Sheldon Keefe takes shot at both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost their opener to the Montreal Canadiens, on October 12th. The Maple Leafs' Head Coach was frustrated that his team continued a concerning trend of playing down to lesser opponents. Call it foreshadowing? Maybe, but whatever it was, the Maple Leafs looked off again against the Arizona Coyotes.
Auston Matthews didn't have the same compete against the Coyotes, as he did during the Battle of Ontario, in which Toronto pulled a win, 3 to 2. Matthews had a respectable stat line that night, with 1 assist, 7 shots on goal, and 7 hits, he was playing like a power-forward that night.
However, the passion was lacking Monday night, when Nick Ritchie in a twist of irony scored, along with Christian Fischer, Lawson Crouse, and Shayne Gostisbehere all contributed to the Leafs loss.
Sheldon Keefe didn't hold back on the lack of competition from the Maple Leafs' elite core.
A 2-2-0 record isn't what you want to start the season off with, but for all intents and purposes, the Arizona Coyotes are at best an AHL team. The Toronto Maple Leafs ended up earning boos from the home crowd, in a surprise to no one in Ontario.
The core will need to play with more fight next game. Losing games to lesser opponents in the Atlantic Division is what sealed the Maple Leafs series against Tampa Bay last season instead of the Washington Capitals.
| POLL | ||
Will the Maple Leafs ever win with the Core Four? | ||
| Yes, they'll figure it out | 48 | 27.1 % |
| No, the core is rotten | 129 | 72.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
