The Maple Leafs dropped a 5-2 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, but after the loss, William Nylander shared a clear message with the critics.

The Leafs are coming off of back-to-back losses, following last night’s defeat, moving them to 16-9-2 on the season, good for 2nd in the Atlantic Divison and 5th in the Eastern Conference.

Prior to these last 2 losses, the Leafs had gone 8-2-0 in their previous 10 games and were one of the NHL’s hottest teams. Now, some are questioning the overall strength of the team after losing what should have been two winnable games against teams outside of their division.

While Friday’s loss to Washington was a particularly embarrassing one for the Leafs, who barely showed up for the game, Saturday’s loss was far less concerning for not only Leafs head coach Craig Berube, who was largely very happy with last night’s performance, but also for William Nylander, who reminded people that even when you deserve to win, sometimes that’s not the way things work out.
“Sometimes you play good games and don’t get a win. And that happened tonight.”
 

The Leafs outplayed the Penguins for much of the contest, but got themselves into some penalty trouble, allowing the Pens 5 power plays in the game. They converted on two of those attempts, including Michael Bunting’s eventual game-winner in the 3rd period.

If the Leafs could have found a way to stay out of the box last night, it’s very possible that the game would have had a different outcome, especially with how much better the Leafs looked at 5-on-5 than the Penguins.

Now, the Leafs have to refocus and reset, because they face another tough out on Tuesday when they travel to New Jersey to take on former Leafs bench boss Sheldon Keefe and the Devils, who have gone 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.

Thankfully, they may have some reinforcements coming back, as a report from TSN’s Bob McKenzie had suggested that both Max Domi and Jake McCabe were in line to make their respective returns for Toronto.