Toronto Maple Leafs play another miserable, unacceptable performance

On another back-to-back night, the Toronto Maple Leafs continued their trend of poor performances against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to still be searching for answers and understandably, patience is beginning to wear thin with Leafs Nation.

Going up against the Montreal Canadiens for the second time this season on Hockey Night in Canada, you would think the team would try to build off one of their better performances of the season. Instead, they had another predictable poor start allowing two goals on 19 shots in the first period.

After battling back to tie the game 2-2, the Leafs looked like they were in good shape heading into the third period. At least that’s what we thought until Jonathan Drouin was able to score seven seconds into the period on a breakaway.

You can hardly blame Michael Hutchinson for how the game turned out considering he gave the Leafs a chance to stay in the game. When asked about Auston Matthews not getting things going on the road this is what Mike Babcock had to offer.

More from Tip of the Tower

• Cam Phillips making his mark on Toronto Argonauts offence
• Toronto Argonauts: 4 storylines ahead of matchup against Redblacks
• Federico Bernardeschi ready for new challenge with Toronto FC
• Toronto Argonauts overcome Roughriders in entertaining Touchdown Atlantic
• Buffalo Bills: Von Miller drawing inspiration from Bruce Smith

While Babcock certainly deserves blame for how the team has performed, it’s inexcusable how invisible the Leafs top-paid player has looked when the team needs him to step up. The same goes for Mitch Marner who continues to put up points with John Tavares out of the lineup but only has three goals in 13 games this season.

"“There’s really no reason for it. I don’t really have an answer for you,” said Matthews to reporters. “It’s something we haven’t really done well in, especially in these back-to-backs, and we’ve had plenty of them, so we got to find a way to start better and start on time.”"

Seeing Matthews say that is not encouraging considering he’s one of the players who has the ‘A’ on his jersey as one of the leaders in the room.

Days after saying the Leafs recent tough stretch isn’t the end of the world, Jake Muzzin has stepped up his game but no one seems to have followed his lead. He might not be playing perfectly but he’s also been one of the few to show emotion with the way things have been going.

Seeing Muzzin toss the water bottle during the third period is refreshing because it shows that someone on the team is clearly not thrilled with the way things went in that game. His effort and passion are something this team should be following and it hasn’t been there for most of the season considering the team is struggling to get started on the right foot.

For people calling for Babcock to be fired, you are probably going to be disappointed as Elliotte Friedman reported that his job isn’t in jeopardy. Of course, you know Kyle Dubas isn’t thrilled with how this season has gone so far but he isn’t the type you would expect to rush into a decision like this.

But it’s safe to say that if things continue down this path, the organization will act because of the expectations which have not been met by any stretch.

What are your thoughts on the loss to the Canadiens? What needs to change and how can things get better? Let us know in the comments below.