from Jonas Siegel of TSN,

The Maple Leafs didn't much resemble a team that had lost a pile of games and that greatly troubled both the interim coach and backup goaltender on Friday night as the winless skid struck 11.

"We just need to smarten up and really play the way we can, with passion and like men," James Reimer said with frustration after the Leafs 19th loss in the past 22 games (3-18-1) and 11th in a row, a 4-1 downing by the Devils in Jersey. "We've got to find a way to play with resolve no matter what kind of breaks go against you."

Peter Horachek didn't dispute the assessment, the steam evident as the words spewed out after another defeat. Conviction was lacking, he said. The urgency of a club that's tumbled to the nether regions of the NHL standings just wasn't there. And that was greatly disappointing, frustrating, and quite honestly, inexplicable for the 55-year-old charged with running Toronto's bench.

"You have to have that conviction and it wasn't there," said Horachek, who has just one win in 13 games behind the bench. "We weren't winning 1-on-1 battles. We played soft."

Toronto's been outscored 33-11 during the 11-game slide and even more astoundingly, 76-38 since the middle of December, opponents exactly doubling their offensive output.

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