Mike Babcock’s post-game comments following the Maple Leafs’ 5-4 win over the Red Wings on Saturday night.
You get the result you wanted. What did you think of the entire game?
Babcock: Obviously, a real good atmosphere. I thought they skated real good. I didn’t think we skated as good or were as physical as we normally are. In saying that, we did lots of good things. I really liked our response when they tied the game. I didn’t like to give up the fourth goal there at all, but those are things we can fix. There were lots of mistakes we made today that we can fix. We’ll do that tomorrow, but it’s a big win for us. Any time you play a team four times in one year, it’s hard to beat them every team. So this was a big win for us. We needed the points. It helps us, obviously, as you see what happened tonight in the league in the standings. A real big win for our team.
You’re pretty close to locking up the playoff spot officially. What would that mean to the group at this stage?
Babcock: I think what we should do is just get ready to play Buffalo and not get ahead of ourselves. That’s what we’ve tried to do all along. We all watch the standings and know what they are. I think it’s important to enjoy tonight here and go into Buffalo and practice tomorrow and get ready to play Buffalo.
Is the impact of your rookies underlined with all three of them scoring nice goals like they did tonight?
Babcock: I said that to the coaches. After two, you see what they’ve done. Obviously, Matthews had an unbelievable night here tonight. You know, we’ve got good young players. The guys have done a good job, whoever drafted them. Hunts and his group have done a good job. We don’t want him resting on his laurels. We want more. The more good players you have, the better chance you have of winning year in and year out.
We know how talented they are, but do they seem like, from day one, they wanted to be difference makers?
Babcock: I think they’ve been different makers their whole life, so they don’t understand anything different. That’s what they try to do. You know, we play them lots. It’s not like they tried out. They got to play lots from the get go and they’ve done a good job.
On a run like this — 10-2-1 — do you sense momentum in the group, a positive vibe, a feeling that they can get through any situation?
Babcock: You sense confidence because they earned the right to feel good about themselves. They think they’re a good team. When you think you’re a good team, that leads to you making good plays. Now, we’ll go through the game tonight. Andie made lots of really good saves. Andie was good for us tonight, and so that’s a big part of it. He gives us confidence as well.
The league is supposed to make it harder right now, but you seem to be playing your best hockey. Why is that?
Babcock: Because we have to or we’re not going to have a playoff opportunity. I think, when you look around the league, there are lots of teams playing real good, and not necessarily ones in a playoff position. If you cruise along at .500, you wouldn’t have a chance to make the playoffs. Obviously, this is a big run for us. We think we’ve gotten better all year long and we’d like to continue to get better.
How much coaching has Auston Matthews required this year from you?
Babcock: I think a better way to ask that question is to ask him. I’m going to do what I do each and every day and try to make him better. My job is to make him the best 22-year-old player he can possibly be. Big picture and short picture at the same time. That’s the same thing with all of those guys. If they don’t turn into real players, I always say to our coaches, that’s on us. That means quality, quality people that make good decisions for the team first, know how to play without the puck, know how to play with the puck, and have huge desire to win championships.
