John Tavares Critical of Leafs' Loss to Sharks; Leafs Now in a Concerning Position
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Former Maple Leafs captain John Tavares was not pleased with his team's effort in the loss to San Jose on Monday, but plans to use it as motivation.
The Leafs playing 4 straight games on the road, coming back for one home game and heading right back out on a 3-game road trip is certainly a challenging part of the schedule for the Leafs, but former captain John Tavares is attempting to take it all in stride.
"Obviously, it's not easy. But it's part of the game. It's part of the grind."
As far as Monday's loss to San Jose goes, Tavares admitted that the loss stings and said that the Leafs will attempt to use it as motivation to play with a collective chip on their shoulder against Vegas, Colorado and Utah on their upcoming trio of road games.
"Had a real good chance to win today. Did a lot of good things. We let it slip. So that should sting and burn leaving the rink and motivate us tomorrow, as we head back out west. Some real tough challenges and big points that we need."
The Leafs are in a very tight battle at the top of the Atlantic Division, deadlocked with the Florida Panthers at 79 points each. Not only that, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are also nipping at their heels with 74 points and games in hand on Toronto and Florida.
The Panthers just pulled off a significant trade to acquire top right shot defenseman Seth Jones, who has suffered immensely during his time in Chicago with a bottom-feeding Blackhawks team.
With the deal, it's a pretty good bet that the Panthers will only improve and pick up a few more points between now and the end of the season.
For the Leafs, Brad Treliving's recent comments about tempering expectations ahead of the deadline certainly don't lend a lot of confidence that he's going to acquire a top trade target.
For the Leafs, they have to win at least 2 of these 3 games on the road against Vegas, Colorado and Utah, or they'll be forced to risk dropping out of the race for top spot in the Atlantic Division and a softer round 1 matchup.
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