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. Garrett Cooper Jersey . 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Maltais, from Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., earned bronze at the 2006 Olympic Games and is set to return to the Games this February in Sochi, Russia.SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Tim Clark was wrong about one thing. Hes not the shortest hitter on the PGA Tour.Justin Leonard earned that distinction last season on the PGA Tour by finishing at No. 177 in measured drives at an average of 270.3 yards. Clark was three spots better at 272.2 yards. Either way, he quit worrying about driving distance a long time ago, realizing he can make up for it with other parts of his game.But it led to a question: How long is long? And when is it long enough?Russell Knox has the reputation of being on the short side, even though he feels he can get it out there far enough. Knox was at No. 120 in driving distance last year. He believes there are three categories of length.Guys that are a little short. Everyone else. And guys who bomb it, Knox said. And theres probably 10 guys who bomb it.There were 25 players who averaged 300 yards off the tee last year, though that group included Charles Howell III and Lucas Glover. They are power players, but probably not in the same bombers class as Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland or Rory McIlroy.I played with Bubba a couple of years ago and I almost cried, Knox said. I was like, if this guy hits it straight, I might as well try to caddie for him. But the reality is, distance is maybe 10 per cent of golf. If those guys hit it so much further than me, theres obviously part of my game that is better than theirs or Id never beat them. I need to focus on those parts.Knox might be too stingy by saying there are only about 10 guys in the A-plus power group. He also thinks there are no more than 10 players who are seriously short.Most guys that are short have been out here a long time, he said. Theyre absolutely geniuses. They have great short games. Theyre great putters.Clark referred to players like Adam Scott who could be in the A-plus group if he wanted to except that Scott tries to play more under control.Theres a lot more real bombers than we think, Clark said. If youre just looking at the stats, it doesnt give a true picture of how long these guys are. ... Thats almost as big of a group as the medium guys.One medium guy might be Russell Henley, who was No. 61 in driving distance last year. Henley said there were five levels of power on the PGA Tour, and he put himself somewhere around the middle because the smashers — Watson, Johnson, Holmes — are probably two levels above me.Henley offered this definition of his driving distance: When youre short, it puts pressure on your drive because youve got to hit the fairway. I need to hit the fairway, but its not the end of the world if I dont.Henley already has two of the 10 drives that have been measured at 400 yards or more this year, all of them at Kapalua. One of them was on the 17th hole, all the way to the bottom. He still made par.___MOVING ON: Phil Mickelson is more interested in the next decade or two in the Ryder Cup, not what happened the last time in Gleneagles. Mickelson made his first public appearance last week since he spoke openly in the closing press conference at Gleneagles about the lack of a communication between U.S. captain Tom Watson and the team.Mickelson is part of a Ryder Cup task force geared toward creating a modell.dddddddddddd It already has met once, with another meeting expected next week.Would this open dialogue have occurred had Mickelson not spoken up after the loss to Europe in September?I just think theres a lot of great input. Im excited about what were doing moving forward, Mickelson said last week. How we got there, doesnt matter. Were there now and were going to make it a really great experience for the next generation of players as they go through the next decade or two.Watson, too, is ready to move on.He played the Champions Tour opener last week in Hawaii and was excited to see two Ryder Cup players, Patrick Reed and Jimmy Walker, win the Hawaii events.Im proud of Jimmy and Patrick, and the way they played at the Ryder Cup, Watson said. Im proud of the way all the players played on the Ryder Cup team. They gave it their best shot. The other team just played better is the bottom line. It was a great event for the Europeans. It was not a great event for us, although we had our moments.When asked if it was time to move on, Watson replied, Sure. Because theres nothing we can do about it now.___SPIETH DEAL: One new deal, one long-term renewal. Jordan Spieth has made quite an impression since the end of the last PGA Tour season, all very quietly.First was the deal with AT&T, significant because the Dallas-based telecommunications firm not only is one of the strongest corporate partners on the PGA Tour, but because it has not signed any golfer to a personal endorsement since it cut ties with Tiger Woods in 2009.The deal shows a lot of trust in the 21-year-old Spieth.And then last week, Under Armour announced a comprehensive, 10-year extension with Spieth.Spieth first signed with Under Armour in 2013 when he turned pro and is the first golfer to be outfitted head-to-toe in Under Armour gear. The company plans international marketing with Spieth, and he is involved in a golf shoe that is to debut in the spring.___BASEBALL FEAT: Rob Manfred took over Sunday as commissioner of MLB, and during a guest appearance on the leagues network he was asked his greatest athletic achievement. After taking a mulligan (he played two years of tennis at Le Moyne College), Manfred said he has made a hole-in-one — twice, on the same hole.Manfred said he used a 6-iron to ace the third hole at Sleepy Hollow.And the next year I was older, used a 5-iron, he said.___DIVOTS: Juli Inkster has selected Wendy Ward to be one of her assistant captains at the Solheim Cup in Germany this year. ... Frank Nobilo is joining CBS Sports as a golf analyst. Peter Oosterhuis announced last week he was retiring. Nobilo will continue his work at Golf Channel. ... The USGA has selected James R. Hansen for its Herbert Warren Wind Book Award. Hansen wrote A Difficult Par: Robert Trent Jones Sr. and the Making of Modern Golf.___STAT OF THE WEEK: Starting with the final round at Kapalua, the low scores in each of the last nine rounds on the PGA Tour have been 62, 62, 62, 62, 63, 63, 61, 63 and 63.___FINAL WORD: I lost a few world ranking points, a trophy and some money. But I can handle all of those three things. — Martin Kaymer, on losing a 10-shot lead with 13 holes to play in Abu Dhabi. ' ' '