from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

The word "crisis" is now being attached to the Toronto Maple Leafs and after just seven wins in the last 22 games it really isn’t much of a stretch.

There has been an unmistakable fragility to this group during a string of inconsistent performances that are almost beyond explanation. After all, it was just 96 hours ago that the Leafs thought they had started to turn things around with a thorough 7-3 victory over the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

Then they travelled to Pittsburgh, allowed a goal against on the very first shift of Monday’s game and ended up getting beaten by a Penguins team missing eight (8!) regulars from its lineup. That was followed by an even lower point on Tuesday, when the Florida Panthers waltzed into Air Canada Centre and completely outworked the home team.

"We simply got embarrassed," Leafs winger Mason Raymond said after a 3-1 loss that was as painful as any his team has suffered all season.

"I don’t think guys can be happy with that at all. I think we got embarrassed at home. I think we got beat all over the ice in almost all situations. We’re not putting anywhere close to 60 minutes together."

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