Jake McCabe admits Maple Leafs aren’t playing with confidence after loss to Avalanche

What made Sunday’s loss even more painful from the fans’ perspective was the fact that they came out on purpose at the start of the game. But their first two errors went into the back of the net and from then on they seemed to struggle in every facet of the match. Jake McCabe, who gave away the puck on the play that led to the Avalanche’s first goal, said the Leafs have been struggling with the puck lately and that small things like winning battles can be enough to increase the sense of urgency among the group.

“It’s contagious when someone wins a puck battle,” McCabe said when asked how a struggling unit can generate urgency. “The next person is going to win a puck battle, and it’s kind of going in that direction. I think that infectious mentality of, whether it’s just winning puck battles, or shooting the puck, little details, it adds up over time.”

McCabe then confirmed what most people watching the game were thinking: the Leafs are not playing with confidence right now.

“That’s part of trust,” McCabe continued. “You can see we’re not playing with a lot of confidence, so you know, it can be fleeting sometimes. You have to generate it when you don’t have it.”

Despite the awful hockey season being perhaps the worst moment of the entire season, McCabe said the faith in the room remains strong, and leaning into that faith is the first step to getting it back.

“We have a lot of good players here,” McCabe said. “We showed it this year. To be honest, we did a good job before the home stretch, so we need to get back to it soon.”

While faith is indeed the biggest ingredient for a team’s success, the Leafs will have to rely more on results than faith if they want to make the playoffs this season.

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