Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to stitch together another three-game win streak, as they took a stumble Monday night in a 4-3 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Matthews knew that the effort was simply not there a hundred percent for him and the other skaters, even coming into the defense of Matt Murray and pinning most of the blame on the players in front of the goalie.

“All those plays were on us (not Murray), just losing coverage, not being hard on pucks, and just giving them too much leeway to get to our net to get quality shots off and opportunities,” Auston Matthews said after the game, per Dave McCarthy of NHL.com.

The loss was especially frustrating for Auston Matthews and company because they were able to go up early, 2-0. Matthews struck first just a little over a minute into the second period. Two minutes later, Calle Jarnkrok found the back of the net. What followed was three unanswered goals for the Sabres. Murray gave up all four goals, including one where the Maple Leafs were shorthanded.

The Maple Leafs were outshot by just the slimmest of margins, 29-28, but the Sabres had 11 high-danger even-strength shots to just seven by Toronto. Winning the possession battle more consistently is an area the Maple Leafs need to continue working on. On the season, Toronto is just 15th in the NHL overall with just 5-on-5 51.1 CF%.

Toronto will look to recover right away on Wednesday at home against the Colorado Avalanche.