Despite the Victory, Craig Berube Has a Very Direct Message for His Maple Leafs

Heading into the third period of Monday's game, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked dead in the water, after the Pittsburgh Penguins had dominated the first 40 minutes with a 3-0 lead and a 25-8 advantage in shots.

Head coach Craig Berube shuffled his lines around, hoping to instil a bit of energy into his club, and it worked like a charm after a furious comeback in the final frame.

Berube put William Nylander back on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, and they put on a show, with 3 straight goals to open the period. Bobby McMann, playing with John Tavares and Nicholas Robertson, scored the game-winner off of a great individual effort from Robertson to get the puck towards the net in scoring position.

While it should have been a merry moment, considering this was their first comeback after trailing by 3 goals this season, and just the second time overcoming a 2-goal deficit, it was far from a chill environment post-game, with their head coach, Craig Berube, chewing the team out for a lacklustre first 40 minutes.

Berube's comments were pointed towards his team's effort in the first two periods, and how he just didn't have an answer for it.

A frustrated Berube continued by saying that he believes it boils down to mental mistakes and it's something that has to be addressed as soon as possible.

While the first 40 minutes were a disaster, they fully made up for it with an amazing third period. The Leafs mounted a furious comeback, which was led by their top guns. However, it truly is a mystery as to how they can play that well in spurts rather than showing up consistently.

Berube won't have much time to instil that behaviour into them as they host the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday. It will be very interesting to see which team shows up once the puck is dropped.