Dec 3, 2019
Matthews: 'We just folded, kind of just quit'
Auston Matthews did not hold back his frustration after the Toronto Maple Leafs' 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night "We folded. We quit," Matthews told reporters.
TSN.ca Staff
Auston Matthews did not hold back his frustration after the Toronto Maple Leafs' 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night.
"We can't just fold. We have to play to that last minute, because that's just unacceptable. We just left him [Frederik Andersen] out to dry...suddenly the score's 6-1 so that's on us. That just can't happen," Matthews told reporters.
"We just folded, kind of just quit. We can't be doing that, not to a guy like Freddie, not to our starting goalie. Have to have a little more pride than that."
After the Flyers scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-1, the Leafs allowed two more goals just 12 seconds apart. The Leafs allowed five goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe, who took over for Mike Babcock last month, also showed his disappointment with how his team finished the game.
"Our response, our reaction after giving up the empty-net goal is not what we want to be about," he told reporters.
Keefe addressed the Leafs after the game, something that he rarely does, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
"We want to be a team of high character and that cares for one another and we just left our goaltender completely out to dry there and stopped playing. So, that's not a good sign for our group, but hopefully it is sort of the shake up that we would need.
"It's a tough way to go, but in the big picture it's probably a better way for things to finish, for us to get the shake-up we perhaps need going into tomorrow's game."
The Leafs will look to rebound Wednesday night as they travel back home where Nazem Kadri will be returning to Toronto for the first time as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.