The Toronto Maple Leafs got ahead of the L.A. Kings early on Thursday night, yet they didn't finish the game on the winning end.
Toronto had a pair of goals in the first period from Bobby McMann and John Tavares. It looked as though the Maple Leafs were turning the page on a difficult stretch, which had seen them lose three in a row, two against the divisional rival Boston Bruins.
However, like many times this season, things unravelled for Toronto in the second period.
Trevor Moore blew by Sammy Blais to put pressure on Brandon Carlo while Warren Foegele entered the Maple Leafs' zone. Brandon Carlo couldn't do anything except tie Moore up, and by that point, Foegele fired a shot past Dennis Hildeby to cut Toronto's lead in half.
Blais had three more shifts after that and didn't play at all in the third period.
Less than 10 minutes later, with the Maple Leafs hemmed in their own zone for an extended period of time, Kevin Fiala fired off one shot and a few seconds later, picked up the loose puck and slotted it into the net to tie the game.
At the time, William Nylander was supposed to cover Fiala. However, the forward didn't track back deep into the Maple Leafs' zone, which resulted in Fiala being all alone for the second opportunity.
Following the goal, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube made his way down the bench to talk to Nylander. Many thought it might've been about the lack of coverage on the goal, but Berube says he was making sure the forward was okay.
"Well, I just thought he was hurt for a minute," the head coach said. "I was just talking to him about that."
Toronto has now given up 27 goals in the middle frame this season, the second most behind the Edmonton Oilers, who've given up 29.
Tavares, though, would score another goal late in the period to give the Maple Leafs the lead once again. Nylander made up for the last play by finding Tavares in front, who put a backhand behind Darcy Kuemper.
Entering the final frame, Toronto had eight shots for and 20 against. Something needed to change if they wanted to keep the lead.
Nothing changed.
Despite an early push in the third, the Kings kept the pressure on the Maple Leafs. And eventually, Alex Laferriere tipped a Brandt Clarke shot past Hildeby to tie the game once again. Toronto had the lead in its hands twice, but lost it after lengthy shifts in their own end.
Newmarket, Ontario-born Quinton Byfield would blast home the game-winner in overtime to hand Toronto their fourth straight loss.
The Maple Leafs are now one point out of a playoff spot and four points off of third in the Atlantic Division. With that being said, Berube isn't hitting the panic button just yet, "but there's a level of urgency for sure," the head coach adds.
"It's been there for a bit. But I'm not going to panic. That doesn't help anything or anybody."
It can only go up from here... right?
Below is more from Berube on the game, the team's confidence, and Hildeby's strong play despite the score line.
How do you digest that one?
Yeah, I liked our first period. I thought that we did some real good things, defended well. Really, our sticks were good, did a lot of good things. And I thought they three-quarter iced us in the second. The reason that is, is because when you get pucks back in our own zone, we've got to get out of it. We've got to make a play to advance it up the ice. We didn't do a good job of it. And then we got the lead in the third, and I thought we sat back a little too much. You know, again, just advancing that puck up the ice with speed, jumping, getting the holes. It's confidence for me a little bit, and puck play. Like, you know, the plays are there. We're just not making them and just not seeing it well enough right now, but we've got to pick up our pace. We've got to be more confident in those plays. To me, that's the difference in the game.
You mention confidence there. Is that something you've got, like the base that you've got to build?
Well, I think we are doing that, but, you know, we got to, like I said, I think we defended a lot better tonight, but, you know, we give up that many shots because when we get pucks, we're not advancing them up the ice and getting to the offensive zone. That's the difference in the game.
When you have a laundry list of things that you need to work at now, what becomes the first thing or the second thing? What's the most important thing?
Well, to me, the most important thing is the defensive play right now in our game, which we did a better job tonight. But, you know, that's for me, I thought that we were too loose, you know, lately. And that's the one thing you've got to tighten up, you know. The other stuff will take care of itself. But, you know, it's about seeing the plays, making the plays, confident, advancing the puck up the ice and getting to the offensive zone more. We weren't there enough.And when we were there, it was too much in and out.
What stood out about Hildeby's night for you?
Yeah, no, he battled hard all night. You know, he faced quite a few shots, so he battled hard tonight. I'm sure he wants that first one back, but, you know, he battled hard tonight.
What's the biggest challenge of getting the confidence back?
Yeah, I think confidence comes from hard work, obviously, and doing the right things every shift. And, you know, it's, you know, we'll look at video and they'll see it and they'll see the plays and, you know, work on it in practice.
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