Andersen admits he must play better, Babcock remains confident

Frederik Andersen is the talk of the town, but for all the wrong reasons.

The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender allowed seven goals on 23 shots against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, dropping his save percentage to .850 through five appearances to start the season.

To his credit, he's not shying away from his poor performance.

"You just got to challenge yourself to work harder, that's the only (way) to get out of it," Andersen added, per Mark Masters of TSN, while maintaining he's still adjusting to the new environment and his new teammates.

Earlier Tuesday, head coach Mike Babcock was forced to answer questions about Andersen's shoddy numbers, brushing them off due to the season being young and because the criticism was coming from Don Cherry, host of Coach's Corner.

Following the 7-3 loss to the Lightning, Babcock admitted it was a tough night for the goalie, adding that he kept Andersen in net to battle through it.

Still, Babcock believes better days are ahead.

"Obviously we talked about it earlier today and it hasn't gone as good as he would like it to go," Babcock said. "We're very confident in his ability. We do a lot of work in advance to know what he's capable of doing, he's done it for three years straight. It hasn't gone very good for him. Tonight would be, I think, a point for him where he'd want to regroup from.

"He's a proud guy and it's very important that we support him, but he's got to get to work too and do his part. It's all part of being on a team. You've got to pick one another up. It didn't bounce his way tonight for sure. He's not feeling as good about himself as he should be. In order to do that you've got to earn the right to feel good by doing good work."

Andersen signed a five-year, $25-million extension with the Maple Leafs upon being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks, with whom he recorded a .918 save percentage in 125 appearances.