Craig Berube Shreds His Maple Leafs Team Following Second Straight Embarrassing Loss
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Craig Berube did not like anything about the Leafs' play on Thursday as they lost their second in a row in embarrassing fashion, this time on home ice in Toronto.
For the second straight game, the Leafs found themselves down 2-0 early and were unable to mount any sort of comeback on Thursday night. The Leafs ultimately fell 5-1 to Berube's former team, the St. Louis Blues.
On Tuesday, Berube felt the Leafs started too slow against Columbus. Last night, not only did they start slow, but Berube felt they made way too many mistakes and got "too cute" on the Blues' third goal.
"We made mistakes, bottom line. Defensive mistakes. There was a lack of awareness on some of them.
For me, we gave them three goals. It shouldn't happen. We are just losing coverage. We are not helping each other out in coverage areas. There is too much time and space on some of them instead of being physical and closing plays out.
The PK goal - the forward is in the wrong spot, and they get it to the front of the net. Some of them are mental mistakes. On some of them, we have to be harder and more physical killing plays."
For me, we gave them three goals. It shouldn't happen. We are just losing coverage. We are not helping each other out in coverage areas. There is too much time and space on some of them instead of being physical and closing plays out.
The PK goal - the forward is in the wrong spot, and they get it to the front of the net. Some of them are mental mistakes. On some of them, we have to be harder and more physical killing plays."
On the third goal, almost immediately after Oliver Ekman-Larsson cut the Blues' lead to one, a couple of careless plays in their own zone resulted in a turnover and an easy goal for St. Louis to restore their momentum. Berube believes that was a backbreaker, calling it a lazy defensive effort.
"It was lazy hockey on the goal. That is the bottom line. A lot of that, in these last two games, is our team getting too cute for me. We have to play direct. We don't need that kind of stuff."
Berube's message was synonymous with the comments made by Auston Matthews and William Nylander earlier in the post game media availability.
The Leafs return to action on Saturday night and will be looking to bounce back against the Boston Bruins in a rematch of the first round last post-season.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 25 | 1969 ANSWERS Craig Berube Shreds His Maple Leafs Team Following Second Straight Embarrassing Loss Are the same old Leafs back? | ||
| Yes | 1212 | 61.6 % |
| No | 250 | 12.7 % |
| It's just an adjustment period | 507 | 25.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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