For the first time in a long time, the Toronto Raptors dont own sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, but theyll try to reclaim it Sunday night when they visit the Phoenix Suns. Thanks to a two-game losing streak, coupled with outstanding play from the Atlanta Hawks, the Raptors arent in first. Theyve dropped two straight for the second time this season and first time since late November. When the Hawks bested the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, they opened a one-game lead atop the Eastern Conference standings. After an overtime loss to the Trail Blazers on Tuesday, the Raptors were rolled by the Golden State Warriors, 126-105, on Friday. The 126 points allowed were the most by Toronto this season in a non-overtime game. Toronto trailed by as many as 23 in the second half, but pulled within 110-101 after Lou Williams knocked down a pair of jumpers with five minutes remaining. Golden State, though, answered with 14 straight points to put the game away. Greivis Vasquez supplied 25 points, seven assists and five boards off the bench, Kyle Lowry provided 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds and Amir Johnson recorded 12 points and 10 boards for the Raptors, who have dropped three of their last five games. They shot the ball extremely well, said Lowry. Their small ball really got to us tonight. Sundays game ends a six-game road trip for the Raptors, who will try to even their record on this sojourn. They will play six straight in Toronto upon their return and should get All-Star DeMar DeRozan back soon after a groin injury. The Suns snapped a two-game slide with a 16-point home victory Friday night over the Philadelphia 76ers. Markieff Morris and Gerald Green both scored 21 points and the Suns overcame a halftime deficit to rally past the 76ers, 112-96. Eric Bledsoe tallied 17 points and eight assists and Goran Dragic had 10 points and a season-high 10 boards for Phoenix, which returned home following a four-game road trip that ended with a 137-134 overtime loss in Oklahoma City on New Years Eve. The Suns have swept the season series with Philly each of the past two seasons, winning the four games by a combined 67 points. Late in the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand, the Suns became the first team in NBA history to play a pair of brothers on the court at the same time, as Zoran Dragic joined his brother Goran in a lineup that also included the Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus. It feels awesome to make NBA history with two sets of brothers on the same team playing together, said Goran Dragic. Im just happy that he got an opportunity to play well in those two minutes. The Raptors beat the Suns in Toronto this season to snap a two-game series losing streak. The Suns are 16-4 in their last 20 versus the Raptors, including an 8-2 mark in Phoenix. Charles Jones Jersey . Three days after falling to Hamilton, Abbotsford scored three goals in 53 seconds en route to a convincing 5-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday in American Hockey League play. Washington Wizards Pro Shop . The senior threw for 319 yards and no interceptions in his final college game, leading No. https://www.cheapwizardsonline.com/749k-jeff-malone-jersey-wizards.html . The Twins announced Thursday the 28-year-old Albers cleared waivers. He will join the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. John Wall Jersey . - Skiing far more aggressively than in her season debut a day earlier, Lindsey Vonn was in provisional 10th place after the first 45 skiers in a World Cup downhill on Saturday. Isaac Bonga Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U.TORONTO - Jonathan Bernier came back to try and help end a losing streak. By the time the goaltender and the Toronto Maple Leafs left Air Canada Centre, they were out of a playoff spot. Bernier returned from a five-game absence and did his best to keep the Leafs in it against the St. Louis Blues. But a plethora of other mistakes against one of the NHLs top teams Tuesday night ultimately resulted in a 5-3 defeat, their sixth in a row. "Its a hard league," Blues goaltender Ryan Miller said of the Leafs struggles. "Youve got to keep it all together." Things have seemingly fallen apart in just under two weeks time. The loss, coupled with the Blue Jackets beating the Red Wings and the Capitals picking up a point against the Los Angeles Kings, dropped the Leafs out of a wild-card position. Though all four teams have 80 points, Columbus and Detroit held the wild-card spots at the end of the night, ahead of the Capitals and then the Leafs because of games played. Not long ago Toronto was second in the Atlantic Division, and now it looks like the season is slipping away. "Certainly were afraid of letting it slip away," said winger Joffrey Lupul, whose early goal was the first time Toronto opened the scoring in eight games. "The whole year weve thought we were a playoff team, and we still believe that now. ... Theres reason for concern, but its not completely time to panic. Were still right there." Winger James van Riemsdyk, whose goal at 15:54 of the third period cut the Leafs deficit to a goal, said that the team has "100 per cent" faith that things can turn around with just eight games remaining. "We have a lot of confidence in our abilities and a belief in ourselves and believe in the guys in the room," van Riemsdyk said. "This thing is obviously far from over." At some point the Leafs (36-30- must show that instead of just talking about it. They were unable to do that against the Blues, who passed the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the league thanks to a hat trick from David Backes and one goal apiece from T.J. Oshie and former Leafs forward Alex Steen. Though Bernier allowed four goals, his return from a groin injury was more memorable for some of the big saves he made among his 44. The 25-year-old No. 1 goalie gave his team a chance, but too much continued to go wrong in front of and around the net. Lupul said a good team is supposed to bail its goalie out and vice-versa. That didnt happen for James Reimer in the first five games of this slide, and that continued with Bernier. "When you get in a slide like this its easy to start pin-pointing individuals, which is fair, but as a group we look at it like, if theres a mistake made by someone, someone else steps up and makes a play for them," Lupul said. "And we just havent been doing quite enough of that right now." Captain Dion Phaneuf hesitated twice to clear the puck on a late-first-period penalty kill before the Blues forced a turnover and scored, then was beaten by Steen in front of the net on the fourth goal St. Louis scored. Phaneuf was not made available to speak to reporterss, leaving coach Randy Carlyle to answer for some of the defencemans poor play.dddddddddddd "He and (Cody) Franson have been the top pairing on our blue line, as far as the offensive side of it, all year," Carlyle said. "In tonights situation, he had a rough night." Phaneuf could be blamed for at least two goals against, but he wasnt alone in having a rough night against the Blues (49-16-7), who showed early and often why theyre a Stanley Cup contender. "It was a 5-3 game where I think we couldve scored 10 goals tonight," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said in a nod to Bernier. "We had so many scoring opportunities, and I thought for the most part until we got careless and started to get fancy around the net instead of burying it that we were really playing one of our top games." During the first period, St. Louis hemmed the Leafs in their own end, putting 23 shots on net, a season high for Toronto. "I dont know," Lupul said. "We couldnt break their cycle, we couldnt get the puck." Had the Leafs managed to go into the first intermission tied 1-1, as Carlyle pointed out, they would have been fortunate. But Phaneufs mistake led to a power-play goal by Backes with 32.3 seconds left. Backes had to beat Bernier, too, but he did that twice and added an empty netter for his second career hat trick. "Theres something about this barn and this stage," Backes said. "Theres obviously a special thing about being in Toronto. The buzz in the air and everyones talking about the Leafs. Every establishments got a neon Leafs sign of some sort. This is kind of the Mecca for hockey here in Toronto." Hockey Mecca includes many more people panicking even after the Leafs lost to a much better team in the Blues. Van Riemsdyk repeatedly pointed out that the Blues are "a heck of a hockey team." Theres no disputing that, only that the Leafs couldnt find a way to end their skid. Bernier knows nothing should have to be said after this one. "If were missing motivation, at this time of the year everyone should have some," he said. "Obviously we knew it was not going to be easy. Thats a good team out there — theyre first and they showed it tonight." The Leafs showed something in trimming a three-goal deficit to one in the third period. And while thats the biggest thing theyll take from Tuesday night, its not nearly enough with the frustration building up. "Youve got to try and manage that," van Riemsdyk said. "If you play in a frustrated type of way youre no good out there. Weve got to continue to learn from things and look at the positives and kind of go from there." One positive Lupul sees is two games ahead at the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night and then back home against the Red Wings on Saturday night. "You win those two games, all of a sudden things look a lot different," he said. Until the Leafs manage to do that, things look bleak. NOTES: With Bernier back, the Leafs sent goaltender Drew MacIntyre back to the AHLs Toronto Marlies. ... Defenceman Paul Ranger was scratched for the third straight game with a neck injury. ' ' '