Huddersfields loss to Catalans, injury worries for Sam Burgess and St Helens responding to Lance Hohaia all feature in this weeks set of six. Ryan Anderson Jersey ... Broughton downs HuddersfieldJodie Broughton made a sensational return to his former home as his hat-trick helped Catalans to a 46-26 win over Huddersfield Giants.Giants head coach Paul Anderson refused to hide behind the sending off of Joe Wardle for a high tackle and didnt hold back as he laid into the attitude and commitment of his team. All the action from the Super League clash between Huddersfield and Catalans We could use the sending off as an excuse to paper over the cracks but when our attitude at the beginning of the game - giving them the scores that we did - was like it was, I felt overall we got what we deserved, said Anderson.Going 12-0 down and then 20-12 up stinks because it suggests we made a decision to crack on with what our job is, then suddenly decide not to again in the second half.Our start was poor, the second part of the first half was quite good but the second half was abysmal. We gave in and if people want to be part of this club that is not the character that we want.Its embarrassing and if people want to play for the Giants, they wont if they play like that.Phil the Viking Widnes stretched their lead at the top of Super League to two points with a 18-12 win over Wigan Widnes beat Wigan 18-12 on Thursday in a fantastic comeback that handed the Warriors their first home Super League defeat for 21 months.The victory made it a best-ever start to a Super League season for the Vikings and our very own Phil Clarke may need to head down to Select Security Stadium Halton to get fitted out for his mascot uniform.I am scared of making any predictions about where Widnes will finish in 2016, said Phil in his weekly column for Sky Sports. Phil Clarke brings you his top five Super League tries of the week I have seen what Gary Lineker said about Leicester City and dont want to strip down to my underwear! I still think that if they finish in the top eight after 23 rounds they will have done remarkably well but I am still not convinced that they will be able to do that.Go on then: If Widnes finish in the top four I will be their mascot for a match!The cost of winning All the action from the Super League clash between Hull KR and Salford Hull KR ended their nine-month losing streak with a 44-30 win over Salford, however they face a serious injury crisis ahead of Fridays derby against Hull FC.We only had 18 fit players; Kieran Dixon was the only one in our squad who didnt play that was fit, Webster said.Shaun Lunt hasnt trained with us yet, but were hoping he will during the week. Its a short turnaround; were two days behind Hull because they played Friday and well need to make a call on everyone come Wednesday.It gives us three days to prepare. Albert Kelly has done some training but not with us, and hes another one that well have to wait on until Wednesday. James Greenwood and Graeme Horne both came off so theyre inevitably doubts for the game too.St Helens respond to Lance Hohaia St Helens have responded to claims made by Lance Hohaia Saints reacted angrily to allegations made by Lance Hohaia, who claimed the Super League club pressured him to play while he was still experiencing concussion symptoms.Hohaia was punched twice by Wigans Ben Flower in the Super League Grand Final in 2014. Hohaia retired in April 2015 but in a recent interview with New Zealands Sunday Herald newspaper, claimed that he asked for time to rest to recover but was offered prescription medicines and told to play on.Hohaias version of events at St Helens between the Grand Final in 2014 and his voluntary resignation without notice six months later is utterly inaccurate and malicious, the Super League club said in statement.Throughout that time he received the highest level of professional support and empathy, both rugby and medical. His subsequent version of ongoing concussive symptoms were entirely retrospective and only raised by him at the end of that period.At no time was he put under any pressure or duress by the club to play and he was provided with highest level of professional advice and support by the club. St Helens set the very highest standards in that regard.Sam Burgess injury Sam Burgess of the Rabbitohs is taken from the field after a scary incident It was good to see South Sydney Rabbitohs Sam Burgess has been cleared of any serious neck and spinal injuries.Burgess was rushed to hospital after being involved in an accidental clash of heads with another Englishman, former Warrington prop Mike Cooper, in an NRL match against St George Illawarra.However, the Rabbitohs say MRI and CT scans have shown there is no damage to the vertebrae or spinal cord.Were all very happy to know that Sam hasnt suffered any serious injuries from yesterdays game, said South Sydney head coach Michael Maguire.I spoke to Sam and he feels very lucky and he wants to thank the medical staff from both the Rabbitohs and Dragons for their professionalism, the doctors and hospital staff who cared for him last night and this morning, as well as the members and fans for their support and kind words.We will continue to monitor Sams welfare and he knows he is in the best of hands with our medical staff as we move forward.Sinfield: My greatest week Leeds Kevin Sinfield with the trophy after the 2012 Grand Final We are looking forward to getting our hands on Kevin Sinfields book - Kevin Sinf13ld My League Years in Words and Pictures.The pictorial history of his career will be launched this Saturday at Leeds Rhinos Headingley Carnegie store and in it Sinfield reveals why he almost quit the game in 2008 and shares the greatest week of his rugby league career.In 2012 we won the Grand Final and I won the Harry Sunderland award, says Sinfield in an extract in the Yorkshire Evening Post.Two days later Steve [McNamara, the England coach] gave me the captains job and that was probably the best week of my career.The book charts Sinfields rugby league journey from the day he first joined Oldham amateur club Waterhead through to last years all-conquering campaign. Also See: WATCH: Phil Clarkes top five tries Broughton stars for Catalans Saints outraged by Hohaia claims Hull KR resist Salford fightback Steve Nash Suns Jersey . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Jason Kidd Suns Jersey . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. https://www.thesunslockerroom.com/Elie-Okobo-City-Edition-Jersey/ . TSN 1290s coverage begins with Hustler & Lawless at 3pm. Rick Ralph hosts the Official Jets Pre-game Show at 5pm.TORONTO – Third in league scoring, John Tavares entered the evening with at least a point in all but three of the Islanders 21 games this season. "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Gunnarsson was among the stable that kept Tavares, who has 25 points this season, off the scoresheet entirely. The Islanders captain finished with just two shots and was rarely a threat, bottled up by the top pair of Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf and a recently assembled shutdown line of Jay McClement, Mason Raymond and Nik Kulemin. Tavares entered the night with eight goals and 16 points in 15 career games against the Leafs and had been responsible for 43 per cent of his teams offence this season. But he was held pointless for just the fourth time all season. "We played tight on him, we played hard and we didnt give him much time in our own end," Gunnarsson said of Tavares, who played alongside fellow top scorer Kyle Okposo and rookie Brock Nelson. "We couldve done some stuff better too, but when that line doesnt score we give ourselves a pretty good chance to win the game." Randy Carlyle has yet to employ a shutdown line consistently against opposing top lines so far this season – often using his top unit when healthy – but he did against the Islanders. As McClement explained it, the assignment isnt known to players until game-time and often beyond that. Unlike Andy Murray, his longtime coach in St. Louis, who would present line matchups to the group on a whiteboard in the morning, Carlyle prefers to keep his close to the vest. "He wont let you know too often," McClement said of Carlyle, leading Leaf forwards with over 20 minutes on Tuesday. "You dont really know until you start the game. And even the first shift we didnt start against them and then we played every other shift against them. You never know. Maybe its a good thing. Youre not thinking about it, youre just ready to play." What the McClement unit did effectively most of the night against Tavares, who had points in five straight, was keep him on the defensive. With consistent pressure and a simple chip-and-chase game, the line spent a good chunk of their shifts against him deep in the offensive zone. They would be rewarded when Raymond scored the eventual game-winner early in the third, the 27-year-old capping a McClement drive to the crease of Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin. "We got to pucks on the forecheck and ended up having a lot of shifts in their end," McClement said, also beating Tavares on 10 of 19 draws. "Thats the easiest way to play defence is play offence." Five Points 1. Home ice dominance While theyve yet to establish a consistent brand of hockey (see below) the Leafs have nonetheless strung together a strong record through the quarter-mark of the season (13-7-1). Part of that success emanates from their effective showing on home ice. The Leafs have now won five straight at home and seven of their past eight, and are now 8-2-0 on the year at the ACC. Theyve outscored opponents 35-23 in that span, more effective offensively (3.5 goals per game) and defensively (2.3 goals against per game) than on the road. "That was one of the goals we wanted to create is when teams come into this building theres no more of this two points, kiss your relatives and go home," said Carlyle. "Its enough of that." With another power-play marker – this one from Phil Kessel – the Leafs also continued a trend of home dominance on the power-play; they rank first with a 32.4 per cent success rate. 2. Clarkson breaks the goose egg Without a goal in the first 10 games of his late-starting season, David Clarkson finally broke through with his first as a Leaf against the Islanders. The 29-year-old rifled a shot beyond the glove of Poulin midway through the final period, benefiting from the effective work of Joffrey Lupul and Trevor Smith down low in the offensive zone. "The better feeling is coming in here after a win and turning on that music," said Clarkson, who played nearly 19 minutes, adding five hits. "Thats the best feeling to me ever." 3. Gardiner on the left When Mark Fraser returned from a left knee injury last week – hes since re-injured a different part of the knee – Carlyle juggled his defence pairings, opting to move Jake Gardiner back to his natural left side position alongside Cody Franson. Gardiner had never played the right before and often appeared uncertain and inconsistent there alongside Paul Ranger. "I think Ive felt a lot more comfortable offensively," Gardiner told the Leaf Report prior to Tuesdays game. "I still have to fine-tune some things, but I feel like I see the ice a lot better from the left side." The 23-year-old is also pleased to be reunited with Franson, with whom hes played alongside for a good chunk of his NHL career. "We even talked about it – we know where each other are on the ice," said Gardiner of Franson. "Theres some plays that we do a lot of that seem to work and we know exactly when theyre going to be there, wwhether its in the offensive zone, neutral zone or defensive zone. Devin Booker Jersey. Hes a vocal guy too. Its really easy to play with him. Hopefully he feels the same way." Gardiner led the Leafs with over 22 minutes against the Islanders, including 19:42 at even-strength. 4. Kessel durability Phil Kessel played his first game as a Leaf on Nov. 3, 2009; he sat out the first 12 games recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. The 26-year-old has not missed a game since. Kessel extended his iron-man streak to 303 consecutive games, breaking a recent dry spell with a pair of goals against the Islanders. A bout with the flu a day earlier put his games played streak in jeopardy, but the teams leading scorer remained in the lineup, paired with James van Riemsdyk and Peter Holland for the second straight game. Kessel is a ways off the active leaders in consecutive games played. Jay Bouwmeester is the current iron man with 654 straight games played, according to TSN Research, trailed closely by Henrik Sedin at 651. Only three players remain from the Toronto lineup that dressed on the night of Kessels highly anticipated debut: Luke SchennGarnet ExelbyIan WhiteMike KomisarekNiklas HagmanLee StempniakMatt StajanTomas KaberleWayne PrimeauFrancois BeaucheminAlex PonikarovskyColton Orr*John MitchellNik Kulemin*Rickard WallinJason BlakePhil Kessel*Mikhail GrabovskiVesa ToskalaJonas Gustavsson*Still with the team 5. Standing at the quarter pole Joffrey Lupul offered the following assessment of the Leafs performance one quarter of the way into the season. "Weve battled through a lot of injuries and were still up near the top of the conference. Thats a positive," said Lupul. "Is there things we can do better? For sure there is. But Im sure every team in the league with the exception of maybe St. Louis or San Jose or one of these teams is saying the same thing. Everyone wants to do some things better. But its early in the season and youre just finding that identity as a team and you want to eventually be a team that plays the same way every night and a team that improves throughout the year. Were not there yet, but were still high in the standings so theres positives and negatives you could say." Added Randy Carlyle, "Weve tried to create a template that were more conservative from an offensive standpoint. Were not making the Hail Mary plays. Were not trying to just be a rush team. Were trying to do a lot of different things as far as getting away from just one and out. We want more puck possession time. Theres been a lot said in our statistics proving out that were having success when we shouldnt be. We look at it as weve been forced to do some things differently with personnel, suspensions and injuries. We are just trying to find a way to manufacture points. This isnt a development league were in, its about winning. The points that we can put up on the board, doesnt matter who we have in the lineup, it just bodes well for us in the future." Bonus Point – Extending an opportunity Trevor Smith played his first NHL game with the Islanders back on Dec. 31, 2008. On Tuesday against the same New York squad, the 28-year-old had a career-high three points. Playing alongside Lupul and Clarkson, Smith scored the games opening goal 22 seconds into the first frame, adding a pair of assists in the third. Plugging a hole at centre with Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland both injured, Smith has compiled at least a point in three games since being recalled from the Marlies last Friday, totaling three goals and five points in that span. "The guys are making it really easy for me to come in and play and be confident to make plays with them," Smith said. "I was fighting the puck a little bit in the first, but they calmed me down and just told me to relax and do what I do and we went from there." Nazem Kadri is due to return from a three-game suspension on Thursday, but it would appear that Smith has earned, at the very least, an extended opportunity. How long that opportunity lasts is unclear with Bozak likely to return Saturday following a lengthy stint on injured reserve. Stat-Pack 1 – Goal for David Clarkson this season. 303 – Consecutive games played by Phil Kessel. 8-2-0 – Home record for the Leafs this season. 3 – Points for Trevor Smith against the Islanders, a career-high. 32.4 per cent – Leafs power-play effectiveness at home, first in the NHL. 3 – Assists for Joffrey Lupul against the Islanders, a season-high. 2 – Multi-assist games for Lupul this season. 13-16 – Faceoff mark for Jerred Smithson against the Islanders. 17:45 – Ice-time for Morgan Rielly. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-2Season: 24.3 per cent PK: 2-2Season: 84 per cent Quote of the Night "That was one of the goals we wanted to create is when teams come into this building theres no more of this two points, kiss your relatives and go home. Its enough of that." -Randy Carlyle on the Leafs home record. Up Next Nazem Kadri returns from a three-game suspension when the Leafs host the Predators on Thursday night. ' ' '