EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Michigan was making a mess of another game against a heavy underdog, when Desmond Morgan snatched away Connecticuts chance for a huge upset. Morgans one-handed interception in the fourth quarter swung the game Michigans way and the 15th-ranked Wolverines dodged another potentially embarrassing loss with a 24-21 victory against Connecticut on Saturday night. A week after Michigan needed a last-second stand to hold off Akron at the Big House, Brendan Gibbons kicked a 21-yard field goal with 4:36 left to give the Wolverines (4-0) their first lead of the second half. "Were Michigan. We dont play to everyone elses level and for the last two weeks we have. But were going to step it up," defensive end Frank Clark said. Chandler Whitmer threw two touchdown passes and Ty-Meer Brown returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter that put UConn (0-3) up 21-7. Quarterback Devin Gardner turned the ball over three times for Michigan and the Wolverines also muffed a punt inside their 10 that led to a UConn touchdown. Fitzgerald Toussaint carried the offence with 120 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Toussaint broke a 35-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and scored from 12 yards out right after Morgans pick with 9:56 left. Against the Zips, Gardner threw three interceptions and lost a fumble and the Wolverines came away feeling more relieved than victorious. Gardner wasnt much better this week, going 11 for 23 for 97 yards. He ran for 64 yards and a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter. But his defence had to bail him out, specifically Morgan. After star Connecticut linebacker Yawin Smallwood stopped Gardner short on a fourth-and-2 at the Huskies 22 with 11:23 left in the fourth quarter, the record crowd of 42,704 at Rentschler Field was rocking and starting to believe an upset was in the making. But Morgan made the play of the game and one play later Toussaint swept untouched around the left side to make it 21-21 with 9:49 left. Michigan forced a three-and-out on the next series and got the ball back around midfield, but its drive stalled at the 4 and Gibbons made the short kick to give Michigan a three-point lead with 4:36 left. UConns last drive never had a chance. Michigan pushed the Huskies backward and then they came up a few yards short on a fourth-and-29. UConn, playing without leading receiver Shakim Phillips, managed only 206 yards, 159 passing from Whitmer. The Huskies limped into the most high-profile nonconference home game they have ever played, trying to avoid their first 0-3 start since 2001 and take some heat off third-year coach Paul Pasqualoni. But Michigan had three turnovers in the first half that helped give UConn a 14-7 lead. Turnover No. 4 came on its first possession of the second half and put the Wolverines in a deep hole. Gardner tried to sneak on a third-and-short, but as he slid down the line, he bumped into one of his linemen and the ball popped loose. Brown picked up the ball and had a couple of teammates escort him into the end zone for a 21-7 lead less than 2 minutes into the half. Michigan finally responded with a drive, going 75 yards, the final 35 by Toussaint who made it 21-14 with 5:37 left in the third. The Maize and Blues visit to Rentschler Field was a major event in these parts. Former UConn basketball star Ray Allen made the trip and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who grew up in Michigan and almost played for the Wolverines, also took in the game from the athletic directors box. On the field, though, the Huskies didnt appear to be in any condition to challenge Michigan, having already lost at home to Towson and Maryland -- at least without help, and Michigan gave it to the Huskies. Gardner threw a first-quarter interception deep in UConn territory. He redeemed himself later with a 17-yard touchdown run to give Michigan a 7-0 lead with 1:52 left in the first. UConn ended the quarter with one first down. But Michigan couldnt take advantage as the Huskies offence sputtered, and the Huskies tied it at 7 with 3:54 left in the half when Whitmer found Spencer Parker, a former walk-on, for an 11-yard touchdown pass. The third Michigan turnover of the half, a bouncing punt that hit off the leg of DaMario Jones while he was looking the other way, gave UConn the ball at the Wolverines 9 and two plays later Whitmer floated a 7-yard TD pass to Lyle McCombs that put the Huskies up 14-7. Gardner didnt complete a pass in the second quarter and for the second straight week Michigan looked disjointed against a heavy underdog. The Wolverines will go into their off week undefeated -- if not satisfied with their play -- and much to work on . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. 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But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach.As might be anticipated, given my gig here at TSN, I spend lots of hours poring over numbers, trying to forecast the NHL season and yet, for all those efforts, there are surprises. A lot of times its because percentages (shooting, save, on-ice shooting) are finding their way back to more normal levels, but sometimes players get opportunities that just werent easy to see before the season started. Leaving out injuries, because I dont pretend to hold that psychic power, here are some of the seasons biggest surprises for each team. I did not expect... ...C Nick Bonino to be the third-leading scorer on the Ducks, behind Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. I projected Teemu Selanne to be third, but he was way back and I still had virtually every other secondary Ducks forward pegged ahead of Bonino, who had 33 points in 112 career games coming into the season. ...RW Reilly Smith to be the Bruins leading goal-scorer, with 15, through 48 games (passed by Brad Marchand Monday afternoon). Smith had decent underlying numbers as a rookie, but he scored three goals in 37 games last year, so I figured that he might be an okay third-liner for the Bruins if everything broke right. Turns out hes been a much more valuable contributor. ...the Sabres to open the season with a pair of 18-year-olds on defence. A team that didnt have much reason to expect a winning season (I ranked them 29th in the preseason), thought that their best course of action would be to have 2013 first-round picks Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov taking regular turns on the blueline. That experiment was eventually abandoned, as the Sabres made organizational changes, but that decision -- no matter how promising those defencemen could be in the future -- was a puzzler. ...D Kris Russell, who had spent his career as a protected, third-pair defenceman, to be so solid while playing more than 23 minutes per game for the Calgary Flames. 26-year-old Russell will be an unrestricted free agent at seasons end, but looks like one that the Flames should keep. ...the complete collapse of LW Jiri Tlusty. Sure, he wasnt going to keep scoring on 19.7% of his shots, like he did while scoring 23 goals in 48 games last season, but Tlusty opened the year with Eric Staal and Alexander Semin on the top line and hes since plummeted down the depth chart since and has six goals and 11 points in 40 games. ...this years offensive surge (45 points in 51 games) from Blackhawks D Duncan Keith, who may be having the best year of a great career. Could have gone with Antti Raantas solid play in goal when he was pressed into action, but Im trying avoid the injury thing, and while I expected better from Bryan Bickell, its not a huge surprise that he couldnt hold his spot on Jonathan Toews wing. ...that D Andre Benoit would be playing top-four minutes on the Colorado Avalanche blueline. A 30-year-old who had played 41 career NHL games before he was signed as a free agent to a one-year, $900,000 contract, Benoit has logged 20:41 per game and ranks second among Avs defencemen with 18 points in 47 games. ...this kind of breakout from Blue Jackets C Ryan Johansen. Oh, it was always a possibility, because hes a fourth overall pick that has shown flashes, but he struggled last year and was a healthy scratch in the AHL playoffs, so I did not foresee his sudden emergence as a bona fide No. 1 centre. ...Stars LW Ryan Garbutt to be tied for fourth on the team in goals, with 10 in 41 games. Garbutt, 28, had five goals in 56 NHL games prior to this season, but hes become an effective, workmanlike player who generates shots on goal at a rate similar to some of the top goal-scoring wingers in the league. ...Red Wings C Stephen Weiss to be such a disaster. His 2013 season was a mess, but he cut his season short for wrist surgery, so it was easy enough to write off four points and a minus-13 in 17 games as something that would be corrected once Weiss was healthy. With four points in 26 games this year, Weiss has obliterated that theory and now leaves the Red Wings in a tough spot, staring at $20.5-million over the next four years for a once-productive player who has eight points in 43 games since the start of last season. ...the defence and goaltending for the Edmonton Oilers to be so terrible. Since Devan Dubnyk has moved on, lets focus the attention on a team-wide defensive issue. The Oilers have a shot deficit with virtually anyone on the ice (save rookie D Martin Marincin, who has played 13 games) which, combined with subpar goaltending, leads to another lottery pick. ...stalled progress for second-year Panthers LW Jonathan Huberdeau, who had a promising rookie season, but has seen his shots per game collapse from 2.33 to 1.53 in Year Two, and hes sitting with 20 points through 47 games after tallying 31 points in 48 games last season. ...Kings rookie RW Tyler Toffoli to have such difficulty sticking in a regular role. After scoring 11 points in 22 late-season and playoff games last season, Toffoli seemed a good fit for a Kings team that could use more production from their forwards. For whatever reason, and it cant be entirely based on point production, Toffoli has been returned to the AHL, where he has 10 goals and 16 points in 13 games. ...anything significant from Wild G Josh Harding. No, I did not expect the goaltender who has been a solid career backup, but played just five games last season because of MS, to deliver what was probably the best goaltending performance over the first half of the season. Health remains an issue for Harding, but his spectacular play this year (1.65 GAA, .933 SV%) exceeds all possible expectations. ...that the Montreal Canadiens, who could certainly use an offenssive boost, would choose to keep LW Alex Galchenyuks minutes under wraps.dddddddddddd The sophomore winger ranks third on the Habs in 5-on-5 points-per-minute, yet he ranks eighth among Montreal forwards in ice time per game. ...G Marek Mazanec, a 22-year-old who had played 41 Czech League games over the past three seasons, to lead the Predators in goaltender games played. I know Ive tried to avoid injury situations, but none of the Predators scoring (good or bad) counts as shocking and even if Pekka Rinne was going to miss time with injury, Carter Hutton or Magnus Hellberg would have been my picks to play more minutes. ...that, as of the third week of January, G Martin Brodeur would still have more games played than Cory Schneider. Its not altogether shocking, given Brodeurs importance to the franchise, but rare is the team (especially one on the playoff bubble) that would have the goaltender with a .905 save percentage playing more games than the goaltender with a .924 save percentage, especially when the goalie with the .924 save percentage had such a vastly superior save percentage in the previous three seasons. ...LW Josh Bailey to fall back the way he has, from 11 goals in 38 games last season to four in 46 games this year, but the bigger surprise for me is how RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard was so quickly ejected from the lineup after a slow start that was due, in part to his own 7.8% shooting percentage, as well as a low on-ice shooting percentage that would have been bound to bounce back. ...Rangers rookie LW Chris Kreider to be so productive after he stumbled as a rookie pro (23 points in 48 AHL games, three points in 23 NHL games) last season. This year, Kreider has earned a regular turn on a scoring line and is delivering strong underlying stats too. ...that Kyle Turris would be the highest-scoring Senators centre, even with a relatively-healthy Jason Spezza on board. Of course, the expectation was that RW Bobby Ryan was going to play alongside Spezza, but it has turned out that the line of Clarke MacArthur, Turris and Ryan has really been the Sens No. 1 unit. ...G Steve Mason to have an above-average save percentage. After four subpar years in Columbus, it was difficult to put too much stock in Masons seven games (and .944 SV%) with the Flyers late last season. Now, Mason has been in steady decline since the beginning of December, but hes still fared better than expected overall. I suppose honourable mention here could go to C Vincent Lecavaliers decline -- his points per game (0.51) is his lowest since his rookie season, 1998-1999. ...the offensive breakthrough of Coyotes C Martin Hanzal, who has 34 points in 45 games, one off his career-high, set as a rookie in 2007-2008. They say it takes big forwards some time to reach their potential, but Hanzal is scoring at a much better rate than in any of his previous six NHL seasons. ...the season that Penguins D Matt Niskanen is having. While it would also be fair enough to point to LW Chris Kunitz, who I didnt peg for a point-per-game scorer, a healthy Sidney Crosby opens up the number of reasonable possibilities. For Niskanen, he has 26 points and is a league-leading plus-25, a great showing in a contract year. ...Sharks RW Joe Pavelski to be second in the league with 27 goals. Pavelskis been a terrific two-way player pretty much since coming into the league in 2006-2007, but when the Sharks started losing bodies up front, its been Pavelski who has carried the day, scoring 18 goals in the past 20 games. He needs five in the remaining 32 games to set a new career high. ...24 goals in 37 games from Blues LW Alexander Steen. Like Pavelski, a strong two-way player, Steen got off to a ridiculous start with linemates David Backes and T. J. Oshie. It was slowed down by Steens concussion, but hes back and his next goal will be a career best. ...Lightning G Ben Bishop to be Vezina contender. Sure, it was reasonable enough to think that Bishop could beat out Anders Lindback for the starting job, but what kind of expectations can you put on a 27-yar-old that has played 45 career NHL games. Honourable mention to C Valtteri Filppula, who has been far better than I anticipated after a down year in Detroit last season. ...Maple Leafs C Tyler Bozak to be closing in a point-per-game. While my projection for C Nazem Kadris decline is within reason (hes below my points-per-game projection), Bozak putting up 23 points in 27 games is a major leap over previous seasons. Hes doing it with unsustainable percentages and, due to injury, its a smaller sample size, but I readily admit that I wouldnt have forecasted this kind of production for Bozak. ...any kind of contribution from Canucks C Mike Santorelli. After all, he is a 28-year-old who had four points in 34 NHL games last season and 15 points in 94 games over the previous two seasons. Of course, that would be the guy who has 28 points in 49 gams, playing more than 18 minutes a night for Vancouver this season. ...Washingtons goaltending situation to suddenly become such a mess, but Im going to go with surprising production from RW Joel Ward, who ranks (distant) second on the Capitals with 13 goals. His career-high is 17 goals and had 14 goals in 112 games through his first two seasons with the Capitals. ...that Jets C Olli Jokinen would be a productive player again. He had 14 points in 45 games last season and turned 35 in December. Hes not a world-beater with 31 points in 50 games this year, but its still unexpected. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys Ray Ban Outlet Michael Kors Outlet Michael Kors Sale Cheap Michael Kors ' ' '