\u2014 Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n They won more often last season, but the underlying numbers suggested that things would level out for them soon enough. They often looked unable to play cohesively for entire games. The Leafs managed just 22 shots against the Capitals. They can\u2019t continue to be outshot, just as they were last season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had our looks, too,\u201d Leafs coach Craig Berube said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t capitalize on some of them and made a couple mistakes in (the defensive zone) in the third period.\u201d<\/p>\n Their hold on games last season often felt tenuous, just as it did against the Capitals. They had to rely on elite goaltending too often last season. Sure enough, Woll looked as if he was going to steal the Leafs another win Friday before the Capitals picked the Leafs apart in their own zone.<\/p>\n \n The Maple Leafs allowed three straight goals against in the third period Friday. (Scott Taetsch \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Can this team keep looking at both the results and the way it plays and be convinced things will turn out for the better this season?<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s desperate overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team out of the playoff picture, only provided a glimpse of hope. Their loss to the Capitals made a more stark reality painfully evident: The Leafs need to make changes to turn their season around.<\/p>\n What can they realistically do?<\/p>\n It might feel like panic for the Leafs to make drastic structural and system-based changes midway through the season. But the Leafs partly blamed the way they played in their own end for their loss against the Capitals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had periods where we did a good job, but (the Leafs had) too many turnovers, too many chances against. We did an OK job hanging in there, but ultimately, obviously, I think we gave up too much, and that\u2019s what happens,\u201d Morgan Rielly said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have got to have that backdoor sealed up and then (the Capitals) got roaming around on that next goal, and again a seam pass got us again,\u201d Berube said. \u201cSo just a couple seam passes there that we have got to be better on. We have got to have better sticks and better coverage. And we have got to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n If this disappointing season is on the Leafs\u2019 coaching staff, they\u2019ll need to make serious changes to how the Leafs defend to give them a chance of making the playoffs.<\/p>\n Is it too late to rip up the blueprint for their approach to the game, especially in their own zone?<\/p>\n Maybe the change should emerge in the form of urgency. After the loss to the Capitals, there was very little of the fury or frustration from the Leafs that you might expect from a team that remains languishing in the Eastern Conference basement.<\/p>\n Or maybe the change needs to come in who sees the ice. Berube showed he could make lineup changes he hasn\u2019t in the past by making Max Domi a healthy scratch against the Capitals. That was the first time Domi had been scratched since arriving in Toronto in 2023. That move came after Berube against the Blue Jackets scratched Dakota Joshua, who has been disappointing in his first season in Toronto. Berube has scratched Matias Maccelli throughout the season, and if his turnovers during the game were any indication, Berube might scratch his winger again Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/p>\n Should it end there? Could Berube continue to move through his lineup, sending players to the press box to light a fire under them? Is that a change that could even pay off for them?<\/p>\n Maybe there must be an admission among Leafs management members that the roster as assembled needs serious upgrades to become a playoff team. Early-season trades are rare and are often difficult for general managers to pull off. And the Leafs\u2019 management is undoubtedly aware it is lacking in movable assets to try to upgrade the team. But without William Nylander \u2014 who was out due to illness, according to Berube \u2014 the Leafs\u2019 lineup was simply unable to keep up with a Capitals team that seemed to wake up from its own slumber only in the third period.<\/p>\n Again, zoom out: Have the Leafs actually dominated in a win against a playoff team this season? They had an opportunity to build off a win over the Blue Jackets and use that momentum to dominate the Capitals. But the gap between the assembled rosters was obvious.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now 24 games into the season and this roster \u2014 playing the way it does \u2014 doesn\u2019t look like the playoff team the Leafs want to be.<\/p>\n Finally, teams that continue to underperform come late November are often associated with a coaching change. To be clear: For much of the first two periods against the Capitals, the Leafs looked capable of playing the way Berube wants them to. The disconnect between what Berube wants and what the Leafs do was not as stark as it has been over the last few weeks.<\/p>\n Yet the result was still the same: another check in the loss column.<\/p>\n Even though Leafs general manager Brad Treliving backed his head coach on Nov. 18<\/a>, it\u2019s hard to see questions about Berube going away as the losses pile up.<\/p>\n Is that the kind of change that maybe, possibly, might turn this Leafs season around?<\/p>\n The loss against the Capitals was a reminder that a season with two of the best players in Leafs franchise history in their 20s \u2014 Auston Matthews and Nylander \u2014 is slipping away. Unless changes come soon, a season from John Tavares that defies Father Time might end up also being wasted.<\/p>\n And so at this point, any sort of change is overdue.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27696909-scaled.jpg\")
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