The Toronto Maple Leafs dug themselves into a deep hole this past week after a decent road trip, and immediately squandered any momentum they had with four losses in a row on home ice, the most recent coming against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon.
What made Sunday’s loss even more painful from a fan’s perspective was the fact that they came out with intent at the start of the game. But, their first two mistakes ended up in the back of their net, and they seemed to struggle in every facet of the game from that point forward. Jake McCabe, who gave the puck away on the play that led to the Avalanche’s first goal, said that the Leafs are fighting themselves with the puck lately and that little things such as winning battles can be enough to spark urgency levels among the group.
“It’s contagious when a guy wins a puck battle,” McCabe said when asked how a struggling unit can generate urgency. “The next guy’s going to win a puck battle, and it kind of goes along the lines. I find that contagious mindset of, whether it’s just winning puck battles, or shooting the puck, small details, it adds up over time.”
McCabe then went on to confirm what most people watching the game were thinking – the Leafs are not playing with confidence right now.
“Confidence comes with that,” McCabe continued. “You can tell that we’re not playing with a ton of confidence, so, you know, it can be fleeting at times. You’ve got to generate it when you don’t have it.”
Despite the horrid stretch of hockey coming at arguably the worst time for it all season, McCabe said that the belief in the room remains high, and that leaning on that belief is the first step to getting it back.
“We’ve got a lot of really good players in here,” McCabe said. “We’ve shown it this year, just came off a good stretch, frankly, before this home stand, so we’ve just got to get back to it quickly.”
While belief is indeed the biggest ingredient in a team’s success, the Leafs are going to need to start relying on results more than belief if they want to make the playoffs this season.
PRESENTED BY OFF THE ROSTER
Introducing Off The Roster—Toronto Sports, Unfiltered! Toronto sports fans, your new favourite conversation has arrived. Hosted by Cabbie Richards, Lindsay Dunn, and Dan Riccio, Off The Roster dives into the city’s legendary plays, brutal trades, OG jerseys, celebrity tweets, and everything in between. Raw, fun, and totally unfiltered, this is Toronto sports like you’ve never heard it before. Tune in live every weekday morning on the Nation Network YouTube channel, or catch episodes wherever you stream podcasts. Proudly brought to you by our founding partner, PROLINE. Off The Roster—the new sound in the 6ix.