After a 6-3 loss to Colorado, head coach Jim Hiller discussed the mistakes on the game-losing goal, William Nylander’s play, the team’s losing record through 20 games, and why/how he believes the group can work its way out of the slump.
Hiller on how the Leafs can turn things around:
Work your way out. It’s the only way. You can’t hope. You can’t be average. You’ve got to work your way out. Every guy.
Hiller on whether he believes this group can do it:
Absolutely. We’ve played a lot of good hockey this year. Our results suck. You can write those stories. There’s no question, and we deserve that.
But we’ve played some good hockey at times, and I thought tonight was another night where, for a large part of the game, we played some really good hockey. Didn’t win.
Hiller on conceding the winning goal shortly after Jack Roslovic tied the game:
We made multiple poor decisions. Multiple. That’s usually how hockey works. Sometimes you make a bad decision, and hopefully somebody cleans it up. You make one, two, three, four decisions in a row — veteran players — can’t have it. You just can’t have it, and that’s how you lose.
It’s just plain and simple. That’s how hockey is. You have to be on it, and you can’t have multiple players make poor reads.
Hiller on what he’s seeing from William Nylander:
I’ve seen Willy play (a lot). Obviously, I started with him. We’ve talked about that. I’ve seen him play a lot of hockey. I know he can play better than he’s playing right now. I think that’s a pretty fair statement. If you asked him, I think he would agree.
I don’t think it’s just him. I don’t think his line’s been great. But if we’re talking about him specifically, he’s a hell of a player, and he’ll get out of it. He’s got to be a driver for us.
Hiller on the Leafs’ losing record through 20 games:
I don’t want to make excuses. Our record is what it is. It’s deserved. I think we could have a better record, but we don’t. We are what we are, and it’s a lot of different things.
The (4-3) goal against — let’s start there. We’ve had penalties at inopportune times. There have been a lot of things, but I like the guys. I like the team. We’re going to come out of it.
It just really, really sucks. And the only way, I told you, is stay together and work.
Hiller on considering a challenge of Colorado’s second goal:
Yeah, we thought about it hard.
Hiller on ultimately deciding against the challenge:
A lot of the goals are reviewed by our video coaches, and there are certain ones that fit into certain buckets, and that one fit into a bucket. It was pretty clear that it’s not a high probability that they’re going to overturn.
It’s just that simple. It’s all based on probability and the exact type of situation.
