from Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun,
On the verge of passing last year’s team point total of 69, Mike Babcock wasn’t about to make a big fuss about one game.
But a few Leafs are on notice after he saw red flags in Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Rangers.
The red flags had to do with veterans, which Babcock thought would be the easiest Leafs to motivate this time of year.
“Most of the (young guys) have been in lots of playoff races,” Babcock noted on Friday. “It was just at a different level. They’re used to winning. The only guys who aren’t used to it are those who’ve been here for awhile. They have to get used to winning.
“Lots of nights you say, ‘OK, we’re young,' but I didn’t think our veteran guys up front were near as good as they are normally. We could have won more battles and we were way too respectful. We turned the puck over too much and made it hard on ourselves.”
With Mitch Marner hurt, pressure to produce has switched to players such as James van Riemsdyk, with no goals the past 10 games.
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