Auston Matthews spoke to the media after the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 4-1 to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Matthews scored the first goal of the game with an assist from Mitch Marner. But the Stars quickly responded. Logan Stankoven ended a 25-game goal drought, scoring twice. Matt Duchene also scored and had two assists.
Matthews admitted that the team is going through adversity after their third straight loss. Matthews said that their execution can be better and that moments like these are important for the team to come together.
"I think our execution can be better. We're going through adversity right now," Auston Matthews said. "And as much as we prefer not to go through that, it's necessary sometimes. And these are the kind of moments where we gotta come together even more and stick with each other and work our way out of it. So that's something that's really all we can do. That's the mindset going into it. Have a good practice tomorrow."
The Stars won the special teams battle, scoring two power-play goals. Toronto didn’t score on their two power plays. Coach Craig Berube noted that the five-on-five play was close, but the Stars' special teams made the difference.
“It was a special teams battle tonight, I thought 5-on-5 pretty even game, pretty tight game, not much going on either way,” Berube said, per NHL.com, “We’ve got to win that [special teams] battle...We seem a little off on the execution part of things.”
The loss puts the Maple Leafs at 27-16-2, while the Stars improved to 28-14-1. Auston Matthews and the team are focused on practicing and improving their game as they move forward.
Auston Matthews' comments after shutout loss to Canucks
Earlier on Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena. Brock Boeser scored 31 seconds into the game, deflecting Tyler Myers’ point shot past Dennis Hildeby. Quinn Hughes made it 2-0 in the second period when his shot deflected off Simon Benoit’s stick into the net.
Kiefer Sherwood added the third goal early in the third period, finishing a no-look pass from Hughes. Kevin Lankinen made 20 saves for his fourth shutout this season.
Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said, per NHL.com:
“I thought we had chances, just couldn’t capitalize and I thought we couldn’t really get momentum on our side. A lot of one-and-done. It just felt like a little bit disconnected through the most part of the game, I would say.”
The loss was Toronto’s second straight before the third loss against the Dallas Stars.