MONTREAL -- Sebastien Vettel will be in a daunting spot when he lines up directly behind the all-but unbeatable Mercedes AMG duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton for the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Abby Dahlkemper Jersey . The defending champion saw his streak of three straight pole positions in Canada come to an end in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Vettel will start on the second row when the race begins Sunday in what is forecast to be near-perfect 27C weather. The German posted the third-quickest lap for Red Bull, while Rosberg edged Hamilton for the pole. Vettels time of one minute 15.548 seconds on the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was more than a half a second behind the two Mercedes, who have dominated F1 since the introduction this year of turbo engines. "Im always confident when I step in the car that its good enough to make it, so well have to wait and see," Vettel said. "In terms of fighting with the car, its still not where I want it to be, still not yet behaving the way I prefer. "Its not like last year when I was stepping into a dream car and everything was smooth and perfect. This year, were not tickling the right spots yet." The 26-year-old Vettel won the last four F1 championships for Renault-powered Red Bull, and took the chequered flag at the Canadian Grand Prix for the first time last year. But how times have changed. The Mercedes team has now claimed all seven pole positions to go with victories in all six F1 races this season. And the long straightaways leading to tight turns and chicanes on the Gilles-Villeneuve track seem to fit the Mercedes package to a tee, with its superior engine power and solid braking. "It was very tight between third and sixth, so Im happy I got the last lap right," said Vettel, who finished ahead of a pair of Mercedes-powered Williams cars driven by Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. The second Red Bull piloted by Daniel Ricciardo was sixth. "Its good to start third, right behind the Mercedes. Well see what we can do from there in the race." Rosberg won the day when he put up a best lap of 1:14.874 late in the last of three qualifying sessions and Hamilton fell short by less than a 10th of a second on his final run. "Nico did a better job today," said Hamilton, without a trace of the sullen behaviour he showed after coming second to Rosberg in qualifying two weeks ago in Monaco. There, Hamilton felt he was cheated out of a chance to win pole position when Rosberg pulled off late in qualifying, drawing a yellow caution flag. The two have since talked it over and announced that the animosity brewing since the start of the season was over and that they are friends again. Whether the truce holds will be seen when they start side by side on the front row for the race. Rosberg will have the upper hand if he keeps the lead. It may he tough for Hamilton to overtake on the tight track. "Its not that easy, especially with Nico so fast," said Hamilton. "Overtaking is going to be very difficult -- to overtake the same car as mine, especially when were so close in pace. "Ill do what I can. The thing is to try to get as many points as we can." In Monaco, where it is all-but impossible to overtake, Rosberg ended Hamiltons four-race winning run and took a four-point lead in driver standings. "I know its a track where hes really strong, so Im all the more happy that it worked out," Rosberg said of his teammate. "Having won the last race, it just helps a bit. "Lewis had that winning streak and to bring that to an end was important." Rosberg sees the race going the same way the others have, with the two Mercedes battling one another for the victory and the rest of the grid fighting it out for third spot. But Hamilton said his team cant be cocky, especially on a tricky, slippery track known for mishaps and upsets. "I dont think its just between the two of us," said Hamilton. "In qualifying, Sebastian wasnt as close as perhaps they might be, but their pace was good in the last race and I anticipate that theyll be quite strong. "So we definitely cannot disregard Sebastian or Red Bull. We need to be cautious still, and make sure we keep pushing." Red Bull and Renault were left scrambling with the engine change, while Mercedes came up with the best package of engine and car. The new 1.6-litre engines are decidedly quieter, without the high-pitched whine of past F1 cars, and theyre slower. Qualifying times were more than two seconds slower than last year, when Vettel took the pole in 1:12.425. It is still early in the 19-race season, and there is a small chance someone will find a way to close the gap with Mercedes before it is over. "Theyve been very dominant the first couple of races, but we are working hard," said Vettel. "Were completely motivated and we have a strong belief in ourselves. "I think thats the reason weve been so successful the last couple of years. So, rest assured, we wont give up." Vettel matched his best qualifying result this season, while both Bottas and Massa had their best placings. Massa has started no better than seventh on the grid and his best race finish was sixth. Cars were sliding on the slick surface both in the morning practice session and in qualifying. The first 20-minute qualifying ended with 16 seconds left when Marcus Ericsson crashed his Caterham, bringing out the red flags. Earier, Pastor Maldonados Lotus stopped on the track, ending his qualifying early. Esteban Gutierrez did not take part in qualifying after crashing his Sauber in practice. Christen Press Jersey . Funny, they looked like longtime friends during Pittsburghs 5-1 demolition of Dallas on Tuesday night. Quick to the puck and even quicker to the net, the Penguins top line overwhelmed the suddenly struggling Stars as Pittsburgh bounced back from a dismal weekend sweep at the hands of Philadelphia by jumping on Dallas early. Kelley OHara Jersey . It was a loss. But it was also a learning experience. Deron Williams and Joe Johnson had 24 points each to lift Brooklyn to a 94-87 win over the Raptors, making their first playoff appearance since 08. "I thought we played a little bit as expected as it is our first playoff game," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. http://www.uswntproshop.com/c-32-abby-smith-usa-jersey.aspx . The time off didnt slow them down. Tyler Zeller scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 14 points and the Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to five games Tuesday night with a 114-85 victory over the skidding Philadelphia 76ers.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 onn the Ducks defence. Megan Rapinoe Jersey. “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. Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Gear Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Jerseys NFL China ' ' '