TSN Maple Leafs reporter Kristen Shilton checks in with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs practiced at MasterCard Centre on Wednesday.

- Coming off the sixth game this season where they blew a lead in the third period, the Maple Leafs were clearly frustrated with losing to the San Jose Sharks after leading 2-0 late in the third. Looking back at the missed opportunities in the past, Morgan Rielly didn’t see just one thing that stood out as a cause. “Trends tend to change a little bit when you’re giving up leads. It might be because you’re trying to be too aggressive,” he said. “I think last night might have been a case of us being too passive, trying to tighten up too much. When ideally you would like to continue playing the style that got you the 2-0 lead as opposed to changing it.” Staying the course with what’s worked for them has been an ongoing challenge. “We kind of get away from our game and sit back a little bit more,” Tyler Bozak said. “We should just play like it’s a tie game and keep playing the same way but maybe we get a little nervous and a little shy to make a mistake and sit back a little too much.” Mike Babcock attributed the continued struggle holding onto leads as his team getting accustomed to losing them and starting to doubt themselves, but he’s encouraged them to learn how to “push through.”

- Another unsettling trend for a team as skilled as Toronto has been their lack of success in the shootout. They’ve lost all four they’ve played in this season, they only team in the NHL with that many shootout defeats. Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews each have one goal in four attempts each, while Toronto has gone 2-for-14 overall. For Babcock that extra point didn’t used to have as much value as it does now. “[The shootout] is way more important suddenly,” he said. “Didn’t matter last year, weren’t in the mix. Didn’t matter when you had a lot of points. We could have come out [in practice] and worked on it today, for example, but we talked about that, thought that would be a negative thing. So we have to find more time to work on it.” Matthews expressed surprise a team with as many talented goal-scorers as his hasn’t performed better in the skills competition, but he is more focused on how the Maple Leafs keep ending up there.” I think sometimes we shouldn’t be finding our place there like last night and a couple other times throughout the year, dug ourselves a hole and ended up putting ourselves in that position to go into overtime and the shootout,” he said. “We’re playing well, and there’s parts of the game where we sit back too much and we don’t do what we did to get ourselves in the position to be up a couple goals.”

- Zach Hyman earned ample praise from his teammates and coach after blocking two shots – one from Brent Burns – in Tuesday night’s loss. Hyman was the other player other than Martin Marincin (lower-body injury) who was absent from practice. Babcock said Hyman wanted to be out there, but the training staff held him out. He should be ready for Toronto on Thursday. Matthews said after Tuesday’s loss it was a “pleasure” playing on a line with Hyman, and reiterated Wednesday how important his presence is. “He’s fearless out there, he does anything for the team,” Matthews said. “Whatever it takes, he’s going to do it. He’s one of those guys you need to win.”

- While they’ve lost five of their last six to fall back into a tie for last place in the Atlantic Division, Babcock has repeatedly praised his team’s work ethic and effort over the last two defeats especially. They’ve been generating opportunities and winning puck battles, but their mistakes frequently end up in their net. Tyler Bozak has more experience with the ups and downs of a season than most of the lineup, and offers simple advice about getting back on track. “Just stay positive, stay focused. We haven’t gotten the results we wanted but we’ve done a lot of good things,” he said. “We have to take the positives out of it. We also have to know it’s unacceptable to finish games like that and play that way in the third. There’s two ways to look at it.” Rielly looks more at the second part. “There’s lots of positives, but we would trade that in for wins I think,” he said. “We’re happy with the way we’re working, happy that we’re getting pucks on net and getting chances and stuff but the most important thing on a night to night basis is yes, growing, but also winning.”

- Less than a week after he was traded by the Maple Leafs to the Arizona Coyotes, forward Peter Holland will return to Air Canada Centre on Thursday night. Holland put up two assists in his debut with the Coyotes on Tuesday in Detroit, and Babcock said he’s rooting for Holland to succeed with his new club. “It’s good for him,” Babcock said of the team change. “Holland was a good player for us, did lots of good things; it didn’t work here for him. You want everyone to do well, period. If it’s not working here and they’re not finding a way to help themselves or grow as a player or help you, it’s important they move on and when they move on, you’re not cheering against them at all, you’re cheering for them and hoping they do well. Except when they play you.”