The longest-tenured Maple Leaf, Morgan Rielly, stood in front of the media Friday morning after a practice in Washington, before flying out to Nashville, and spoke on how much the belief that this group has is being tested.
“It’s constantly being tested, I think it’s a challenge but it’s extremely important to keep the belief and that mentality that we are able to play with anyone and win on any night,” Rielly said. “I don’t think you can let one game or stretch change that entirely.”
The most frustrating aspect for many fans of the club is the seemingly lack of effort that has been displayed, especially from a team that has some of the most talented players in the world on their roster. Rielly spoke on Friday about what the players can do to bring that compete level up.
“I think there are times when everyone has to look in the mirror and give more,” Rielly said. “That I don’t think is a question of belief, I think that’s just digging in more.”
There have been periods and games that have given fans reason to believe that this team is getting closer to the levels of previous seasons, but those stretches don’t seem to last, and the team reverts back to the habits that have them sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic. Rielly spoke on what that has been like.
“In this league you’re chasing consistency, you want to be consistent as a player and you want to be consistent as a team,” Rielly said. “We haven’t been able to find that which has led to issues.”
“We’re working through it and it’s not something that we’re not talking about,” Rielly said. “We want to be more consistent and we want to execute and we need to improve on that.”
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