The Leafs captain is speaking out.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were bested by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night, dropping a 6-2 decision at Nationwide Arena. The win improved the Blue Jackets to 3-3, while the Leafs fell to 4-3.
Mathieu Olivier scored twice for the host Blue Jackets, who also got goals from Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko, and Justin Danforth. Meanwhile, the Leafs got tallies from Matthew Knies and Nicholas Robertson.
And afterward, Leafs captain Auston Matthews took the rest of his teammates to task for their subpar effort against a team they should have easily bested on paper, via TSN.
“Neutral zone was the Autobahn for them tonight,” Matthews lamented. “They were just coming in, flying through. We just got our butts handed to us a little bit. It's a busy week for us, so there's no time to sulk over this.”
Meanwhile, Leafs head coach Craig Berube also expressed his dissatisfaction with Toronto's effort, crediting Columbus with better skating and winning more puck battles.
“I didn’t feel like we skated very well tonight,” Berube said. “They skated through us all night. We didn’t win many puck battles tonight, didn’t defend very well tonight and that’s what you get.
“It boils down to they outskated us. They outworked us and they were a harder team than we were. Bottom line.”
The Leafs have the chance to get back into the win column when they host the St. Louis Blues, the former squad of coach Berube, at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.
Auston Matthews is in his first season as Maple Leafs captain
Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
The Leafs underwent a major leadership change in the offseason when former captain John Tavares handed the captaincy to Auston Matthews. Matthews became the 26th captain in the team’s history and the first American-born player to hold the position.
Matthews is taking the role seriously, opening calling out the effort level of his teammates following a subpar performance on the ice.
