NASHVILLE — The mood shifted dramatically.
A prime opportunity slipped through their fingers.
A rare sentiment filled the Toronto Maple Leafs` locker room on Saturday night: pure anger.
“We should be pissed off,” declared John Tavares in the depths of Bridgestone Arena, in the wake of his team`s 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators, a team near the bottom of the league.
“This was a golden chance to cap off a really strong week, especially considering how we`d rebounded from a previous rough patch. We weren`t performing to our expected standard, the level of play we aim for every game.”
The Maple Leafs, with a real stake in the Atlantic Division`s top seed, initially established a 2-0 advantage and dictated the game`s flow for the first 20 minutes. However, they then relinquished control against a struggling lottery-bound team due to a series of avoidable penalties, careless puck handling, and glaring defensive breakdowns.
