The Toronto Maple Leafs fell to a 5-4-2 record on the season following a loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night and star player Auston Matthews felt the need to call out his teammates during his post-game interview.
“It’s just not good enough,” Matthews said postgame, per TSN . “We need to be better and I think it comes from the leadership group. I need to be better. All of us need to be better. We just need to look each other in the eye and hold each other accountable.”
While Matthews isn’t shy about calling out his teammates for losing yet another contest since captain John Tavares got injured, he does talk about better leadership, which many fans believe he should be responsible for. Tavares was ruled out for two weeks with a broken finger suffered back on Oct. 16.
“It’s just been the same thing kind of over and over for us. We haven’t been disciplined, we’re taking ourselves out of the game with lots of penalties,” Matthews added.
It is clear to see that Matthews is looking to get things going, to motivate his teammates to do better. On Monday night, the Maple Leafs blew a 3-2 lead to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the bad luck (and plays) dragged on against the Bruins last night. With the win, the Bruins managed to leapfrog the Leafs for second spot in the Atlantic Division with 14 points and two games in hand.
Toronto will have to do better. It remains to be seen how the dressing room will react to Matthews’ comments. Don't get us wrong, we think it's great that Matthews is stepping up his leadership role: we just hope it works!
