The Toronto Maple Leafs were looking for a better effort against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night than they had in their last two games. They did get that.

With the Maple Leafs coming off another rough loss, this time at the hands of the Dallas Stars, they are going to need all the firepower necessary to weather this sudden storm of terrible play.

Logan Stankoven had two goals and an assist to lead the Dallas Stars to a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1

The Leafs' pool has taken a hit in both quality and quantity after trading away many draft picks over the years.

Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Dallas Stars, and they didn’t get the result they were hoping for. They came into the game as losers of two in a row and coming off what might have been their worst effort of the season against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Toronto Maple Leafs head coach felt his players delivered. The result, however, was more of the same. And now a team that did well to grasp a new system in the first half of the NHL season is facing its first real bumps in the road.

Three straight regulation losses aren't a good sign. Exactly how much of a problem are the various underlying trends?