Craig Berube Sends a Message to the Maple Leafs and He Believes It Has Been Received

Coming out of the 4-Nations Face-Off, the Toronto Maple Leafs rattled off 5 straight wins against the likes of Carolina, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, and the New York Rangers.

Since then, they've lost 5 of their last 6 games and their only win in that stretch of games came after they blew a 3-0 lead to the Utah Hockey Club before coming out victorious in a shootout.

The Maple Leafs look like a totally different team, the players look dejected at times, and they haven't been playing with the same level of cohesion that we saw in the earlier months of the regular season.

Head coach Craig Berube has been outspoken during this recent stretch, including comments about lacking urgency in their loss to Ottawa, but he believes that his message is sinking into his team as they are about to embark on a very important final stretch run:

The Maple Leafs have been outplayed for the most part in recent games, which was not necessarily the case earlier on in the season.

Against San Jose, they only mustered up 2 shots in the third period. Against Vegas, they only collected 14 shots on goal after going down 5-0. They only fired 11 and 12 shots through the first 2 periods against Colorado and Ottawa, respectively, and the list goes on.

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander have combined for 6 goals during this 6-game stretch, which includes just 1 from the former Rocket Richard Trophy winner. They need to be a lot better and a quick turnaround starts with the top dogs.

With only 16 games remaining on the schedule, every game is going to matter that much more now that they're currently sitting 3rd in the division. What was once a multi-point lead at the top of the Atlantic has gone from bad to worse with Tampa Bay jumping ahead into 2nd place.

It's a positive sign that Berube believes that his message has been heard loud and clear in the locker room but we're going to need to see it to believe it. Their first chance to prove as much will come tonight against the Calgary Flames, who should bring a high level of intensity with their playoff lives at risk.