Inside report on vibes inside Maple Leafs’ dressing room

The Toronto Maple Leafs offered fans a loss that was tough to swallow on Monday, losing 4-2 at the hands of the worst team in the league, according to many, the Arizona Coyotes. Fans were left frustrated and angry - and the Maple Leafs are just four games into the season. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was exasperated as well as he keeps calling out his players.

“The difference between us and Arizona is that we have elite players,” he said. “Our elite players didn’t play like elite players tonight.”

Following the loss, Toronto owns a middling 2-2-0 record on the season and insider Chris Johnston reports that vibes are off in the dressing room.

“It’s a little spicy, I’d say, for four games into the season.

“I think the vibes are not great in early going into the season, but it’s still early,” Johnston commented to Bryan Hayes, Jeff O’Neill and Frank Corrado on TSN’s Overdrive.

Johnston is right in the sense that this shocking loss to the Coyotes comes in early into 2022-23 and this should not stop the fanbase from believing that things will be different this time around in the postseason.

However, I feel it’s normal that vibes are off at the moment in the team’s dressing room. After all, the Maple Leafs received some boo’s from hometown fans at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night when they departed the ice for the second intermission with Arizona leading 2-0.

“It does set up for an interesting week now, added Johnston with the Maple Leafs off until Thursday when they’ll face the Dallas Stars at home, “because clearly, that’s a flat performance against a team that isn’t going to win many games this year, and the coach is putting some pressure on his top guys and will be looking for a response.”

To make things worse for Toronto, the Stars couldn’t have had a better start, to the season, winning their first three games and outscoring opponents 13-3.

Coach Keefe has certainly turned up the temperature in the dressing room with his postgame comments, not only after the loss to Arizona, but also following an uninspired debut against the Montreal Canadiens, and the vibes are affected in the room for the players.

How will they answer tomorrow night against Dallas?