The mood is always sour in an NHL dressing room after a loss. But it felt particularly sombre on Wednesday for the Maple Leafs young players.



This time it was a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, a solid, veteran team with real playoff expectations. It was Toronto’s third loss in a row – and sixth in the last eight games – and it was maddening in the sense that the Leafs push at the end was utterly dominant and ultimately fruitless.



“Very frustrating,” was how Auston Matthews put it.



Down 3-1 a minute into the second period after several blunders with the puck, they were facing the hottest goalie in the NHL. The rest of the way could have been a resignation. Instead, the Leafs started an insane push at the halfway point: Over the final 30 minutes, they fired 52 shot attempts at Devan Dubnyk to only 12 by the Wild.



In the third period, the Leafs even strength possession was 83 percent. It wasn’t score effects, not all...