The comments were suspect and the optics weren’t great a few hours later after a loss in which Leafs PK conceded twice and the ice-time allocation was eyebrow-raising.
Your game in 10:
1. As far as the actual game goes, it was a “schedule loss” situation against a rested top opponent in a tired situation, but the Leafs were competitive and battled throughout. All three periods were fairly evenly played with scoring chances coming at a premium. The Leafs didn’t create enough against Carolina’s committed team defense at five-on-five, couldn’t come close to solving Carolina’s elite PK, and broke down for two power-play goals against which decided the game.