Toronto Maple Leafs forward Scott Laughton isn’t going to let Thursday’s overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets weigh him down.

Laughton returned to the lineup after a five-game absence, and provided a much-needed boost to the special teams. He received plenty of good looks alongside Steven Lorentz and Easton Cowan, doing his part to secure a point in the standings.

Laughton felt the energy of his team was where it needed to be and that it’s a performance to build on in spite of the game ending in a loss.

“ You can’t get negative or down in this situation.  You continue to roll, you continue to go and keep playing together,” Laughton said to reporters after the game. “ Good things are gonna happen if we continue to manage the puck, make it hard on teams to come out of the zone.  I thought our D moved the puck well. They put pucks on net, big goal by [Dakota Mermis]. Just couldn’t get the extra. Sun comes up tomorrow, we get after it and go to Montreal for a big one.”

Laughton, Lorentz, and Cowan showed plenty of promise when paired together the preseason and the signs of a solid line remained prevalent, which is something to continue building on.

Given how lethargic the Leafs have been the last few weeks, it’s the kind of performance that they needed to start feeling better about their overall game.

“ You want to be out there, you want to be battling with the guys. You feel helpless, right?” Laughton said. “ I will tell you, I was pretty excited this morning to get back at it.  It’s been a long time coming, and it sucks we lost, but we keep rolling. I’ve been in this situation many a times back in Philly and you string together a couple and you get some momentum and you continue to go. The parity in the league, it’s so tight so you can’t wear on yourself; you keep a positive mindset. The guys we’re all saying that we’re all in this together and we’ve got a veteran group here, so I think this is good for us.”

Laughton was not afraid to get down to block shots, reminding reporters that it’s part of his job. It’s the kind of reminder that the Leafs could certainly use more of to shake off the funk for good.

“ Sometimes it feels like the world’s fallen on you and things aren’t always gonna go your way. But the adversity, it’s gonna make you better down the stretch,” Laughton said. “60 or so games left, there’s a lot of runway. But you get that urgency in your game and then you start playing the right way, good things are gonna happen. With the talent on this team and you get a couple guys back from injury, you just continue to roll. So I’m excited about what’s to come with this group, and we’ll see what happens.”