Morgan Rielly hungry to keep improving after second 2-point night in loss vs. Red Wings

It wasn’t a pretty night for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, allowing three unanswered goals in the second period as the team fell 6-3 to the Detroit Red Wings.

Speaking after the game, veteran defenceman Morgan Rielly broke down what went wrong for Toronto in the loss.

“We turned too many pucks over and had a couple long shifts,” Rielly said. “Then you’re playing tired and you’re just a bit slower than you need to be. So I think it’s about puck management. They’re keeping us out there by playing a three-quarter ice game and we’re having a hard time getting in their end.”

It’s a tough way to start the season, but there were still positives to be taken. Rielly finished the night with two assists, his second consecutive two-point match. Through the offseason there was talk of needing Rielly to step up offensively this season, and that campaign is off to a great start. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old prefers to stay neutral on talking about improving any one part of his game in particular.

“I want to be better all over the ice every night, that’s it,” he said. “We’re gonna have good nights and we’re gonna have bad nights, individually and as players. It’s about trying to find that consistency. You know, both myself and our group, we’re looking to get going here. We want to have a good start and we’re not gonna let one night push us off course.”

Often after a loss, there’s a narrative of ‘leave this one behind us and keep moving,’ but in the locker room Saturday night, it was all about holding on to the lessons from this early defeat. Rielly spoke about finding the balance between the two.

“I think there’s always a balance,” he said. “You tell people you wipe it, but you still think about it. I think that there’s always things you can take away and always lessons you can learn. There’s areas of our game that we have to improve. Not just tonight, but if you look at our first game and our preseason games there’s work to do. No one’s avoiding that, that’s just the reality of this time of year. We don’t want to dwell on all the negatives, but at the same time there’s a balance.”

Luckily for Rielly and the Maple Leafs, they won’t have to dwell on the loss for too long, set to face off against the Red Wings back at home on Monday.

“It’s a good chance to get revenge, if you will,” he said. “We’ll look to do that.”

The matinee showdown kicks off at 2 PM from Scotiabank Arena, pushed earlier to avoid overlapping with the Toronto Blue Jays game.