After clawing their way back into the NHL playoff picture with an encouraging four-game road trip, the Maple Leafs have promptly undone that momentum at home.
Toronto has fallen flat to open a five-game homestand, losing three straight games, capped by an uninspiring 6-3 loss to former star Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights.
The lifeless performance, at a moment when the Leafs needed urgency and response, has once again brought captain Auston Matthews' leadership and the team's broader leadership core into question.
Why Leadership Concerns Continue to Follow Toronto's Captain
The Maple Leafs' recent West Coast road trip was bookended by matching 4-3 thrilling overtime victories. The first was a back-and-forth affair against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche, and the last was a comeback win over the Winnipeg Jets.
The Leafs returned to Toronto and started their stretch of home games with a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild, then fell 2-1 in overtime to Atlantic Division rival Detroit Red Wings. Then came Marner's homecoming.
In front of a lively home crowd eagerly anticipating some revenge against former star Marner for his controversial exit, Leafs' captain Matthews and most of his teammates weren't ready to perform. They put forth a flat, uninspiring effort during the opening period.
Instead of coming out hungry to avenge the Golden Knights' come-from-behind (four times from two- goal deficits) 6-5 overtime victory last week in Vegas, the Maple Leafs were lifeless. They played as if they had no desire to get back at their ex-teammate and his new club.
Matthews played a key role in the Leafs' flat start. Just over a minute into the game, he lost a defensive zone faceoff. He checked nobody in front of goaltender Anthony Stolarz as Jack Eichel deposited the puck into an open net.
Eichel whooped it up on his celebration, taunting some fans seated behind Toronto's net, clearly demonstrating that Marner's Golden Knight teammates understood the magnitude of the game.
The Maple Leafs didn't get that memo. Before the game was five minutes old, Keegan Kolesar scored a second goal for Vegas. It was Kolesar who ripped an unflattering Marner jersey from a fan on his way to the ice before the game. He, too, was ready to support his new teammate.
Despite a more lively home crowd than usual, Toronto mustered just five shots in the first period. A stronger second period, which cut the deficit to one, was followed by a five-shot third period and two more goals against. Vegas clinched the win after a non-threatening Leafs' power play late in the final frame with a chance to tie the game.
One of Toronto's best competitors on the night was fourth-line center Scott Laughton, whose inspirational play of late was highlighted during the intermission of Sportsnet's telecast. A bottom-of-the-roster player shouldn't be the main source of your team's inspiration in such an important game.
The return of Marner wasn't the only reason the Maple Leafs should have been desperate for a victory in this game. The night before, both the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins, teams the Leafs need to catch for a playoff spot, won their games.
Instead of capitalizing on an amped-up home crowd in a critical game, Matthews and the rest of the team's leaders didn't respond. Matthews and his teammates improved in the second period, but they were chasing the game, and a comeback was denied.
Adding to the list of Matthews' leadership concerns was his no-show for the post-game media availability. John Tavares, Stolarz, Laughton, Bobby McMann, and coach Craig Berube discussed the game, but not Matthews.
A team's captain should be available to talk after every game, especially when it's against a former star player returning to the city during a playoff chase. Hosts of Leafs Talk, JD Bunkis and Sam McKee, were especially critical of Matthews.
McKee stated that in this situation, when you're the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and your former line-mate comes to town, it is a time to talk. He went on to say it's a bad look for Matthews.
"It's a bad look, man. It's a bad look."Sam McKee on Matthews' media no-show
Moments like this are when leadership is supposed to show itself, not through words or reputation, but through response. Instead, the Maple Leafs and Matthews failed to rise to the challenge in a game that demanded urgency, and the same questions begin to resurface.
As Toronto's struggles deepen, both Matthews and the team's collective leadership are once again being called into question, a familiar and uncomfortable place for a franchise always searching for answers when it matters most.