Tomas Kaberle offers an old-fashioned solution for the struggling Maple Leafs: Leafs Morning Take

For the third consecutive outing — second against Boston — Craig Berube’s pack was outclassed and outmatched Tuesday night at TD Garden.

For the record, they lost both Auston Matthews (Lower Body) and Anthony Stolarz (Upper Body) to injury. This team is in a mess, and honestly, so are we. To kick off Wednesday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take, we gave our initial thoughts on the latest disappointing effort. They look lost, they look broken, and honestly, it doesn’t seem like Berube’s message is getting through to these guys anymore.

Then we got a full recap of the match. If you’re keeping score at home, 15 of Toronto’s 17 games this season have been skipped. Additionally, the Leafs have now allowed more than five goals SEVEN TIMES. Translation: This team can’t play defense. Most specifically, the most horrible part of the night was the beginning of the match. After the embarrassment of the weekend, the Leafs took three minor penalties in the first eight minutes of the game. Once again they conceded the first goal of the match and trailed 3-1 after the first frame. Even Alex Steeves scored against them. Stolarz was brutal for the second straight performance, giving up three goals from eleven shots. For the second time he did not return. The Leafs call it an upper body injury, we call it a final blow. We also addressed the Matthews injury, Zadorov’s first goal and Max Domi’s response in the third period.

Then old Leafs blue line and 2011 Stanley Cup champion Tomas Kaberle stopped by to talk about Toronto’s ugly three-game losing skid. Additionally, Kaberle dissected the d-core and what – in general – went wrong defensively for the Leafs. He thinks there should be more trust and that they should play more as a team. Kaberle also commented on Morgan Rielly passing him for sixth all-time in assists and second among D in Leaf history. Finally, he asked if he thinks this Leafs team can figure it out and what it was like playing with Zdeno Chara and Alexander Mogilny, both of whom were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last Monday night.

Next up for the Maple Leafs is a home ice date with the Los Angeles Kings. Speaking of which, former NHLer and co-host of Energy Line with Nate & JSB, Nate Thompson, will drop by Thursday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take to wrap it up. Talk at 11am ET!