Good news is, they're humming along at a 104-point pace when competing on at least a day's rest. The bad? Every fifth game on the completed schedule for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been contested on the latter half of a back-to-back.
The Maple Leafs fell to 0-4-1 while dealing with extra lactic acid in their legs, conceding twice in the opening 49 seconds before going on to suffer a 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.
"Obviously (we) weren't ready as a team, as a coaching staff, as a goaltender - weren't ready. There's no excuse for that," head coach Mike Babcock said after the game, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
"(It) shows that you're not an upper-echelon team when you can't do it night in, night out," he added.
"Our preparation as a coaching staff, and our preparation as players in the room isn't good enough. We got some work to do."
It was the first time they were shut out under the short-rest condition (and just the second time all season), but the Maple Leafs have opened up a considerable deficit, having been outscored 19-8 over those five games.
Toronto has another 13 sets of back-to-backs on the schedule, and all but one of which involve travel.
Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.