Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews Gives Seven-Word Reaction to Upset Loss to Blue Jackets

The Toronto Maple Leafs ' hot streak ended with Tuesday's lopsided 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a shocking defeat for the Maple Leafs, who had previously won three consecutive games and headed into the showdown as the betting favorite across most sportsbooks.

Losing to a basement-dwelling team like the Blue Jackets can be bad for any team's momentum. One of Toronto's best players is doing his best to make sure one bad game doesn't lead to a losing streak.

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews spoke to NHL.com's Craig Merz following the game and only needed seven words to make it clear what he thought of the loss.

"There's no time to sulk over this," Matthews said, adding that it's a busy week with head coach Craig Berube facing his former team, the St. Louis Blues, on Thursday.

NHL captains lead by example, and that's exactly what Matthews did with his response to Merz. There are certainly takeaways to be had from the loss to the Blue Jackets. However, the Maple Leafs won't benefit if that's all they focus on with tough matchups against the Blues and Boston Bruins in the coming days.

If anything, the loss to Columbus helped Toronto realize that it might have some holes in its strategy.

"The neutral zone was the Autobahn for (the Blue Jackets) tonight," Matthews said. "They were just coming in flying through and we didn’t have very good gaps, very good angles."

The Blue Jackets needed less than 13 minutes to take a 3-0 lead in the first period. Columbus' lead grew to 5-0 by the second period and by then it was too little, too late for Toronto.

It'll be up to the Maple Leafs to learn from those mistakes if they want to lead Berube to victory against his former team. The 58-year-old head coach won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019 before ultimately being fired midway through the 2023-24 season .

It's still early in the season, meaning the Maple Leafs have a ton of time to iron out any kinks. They saw just how dangerous they can be during their three-game winning streak, a level they will hope to find again as early as Thursday's showdown with the Blues.

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