The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a third straight loss on Friday night, falling 6-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights amidst Mitch Marner‘s return to Toronto.

Coming in on the second night of a back-to-back, the Golden Knights still managed to come out of the gate hot, scoring two goals in the first five minutes. After that, Toronto was never able to fully get back into it. Speaking to media after the game, Leafs forward Scott Laughton expressed his disappointment in the team’s performance.

“We didn’t start on time,” he said. “They played a back-to-back, we didn’t pressure them enough. Had good spurts throughout the game, second period in particular, but it’s not good enough.”

Just as Toronto was beginning to string together some wins and fight their way back into a wild card spot, their current losing streak is pushing them out of contention once again. As they search for crucial points, Laughton was blunt in his assessment of how the Leafs showed up (or didn’t) on Friday.

“It’s concerning,” Laughton said. “They come in off a late night, we know how that feels. (Anthony Stolarz)’s first game in two months. And that’s what we put out.”

In the loss, Laughton found his third goal in five games, scoring on a breakaway in the second period.

After Laughton’s missed penalty shot last game, it was somewhat of a moment of redemption. But while he was happy to bury one, he said it doesn’t make much of a difference considering the end result.

“It’s nice to score and contribute, you wanna contribute always to help this team. But if you don’t get the result, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

After Friday’s loss, the Leafs continue to sit three points back from a wild card spot. Asked how they can turn things around heading into the final two games of their homestand, Laughton talked about the importance of starting on time.

“That’s a good question, it needs to happen from the start of the game,” he said. “You can’t get down a couple goals. That’s when teams sit back, you start chasing, and it’s hard to play that way. They’re a good team, they make good plays, we gotta stay over top of them, make it hard on them, and we didn’t do that.”

The Maple Leafs return to the ice on Sunday afternoon to face the league-leading Colorado Avalanche. Puck drops at 1:30 pm.

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