TORONTO — Mike Babcock has called out himself and his assistants when searching for reasons why the Maple Leafs have been so wonky at the start of recent games.

A couple of times in this recent skid — six losses the past eight games — Babcock has referenced their slow starts and blamed them in part on his role in game preparation.

If that makes the highly paid bench boss and his detail-oriented staff look bad, so be it.

It wasn’t just a convenient soundbite after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, a three-goal first-period letdown in a game the Leafs should have been amped up for, with a division rival in the house and a tenuous playoff spot to protect.

“It’s real important we ask our players to take ownership, so why wouldn’t you as coach or manager do your part?” Babcock said after Monday’s practice at the MasterCard Centre.

“It’s like anything, we’re all in this together. When we play well, we all get the credit and when we play poorly, we all get the blame.”

The sluggish Sabres game followed a slow start against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Going back even further to a five-goal outburst by Dallas, Toronto has been outscored 13-6 in the opening period of its past seven starts. The Leafs had been the NHL’s most productive first-period scoring team, but their 58 goals is now second to Washington.

Pre-game prep is important to Babcock and his assistants, who have a small army of strength coaches, sports science experts, video specialists and nutritionists. And more emphasis has been placed on making the Air Canada Centre a tougher place to play, with more crowd noise being generated over the past season-plus.

Yes, the Leafs are better at home than last year's 30th-place squad, and they are in the post-season picture for now, but they’ll have to do better than .500 in their own rink (13-9-4) as a four-game home-stand wraps up Tuesday against the New York Islanders.

“Our team didn’t get off to a good start (Saturday), we looked lethargic, they won all the battles and were better than us,” Babcock said. “What happens between our meetings an hour-and-a-half before the game and when the game starts that we’re not jumping? We have to get that looked after. That’s been an area of our strength and suddenly it’s not as good for us.

“Sometimes you start really good and the other teams scores first anyway. I thought we played great against St. Louis right at the start. They scored and they took over totally, but that first five or six minutes, we were on it. That doesn’t guarantee you’ll have success and score first, but it sure give you a chance.”

Before this season, the club’s first-period missteps were easy to explain.

The Leafs were skating on eggshells and no one knew how the goaltending would respond one game to the next. Frederik Andersen had solved that, it seemed, but his composure and the team’s defensive structure has taken a hit of late.

“We have a few things that need to be cleaned up that we’ve talked about the last few days,” Andersen, who starts Tuesday, said. “We know we have to play quick to get out of our zone and put the pressure on them.

“It’s up to each and everyone of us to be ready to play. That’s something we should be doing by now. We don’t have any surprises; other teams come in and see how good we are. Everyone who is coming in is trying to chase us, they want the points as much as we do.

“It’s how hard we work on the ice and how hard we work in the gym to prepare.”

Monday was a rare chance in this condensed schedule to get a full practice in after a day off.

“You’re fresh enough to get some tempo going and get our work level back that allows you to be successful in the league,” Babcock noted. “We’re through two thirds of the season and in a good spot, but the league gets better and better so if we want to continue in a good spot, we have to get better.

“April 12 is when the real season starts and you want to have an opportunity to be in that. But you have to earn the right for that to happen.”

Centre Nazem Kadri believes the Leafs can get back to the better times of December and January without radical alterations.

“I didn’t thing we’ve changed much,” he said. “It’s just been the way the game has gone. Some unfortunate bounces that haven’t gone our way. Whoever scores the first goal wins the majority of the time and we understand how important that is, hopefully get that first goal on the road to silence the crowd and the opposing team. We have to get back to that.

“We’re pretty good with the lead and scoring first in the majority of our games this year. We want to generate some puck luck our way.”

MCELHINNEY LIKELY IN VS. CBJ

Curtis McElhinney sees Wednesday’s anticipated start in Columbus vital for him as a chance to play, moreso than any revenge against the Blue Jackets.

A month after the Leafs claimed him on waivers, McElhinney has played well in limited action. It's the perfect scenario of a back-to-back this week that concludes in Ohio.

“It would be exciting, but the biggest thing for me would be just another opportunity to play,” said McElhinney, who will backup Frederik Andersen Tuesday versus the Islanders.

“I’ve been fortunate since I’ve come here that I’ve been fairly consistent (115 saves on 123 shots). They (Jackets) got a good team and it would be a good challenge if anything. But as a back-up, you can’t be too picky about when you get to play.”

It’s actually a home game of sorts for the 33-year-old McElhinney, who had to leave wife Ashleigh and children in Columbus when coach John Tortorella cut him after a bad third period of a game in New York. There have only been quick visits to Toronto for the family since.

“I still have a house there, the kids are still in school, so there are still some roots for the time being. It’s just challenging to uproot them and start something new. Right now, we’re making the best of it.”

McElhinney, who was born in London, Ont., went from one of the youngest teams in the league to another when Toronto acquired him.

“(Columbus) had a lot of success with that 16-game winning streak,” he noted. “It’s a similar feeling in the room there to here, one I enjoy being in.”

PLAY FAST. PLAY RIGHT.

Mike Babcock has been thinking of a new motto for this year’s Leafs and now all his players can see it in big bold blue letters every day.

"Play Fast. Play Right." is now on both walls of their dressing room, replacing "Heart and Desire Live Here."

It’s a simple message reminding the young Leafs of the rewards they reap when they use their speed. And it certainly doesn’t need an explanation like "Burn The Boats" — a choice of Randy Carlyle’s about explorer Hernando Cortez torching his ships so his men had no choice but to go forward.

“I just came up with whatever we had on the wall (before), but I’m always waiting each year for us to come up with a way of playing that you can hang your hat on,” Babcock explained. “So I think when we play right, we can play real fast. When we don’t play right, we look like snails out there.”

lhornby@postmedia.com