Craig Berube on the Leafs' inconsistency of late: "We make the game harder on ourselves than we need to... That is the baffling thing for me"

"I think we are handling it fine. There have been certain times in games - and not the full game - where we look like we lack some energy. But that is not an excuse. That is mental for me. You have to fight through it. I am not going to sit here and make excuses for our team. We have to grind through it. We have to grind. It is a grinding time right now. We have to grind through it."

"I am not sure that I don't know what we are going to get. I don't know if it is baffling. There are certain areas where we have talked about it, and sometimes it is baffling that we don't do it. That is what is baffling. We make the game harder on ourselves at times when we don't need to. That is the more baffling thing for me."

The team skipped a full practice because of a packed schedule of consecutive games and practices. The group is coping but shows intermittent energy lapses during parts of games that are viewed as mental rather than physical. Players are expected to fight through fatigue and maintain a grinding mindset without excuses. Performance inconsistency remains frustrating because specific tactical areas have sometimes not been executed, which makes the game harder on the team. William Nylander and Dakota Joshua skated, trainers will assess their progression, and no return timeline has been announced. Strong defensive play and puck management worked well against Colorado.

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