NASHVILLE — The bar has officially been lowered.
The Toronto Maple Leafs built Saturday’s tilt as a “response” game. And, to be sure, they submitted a better effort than they had in their previous four periods.
But they still walked out of Bridgestone Arena silent and sour and sans points.
The Maple Leafs, who entered this season fancying themselves a Stanley Cup contender, had just blown a second-period lead to the NHL’s last-place Nashville Predators.
They’d been out-attempted 75-47, outshot 34-22, out-chanced 41-24, and outscored 5-3 (with a couple empty-netters) by a team they’d handled easily in October, one that lacks Toronto’s marquee star power and a team that has spent more time trailing than any of the other 31.
The Leafs had slipped to last place in the division they won eight months ago.
And yet, they were preaching positive, pointing to a pulse.
Captain Auston Matthews — still looking for a point on this road trip to soothe his minus-6 rating over its first two games — spoke of a “better process,” healthy chatter on the bench, and improved puck movement.
When you’re getting beat at hockey on a regular basis, what’s the point in beating yourself up more in the press availabilities?
“I definitely think tonight, there’s much more positives than the previous couple games,” Matthews said.
“Mentally, we’re fine. Tonight, I mean, as s—– as it is losing, I thought the process was better. I thought we had good energy all night. And even though you’re leaving the rink upset not getting any points in tonight’s game, I think the process that we had throughout is something that we can take and move forward with.”
In the deafening silence of the Maple Leafs’ quarters post-game these nights, as players fetch BodyArmor and sip smoothies and ride exercise bikes with a peep, that sound you hear is expectations shifting.
Of moral victories hopping the boards and subbing in for real ones.
Head coach Craig Berube was more measured in his post-loss critique Saturday.
Yet the theme of ill-timed, self-inflicted mistakes — like allowing Adam Wilsby(?!) to walk down Main Street and tie the game with 34 seconds left in the second — rolls on.
“It’s mental, for sure. You know, we got to get through it. We got to get over that. We got to make better decisions throughout the game,” Berube said.
Nicolas Roy, too, believes there is a mental block.
“Seems like we kinda sit back when we have the lead, and then we just wait to see what they bring to us, instead of keep pushing and trying to get the next one. So, a little bit of the same story,” Roy said.
“There’s definitely a shift we got to do mentally — you never want to play not to lose. You want to play to win.”
Hard to win when you’ve now been outshot in 23 of your 34 games, when sustained imposition of your style over your opponent’s is so hit-and-miss, and when every lead feels as fragile as the mood.
“It’s never easy. It’s never fun. You just got to mentally grind through it. It’s one of those things that I’ve been through before. And just, you learn to deal with it,” Matthews said, calmly.
“When you’re going through a tough stretch individually, tough stretch as a team, the best thing to do is just continue to fight through that adversity. And, you know, pick guys up when they’re down. And I know guys got my back too.”
The Maple Leafs will get a chance to climb out of the basement in less than 24 hours, as they are bound for Dallas, where they’ll face the rested Stars.
The best opponent they’ve faced all season.
“Sticking together as a group, not kind of getting too down on ourselves,” Nick Robertson encouraged. “I mean, we can’t dwell on this game. We have a game tomorrow. So, we got to be ready to go against a good team.
“We got to start winning some games.”
That’s the new bar.
Fox’s Fast Five
• Berube blew up the blueprint for his 31st-ranked power-play and created two balanced units. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and we like the internal competition element.
They looked more dangerous and more urgent. The coach liked what he saw, counting two or three Grade-A chances in Toronto’s two minutes with the man-advantage.
PP1: Morgan Rielly, Easton Cowan, Nick Robertson, Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies.
PP2: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, William Nylander, John Tavares.
“Sometimes you got to mix things up,” Matthews said. “We had a really good look with Robbie there in the middle. And the more repetitions you get, the more comfortable guys will get a feel.”
• For the seventh time this season, Toronto scored on its first shot of the game. A success rate of 20.6 per cent on the first shot is wild.
• Troy Stecher, the lowest-paid player in Toronto’s lineup ($787,500), led all skaters in ice time with 22:22.
• The hardworking Robertson made an excellent D-zone read to trigger centreman Roy’s opening goal and has looked more engaged, feistier, and faster than most Leafs forwards on this road trip.
“I’m happy with it,” Robertson said of his game. “Since being scratched (on Dec. 8), I got some momentum and just want to continue.”
• Luke Evangelista turned Morgan Rielly inside out and scored a backhand-shelf beauty on Joseph Woll that may well go down as the prettiest of his career.
“If you go read my lips, there’s literally 10 Oh, my Gods. I was just spammin’ it,” Evangelista said post-game of his post-goal reaction.
“It was a little much, that celly. Honestly, I blacked out. I should kinda behave a little bit more. But in a moment like that, the adrenaline gets the best of you.”
Teammate Michael Bunting grinned: “He said, ‘Oh, my God,’ like, a hundred times. That was one of the nicer goals I’ve ever seen. But don’t tell him.”
So strange when American fans turn league matches into international competition. The Preds faithful began chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” when Evangelista, from the Greater Toronto Area, scored on the Leafs’ American goalie, Joseph Woll.
