from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

The scoreboard read 5-4 and the landmines were scattered everywhere.

About the only victory the Toronto Maple Leafs could claim on Wednesday night is that they managed to pack up and leave Air Canada Centre without stepping on any of them.

There were several different ways a Game 4 loss could have been chalked up as an aw-shucks near-miss, from the 19-3 shots advantage over Washington in the third period to the fact they came within a botched 1-on-4 clearing attempt from forcing overtime.

But the Leafs instead took a deeper level of self-reflection and thus avoided lying to themselves about what really happened here.

“For sure, it is a lost opportunity,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “It doesn’t feel like it – it is. I think Game 1 in their building you could say that, but I didn’t feel like that, I just felt that was a confidence builder for our team. You’re playing a team, they’re the best team in hockey and here you are.

“I thought today was the first time that maybe we weren't scared enough of them and it looked like it because our competition level wasn’t good enough.”

continued

Highlights are below...