It seems to be something of a truism that a young team working its way up the ladder spins its wheels for a while.

The talent is there for all to see, but it can't always get the job done. It's got to learn how to win, how to hold leads, how to come back, how to not take your opponent for granted, how never to think it's going to be easy when it looks like it's easy.

The Maple Leafs lost 5-4 in a shootout to New Jersey on Wednesday night, and have now lost once in regulation and four times in overtime in games they were leading to start the third period.

That's six points frittered away.

Give the Leafs six points, and they go from three points out of a wild-card spot into third place in the Atlantic Division. Huge.

So what does it take to turn those agonizing losses into wins? Matt Martin, who broke in with the New York Islanders, saw it happen on that team.

"I think it's an attitude thing," said Martin. "I think we lost 13 games in the final minute of the third period on the Island and the next year we won a bunch of games in the third period.

"I don't think it's a personnel thing, I think you just get that confidence and that belief that you're going to win. On the flip side, when you're losing games like that you start to feel like you're going to lose all of them. You get big leads and the other team comes out and pushes, they score one and you start to feel it a little bit.

"We've just got to get that out of our heads and understand we're a good team and understand we need to play the right way. In a 3-0 game on the road we need to come out and push the tempo of the game. We know they're going to have a pushback; we need to respond."

If that's all it is, then, really, time and patience is required to gain that confidence and killer instinct. But there does seem to be more. Some poor decision-making with the puck, especially on penalty kills. Some rebound control by the goalie, or the ability to clear those rebounds by defencemen. A balanced left-right defence that can both check and move the puck (not just one or the other).

It does seem to be an imperfect roster, one that should change significantly before the team becomes a playoff contender.

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