"The Toronto Maple Leafs had a bit of a tough homestand with just two wins in six games and the team now finds itself four points behind the surging Boston Bruins who have three games in hand on the Leafs. While media members and some fans are starting to panic, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock feels far from the same. The Leafs coach said he actually feels positive about how the team has been playing despite the results. «This is how I look at it: they hired me to decide,» Babcock said «We're going on the road tonight (for Thursday's game in Philadelphia), have a nice meal and I'm just going to keep on keepin' on.
«You get to decide what you react to. If you let the noise get in the way … can you imagine if every time someone in your life told you that you couldn't do it, you listened to them? Where would you be?»
He later added: «Things are never as good when you're winning as you think and never as bad as when you're losing.»Despite some media members calling out Babcock's line combinations and the lack of offense the team has provided, Babcock could care less. «We can move guys around if we feel it's going to help us get better,» Babcock reasoned. «I just think when I look at our last couple of games, I think that we're in a good situation. I don't feel like you (media) guys do, not one bit, but when I do, we'll change some things.»
«I think, the better teams play defensively, the more you shoot to break them down,» he added. «It creates more randomness rather than thinking pretty plays are going to be there. I thought St. Louis did a better job of that, early in the game, than we did.»
"
