OTTAWA - It was a hollow victory at best. The Ottawa Senators were more than happy to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 Saturday night on home ice to extend their win streak to four games. But in the big picture it meant little. "It was important for us to try and win this hockey game and send the fans home happy in the last home game," said Spezza. "(The streak) shows that we can be a more consistent club, but it still doesnt matter because we didnt make the playoffs and that was our ultimate goal and we didnt get there. Obviously weve done some better things of late, but we would have liked to do that earlier in the season." Spezza scored the lone goal, and Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots for his fourth shutout of the season as the Senators played their final home game of the regular season. Ottawa wraps up the season Sunday against Pittsburgh. With the victory, the Senators (36-31-14) tied their season-high winning streak of four games and finished the year above .500 on home ice with an 18-17-6 record. It was also their first win against Toronto this season. Senators coach Paul MacLean tried to focus on the positive of winning the last four games despite the disappointment of falling short this season. "Were playing games that dont mean much in the standings as far as getting us into the Stanley Cup playoffs which is what its all about," said MacLean. "But at the same time finishing our home schedule like we are is way better." The Leafs (38-36-8) capped off their season with 12 losses in their last 15 games, leaving them below the Senators in the standings. "Its terribly disappointing and emotional," said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. "Its like you almost get in a state of depression because its such a negative in your life. Were embarrassed about the way things unraveled for our hockey club." James Reimer faced 37 shots, making a number of big saves to keep Toronto in the game. Reimer finished the season with a 12-16-1 record. With his future unknown Reimer, who will be a restricted free agent, was visibly emotional following the game. "There definitely were some thoughts like that (that this could be my last game with Toronto," said Reimer. "I was just trying to come in here and have a last memorable game. Thinking about all the memories, its just been an interesting time." Despite the difficulties he and the Leafs had down the stretch Reimer admitted to feeling somewhat positive about his game of late. "Ive been feeling really good the last couple of games and really getting back to the way I can play," said Reimer. "Its good to have a night (Saturday) statistically to show where I was back to, but obviously it would have been nice to get the win. Personally its good to end on a high note." Milan Michalek had a chance to put Ottawa up 2-0 on a breakaway in the third period, but Reimer was able to get over and make the save along the post. "I think we created a lot of scoring chances and just couldnt put one in the net," said Ottawas Erik Karlsson. "Luckily for us Anderson was standing on his head and made some unbelievable saves when we needed it and we only needed to score the one." Anderson was pleased with his and the teams overall performance, but admitted he wished they could have played like this earlier in the season. "I think its bittersweet," said Anderson. "Theres also some frustration that we couldnt have done this sooner throughout the year, but thats just part of the growing pains and some of the adversity we had." The Leafs had a two-man advantage for 23 seconds midway through the third period, but were unable to capitalize. Torontos inability to produce on the power play had been a huge problem down the stretch. In their last ten games the Leafs were 4-for-30 with the man advantage. "Its disappointing to not be playing next week," said Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. "This is our job. Its a business and were in the business of results and we didnt get results. We were in a very good spot and we let it slip away and thats the extremely disappointing part of everything." Spezza opened the scoring at the seven-minute mark of the second with a power-play goal. Karlsson found Spezza alone in the faceoff circle and the Senators captain caught the inside of the post for his 23rd of the season. Spezza now has 56 points in 56 career games against the Leafs. Both teams had goals called off in a scoreless first period. At the eight-minute mark of the first, Torontos Tyler Bozak had a goal called off immediately due to a high stick, and on the ensuing play the Senators had a goal of their own waived off after incidental contact with the goaltender was called on the play. Notes: The Senators were without C Mika Zibanejad, who is undergoing tests for an undisclosed condition, D Jared Cowen (lower body, day-to-day) and RW Bobby Ryan (sports hernia, out for season). LW Matt Kassian was a healthy scratch. The Leafs were without G Jonathan Bernier (left MCL, two weeks), RW Joffrey Lupul (knee surgery, 3-4 weeks), Dave Bolland (lacerated ankle, unknown) and Carter Ashton (knee, unknown). D Carl Gunnarsson was a healthy scratch. D Petter Granberg made his NHL debut. LeBron James Shoes For Sale . Canada will host Japan in a World Group first-round match in 2015. It will be a rematch of their first-round clash last year when Japan defeated Canada 4-1 to reach the World Group quarter-finals for the first time in its history. Clearance LeBron James Shoes . Even if he is shooting 38 per cent from the field overall this season, the Utah Jazz rookie always feels like his final shot is going in. https://www.cheapshoeslebronjames.com/ . -- Augusta James of Bath, Ont. Cheap LeBron James Shoes .C. United have acquired midfielder Alex Caskey from the Seattle Sounders for a third-round pick in the 2016 MLS draft. LeBron James Shoes Free Shipping . It will mark the 22nd time the tournament has been held in this country and fourth in Atlanta Canada but will make its first appearance ever in played Nova Scotia.TORONTO - Unless Dalton Pompey earns himself a starting spot next spring, the Blue Jays will field an opening day lineup devoid of any homegrown talent who isnt a pitcher. That was assured on Saturday morning when, less than 72 hours after the conclusion of the World Series, the club parted ways with one of its longest-tenured players, trading Adam Lind to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for pitcher Marco Estrada. General manager Alex Anthopoulos said that in internal postseason meetings held over the last month, the decision was made to move beyond Lind and Edwin Encarnacion sharing the first base and designated hitter duties in order to allow the club to differently deploy our resources in the name of enhanced flexibility. Brace yourselves: this is, in part, a money thing. Linds $7.5-million option for 2015 was picked up in advance of the deal. Ultimately, because of that, Adam wasnt going to end up being back on our team and either we were going to decline the option or make a move if a deal presented itself, said Anthopoulos. We were able to work out a deal with the Brewers and get a guy in Estrada that can fill multiple roles, starting and relieving. Experience doing both, excelled at various times doing both. It gives us a lot of flexibility moving forward and also allows us to allocate some dollars to other areas of need. Lind, 31, takes his skill set to Milwaukees Miller Park which, like Rogers Centre, is a hitter-friendly stadium. Heres the question: what is Linds skill set? He undoubtedly is one of the games best left-handed hitters against right-handed pitching. His career .860 OPS against righties (.942 OPS against right-handers in 2014) will be a difficult asset to replace in the middle of the order. But with that pro come many cons. Lind is injury prone and his back issues, which have sent him to the disabled list at some point, or points, during three of the past four seasons, likely arent going to get better with age. Linds power had all but disappeared and it was mystifying. He hit just six home runs in 290 at-bats in 2014 (a 2-percent home run rate) compared to his 2013 total of 23 in 465 at-bats (a 4.9-percent rate). While serviceable, he is an average-at-best defensive first baseman. Lind isnt fleet of foot, what industry people call a base clogger, someone whos station-to-station and incapable of taking an extra base. Lind ruffled feathers in July when he went to the disabled list with a fractured right foot. The injury had occurred when he fouled a pitch off his foot on June 14 in Baltimore. He continued to play when initial tests showed nothing more than a bruise. Finally, when the problem wasnt improving he underwent a CT scan, a more thorough imaging which revealed the fracture. The club was embarrassed, especially the medical and training staff, when Lind stood before the media in Anaheim and said hed undergone more testing at the suggestion of his mother. And as elite a hitter Lind is against right-handed pitching, hes as bad or worse against left-handers. Hed become strictly a platoon player and the front office went through a bevy of right-handed hitting waiver claims in an attempt to find Linds offset. Ultimately, the decision was made that $7.5-million was too much money to allocate to a platoon player. In Estrada, the Jays get a 31-year-old right-hander who provides more, you guessed it, flexibility. He can start, which he did on 18 occasions for the Brewers in 2014. He can work out of the bullpen, which accounted for 21 appearances last year. Estrada allowed a league-worst 29 home runs in 150 2/3 innings; the Jays are hoping thats a blip as hed never allowed more than 19 in previous seasons..dddddddddddd. Among the flurry of moves the club made on Saturday, it exercised left-hander J.A. Happs $6.7-million option, meaning the projected rotation at the moment features Marcus Stroman, Drew Hutchison, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Happ. Estrada appears to be one of the pieces of what will be a revamped relief corps, especially from the right side. Anthopoulos identified a bullpen overhaul as his top priority when he met with the media on the final day of the season. The fact that he can start, he started 20 games or more in the past, he has the ability to do that, it does give us some options and flexibility as we navigate through the offseason, said Anthopoulos. Its still very early, the landscape will change and well find out more about the trade market, well find out more about the free-agent market, things certainly can change over the next month or so, but having the flexibility and the options, thats part of the reason we acquired Smoak, acquired guys like Dirks, it gives us a lot of flexibility as we go through the next few months. Where this leaves top prospect Aaron Sanchez is a matter still to be sorted out. Anthopoulos reiterated the club views Sanchez as a starter in the long-term while acknowledging what is obvious: as of today there is no starting spot for Sanchez. While not impossible, its hard to imagine an April roster which doesnt feature Sanchez. He showed aptitude coming out of the bullpen. He has the stuff to be a closer. I dont think were prepared to even get that far, said Anthopoulos. If our rotation stays the same, I would say Sanchez has a very good chance to be in our bullpen. He did a great job. What the role would be, I have no idea because right now, we can come up with seven guys for the bullpen based on guys under control but we clearly want to add to that. What Anthopoulos has given himself, with the five rotation arms he named plus Estrada and Sanchez (and Daniel Norris throwing at Triple-A as the eighth starter), is the option to deal a starter to address a position of need. Second base (or third base, depending on where Brett Lawrie plays if he can stay healthy) sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps a rotation spot opens for Sanchez if another hurler gets moved. Social media, as is its wont, was chock full of opinion on the Lind deal. There were plenty of variations on the thats all they got for Lind? theme. These are the early days of baseballs hot stove season. Clubs arent yet allowed to negotiate with impending free agents who arent their own. Anthopoulos wants to and needs to make more changes. A few of them. Its best not to look at this as Lind for Estrada straight up. It had better not be. Judge the general manager on the body of the work still to come. OTHER BUSINESS - Along with exercising the option on Happ, the Blue Jays picked up catcher Josh Tholes $1.75-million option for 2015. - The following players options were declined, making them free agents: Brandon Morrow ($10-million), Sergio Santos ($6-million) and Dustin McGowan ($4 million). - Recently acquired from Seattle, first baseman Justin Smoaks $3.65-million option was declined. He is arbitration eligible and its likely the Blue Jays will sign him to a contract at a reduced rate. - Leftfielder Melky Cabrera was extended a qualifying offer, meaning that if the impending free agent signs with another team the Blue Jays will receive draft pick compensation. - Centrefielder Colby Rasmus and pitcher Casey Janssen were not extended qualifying offers, meaning the Jays will not receive draft pick compensation should they sign with another team. Neither is expected to return to Toronto. ' ' '
