The Toronto Maple Leafs entered Thursday's matchup against the San Jose Sharks facing a very harsh reality, one the franchise hadn't dealt with for the past decade.
Win, and the Leafs would keep delaying the inevitable for one more day. Lose, and Toronto would miss the postseason for the first time in 10 years.
The latter is what happened, with Toronto dropping their game against the Sharks 4-1 and officially waving goodbye to their playoff hopes.
With front office changes already underway and the season derailed from its early stages, the Maple Leafs' locker room has been forced to step up and deal with the situation publicly.
Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Veteran forward Max Domi delivered a stern response about what's going on inside the locker room when asked about the "team culture" before Thursday's outing.
“Listen, man, at the end of the day, everyone that's above us, (CEO Keith Pelley) included, obviously, they are our bosses and they have to make tough decisions,” Domi said. “(Firing general manager Brad Treliving) was a tough one for him to change the leadership and all that stuff.
“But what happens on the ice is up to us. What happens in that locker room is up to us, and that's on us to be better. So we’re not going to get into what went wrong with you guys, and, quite frankly, it’s none of your business. It’s our group’s business, and we’ll keep it that [way]. We know what we got to do better and we will.”
The Leafs have six games left in their schedule, starting with a matchup in Los Angeles against the Kings on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
