Ilya Samsonov contradicts Sheldon Keefe in post game comments.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have hit a significant losing skid this early on in the season and on Saturday night they suffered their third consecutive loss in a row when they fell to the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4-2.

That now puts the Maple Leafs at 4-4-1 through their first 9 games of the regular season, a losing record, and that is enough to earn them a spot at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with only intraprovincial rivals the Ottawa Senators currently sitting below them in the divisional standings.

Following the conclusion of the game on Saturday night, Keefe tried to downplay any potential confidence issues in his locker room by suggesting that the team was merely suffering from a lack of execution.

"We don’t lack confidence as a team," said Keefe. "We just have to execute."

That message however was not echoed by all of his players following the game, one even appeared to directly contradict the coach in his own post game comments. Speaking to the media following the game, Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov expressed that he felt the team was playing with a lack of confidence and without very many smiles on their faces.

“We’ve lost confidence a little bit last three games…" admitted Samsonov. "We don’t have more smile.”

The game against the Kings marked the first time Samsonov has given up 4 goals in a Maple Leafs uniform, so you certainly hope his own confidence hasn't been shaken. Despite the 25 year old netminder not having his best performance on Saturday however, he remains solid overall on the season with a 2.35 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.