Auston Matthews calls Leafs’ loss to Senators ‘embarrassing’

TORONTO – It just keeps getting worse for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After starting the return from the Olympic break with back-to-back embarrassing road losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, the Leafs were looking to bounce back at home and attempt to salvage any last hope of making the playoffs against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. But that wasn’t the case.

After Morgan Rielly opened the scoring for Toronto, the Leafs sat back and allowed 19-consecutive shots and three-straight goals from the Senators, eventually falling 5-2 in what may have been Toronto’s flattest effort of the season.

The poor performance was certainly something the players are aware of, particularly Auston Matthews. When asked about what went wrong in the loss, the Leafs’ captain was very honest in his assessment of their play.

“I thought we started better. I don’t know, we just lost it there. [We were] just really disconnected throughout all three zones,” Matthews said. “[We were] just bad. Just fairly embarrassing, to be honest with you.

“We need to have more pride in our play, no matter where we’re at, no matter what the situation is. We just have to have more pride in our game, and we didn’t have that tonight.”

The loss has continued the Leafs’ freefall down the standings, as they have not only lost three games in a row, but also eight of their last 11 games. They currently sit in last place in the Atlantic Division and third-last in the Eastern Conference with a 27-24-9 record, and are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wild card spot in the East with one extra game played.

The performance also may have officially solidified the Leafs’ position as sellers going into the trade deadline. With a slim chance of playing in the postseason, they may look to move on from pending unrestricted free agents like Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann or sell high on players having career years like Oliver Ekman-Larsson.