{"id":478289,"date":"2026-03-01T05:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/478289\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T05:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:05:15","slug":"everybodys-got-to-look-in-the-mirror-after-embarrassing-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/478289\/","title":{"rendered":"Everybody\u2019s got to look in the mirror after \u2018embarrassing\u2019 performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2019 losing streak extended to three games on Saturday night after a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After back-to-back losses on the road to the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> and Florida Panthers<\/a>, the Leafs returned home and were once again unable to get going on either side of the puck, allowing four goals in the second period and were outshot 40-23 in the loss. <\/p>\n

Toronto has now allowed 14 goals in three games since the Olympic break, all losses to Atlantic Division rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we started better. We just kind of lost it there. Really disconnected through all three zones. Embarrassing to be honest with you,\u201d Leafs captain Auston Matthews<\/a> said following the game. \u201cWe need to have more pride in our play, and we didn\u2019t have that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club now sits last in the Atlantic Division (27-24-9) with 63 points and trail the Boston Bruins<\/a> by eight points for the final wild card spot in the hyper-competitive Eastern Conference playoff race. <\/p>\n

Matthews had one assist in the game, extending his career-long assist streak to three games. However, the gold-medal winning captain of Team USA has not scored in his past seven contests. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go through tough stretches, you can lack confidence. That can happen to anybody. We\u2019re going through a tough stretch right now, coming out of the break. It\u2019s never fun to lose in this fashion, three games in a row,\u201d said Matthews. \u201cIt\u2019s hard. It definitely wears on you. There\u2019s no feeling sorry for ourselves. Everybody\u2019s got to look in the mirror and be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leafs opened the scoring early in the first period on Morgan Rielly<\/a>\u2019s eighth goal of the season, but the Sens took over from there. Ottawa earned the next 19 shots on goal and scored three unanswered to take a 3-1 lead midway through the second period. <\/p>\n

After William Nylander<\/a> cut the deficit to one, the Sens scored another pair of goals 51 seconds apart to chase goaltender Joseph Woll<\/a> after he allowed five goals on 28 shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at the game and show tape or we go over things, there\u2019s a certain way we need to play the game. But I can\u2019t give guys this [points to heart] or this [points to head], and they have to come with that,\u201d head coach Craig Berube<\/a> said. \u201cThat\u2019s got to be on them. They\u2019ve got to bring the heart and the competitiveness that\u2019s needed, and it\u2019s all the little things. They\u2019ve got to bring that. They\u2019ve got to want to bring that. We can bring the X\u2019s and O\u2019s, and I can go in there and yell and scream at them all I want. That doesn\u2019t do anything, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leafs next hit the ice on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> as they look to earn their first win since Feb. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 losing streak extended to three games on Saturday night after a 5-2 loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[4759,5,4,72,25,5157,73,32467],"class_list":{"0":"post-478289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-ottawa","12":"tag-ottawa-senators","13":"tag-ottawasenators","14":"tag-senators","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116152180650564339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}