It’s been tough sledding for Scott Laughton as a Toronto Maple Leaf so far, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that. After Brad Treliving stepped out of his comfort zone and had a big trade deadline, shipping out multiple first-round picks to land Laughton and defenceman Brandon Carlo, alarm bells began to ring when the former didn’t immediately step into the lineup and make an impact.

In fairness to those who were worrying, however, Laughton went into Thursday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks with no goals or assists in his first nine games with the team, which was essentially a worst-case scenario considering he was brought in to help shore up the forward depth and provide some secondary scoring. Luckily, they didn’t acquire him for the nine games following the trade deadline, and he finally got the monkey off his back with a goal against the Sharks.

Laughton needed that goal more than anybody else on the team by a long shot, so it had to feel nice to break the ice and put the slump behind him, but the celebration was spoiled in the end by a 6-5 loss to the Sharks, meaning a season sweep at the hands of the current worst team in the NHL. Speaking to media after the game, Laughton said it felt good to get the first goal off of his back, but he would have preferred the two points.

“Yeah, it was nice, probably for my own confidence, nice to get one for sure,” Laughton said. “But it would have been a lot nicer to get a win and not score, you know?”

The Leafs still managed to scrape out a point, one that they probably didn’t deserve, mind you, but the overtime loss gives them sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division for the time being. The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are deadlocked at 89 points apiece to Toronto’s 90, so the final ten games of the season will likely come down to the wire, with each one more important than the last. Laughton says that he plans to stick to the game plan and help the Leafs achieve that goal en route to bigger things.

“I know my role on this team, and obviously, contributing is nice,” Laughton continued. “I know what to bring on a daily basis and I’m starting to feel more comfortable, starting to play a little bit better. So, it’s good for myself, but yeah, you want to get those two points.”

Whether Laughton has won over the fans yet doesn’t mean much, to be honest. So far, he seems to have the confidence of his teammates and his head coach despite the fact that the bounces haven’t been going his way. Captain Auston Matthews, who had a goal and an assist in the loss, said that Laughton has been great to have around the room and that he was impressed with his teammate’s line as a whole.

“He’s been an unreal guy, coming in here, he brings great energy despite whatever comes at him and it was great to see him get a goal tonight,” Matthews said.”I thought he played great, him and Max [Domi] were moving it really well on that line and creating some really good chances, and that was a big goal he had for us.

The Maple Leafs will continue their California swing on Saturday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings.