Leafs' Babcock praises Lightning: 'They're better than everybody'

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said Thursday that chasing down the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lead the NHL with a 26-7-2 record, will be extremely difficult.

"It looks to me like Tampa's better than us," Babcock told Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. "It looks to me like they're better than everybody."

With 54 points, the Lightning lead every other team by at least eight. And they've been even hotter in recent weeks, going 9-0-1 across their last 10 games, including a 4-1 win over second-place Toronto.

"I'm not saying they're deeper, I'm not saying they're more talented," Babcock added of the Lightning, according to Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press. "But their maturity level to play every night and find a way to win seems to be there."

As Babcock alluded to, Tampa Bay's will to win has been on display this season, as the team went 12-2 while star netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was sidelined with a broken foot.

Babcock and the Leafs will have three more cracks at the Lightning in 2018-19 - two of which are at home - starting with a matchup on Jan. 17.

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