After the game in Winnipeg, Randy Carlyle knew it in his bones.

His tenure as 37th coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs was coming to an end.

“Walking off the ice in Winnipeg, I felt that might be my last game, yeah.”

It showed on his downcast face, too, behind the bench at the MTS Centre, where the team had just dumped a 5-1 load of manure Saturday, seventh loss in nine games and trending downwards.

But even in his waning moments, Carlyle was trying.

“I coached to the last minute. I begged, borrowed and pleaded for a third period response.

“I did not quit on this hockey team.”

That’s for those who have since claimed, wrongly, that it was the coach who abdicated on the club and not the players who bailed on him. In truth, nobody quit on anybody.

They just weren’t good enough, lacked the sinew or commitment required to be a club of substance in the NHL. Carlyle, who’s won it all before and will doubtless rise from this career trough to try again elsewhere, could not tease or squeeze or coax it out of this bunch.

“I don’t think they tuned out,” Carlyle told the Star on Wednesday, as he drove back to Toronto from Sudbury, where’d he been spending time with a grievously ill brother-in-law.

“I don’t think they stopped listening. Things just didn’t work out — didn’t win enough hockey games.”

A public firing is always difficult to absorb. For 24 hours, on radio and TV and newspaper websites, on social media, Carlyle’s termination was the talk of the hockey world. He’s been there before. And it was always destined to end this way, whether on March 6, 2015, or five months from now or another year or two down the line. It’s the fate of all coaches in all sports. Few get to choose the time of their departure.

Carlyle is philosophical.

“I’m really at peace with it, to tell you the truth. I don’t think I left anything on the table or in the drawer.”

This city is a distinct challenge, as it will be for whoever succeeds Carlyle.

“The one thing about the job in Toronto — it will wear you down, it’ll grind you. I always tried to come out of that room and be as positive as I possibly could to the people that were on the exterior. Sure, there were things that happened inside the room that I think should stay inside the room.”

So don’t expect Carlyle get in his licks on his way out of town.

He is well aware of the chattering commentary that’s ensued, the accusation that these Leafs are simply un-coachable at the core composition, or beyond his coaching grip. And he rejects it, mostly.

“Some of them can do it and some of them are just not capable of grasping it. Some have a difficult time dealing with the pressure that comes at the critical times. If there’s one thing you cannot do with this group, it seems you cannot apply more pressure to them. You’ve got to try to pick them up. It’s always about making them feel good.”

It was a constant battle, convincing the players to recognize their own reality, with all its short-comings. The disconnect in style of play, in systems, was never resolved.

“Are we good? Are we good enough?” And, in their periods of success — 10-1-1 in mid-December: “Are we that good? That’s what you always ask yourself and them. Can you give yourself a chance?

“That’s the one thing that I continue to think, that there are some quality players but we’re not consistent in what we do. I said that from Game 1. I said that 20 games after I took the job — there has to be a loss less from the artistic value versus a grind style.”

He’s got four decades in the game and more to show for it than many others. While Carlyle acknowledges that the game has changed, he insists he’s been able to change along with it. Even though what’s worked in the past won’t take a coach far in the present.

“The modern-day athletes has come from a different background of coaching — the elite programs, Triple-A, the Under-18s — it’s always about Johnny gets a trophy. ”

Not much point hollering or throwing buckets of Gatorade.

“On every team, you’re going to find there’s obviously some people who are more difficult than others to sell what you’re asking. Not any different than going to school. Some kids want to sit in the front row. Some kids want to sit in the middle of the class and some kids want to sit at the back and screw around.

“Coaching in the NHL is not easy. It’s not supposed to be easy. You’ve got competition that is trying to do the same thing you’re trying to do. The definitive part happens on the ice. You can bring whatever you want into the classroom but the proof is the on-ice performance. That’s how we get evaluated. That’s how the players and the coaching staff get evaluated.”

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And that’s what Carlyle has been doing these past 48 hours, evaluating himself.

“There’s always going to be things that you question. Should I have done this or that? Should I have started that goalie there? Should I move this guy to that line. But it’s still too early — just two days . . . ”

It was late Monday night, around 11 p.m., when Carlyle got the call he was expecting from Dave Nonis. Actually, it was a text. The GM wanted to see him Tuesday morning. Carlyle was in Sudbury after missing the Monday outdoor practice for a scheduled medical procedure — herniated disk in his back which will require surgery during the all-star break.

They got on the phone instead.

“I told him, Dave, if you’re going to make a change, I’m not going to drive five hours back to Toronto when I’m with my wife and my brother-in-law is on his death bed. I understand what you’re saying. You don’t have to sugar-coat here.

“I knew what was coming.”

As Carlyle says about himself: “I’m no pacifist.” So yes, there is some anger, if not directed at Nonis or hockey czar Brendan Shanahan.

“Shanny gave me an opportunity, didn’t work out. I thank him for that. I feel fortunate to coach the Leafs. We leave with a winning record, which isn’t enough, I understand that.”

Whatever his feelings about certain individuals, Carlyle won’t share. He wants to coach again in this league, after all.

“I’ve got a lot of fire burning in me to go after some people. But I won’t criticize the players. I’ll never do that. The things that happened in the dressing room are between the team and me. I don’t think it should be exposed. That’s what I worry about, to tell you the truth, being trotted out and asked to make comments about the players.

“I don’t want this to be personal. This part of the business, it’s an ugly part. It’s a great game, it’s an ugly business. I said that before, when Brian Burke was removed. Now this is my turn, I guess, the gun’s pointed in my direction.”

But he has other things on his mind right now, matters of life and death. Getting canned by the Leafs doesn’t remotely compare to such crises.

“I didn’t want out. But there is a relief that’s associated with it because the last two mornings I haven’t woken up and been worried about what’s going on with the hockey club, what are we going to do with this, how are we going to deal with that? That’s what coaching does to you. You’re immersed in it. There’s always that constant battering, things that are running through your mind.”

Perspective.

“That’s the relief I’m feeling right now. It’s easy to park this.

“What I’m going through is so small, just two days in my life.”

One thousand and thirty-nine days as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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