"It's just not good enough," he said postgame. "We need to be better and I think it comes from the leadership group. I need to be better. All of us need to be better. We just need to look each other in the eye and hold each other accountable."
The Maple Leafs are 5-4-2 to start the season and have dropped three of their last four games. Matthews shed more light on his comments Thursday.
"We're a family here, but sometimes you gotta yell at your family," he told TSN's Kristen Shilton. "(Communication) is something that we can do a better job of and I think it's something that we are doing a better job of."
Sloppy defensive play and undisciplined hockey have held the Leafs back. They're tied for the most goals against in the league entering Thursday and have the fourth-most giveaways. They've also taken the fifth-most penalties - including 10 in the last two games - after being the NHL's most disciplined squad a year ago.
"You don't want to lose; I hate losing," Matthews said. "So you're frustrated, but it's still early. We've still got new guys and we're still trying to mesh. ... But when we look around at the guys that we have, I think we expect more out of each other. So that's just holding one another accountable, putting the past in the past, and putting our best foot forward."
This summer, Toronto experienced as much turnover as any club in the league. Nine players have already made their Leafs debut this season. Two key skaters - Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott - have yet to play after undergoing offseason surgeries, and captain John Tavares has missed last three games with a broken finger.
Matthews, who leads the team with eight goals in 11 games, has been counted on to play bigger minutes with Tavares out. He admits he needs to do a better job without the puck.
"Just defensively (I can be better) and all areas," he said. "I have to put the puck in the back of the net, create on offense, but it starts in the D-zone and I think that's an area that we've been trying to work on lately, especially today (at practice), so I've got to be better."
The Leafs are back in action Friday against the San Jose Sharks and Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens.
"Physically, it just does not work anymore; my shoulder and wrists are pretty much done after 15 years in the NHL," Seidenberg told German outlet EIS Hockey News, according to NBC Sports via Google Translate.
Seidenberg played a pivotal role in the Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup title in 2011. He recorded 11 points during those playoffs and averaged 27:38 minutes of ice time per game.
The 38-year-old dressed for six teams after being drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round in 2001. He last played for the New York Islanders in 2017-18.
Seidenberg ends his career with 44 goals and 251 points over 859 games.
BUFFALO - It hit Ralph Krueger earlier this week in a KeyBank Arena hallway.
As the first-year Sabres head coach reflected on the early days of his tenure in Buffalo, he felt a chill. Krueger's group had exploded out of the gate to start the 2019-20 season, gelling behind closed doors while collecting 15 of a possible 18 points. His body was telling him to soak it all in for a quick moment.
"If somebody asked me, 'After 10 games, what would I like to know?' It's that we have a right to be part of the (playoff) race. That'd be the first thing," Krueger said in a conversation Monday afternoon. "And I feel that for sure we do, especially after that (2-1-0 California) road trip. I get a little bit of goosebumps when I think about it because this is the first time I've actually said it to anybody."
Bill Wippert / Getty Images
The next day, the Sabres won again, with Jack Eichel scoring on a jam play in overtime. That 4-3 victory over San Jose improved Buffalo's record to 8-1-1, its points percentage to .850, and its goal differential to plus-14 - all tops among NHL teams. Eichel, meanwhile, is playing at an MVP level.
"Ralph is a little bit unique, which really works for this group," center and alternate captain Marcus Johansson said. "It's fun to play for him. He's honest, he's positive, he lifts guys up. Hockey players with confidence are a lot better than hockey players without confidence."
Undeniable impact
The Sabres own the NHL's longest active playoff drought - eight seasons - and no other team has lost more games this decade, so October's been a boon for the organization and its rabid fan base. The Eichel era, which started in October 2015 when he made the jump from college, has been characterized by horrible records, bad body language, and fired coaches.
Krueger, the Eichel era's third bench boss following Dan Bylsma and Phil Housley, has been a breath of fresh air. Previous Sabres teams didn't play with this kind of pace or fluidity. There's a collective swagger brewing.
Rob Marczynski / Getty Images
The coach and his staff have been preaching interchangeability between the forwards and defensemen, and the message isn't just aimed at certain players. "Five guys on offense, five guys on defense," is how Johansson described the mentality. "The big focus," winger Sam Reinhart added, "is trying to stay connected, with and without the puck. Supporting each other all the time."
This pack mentality has led to crisper breakouts, cleaner offensive-zone entries, and a ton of odd-man rushes. "Irrelevant of the score, irrelevant of where we play, we need to keep playing the same way," Krueger said of his system. "We stay on our toes. We keep playing offense. We don't sit back."
So far, the Sabres are averaging 3.7 goals per game, which ranks fourth in the league. Second-year captain Eichel, sniper Jeff Skinner, and power-play sensation Victor Olofsson have bagged six goals apiece, while 15 others have registered at least one point. Scoring four or more times in five of 10 games is an inspired start for a franchise that's finished bottom 10 in goals throughout the Eichel era.
It helps that Buffalo's forecheck is greatly improved this year, said Jake McCabe, one of six players remaining from the awful 2014-15 team that lost 59 games. "And as a defenseman," he added, "it's been a lot easier to keep my gap because our forwards are working to get back and pressuring the puck constantly." In short order, the Sabres are looking like a cohesive group.
Andy Devlin / Getty Images
The 60-year-old Krueger, a master communicator, has brought an optimist's vibe to the formerly downtrodden franchise. The guy literally wrote a book on leadership, and his glass is always three-quarters full. He's deeply thoughtful and willing to challenge institutional norms like the morning skate. Perhaps most important to his players, he's an inclusive, collaborative coach with an open-door policy.
"Our opinion matters to him, which is nice," center Casey Mittelstadt said. "Any time you're going (into his office or the video room), you know he's actually listening to you and actually taking what you have to say to heart."
The last time we saw Krueger behind a bench, he was leading Team Europe to a surprise second-place finish at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That came in the middle of an unusual turn as chairman of Southampton FC, an English Premier League soccer team. An uneventful 48-game stint with the Edmonton Oilers seven years ago was Krueger's only prior NHL head coaching experience, and the game has changed dramatically since 2012.
"I had a lot of time to think about if I was going to be a coach, what I would do strategically," he said. "To actually bring it to life, then, is a completely different experience."
Cautious optimism
On Tuesday, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill praised Krueger for the team's impressive improvement. He added that the four players acquired over the summer - forwards Johansson and Jimmy Vesey, and defensemen Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju - have been a "really calming influence."
But with most of the roster returning, Krueger said last season's dramatic second-half slide still "hangs in the air." Ten straight wins had vaulted the Sabres into first place in the Eastern Conference during November, but they lost an incredible 41 of 57 remaining contests to miss the playoffs by 22 points.
At the time, pundits warned about falling head over heels for those Sabres since the winning streak featured six overtime or shootout victories. Puck luck had skewed the results, and the crash was swift and painful. Inevitably, fans may wonder if this year's scorching start is also a mirage.
In one sense, it's not. A plus-14 goal differential suggests dominance, not luck, and contributions have been coming from all four forward lines, three defense pairings, and two goalies. In another sense, the underlying even-strength data suggests the Sabres are playing with fire:
Buffalo has capitalized on a high percentage of shots and is seeing red in three other important categories. That's not ideal. Nor is the team's early-season reliance on its power play (30.8%) and goaltending tandem. Journeyman starter Carter Hutton has posted a terrific .943 save percentage through six appearances. Is it illogical to expect so much of him, backup Linus Ullmark, and the power play over a full year?
"It's not lucky what's happening here," Krueger argued. "There is a method to what's going on and why we're where we're at right now."
Krueger used last week's 3-0 win in Los Angeles as an example. Outshot 47-24, Buffalo seemed to get away with murder. Yet the club mostly limited the Kings' second chances, Krueger said, allowing for the gritty victory.
"We're more of a possession team and pick our moments to shoot," he noted. "Others, like a Columbus, like an L.A., they're shooting teams. They shoot, they shoot, they shoot. So, the shot clock is a dangerous clock to track with us." Additionally, Krueger said his club leans on in-house data - namely scoring chances for and against - and that those numbers haven't been setting off alarms.
"You could argue about whether (percentages are) too high or it's too low, or whatever, but in the end, we feel like we're realistically capable of being part of the race," he said.
Harry How / Getty Images
It's hard to disagree with Krueger because the Sabres are passing the eye test with flying colors. Mittelstadt and Vesey are playing some of the best hockey of their careers, much-maligned defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is happy with his suitable role on a well-balanced blue line, the Johansson-Skinner combo has made the second unit more dangerous, and both Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin - the organization's tentpole stars - are leading the charge on and off the ice.
The Sabres' 50th season is young, and their record could look wildly different in a month. Regardless, it feels like the tide is turning. The organization has found its leader.
"The most pleasing (development) is how much these players in Buffalo have embraced the plan that we as coaches drew up," Krueger said, "and the pathway that we've drawn up."
Without a contract offer from an NHL club, former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov has inked a professional tryout contract with HC Lokomotiv of the KHL, the league announced Thursday.
Markov, 40, spent 16 seasons with the Canadiens. In August, he announced his desire to return to the NHL, with Montreal his first choice.
In September, Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said the club was looking to take a younger approach, and he wasn't interested in bringing back the veteran rearguard.
Markov has spent the past two seasons with Ak Bars Kazan, posting 47 points in 104 games and winning the Gagarin Cup in 2018.
The Russian was selected by the Canadiens in the sixth round of the 1998 NHL Draft and ranks sixth in both games played (990) and assists (453) in franchise history.
Breaking into the NHL at 18 years of age is no small task, but New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko isn't making any excuses for his sluggish start.
“We’re not playing good right now as a team, and I’m not playing good,” Kakko said, according to the New York Post's Brett Cyrgalis.
He added, "I'm playing bad hockey."
The Rangers selected Kakko with the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. The Finland native has just one goal and one assist through the first seven games of his career.
Kakko's ice time has decreased over four consecutive outings, and he played a season-low 9:51 in an overtime loss against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.
“Of course (it’s not fun) because we are not winning the games right now,” Kakko said. “But, hopefully it’s getting better. Like, next game, maybe I feel better.”
Since winning their first two contests of the season, the Rangers have lost five straight and have found the net just nine times. They'll look to get back on track at home on Thursday night against the first-place Buffalo Sabres.
With the score even at two goals apiece in the final minute of the game, Victor Hedman unleashed an absolute rocket from the point to give the Bolts a late lead.
The Penguins applied the pressure in the final minute in an attempt to force overtime, but Andrei Vasilevskiy shut the door, robbing Kris Letang with an incredible glove save just before time expired. It appeared as though Vasilevskiy's glove may have crossed the goal line with the puck inside, but a lengthy review was unable to overturn the call on the ice.
THAT CLOSE. 😳
The Penguins were that close to tying the game as time expired in the third period. pic.twitter.com/Ug18A1XOc6
