TAMPA | The Maple Leafs players looked downcast when they showed up in the room that had been reserved for them to give their impressions to the journalists present at the Amalie Arena.
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Of course, they were aware that they had just passed up a chance to come home with the possibility of eliminating the Lightning. An opportunity that hasn’t come often against the current two-time Stanley Cup champions over the past two years.
” It’s disappointing. We worked hard to put ourselves in this advantageous position, recognized Jake Muzzin. We knew they were going to come out strong. We just weren’t ready. »
“Our execution has been lacking. We were on our heels all evening, for his part, analyzed John Tavares. We played better in the third period. We wanted to offer a better performance, but also to prepare for the next game. »
Campbell blames himself
Obviously, the Leafs are far from in trouble. This is what Sheldon Keefe insisted on recalling when speaking.
“We arrived here with the objective of dividing the two matches. At that time, it was a three of five with two games at home. It’s now a two of three with still two home games,” the Maple Leafs coach said.
“We can speak of a fruitful journey,” he added, a philosopher in his spare time.
To prevent the situation from turning against him and his teammates, Jack Campbell will have to avoid being demoralized by this poor performance. It is imperative that he quickly gets back on his feet.
“I have to look in the mirror, find what went wrong and be ready to achieve great things in the next game,” the goalkeeper said.
“I have to stop pucks,” he later clarified.
Tavares in two stages
Moreover, if we make a lot of talk about Tavares’ defensive outfit (Jon Cooper said he was a real pest in the face-off circle), the lack of contribution in attack will inevitably come back on the carpet. he Maple Leafs must still live the affront of being shown the exit in the first round.
The 31-year-old veteran is well aware of this.
“I haven’t been able to produce offensively as I would like yet,” he agreed. Obviously, I would like to contribute more. On the other hand, I want to continue to play well without the puck, to do my job and to excel in terms of execution. »
In four games, he was imperial in the face-off circle (39 of 55, 70.9%). In return, he collected only two assists.