Craig Berube Reveals Brand New PK Strategy for Maple Leafs This Season
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Photo credit: Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs struggled mightily on the penalty kill last season, but Craig Berube and Lane Lambert are hopeful that their new approach will change that this season.
At 76.9%, the Leafs' penalty kill ranked 23rd in the league during the regular season last year. Associate coach Lane Lambert has taken over penalty killing duties under Craig Berube and while it is only pre-season, the Leafs have killed off all six penalties they have taken. Quite the improvement, albeit in a very small sample size.
Following practice yesterday, Berube was asked about the changes to the penalty kill, sharing the following insights with the Toronto media.
"Pressure. There is a lot of pressure from the forwards. The defensemen have to stay home and do a good job around our net with good sticks, but it is more about the pressure and not letting teams have too much time with the puck. It is a work in progress. We have to keep banging away at it."
He was also asked about having a variety of players take reps in a penalty killing role, such as Ryan Reaves and John Tavares -- two players who haven't taken a lot of penalty killing reps in Toronto.
"We are all new here. We want to see what guys can do in those situations and how they react to certain things - their stick details, their minds, and how they think on the PK. We have to give them opportunities and see how they look."
Those comments came on the heels of his post-game comments Thursday about having Tavares playing on the penalty kill.
"He is a good faceoff guy, for sure. I used him a little bit there in the first game. We will see what happens. It is early yet."
Early in training camp, Berube explained the type of style he wanted the team to play and it appears that it was not just at even strength as the aggressive defensive structure will stretch into the penalty kill as well.
While the adjustments may be working during the pre-season, the Leafs will have to do a better job under Berube than they did under Sheldon Keefe at adjusting during regular season games if they want to build better habits that they can take with them into the postseason.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 28 | 1975 ANSWERS Craig Berube Reveals Brand New PK Strategy for Maple Leafs This Season Where will the Leafs finish in penalty kill this season? | ||
| Top 5 | 389 | 19.7 % |
| Top 10 | 734 | 37.2 % |
| Middle of the pack | 719 | 36.4 % |
| Bottom 10 | 133 | 6.7 % |
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