The Toronto Maple Leafs season continues to spiral out of control. Toronto lost on home ice against in-province rival the Ottawa Senators by a final score of 5-2 on Saturday night. Ottawa looked like they played with more pride in the game than the Maple Leafs did.

It feels like time is running out on Toronto’s season already. They have played 60 games this season and are currently in last place in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs have a 27-24-9 record with 63 points. They are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

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Toronto superstar Auston Matthews spoke to the media after the loss against Ottawa. They have not played well since returning from the Olympics break.

Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews Calls Out Team After Loss

Matthews spoke to the media after the 5-2 loss against the Senators. He told Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, “We have to have more pride in our play. Nobody’s quitting. It’s an honour to play in this league, and it’s something that not many people get to do. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, where we are in the standings, we have to go out and put in our best effort, especially on home ice.

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We have to play for one another no matter what. Just bad, just fairly embarrassing, to be honest with you.” Toronto will be back in game action on Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers. This will be a must-win situation for the Maple Leafs. If they lose against the Flyers, there are going to be a lot of uncomfortable conversations about what Toronto should do before the NHL trade deadline on Friday.

Matthews just won the gold medal for Team U.S.A. in the Olympics. Now, he is faced with the harsh reality that the Maple Leafs will not make the playoffs this year potentially and fans in Toronto are not going to take that well. Matthews is correct that this team will need to play with more pride, but the truth is he is far from the problem with this hockey squad.

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the NHL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.