ppearance for Iran, which dominated the game in front of almost 100,000 fans at the Azadi Stadium.South Korea, aiming for a ninth successive appearance at the World Cup, is third in the grou

TORONTO -- Blood was still dripping from just above the left eye of Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen moments after the Maple Leafs 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.Andersen stopped 29 of 31 shots, bouncing back from the worst start of his NHL career two nights earlier, a seven-goal shelling at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.The 27-year-old looked calm and composed in the crease versus Florida, coming up big in perhaps the Leafs worst defensive showing of the young season.He was our best player by far, coach Mike Babcock said on a night that saw rookie Mitch Marner finish with three impressive assists.Andersen said he was just trying to be patient and let the play come to him. Over-aggression was evident in earlier outings, particularly the shellacking against Tampa on Tuesday.Thats probably the biggest challenge as a goalie is just to try to relax and be calm, the native of Denmark explained. You want to be good and help your team win, but you cant decide when you get to make a save so youve just got to be patient.Andersen, who gave up four goals or more in four of his first five starts, tried to have a little bit more fun around the rink, too, going out of his way to share an extra laugh or two with teammates ahead of the game.Andersen often looked like he was being weighed down by the pressures of Toronto, a vastly more intense market from Anaheim, not to mention the rich five-year contract he signed after a trade from the Ducks and his new position as an undisputed No. 1 starter.Everybody is a proud person and wants to do really well and sometimes when it doesnt go well you put undue pressure on yourself instead of just enjoying it, Babcock said. I keep telling the guys, in this market, maybe more so than any market, you have to have something away from hockey that you love to do so you dont focus on hockey. If you focus on hockey all the time it just wears you out and you come to the rink with no energy.Led by its vaunted top line of Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Marchessault and Jaromir Jagr, Florida buzzed often throughout the night, capitalizing on turnovers and sloppy defensive zone play. Babcock thought his team gave up more scoring chances than it had in any of the previous six games.Andersen, however, came up with one big save after another.Though he surrendered the games opening goal to Marchessault, on which he had no chance, Andersen then turned aside Greg McKegg on a breakaway as well as Colton Sceviour later in the period, the Florida winger outmaneuvering Jake Gardiner for a quality chance in the slot.Andersen did allow a weak second goal to Marchessault, the shot beating him high on a second period Florida power play, but he quickly recovered with a series of stops on another Panthers man advantage, going right to left to get one particularly suave stop on Sceviour.The Leafs tied the game 2-2 about a minute after that save on a goal from James van Riemsdyk and then went ahead for good six minutes later on the second of two on the evening from Tyler Bozak.All three Toronto goals were set up by Marner, the 19-year-old who enjoyed his first ever multi-point game in the NHL. Marners passes were of the wow variety, particularly a no-look pass to Bozak on that third Leaf goal.If youre Bozak or van Riemsdyk, you know youre getting two or three real good looks a game out of the kid, Babcock said before the game.Babcock has raved about Marners skill and competitiveness often thus far, though he was less pleased with his performance in Tuesdays loss to Tampa Bay than the five that came before that.They all expect my 100 percent every game and even I do myself, Marner said. I just wanted to make sure I came into this game ready to play and knew when I had the chances just make sure they go into the net.Andersen came up bloody with less than eight minutes remaining, the blade of Sceviours stick finding a hole in the goaltenders mask and cutting him just above the left eye.The cut was a small price to pay for a much-needed win.Any time you can walk out of the rink with a win its a good day, Andersen said. Good way to bounce back from last game.Roberto Luongo made 25 saves for the Panthers.Game notes Jagr, who set up Floridas first goal, moved into sole possession of seventh on the all-times game played list (1,636), passing Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens. The 44-year-old is three games from tying Dave Anderchuk for sixth place. ... Seth Griffith made his Maple Leafs debut, totaling just under nine minutes of ice time.UP NEXTPanthers: At Buffalo on Saturday in the third game of a four-game trip.Maple Leafs: At Montreal on Saturday in the front end of a back-to-back. Cavaliers Jerseys China . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Custom Cavaliers Jersey China .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. http://www.customcavaliersjersey.com/custom-kyrie-irving-jersey-large-74m.html .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Kyrie Irving Jersey Large . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Cheap Custom Cavaliers Jersey . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Despite boasting one of the worlds highest-spending domestic leagues, Chinas dreams of automatic qualification for the 2018 World Cup are fading.China coach Gao Hongbo quit on Tuesday after a 2-0 defeat in Uzbekistan left his team with just one point from four games in Asias last round of World Cup qualifying.I spoke with the heads of the Chinese Football Association before the match and we agreed if we couldn`t reach a positive result against Uzbekistan I would stand down from my post, Gao said.Marat Bikmaev and Otabek Shukurov scored a goal each in Tashkent as Uzbekistan outclassed China, which lost 1-0 at home to Syria five days previously. China has only ever appeared at one World Cup, in 2002.Despite the poor record on the international stage, there has been massive investment in Chinese soccer in recent years.Clubs in the Chinese Super League have spent more than $400 million on foreign players in 2016 alone. South American stars such as Hulk, Alex Teixeira, Ramires and Jackson Martinez have helped Shanghai SIPG, Jiangsu Suning and Guangzhou Evergrande challenge in the domestic competition and in the Asian Champions League.High-profile coaches including Luiz Felipe Scolari, Sven Goran Eriksson and Manuel Pellegrini have also lifted the international profile of the league.Yet despite the massive investment from the private and public sector -- the government is also focusing on youth development -- the standard of the national team will take longer to improve.Nations such as Syria and Iraq, which are not allowed to play games at home because of security concerns, have collected more points in qualifying so far.There are still six games remaining in the round, including one next month when China hosts Qatar, meaning the Chinese team still technically has time to qualify. But with unbeaten Iran leading the group with 10 points, one clear of Uzbekistan and three ahead of South Korea, the chances of China qualifying for Russia 2018 appear to be remote.The top two of the six teams in Groups A and B will qualify automatically for the World Cup, with the two third-place teams going to a fourth-round match to decide which of them makes the intercontinental playoffs.Here are other results on Tuesday:----AUSTRALIA 1, JAPAN 1A second-half penalty from Mile Jedinak earned Australia a draw against Japan in Group B, though the Soccerooos drop into second spot in Group B, two points behind leader Saudi Arabia.ddddddddddddGenki Haraguchi had put Japan ahead in the sixth minute after a mistake from the Australian backline, but the Hertha Berlin forward gave away a penalty early in the second half with a push on Tomi Juric.We expected a reaction from ourselves and thats what we got, Jedinak said. Second half we were a bit more patient, our movement was better and we put them on the back foot.The draw is Australias second in a row, following a 2-2 result against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, and leaves the Socceroos unbeaten with eight points from four games. Japan has seven points.I think it was two points lost, Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic said. But we played well and had chances to win.---SAUDI ARABIA 3, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 0Saudi Arabia moved to the top of Group B with an emphatic win in Jeddah.Fahad Al Muwallad broke the deadlock with 17 minutes remaining and shortly after Nawaf Al Abed added a second.Yahya Al-Shehri scored in injury time for Bert Van Marwijks men. The win takes the four-time World Cup participants to 10 points, two clear of Australia.United Arab Emirates is fourth in the group with six points, one point behind Japan.---IRAN 1, SOUTH KOREA 0,A first-half strike from Sardar Azmoun gave Iran victory over South Korea in Tehran to move to top of Group A with 10 points.Azmoun, 21, scored goal number 16 in just his 22nd appearance for Iran, which dominated the game in front of almost 100,000 fans at the Azadi Stadium.South Korea, aiming for a ninth successive appearance at the World Cup, is third in the group with seven points.---QATAR 1, SYRIA 0In Doha, Qatar picked up its first points in Group A with a 1-0 win over Syria.Hasan Al Haydos scored the only goal of the game with a penalty in the 37th minute.Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, has three points and climbs off bottom place in the group above China. Syria is fourth with four points.---IRAQ 4, THAILAND 0Mohannad Abdulraheem scored all four goals as Iraq beat Thailand for its first points in Group B.Abdulraheem scored two goals in each half against a team that finished with 10 men after Koravit Namwiset was sent off with 20 minutes remaining.Thailand has lost all four of its group games. ' ' '