The Leafs are 0-3-0 on the road to start the 2025-26 regular season as they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
PHILADELPHIA — The Toronto Maple Leafs deviated from their usual routine of an optional morning skate one day after a full practice.
Instead, the Leafs took part in a full skate. Since the team had the full day off on Thursday, it was interesting to see Maple Leafs head coach Berube lead both sessions. While the condensed schedule due to the Olympic break in February might suggest taking advantage of the extra time , Berube was pretty blunt about the reasoning for the full skate.
“Just my opinion, we haven't got a road win yet,”
The Leafs enter their game against the Philadelphia Flyers tied for last place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-4-1 record, but they have only played three road games this season. While the sample size is very small, all three losses away from Scotiabank Arena can be categorized as some of their worst of the season, most recently a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets to start the brief two-game road trip.
“We had that meeting yesterday and I think we went over some of the puck play that cost us the game,” Berube said. “We had some turnovers and situations where if we hadn't done that, it would have been a different game. We let it get away from us from that point. The message for me is just play to our structure and our identity for 60 minutes. We get away from it; when we don't, we're good, but we keep getting away from it. It's costing us right now, so that's the message.”
Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies indicated that the Leafs may be too eager for offense, which is leading to some of the mistakes on their end. This could be why Toronto is struggling to play a more complete game.
The Leafs have historically been a good road team, making the current 0-3-0 record away a more significant concern for the club than it might appear on the surface. Especially when considering the narrative that playing at home can be tougher for the Leafs, as many opponents have family and friends from Ontario in attendance and are motivated to have a big night.
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