Berube blames Leafs players for lack of passion in loss to Capitals

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was out of answers following his team's ugly 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

"They played with more passion than we did tonight," Berube told reporters after the contest. "That's what it boils down to. It looked to me like they had way more urgency in their game, more passion in their game. That's the difference."

When asked to explain why the team was so flat, Berube deflected the blame to his players.

"Ask those guys, not me," he said.

Toronto was thoroughly outplayed from start to finish, controlling just 40% of the shot attempts and 38% of the expected goals at five-on-five despite trailing for the majority of the game, per Natural Stat Trick.

Berube loaded up the Leafs' top line with Matthew Knies and William Nylander flanking Auston Matthews, but the trio was outshot 7-0 in just over seven minutes together at five-on-five.

Nylander, who has zero goals and four assists in his last eight games, also struggled to find reasoning for team's inconsistent play.

"I don't know, that's a tough question," he said.

Matthews blamed the loss on poor execution.

"We just made it so easy for them," the captain said. "Neutral zone was a highway for them to get through."

While the Maple Leafs only sit four points back of a playoff spot, they're also just one point ahead of the Eastern Conference's last-place teams - the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets.