Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly pointed to a lack of desperation as a key reason why his team dropped a crucial game against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

Going into the contest, the Leafs sat six points back of a wild-card spot and had a golden opportunity to gain some ground back and keep their dwindling playoff hopes alive. Instead of coming out of the gates with a solid effort, they were once again behind the play and let the Sabres dictate the pace of play.

As a result of this loss, the Leafs are now eight points back of the second wild-card spot and their hopes of reaching the dance for a 10th straight season are fading fast.

“I think that early on, the game’s back and forth. It’s right there for us,” Rielly said to reporters after the game. “ It’s close most of the night, we think we’re in a position down one going to the third to put forth a good effort in the third and to keep it close and obviously push to win. Them getting one early hurts, and then we try to make a push. I think we need to be more desperate in those situations, and then a little too late.”

While they are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it’s hard to envision them being able to make up the ground that was lost during this disastrous five-game home stand where they went 0-4-1. The extended run of strong play dating back to when Marc Savard was fired is now a distant memory and the Leafs are right back to where they started.

Rielly said he is flabbergasted about how the Leafs went from being able to dig in and find a way on the road, to them doing the opposite at home.

“To come home and have a chance to try to gain some ground, have a home stand, and then to not make a count, it is not okay,” he said. “In terms of what went wrong, we will have to look at that. What I said before about just being desperate and that idea of playoff hockey and that idea of where we are in the standings and how we need to play to move up and to make a push. Obviously, we didn’t have it. This is new for me here, the situation that we’re in. It’s difficult to understand.”

The Leafs will now head out on the road for a four-game road trip in Western Canada before heading into the Olympic break. How those games unfold will determine which direction GM Brad Treliving takes the team heading into the trade deadline, so it’s up to the players to show that the 2025-26 season is worth saving.

If they want to achieve that and get back in the race, Rielly feels it will boil down not to gaining confidence but to executing their system.

“ Whenever you’re going through a tough stretch, your confidence waivers. But ultimately, that’s not an excuse or anything like that,” he said. “ Guys have to go out there and play within structure, play hard, and execute. Once you start doing that, it comes back pretty quick.”

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