of fun doing it. Weve been in the grinder since day one, theres no question about it, but weve had a lot of fun doing it and weve got a big game against Tampa tomorrow." Every game down the stretch is big for the Leafs now. They return to Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night to face the Calgary Flames before hosting the Atlantic Division-champion Boston Bruins on Thursday and the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. They finish the season with three on the road: at the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. But unless they manage to string together a home winning streak, those games will be too late. The task in front of them is to prevent doing even once more what theyve done eight consecutive times. As the Leafs seemed to realize Saturday night, they can no longer afford to lose. "Weve won six in a row in the season," Bernier said. "Obviously its hard to snap the long losing streak like that, but weve got to find a way. If not, then well be home very soon." NOTE -- Winger Phil Kessel took a pass from James van Riemsdyk off his right foot in the first period and laboured to the bench in pain. Kessel was seen limping after the game, but Carlyle did not have any information on his condition. ... Bernier started on back-to-back days for the first time this season and just the second time in his NHL career. The only previous time was March 5, 2013 with the Los Angeles Kings, when Bernier was pulled after giving up three goals on eight shots. ... Defenceman Paul Ranger and enforcer Colton Orr were scratched for the Leafs, who recalled forward Jerry DAmigo earlier in the day from the AHLs Toronto Marlies. ... The Red Wings were playing their 14th straight game without Datsyuk (knee) and 16th straight without Zetterberg (back). Theyve played 35 total without Datsyuk and 29 without Zetterberg. ... The game was broadcast live on CCTV in China. Buy Air Max 270 Black . The 20-year-old Inoue landed a series of combinations and the bout was stopped 2 minutes, 54 seconds into the sixth round. 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Cheap Air Max 90 Clearance .Y. - Sven Andrighetto scored once and set up two more as the Hamilton Bulldogs hung on to defeat the host Adirondack Flames 5-3 on Tuesday in American Hockey League action.It is true. Once the final regular season game is over - Edmonton at Saskatchewan on Saturday night - a brand new season will begin that may only last one game for each team, and won’t be more than three. Every player on every team will have that conclusive thought on their mind and every fan should look at it at that way. Whether you’re the Calgary Stampeders with the best regular season record or the cross- over team, the truth is that if the football bounces your way you will find yourself in Vancouver the last week of November. The problem is that a football is a very odd shape and can bounces in many directions at any given moment. So you do have to control the football, which means you have to control how you play football more than ever as the regular season closes and the playoff begin. In Hamilton, the Tiger-Cats did what they had to do to win. A special teams return for a touchdown, a turnover which created a short field touchdown, and two interception returns for touchdowns. Now that is a skill, an ability for sure, but you cant depend on it; you just have to create it in the moment. Hamilton has a very limited running game due to injury. Without CJ Gable and depending on the concussion status of Mossis Madu, it may be back to Nic Grigsby as the third back. He has similar talent but cant be expected to know the playbook as clearly as you do if you had been performing in it for the last 17 games. I would have liked to see Zach Collaros run more as a quarterback. He is a good athlete and if mobile on purpose it opens up areas of the offence just by the threat of that mobility. Hamilton needs Andy Fantuz back ASAP from injury. He is a different type of target and a physical presence downfield. Fantuz and Bakari Grant are the big receivers. Luke Tasker, Sam Giguere and Brandon Banks are the little receivers and Terrell Sinkfield is the speed receiver. A nice balance of abilities but you need all of them all the time. With Ottawa they close out the season next week. I do feel goal No. 2 has been accomplished: finding a core of players, and goal No. 1, creating an enthusiastic fan base, is genuine. But there is more to go, a lot more. Not sure much you can take from the Stampeders’ loss to Winnipeg because the weather was brutal and the Bombers were experimenting with on field talent. The drama does relate to Jon Cornish and his concussion. Obviously we will not see him until the West Final especially conssidering this was his second concussion in one season.dddddddddddd What could you have possible done to prevent it? What premeditated planned out decision is out there? He hit his head on the turf in an extremely aggressive way on a completely clean and legal tackle. At this point of the year football is like gambling. You roll the dice hoping and even praying to the football Gods (there are more than one) that you avoid injury to all in every way. You have to play and hope for the best and here is hoping Cornish has a complete recovery as he is great for the league and the Stamps need him. Especially the way Edmonton is playing. And speaking of Edmonton, is there a more confident team in CFL football right now? Going into that game that Edmonton won 37-3, the Lions really needed it. Not only to enhance their playoff opportunity but just for their confidence and belief in their ability. It was Edmontons best game when you consider how effective the Lions defense was until that Saturday afternoon. They were first in just about every significant defensive category but did not perform as so throughout the game. They allowed yards rushing and yards passing and on offence they did not throw for over a hundred yards and did not run for much more than 60. I dont think BC is as bad as this one game indicates but I am wondering if Edmonton is just that good? The Eskimos’ efficiency is a good story but the best story is the Montreal Alouettes’ resurgence as a Grey Cup contender. Jonathan Crompton did it again. Nothing spectacular, 13 completions in 26 attempts for 251 yards and a touchdown but the key here is no interceptions. Then defensively Ricky Ray threw for only 209, only seven yards more than the previous game three weeks ago at the Rogers Centre. Defensively, Montreal knows how to play Ray effectively. Interesting fact here is that in Cromptons 251 yards passing, 181 went to Duron Carter. That is only 70 yards to others. Of Crompton’s 13 completions, 11 went to Carter. The other 2 to SJ Green. There is good and bad in that because you know what to defend but can you do it? Tyler Sutton, great game. 135 yards rushing on only 23 carries. Crompton, Carter and Sutton are emerging as reasons for success on the football field for Montreal. And Bear Woods too at linebacker. He is surprise performer No. 4 on this resurgent Alouettes team. All things considered, a Montreal-Edmonton Grey Cup is a real possibility. ' ' '