Morgan Rielly believes Maple Leafs’ lack of desperation versus Sabers was unacceptable

“I think the game goes back and forth early. It’s right there for us,” Rielly told reporters after the game. “It’s close most of the night, we think we’re in a position to be one down, heading into the third to make a good effort in the third and to keep it close and obviously push to win. If they get one early it hurts, and then we try to make a push. I think we have to be more desperate in situations like that, and then a little bit late.”

Rielly said he’s amazed at how the Leafs went from digging in and finding a way on the road to how they did the opposite at home.

“To come home and have an opportunity to gain some ground, have a homestand and then not get a count, that’s not OK,” he said. “In terms of what went wrong, we’re going to have to look at that. What I said earlier about just being desperate and that idea of ​​playoff hockey and that idea of ​​where we are in the standings and how we need to play to move up and get a push. Obviously we didn’t have that. This is new to me here, the situation we’re in. It’s hard to understand.”

The Leafs now hit the road for a four-game road trip in Western Canada before heading into the Olympic break. How these games unfold will determine what direction General Manager Brad Treliving takes the team heading into the trade deadline. So it’s up to the players to show that the 2025-2026 season is worth saving.

If they want to achieve that and get back into the race, Rielly believes it won’t come down to gaining trust, but executing their system.

“Every time you go through a rough patch, your confidence goes down. But at the end of the day, that’s not an excuse or anything like that,” he said. “Guys have to go out there and play within the structure, play hard and execute. Once you start doing that, it comes back quite quickly.”

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