While the Maple Leafs looked like the better team against Seattle, there are no moral victories after a losing streak not seen since the tanking days.
SEATTLE — The Toronto Maple Leafs began their night against the Seattle Kraken as losers. Sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division, their rivals picked up victories to push them to 10 points out of a playoff spot before the puck dropped at Climate Pledge Arena.
And on the very first shot of the game, the Leafs were down. Matt Beniers beat Anthony Stolarz, who was making his second start since an upper-body injury, clean to put the Leafs down.
The Leafs showed some fight. They tied the game. They won a lot of the possession battle against the Kraken. On most nights, that might be good enough to pick up a win.. But two other issues persisted in their 5-2 loss to the Kraken. There were costly turnovers and the goaltending wasn't great.
The process would be lauded otherwise, but this was Toronto's sixth straight loss, their longest losing streak since the 2015-16 season when they were trying to tank the season (and did so successfully).
"I get it. It's tough and nobody's happy," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. "But in the end, that's the way we've got to play. There are a lot of good things in the game. We can clean up a couple of things, you know, unnecessary mistakes. But in the end, you know, if we play like that, we'll win a lot of games."
They may win a lot of games, but they only have 28 remaining and sit 10 points out of a playoff spot.
"We can't worry about that or look at that," Berube said. "We've just got to focus on the next game. You can't start looking at how many games are left and what we've got left. You're putting yourself in a bad spot. We've got to go into Vancouver and get two points. That's what we should be focused on. Nothing else. I mean, I get it, the standings and where we're at and the games left, but that's not going to accomplish anything. The goals right now need to be small, and we've got to focus on game to game here and just try to take care of our business the best we can."
Morgan Rielly and William Nylander are the only Leafs who were part of the tank season 10 years ago. Nylander joined after the trade deadline of this season, but Rielly, as the longest-tenured Leaf, had to endure a lot of bad years.
"We're in a spot in the standings that we haven't been and we're not happy. It's on us. It's not on anyone else. It's on us," Rielly said. "We're aware of what's going on, and we're doing everything we can to right the ship and to get playing better hockey here now."
Have the Maple Leafs accepted what could be the inevitable? Their first playoff miss in 10 years? It seems like the club is trying to avoid looking at the scenario that is staring them dead in the face.
"You've got to come to the rink and put your work hat on and do whatever is necessary to obviously help the team in whatever way possible.,We're going to focus right now on the next game and tomorrow, having a good practice or whatever that's going to look like and continuing to push along here and just trying to be better, trying to find a way out of the adversity that we're in right now.
"We're a playoff team. We're a contending team, and we have so much belief in every player, and right now we just got to pull it all together, and I'm confident in the group," Nick Robertson insisted.