The Maple Leafs held a media availability at Ford Performance Centre on Thursday before flying to Florida.

In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's disappointing defeat in Game 5, Leafs coach Craig Berube didn't have an answer for his team's poor performance.

"It's hard to explain it," he admitted following the Panthers 6-1 win.

A few hours later, before the Leafs departed for Florida, Berube had diagnosed the problem.

"We went out in the first period and just overthinking things and not playing," he said. "We didn't move our feet. We didn't compete. We were tentative in the game. We can't play like that."

The Leafs have a lot on their collective minds after seeing a two-game lead turn into a 3-2 deficit against the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was only last Friday that the Leafs were in overtime of Game 3 in Florida and just a shot away from a stranglehold lead.

Now, they will face elimination for the first time on Friday in Sunrise, Fla.

"You get in your head," Berube said. "You're worrying too much about the results and not focusing on the process. Like, that's where that comes from for me. And I've seen it before in playoffs, and I've coached it before in playoffs, so I know what they're going through."

This is also a familiar feeling for the core players. At times during this run of nine straight playoff appearances the team has seemed paralyzed in key moments. It's a big reason why the Leafs have won just two of 10 series with centre Auston Matthews, winger Mitch Marner, winger William Nylander and defenceman Morgan Rielly in the fold.

"You can dwell on all kinds of things, be upset about effort or whatever, but I believe that this team cares," Rielly said. "We're in a position now to go down there and win a very important game for our team."

Centre John Tavares joined the core in the 2018-19 season and since then the Leafs are 1-5 when hosting Game 5 in a playoff series.

Bad losses happen even in the playoffs. Getting humbled 6-1 at home hurts, but it's only one game.

"A loss is a loss," Berube stressed. "If we would’ve lost 2-1 and it was a close game, would it really matter today? We got beat. I've been in this situation before. You know, a loss is a loss. We're all going to be down and dejected, but we can't be. Today, we got to regroup. We got to get a different mindset going here, going into tomorrow's game, and be excited to go and win a game. That's what we've got to do. We've got to change the whole mindset here."

The 59-year-old bench boss, who........

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