TORONTO — Because the objective horn sounded for the third time Tuesday evening, Craig Berube’s frustration started effervescent over, the Toronto Maple Leafs coach standing again, arms on hips, as he watched the wreck enjoying out in entrance of him. By the point the 40-minute mark rolled round, the 1000’s packing the Scotiabank Area stands had joined in, raining boos down on the house aspect.
Within the wake of the mess — a slipshod 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators that felt prefer it ended 41 seconds into the evening — the coach’s opinion hadn’t shifted a lot.
“We acquired out-skated. They wished it greater than us. That’s the underside line,” Berube stated from the bowels of the world post-game. Requested if the drubbing was the worst loss his membership has endured since his Maple Leafs tenure started, the previous Stanley Cup champ didn’t mince phrases.
“Fairly shut. I imply, it wasn’t good,” Berube continued. “The opposite video games we misplaced, there have been completely different conditions. However tonight, we didn’t have management of the sport in any respect.”
That was clear sufficient to anybody who caught round to soak up all 60 minutes of the lifeless exhibiting. It was probably simply as clear to those that caught solely the primary minute, which noticed a botched Maple Leafs offensive-zone sequence spur a three-on-one the opposite approach, culminating in a Josh Norris objective earlier than the followers had even settled into their seats.
The opposite 59 minutes didn’t supply a lot else. For each bobbled Maple Leafs cross, the Senators supplied up a crisp, measured sequence. For each ill-fated burst from one of many house aspect’s huge canine, Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle weaved by means of the impartial zone, danced round a number of blue jerseys, and mounted a extra significant try on Toronto’s cage.
You’d be hard-pressed to level to a single second during which Toronto put collectively any semblance of actual, sustained strain, or mounted an assault with conviction. Whereas on the opposite aspect, their provincial rivals appeared poised, collected and harmful.
“We must be disenchanted,” ex-captain John Tavares stated from the house aspect’s locker room post-game. “I imply, we are able to say we are able to wash this one, however I believe it’s disappointing. The best way we’ve been enjoying over the previous week, (we had) an excellent probability to hold it over after a pair days, an excellent work day yesterday, divisional opponent. Good for us that we get to get proper again at it tomorrow and get our sport again on monitor. As a result of clearly tonight was disappointing.”
Fellow veteran Chris Tanev — who’s 17 video games into his personal Maple Leafs tenure after a spell with the contending Dallas Stars final season — summed it up much more merely.
“They have been sooner than us and outworked us. You’re not going to win enjoying like that,” he stated. “It’s on us. Clearly not able to play. Proper from the primary shift of the sport, they have been sooner than us and out-competed us.”
Even placing apart the early gaffe, there was nonetheless ample alternative to regroup, refocus and get again into the lean. And each cause to imagine the group suiting up for this one had sufficient to take action, the Auston Matthews-less Leafs coming into Tuesday evening on a three-game win streak.
“It’s 82 video games. Typically a group scores early. It’s how we’ve acquired to reply,” Tavares continued. “We’ve carried out a reasonably good job to date this season staying with our sport, constructing momentum, discovering methods to show the tide, carry play, begin to get some rhythm, be actually related shift to shift.
“It wasn’t even near that right now.”
Whereas a one-night write-off it could be, there have been bigger-picture tendencies that hung over the disappointing loss too, tops amongst them a scarcity of five-on-five scoring that’s been a difficulty even when the wins have come. Although the holes have been papered over by some special-teams success right here and there, an evening like this one merely noticed the membership dig themselves deeper.
“We didn’t have the puck. So, it’s fairly powerful to attain any targets whenever you don’t have the puck. They’d the puck the entire sport just about, till the third interval,” Berube stated of Tuesday’s stumble. “We wish to rating extra five-on-five, for positive. However on the identical time, we are able to’t sabotage the sport, like we did instantly within the sport (tonight) — we give them a three-on-one they usually rating. That’s not going to work.
“We’ve acquired to generate extra makes an attempt on the web, with folks on the web, creating offence that approach. We didn’t do a ok job tonight. General, it was simply not an excellent sport.”
On the root of the difficulty, not less than on this one, was a gaggle that appeared disconnected, out of sync.
“Simply disjointed,” stated Tavares. “We weren’t actually capable of construct momentum all through the evening. … It begins with simply the way in which we would have liked to execute and play all around the ice, as a substitute of simply worrying in regards to the offence. Simply the execution, the extent of construction and element. You then begin to join your sport by means of all three zones, you’re capable of exit higher, you get by means of the impartial zone properly. You get on the forecheck, construct offensive-zone sequences, get pucks to the online. And clearly you must make it troublesome on the goalie, getting our bodies there and discovering screens, and second and third alternatives.
“It’s a protracted season. Every evening, you’ve acquired to search out methods to construct your sport, whether or not you’ve gotten it otherwise you don’t, whether or not it’s going properly or it’s not going properly. … Tonight we acquired away from that.”
The Maple Leafs received’t want to attend lengthy for an additional crack at it, the membership heading south for a date with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday evening. After a seemingly easily-diagnosed unravelling, the recipe for a return to the win column in that one is obvious:
“Get again to how we have been working, and competing,” stated Tanev. “We’re not going to win video games if groups are sooner than us and tougher than us.”
