Craig Berube on the Leafs' recent play after their OT loss to Columbus: "We're defending a lot better and doing a lot of good things... Going in a good direction"

"I thought we played a pretty good game all around. The guys worked, competed, and did a lot of good things. Overtime... It's the way it goes."

"He has taken some good steps from day one. He is like a dog on a bone out there for me. He just works, skates, and sees the ice extremely well. He is being a lot heavier on pucks and is making good decisions with the puck. I thought he played a really good game tonight."

"Good dumps and rims. We talked about riming it in. We got on it, created a bunch of stalls, and got it back. There were a lot of good things off our forecheck. We talked about it before the game: Put pucks behind them all night. I thought we did that. We did a good job of it. Again, we just came up short tonight."

"I don't know if anything is going up; he just wills his way around the ice. I mean, the effort he puts in every shift is remarkable. It really is. Another solid performance from him."

The Maple Leafs lost 3-2 in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets, dropping the record to 9-9-3. The team played a pretty good game overall, working hard, competing, and doing many good things, but failed to finish plays when it mattered. Easton Cowan has taken good steps from day one, plays like a dog on a bone, works and skates well, sees the ice, carries pucks heavier, and makes sound decisions. Defensive play has improved and forechecking featured effective dumps, rims, stalls and puck retrievals. John Tavares consistently wills his way around the ice and delivered another solid performance. Scott Laughton returned with energy, good skating and penalty killing.

Read at Maple Leafs Hotstove