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Following the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, the mood in Leafs Nation was all over the place. 

In TheLeafsNation After Dark post-game chat there were comments suggesting this is a ‘loser team’ with ‘no heart’ and tearing down everything they had accomplished in the previous eight games without Auston Matthews, and then there were those on the complete opposite end urging people to ‘JUST CHILL OUT’. It was a weird game, with a weird vibe, that ended up in a poor result, but is it really time to revert back to questioning the fabric of this team? I don’t think so.

If you’ve watched TLN After Dark previously, you’d know that I’m no stranger to being blunt about my disappointment in the performance and results of this team. Jay Rosehill certainly <a href="https://youtu.be/hbDUvsBYfrU?si=NiL2yQpwyG93XjqU">isn't shy either</a>: 

Wednesday's contest against Florida wasn’t one of those games that warranted ripping into the team for Rosehill or myself, despite the ugly end result. The thing we need to do as Leafs fans sometimes is take a step back and look at things from a bigger-picture standpoint.

The Maple Leafs entered last night missing seven of their regular, everyday, NHL starters: Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, and Ryan Reaves — and then lost Bobby McMann towards the end of the second period with a lower-body injury. With a depleted lineup, the Maple Leafs had won seven of their last eight, including standout wins against the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals, and the Edmonton Oilers. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me.

On the other side of last night’s matchup was an angry Panthers team who entered the game having just lost their last four games, lost the crown of being the number one team in the Atlantic, and were sitting with home-ice advantage.

This game wasn’t shaping up to be in the Leafs' favour to begin with and then with a hot start from the Panthers, it was deflating enough. The boys could have packed this one in and said “That’s enough” early on but it felt as though they kept putting up a fight the best they could and ultimately just came up short. Even the good ole Deserve-to-Win O’Meter pumped out a 41.4 percent (via MoneyPuck) for the Maple Leafs which isn’t something to hang our heads about. Ultimately, I think the story from Wednesday should just be that the mass exodus of regular NHL roster players due to injury finally caught up to the group in a game where the Panthers were going to give them absolutely nothing.

“Hats off they did what they did with injuries, but that’s just not a lineup that’s gonna be able to sustain a whole bunch of two-point nights, especially against the Panthers,” said Jay Rosehill. “I think it’s justified that they dropped one tonight.”

Same page Rosey, same page.

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