TORONTO - James Reimer didnt make it look easy, but he made it tough for Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle to keep him out of the net. In making 36 saves to beat the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, Reimer very well may have reignited the goaltending competition against Jonathan Bernier. It was his first start after three-plus games of strong play from Bernier, but theres a good chance he earned another game with his performance. "You want to make the decision tough. Well, in essence, actually you want to make it easy," Reimer said. "More importantly than all of that is you want to compete for your teammates, you want to compete for yourself. Every day you come out and you want to work hard. Thats how you can put your head on the pillow at night and sleep easy is knowing that you worked your butt off." Reimer has worked his butt off in the 10 days since he was pulled in favour of Bernier after allowing four goals on 21 shots against the Ottawa Senators. Bernier pitched a shutout the rest of that game and didnt falter until allowing five past him Saturday in a comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Carlyle said Reimer was getting the start against Minnesota to keep him from getting stale. Thats a testament to Berniers play, and perhaps a hint of how the coach sees his goalies roles. But Carlyle has been careful not to name a No. 1, so the Leafs dont have to worry about this being any kind of controversy. Seven games into the season, theyre off to their best start in 20 years and have the goalies, at least in part, to thank. "We know both our goalies are great goaltenders," centre Tyler Bozak said. "James has been doing it here for a long time, given us a chance to win every time he plays and obviously Bernie this year has been doing the same thing. Whichever one of thems in net, were pretty confident that theyre going to do a great job." Its possible that Reimer and Bernier yo-yo back and forth all season with one of them looking like the dominant force until the other gets another opportunity. And as these things go, there will probably be a time when both are struggling. Thats not now, though. Berniers .946 save percentage has him ranked ninth in the NHL, while Reimers .916 has him 24th. Toronto has a 2.29 goals-against average as a team, which is good for fifth. Reimer has started three games to Berniers four, but Reimer said the motivation isnt beating one another. "Its not necessarily the competition," he said. "Were battling it out here, but were all about wins." By that measure, the Leafs cant be anything but ecstatic. Theyre 6-1-0, and the one loss was in a one-goal game against the undefeated Colorado Avalanche. Theres some consternation about the need to play better all around, and the goaltending situation is sure to provide plenty of conversation even as things are going well. Reimer is just blocking it out. "Im sure stories were being written and things were being said, but honestly, Ive said it a bunch, I wasnt listening to anything," he said after beating the Wild. "I just come to the rink and try and work hard and when I get in there try and work my hardest and give the boys a chance. If thats what the storys going to be, that theres still a competition, then thats what its going to be. But for me its just trying to battle out there and give the boys a chance." Thats Reimers job in Carlyles eyes. The 25-year-old gave up a lot of rebounds against Minnesota and conceded there were some technical elements to his game that could have been better. But Carlyle praised Reimer specifically for saves he made on the penalty kill, where the Leafs are quietly humming along at an 88.9-per-cent success rate, third in the league. "He was making the big saves: the first save and the second and more," winger Mason Raymond said. "Thats all you can ask from a goaltender. 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LOUIS -- Known for his game-managing and defensive skills, Yadier Molina made another statement with his bat. MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City sent a strong message to its Premier League title rivals by thrashing 10-man Newcastle 4-0 on Monday, mixing power with panache to mark Manuel Pellegrinis first competitive game in charge in style. Yaya Toure scored the pick of Citys goals in a sparkling display at Etihad Stadium with a sublime 50th-minute free kick, adding to first-half goals by David Silva and Sergio Aguero and a late strike by substitute Samir Nasri. It was a complete performance -- and a powerful response to impressive wins by Manchester United and Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season. It could be some battle for the title this season between Englands leading three clubs. "The most pleasing thing is the way the team played for 90 minutes," said Pellegrini, who often stood motionless in his technical area, hands in his pockets or arms folded as his team dismantled Newcastle. "Not depending if we were winning by one, two or three goals, I think we had from the beginning an attitude to play as an aggressive team, an offensive team. And we continued doing that for 90 minutes. The most important thing is to win. But after, its the way we did it." On this evidence, it could be another season of struggle for Newcastle, which played the second half with 10 men after Steven Taylors straight red card for swinging his arm into the face of Aguero in first-half injury time. Manager Alan Pardew was already without key midfielder Yohan Cabaye, who wasnt included in the squad in the wake of a reported bid of 10 million pounds ($15.65 million) from Arsenal. A chastening day for the visitors was compounded by Argentina midfielder Jonas Gutierrez limping off with a left hamstring injury, making it a disastrous start to the season. Thankfully for Newcastle, the team wont be coming up against such irresistible opponents every week. "A lot of teams are going to struggle here," Pardew said. "They have fantastic talent." City also had an injury setback with captain Vincent Kompany hobbling off in the 70th with a groin injury but it was an otherwise perfect evening for Pellegrini, whose team played with a swagger and fluency rarely seen in the latter days of predecessor Roberto Mancinis tenure. The mild-mannered Chilean has kept a relatively low profile since joining from Malaga in June, wrapping up his off-season spending -- totalling about 90 million pounds ($140 milllion) -- early to give his squad plenty of time to gel.dddddddddddd And it really showed here. Two of his four big-money recruits -- Spain winger Jesus Navas and Brazil midfielder Fernandinho -- made their first league starts and slotted seamlessly into the starting team. Navas, in particular, stood out as part of an attacking unit that ripped through Newcastles over-run defence time and again. The score could have been double figures. "We wanted to show people what we were capable of," said City striker Edin Dzeko, who failed to score the goal his overall performance deserved. "We scored four goals and could have had more. "The new manager has come in and given us something different." By the time Silva headed in from 10 yards in the sixth minute after a cross from Dzeko had been deflected into the playmakers path, City could easily have been two up, only for great saves by Tim Krul to deny Dzeko and Aguero. Dzeko -- clearly revitalized after being on the periphery under Mancini -- played a key role in Agueros goal. He flicked Kompanys pass out of defence toward his strike partner, who got half a yard on Taylor and buried a low, angled shot in off the far post in the 22nd. Taylor was having one of those nights, nearly giving a penalty away for handball off Agueros goal-bound shot, and a hapless performance was further blotted when he swung an arm at Aguero as they challenged a high ball. Referee Andre Marriner had little option but to brandish a red card. "It was completely out of character for him," Pardew said. "He has apologized." After that, it was just a matter of how many for City. Toure curled a sublime free kick from 25 yards into the top corner to make it 3-0, and Nasri, part of a star-studded substitutes bench, ran onto a stray pass from Pablo Zabaleta to beat fellow France international Mathieu Debuchy to the ball and slot home left-footed from just inside the area in the 75th. That put City top of the fledgling standings, above United. Alvaro Negredo, another off-season signing, was brought on for the final 10 minutes. And the Spain striker thought he had grabbed a debut goal, only for his close-range strike to be wrongly ruled out off for offside. When City won the title in the 2011-12 season, the team started with a 4-0 home win -- on that occasion against Swansea. Its start to this season couldnt have been more ominous. ' ' '