Maple Leafs Full Media Availability | Post Game vs. Columbus Blue Jackets | October 29, 2025

Maple Leafs Full Media Availability | Post Game vs. Columbus Blue Jackets | October 29, 2025

all around just a sense of maybe how your night went, how it felt first game in. I know it wasn’t the result, but how did you assess the way you played? Yeah, I mean uh it felt good to to be in the lineup. Uh been here for a little while and uh it’s not easy to uh not play for a long time like that, but um I was looking forward to it and uh just enjoyed it. Uh first game in the NHL and in a year, so it felt really good and uh really happy uh that I played tonight and uh it went well. So pretty pumped. Maybe take us through your goal. It was kind of an interesting one. Yeah, I saw the puck like kind of in the air and kind of waited a little bit to for it to go down and got a got a got a stick on it a little bit. Just got lucky and glad it went in. The physical side is very much a part of your game. How did that feel? Uh felt good. Uh I feel I felt like in the first took me a little little while to get going, but after that uh found the rhythm a little bit and uh physical play has been part of my game for for a while now and uh I’m always going to going to bring it. So um pretty happy how it went. After you get the goal, you know, looks like the the ice is starting to tilt in your favor and then it kind of goes back the other way. What do you think was the difference in that second period where uh a lot a lot of like up and down? Uh they had a couple on men rushes and they they capitalized on it. We had a lot we had a lot of good looks too and we just couldn’t uh get it in. But um yeah, they just they just capitalize on their chance and we didn’t and I think there was a difference tonight. Was it more about what they were doing or something you weren’t doing as a group? No, I think we they had too many like I said onman rushes and uh they capitalized on it. So I think that was a difference tonight. Austin, what’ll be uh the takeaway or where you saw this one get away from your group tonight? You know, I think uh I don’t think it’s like an effort thing. I think, you know, guys worked hard. I thought we competed. I thought we had a lot of oz on time. Um just, you know, when breakdowns happen and mistakes happen, they just are um you know, too big of breakdowns and too big of a mistakes. We’re giving up too many oddman rushes and the puck’s just going in the back of our nets. So, I mean, that’s on us to obviously correct those and support each other all throughout the ice and not give up those um you know, bad mistakes like that cuz you know, you play good teams and it ends up in the back of your net. But um you know, I think it’s more of a cerebral thing than an effort thing. I called the timeout after the first might have been looking at it, but also had a message for you guys on the bench. Did you kind of feel like early on that maybe he was trying to send the message that it was going in a in a certain direction? Uh, no. They were just checking for offsides. When you talk about your assessment as you just did, I wonder is that a is that a major overhaul in terms of fixing that or is that just some, you know, tweaks here and there? How do you see, you know, a solution in that? I think it’s just been connected throughout, you know, all five guys on the ice. I mean, um, like I said, I mean, the effort’s there. I think guys are competing, especially over the last week. I think we’ve kind of found our identity, but when mistakes happen, they’re just egregious ones. So, um, you know, that’s, like I said, that’s a cerebral thing. That’s something that, you know, as all five guys on the ice need to be together as one and support each other. When a guy pinches, we need support coming from F3. Um, and vice versa. Just being more connected throughout the whole ice and and not giving up these, you know, threeon ones, threeon twos, twoon ones. Um, you know, that end up in the back of your net. It’s not the way he probably wanted to get it tonight, but John gets his 500 in from the NHL, I guess. like what does that mean for for you as a teammate to see? Yeah, it’s it’s amazing. Obviously uh can’t say enough great things about Johnny and the person that he is, the teammate um the professional, the guy that you know shows up to the rink every day and um one of the hardest workers, takes care of himself in all different ways. So um feel very lucky to you know call him a great friend, a teammate and a guy that all of us are uh extremely happy for. Um you know tonight it’s a big accomplishment. Did this one in Europe get away from the group tonight? Uh just when we have breakdowns are just really significant and uh leads to really high quality chances for them and obviously a lot of good shooters and uh find the open man and pick corners. So you know we had a number of looks ourselves had a lot of puck time but when we have our breakdowns are they’re really significant with these breakdowns. Is that something that from your vantage point is a is a tweak here and there? Is it a is a major overhaul? How do you guys kind of look at a solution there? It’s just cons consistency, shift to shift, and all five guys being connected, playing together, and you know, there’s going to be times you don’t have momentum, and you’re going to have to check and find momentum again, execute a little better. But, you know, we’re just a a little bit too uh just disconnected and just loose just when things uh you know, open up. just our ability to recover um defend and and and then kind of get things turned the right way and have to protect the right parts of the ice. Um it’s hurting us obviously that they’re doing as well. The opposition they came in with a lot of Yeah, they’re we know they’re really quick and a lot of speed and you know we uh clearly have to do a better job of uh matching that being above and slowing them down. Um, and it’s just, you know, when there’s uh when there’s a breakdown or there’s a turnover, just the way we’re insulated right now, we’re just a little bit uh just a little bit loose and disconnected and and it just especially a team with that that amount of speed and their ability to make plays, it doesn’t take much uh to uh take advantage of that. What do you think has to be done to kind of correct that? Is it just more reps with the same guys? Is it just kind of going back to the drawing board? Like what do you think? It’s just it’s just the gr to me. It’s the grind of the season. It’s game to game, shift to shift, the lot of level of detail um that that that’s just needed and uh um the execution that uh uh that you need whether whether you know the puck plays are great or um you know maybe you don’t have your legs uh you know some nights it’s it’s just bearing down and and finding a way to kind of work through uh the challenges and when other teams make pushes and makes plays and do good things or when you have breakdowns our ability to recover and and uh um you know stop things from rolling downhill against us. I know you’re more focused on the result of the game, but to get the 500th goal, like what is how will you look back on on your career in that moment? It’s really hard to uh really hard to um comment on it right now. I understand the question and appreciate it, but um you play this game to win as a team and it’s all about the team and you know, you’d like to you’d like to have it have made a more of an impact in the game, but uh for sure in the days ahead and moments ahead, I’ll I’ll uh appreciate it more. Obviously, a lot’s gone into it and a lot of support along the way from from so many people, mainly from my teammates and coaches and uh people close to me and my family. So, what is maybe one thing that you will look at, point to about this game? Um, for me it’s just complicating the game at times tonight and we got burnt on it. Like you know, we forced pucks we didn’t need to turned them over and you know they came at us. Like we talked about they’re a talented good rush team and they capitalized on our opportunities. I think that more than anything that’s what it boils down to. Um just felt like we were um disconnected at times getting through the neutral zone and it cost us. Is it particularly disappointing in that second period after Blae scores it looks like you’re pushing the pace. Yeah, for sure. And then, you know, we we make a mistake and it’s, you know, it’s in our net again. So, we got to clean those up. And uh you know, just I thought there was there was a lot of good things tonight, too. Um, you know, we had a lot of good opportunities, a lot of ozone time, chances. We didn’t capitalize on them well enough, obviously, but, you know, if you don’t take care of the puck and you don’t take care of uh, you know, certain teams tendencies, you can get burnt by it. And that’s what happened tonight. Where are you with the execution when when the team does have the offense and when they have the Well, I mean, I thought it it we did a lot of good things with it tonight. Um, could we execute better? Yeah, there’s some plays that, you know, we just miss on or they’re not clean enough, you know, uh, for sure. But it’s not from, you know, getting the opportunities and and working to get them. I thought, you know, we had a number of those and we had, you know, a lot of attempts, a lot of shots on net, but at the same time, like I talked about, we um force things at times where we don’t need to. Um, and that’s where the disconnect comes from and and they pay they made us pay. How Steven Lorent? Yeah. I’m not sure right now. Does it be evaluated still? Yes. We heard your players use the same words disconnected in some breakdowns. Is that a major overhaul or is that some tweaks or attention to detail or that connected? How do you recapture? Well, it’s attention to detail and understanding the situations and, you know, positioning where you should be and you know and we just didn’t have it tonight. We didn’t have it enough tonight. Um and that’s what you and we got we got burnt for it. After the first goal looked like you were looking to get by some time to challenge that possibly. But um but then in that moment you’re also talking to your team. Are you kind of just trying to get things back away from that particular moment or Yeah, for sure. And just you know, let’s let’s go here. Like I didn’t think uh kind of on our heels the first little bit in that period. Um, so you know, I challenged I mean I called a timeout to take closer look at that goal. It’s it was really close uh and too close to challenge.

Head Coach and players speak with the media following the Leafs’ 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

0:00 Samuel Blais
1:39 Auston Matthews
3:56 John Tavares
6:58 Craig Berube

SUBSCRIBE: https://tml.hockey/3FvgtoG
FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/torontomapleleafs/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapleleafs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs
#Leafs #LeafsForever #TorontoMapleLeafs