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TORONTO - Plagued by injuries to its backline, Toronto FC continues to struggle on defence. While plenty of statistics illustrate Torontos turnaround in the second year of manager Ryan Nelsens tenure, stopping goals is not one of them. Toronto (9-8-6) ranks 15th in the 19-team league in goals against, conceding an average of 1.57 per outing (36 goals in 23 games). Last year, the 6-17-11 club averaged 1.38 per contest (47 goals in 34 games). Injuries have contributed to the frailty in the back. But Nelsen has lamented soft goals of late and pointed to the backline being left without adequate help from the players in front of it. "Look, I dont like conceding goals," Nelsen, a hard-nosed defender during his playing days, said after practice Tuesday. "I dont want to concede goals. The goals that were conceding, theyre goals that are very avoidable. "But were also creating a lot more chances. Were a lot more of an attacking threat. We always look like were going to score. So you have to take a wee bit of the good with the bad and hopefully marry the two. "What weve got to understand is that theres going to be times in the game where you have to knuckle down, you have to really defend. Youre not going to be able to have the ball and possess it all the time, and always look to attack." The goal is to withstand the opposition pressure and then counter-attack. "At the moment, were not seeing out those little periods (under pressure)," Nelsen added. Scoring is indeed up, despite assorted injuries to England striker Jermain Defoe. Toronto is averaging 1.43 goals a game, compared to 0.85 last year. But Torontos desire to counter-attack can leave gaps as midfielders and forwards look to set the scene for an onslaught on the other end. At times, that has meant leaving the defence exposed with the Toronto players in front of them expecting their backline to win the ball and send it forward. One half of the Toronto lineup is poised to attack, like a relay sprinter waiting for the man behind him to pass the baton. If they do, the passing of Michael Bradley and others can lead to scoring chances as Toronto slices open the opposing defence. But if the handover fails, the Toronto defenders can be left stranded and normally reliable goalie Joe Bendik exposed. "What weve got to understand is that if somebody gets in trouble, we need to help out," said Nelsen. "Its not just the backline, its the midfield as well. And the midfield need help from certain areas, the strikers need help in certain areas. We cant just rely on hoping that in a one versus one battle we will win it 10 out of 10 times." Nelsen believes its just a matter of reinforcing the message. The TFC boss faces more challenges this weekend with captain Steve Caldwell, the clubs defensive lynchpin, and fullback Justin Morrow both out as the New England Revolution (9-12-3) come to town Saturday. With the Revolution just three points behind Toronto in the standings, its a crucial Eastern Conference matchup. Caldwell lasted just 22 minutes in his return to action on the weekend against the Chicago Fire before re-injuring his quad muscle. Morrow, another of Torontos defensive rocks this season, left in the 58th minute with a hamstring problem. Nelsen says Caldwell, who missed seven games in the first go-round with the injury, will be out for a couple of weeks with Morrow expected to be sidelined three to four weeks. Asked if the injury situation may hasten a move to bring in help, Nelsen replied: "Maybe." The good news is that versatile defender-midfielder Warren Creavalle has recovered from his own hamstring issue. Caldwell, who has played 14 of Torontos 23 league games, and fullback Mark Bloom (17) have both been sidelined through injury on a backline that seems to get one player back and then lose another. Centre back Doneil Henry has missed games through both injury and suspension. He has also sat out in favour of athletic rookie Nick Hagglund, perhaps to give him a break after conceding a string of penalties. Nelsen has used Hagglund and Brazilian Jackson, normally a winger, at fullback when needed. Bradley Orr is also comfortable there but his veteran savvy is diminished by lack of mobility. Young Canadian fullback Ashtone Morgan and midfielder-defender Jeremy Hall seem so far down the depth chart youd need a GPS to find them. Nelsen, however, says everyone — including Morgan, who has seen just one minute of league action this season — has an opportunity. "When one door kind of closes, another one opens," Nelsen said. Noting Toronto is 2-1-1 in August, Nelsen says his club is on the right track. But Toronto, which has given up eight goals in the last three games, needs to close its defensive door if it wants to stop dropping points as the business end of the season looms. 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It was a move of some time in the making. “He hasnt thrown well, clearly some guys are being used more than him right now and the only way to get out of this funk is to pitch,” said general manager Alex Anthopoulos.SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose coach Todd McLellan would seem to have plenty to be pleased about after watching his team post consecutive shutouts to open the season.Instead, he wanted to dwell on an inept power play that failed to convert on eight chances and a sloppy second half of the game in the home opener.Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tomas Hertl scored first-period goals, and Alex Stalock made 30 saves to give the Sharks a 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.People who didnt see the game, theyre going to say, Boy, the Sharks are off to a pretty good start, McLellan said. But that was not a well-played game on our behalf by any means. I thought we played a good 26, 27 minutes. Then after that we werent close to being the better team. I thought our power play absolutely sucked the life out of our team today. Thats probably as weak as its been in a long, long time.The Sharks retooled their power-play units this season after the loss of quarterback Dan Boyle to have two more evenly matched groups instead of loading up the first unit. Neither group generated many scoring opportunities, with just six shots in 15:41 of power-play time.The puck was bouncing a little bit, forward Patrick Marleau said. Passes werent on the tape. I think we were trying to be too fancy. Theyve got some good penalty killers over there and get sticks on passes, but I think we need to funnel more pucks to the net and try to get those ugly goals.Marleau added an insurance goal late in the second period in the Sharks home opener. San Jose began the season with a 4-0 win behind Antti Niemi against defending champion Los Angeles and followed it up with Stalocks third career shutout.The Sharks joined this years Minnesota Wild team as the first to open the season with consecutive shutouts since Florida did it in 2005-06.Obviously the hard work we put in early on is paying off, and were having a little success early, Stalock said. The penalty kill has been sharp early and thats huge. Second chances, they havent had many, so its been good.Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves for the JJets, who came out flat following a 6-2 win at Arizona in the season opener on Thursday.dddddddddddd Winnipeg was hampered without top line forward Evander Kane, who hurt his knee in the opener.We didnt have a very good start, forward Michael Frolik said. If you can survive the first 10 minutes in this building you can be successful. We didnt do that. We have to learn and then come back with a better start.After spoiling Los Angeles banner-raising ceremony with a win over the Kings on opening night, the Sharks got off to another strong start against the Jets as they try to bounce back after becoming the fourth NHL team to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games.San Jose scored twice in the opening 5:12, with Vlasic getting his first of the season when his point shot deflected off Winnipeg defenceman Mark Stuart and past Pavelec.Then the Sharks capitalized on a pretty transition play with Joe Pavelski sending a pass from his own zone to Thornton at centre ice. Thornton then quickly fed a racing Hertl, who beat Pavelec for his first of the season to make it 2-0.We just, maybe, overcompensated with respect to their speed and gave them five feet of ice, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. We were fearful of getting burned and thats when you get burned.The Sharks outshot the Jets 15-3 in the period and controlled the play throughout the period. San Jose was a bit sloppy after that but Stalock managed to keep Winnipeg off the scoreboard and Marleau capitalized on a misplay for his goal with 29 seconds left in second period.Zach Bogosian had trouble playing Brent Burns clearing attempt at the blue line. Matt Nieto got to the loose puck and sprung Marleau for a breakaway. Marleau beat Pavelec for his second goal in as many games. The Sharks didnt generate another shot on goal in the game.NOTES: Kane will miss at least two weeks after a knee-on-knee collision with teammate Mark Scheifele on Thursday. He will be re-evaluated after that time. ... San Jose F Mike Brown left in the second period after blocking a shot with his hand. ' ' '