The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped their third straight game on Saturday in ugly fashion, losing 7-1 to the depleted Pittsburgh Penguins.
"We've got to go back to the drawing board," defenseman Jake Muzzin said, per The Athletic's James Mirtle. "We're going to have to work a lot harder to win. It's inexcusable. Myself, everyone. We need to be better."
To make matters worse for the Leafs, the Pens were without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Jeff Carter.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was understandably upset postgame.
"I have a lot of thoughts," he said. "Not many good ones."
The Maple Leafs gave the puck away nine times - three times more than the Penguins. Keefe highlighted puck management as a necessary area of improvement moving forward, but also said the Leafs have been getting burned by cheating for offense and looking for the easy way out.
"It's easy to start doubting and questioning things when things aren't going your way," Keefe said, per The Hockey News' David Alter. "The difficult thing to do is to dig in and recognize that the league is very good and (if) you cut corners one little bit, teams make you pay for it."
Winger Mitch Marner, who has just one assist in six games this season, stressed the importance of patience.
"I don't think we can be concerned," Marner said, according to Yahoo Sports' Justin Cuthbert.
The Leafs are back in action on Monday against the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes.
