If the three straight wins headed into the Olympic break were supposed to be any sort of indication that this team still had some juice left in the tank, the three straight losses exiting that same break has steamrolled any positive momentum they built up.

The word ‘steamroll’ was used there because it’s an accurate depiction of what’s been happening to the Toronto Maple Leafs in these past three games, which included back-to-back losses against the Florida teams and most recently, a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on home ice. John Tavares himself used the word to describe the biggest difference between how the team played prior to the break versus after the break.

“When it hasn’t gone our way, or, you know, you don’t play as well, or you have a couple of games that you don’t get the results you want, we’ve at times just let the momentum kind of steamroll the other way far too often,” Tavares told reporters at morning skate on Monday. “We haven’t been able to nip that in the bud as much as we’d like.”

The Leafs started off strong against the Tampa Bay Lightning before allowing two goals in under a minute in the second period, before the Lightning made it 3-0 less than three minutes into the third period. The next night against the Florida Panthers, they succumbed almost immediately to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period, and the Panthers kept the pedal to the metal after that. And, on Saturday against the Senators, the Leafs got off to a 1-0 lead and left the first period tied 1-1 despite being outshot 16-2 after 20 minutes. The Senators made it 3-1, and while the Leafs fought back to make it 3-2, the Sens responded with two goals within a minute of each other to bring the score to the eventual final, 5-2.

“We’ve seen stretches of hockey where we’ve played extremely well even when we’ve had to battle back,” Tavares continued. “Or when games have been real tight and the offence isn’t coming easily, we’ve just continued to stick to the way that we have to play, the type of identity that we have, the type of team that we are. Far too often we just let it kind of slide away, so we’ve got to work to get that back and understand the urgency going forward and the rest of the way.”

With the trade deadline set for the end of the week, Tavares acknowledged that the stress of that time of year is something that can get to certain players, but stressed that the team needs to focus on the task at hand, which is showing up and winning games for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“It doesn’t just affect your career, but obviously your life as a whole, so I think to say it doesn’t or to neglect that, I’m not sure everyone would feel that way. But, there’s a responsibility, a job to do, and there’s a great opportunity to not only play in the National Hockey League, but to play here in Toronto and put the Maple Leaf on your chest.”

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