“You’ve got to stay the course. You can’t sway and you can’t doubt yourself,” Leafs coach Peter Horachek was saying before Saturday night’s 1-0 loss to the Flyers.

And even after it was over, after the Leafs lost for the 17th time in 20 games, they affirmed their belief in the system. Never mind that they’ve scored a combined seven goals during their current nine-game losing streak, during which they’ve now been shut out four times.

“You’ve got to stay with the process,” said centreman Nazem Kadri. “You’ve got to stay positive.”

Admirable stuff for a team now 12 points out of a playoff spot. But playing out the dregs of an all-but-dead season isn’t proving much fun for anyone — especially those of us still watching.

“We don’t like it. But I don’t think that this is cancer,” said Horachek, now 1-9-1 as Leafs coach. “This isn’t something that’s real life-threatening. This is something that we have to learn from and we have to get better.”

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