Home ice offered no comfort to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, as they suffered a 7-4 loss at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
It has been the trend of late for the Maple Leafs, which went 0-4-1 in their five-game homestand that ended with a loud thud, as the Sabres had their way on the host team.
Unsurprisingly, the effort shown by Toronto, especially defensively, was criticized by Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube.
“Well, that we have to keep the puck out of the net is what I learned,” the 60-year-old Berube said when asked in the postgame press conference about his takeaway from Toronto’s ugly homestand, via Sportsnet.
The Maple Leafs scored 12 goals during the homestand but gave up more than twice that total, allowing their visitors to rack up 25, and Berube made sure to stress that point.
“We didn’t do that here at home, other than the Detroit game. It is the only game we did. Until we decide to do things right and keep the puck out of our net — and that is the goalies included — this is what you are going to get.”
Underscoring the Maple Leafs’ leaky defense was the fact that a blueliner had a hat trick for Buffalo, as defenseman Rasmus Dahlin collected 5 points on 3 goals and 2 assists.
Toronto can expect things to get better, as evidenced by its PDO of 95.2 ( 5-on-5 ) in the homestand.
A change of scenery could give the Maple Leafs the spark they need, with a showdown against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Wash. on Thursday kicking off Toronto’s six-game road trip.
