Leafs Coach Craig Berube Unloads on his Team After Unacceptable Performance
Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers - Imagn Images
After an abysmal showing last night during their 5-2 loss to the Predators, Maple Leafs bench boss Craig Berube unloaded on his team over their performance.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are starting to lose a bit of their early-season consistency with up and down performances over the last few weeks. After dropping 5 of 6 games, the Leafs then won 3 straight contests before a dud of a performance last night in Nashville.
The Leafs' 6-2 win over Calgary on Monday night jumpstarted a three-game streak that encapsulated a lot of the good things they had done in the early parts of the 2024-25 season. They followed that up with 1-goal wins over Colorado and the New York Rangers and looked to make it 4 in a row against Nashville.
Goals from John Tavares and Mitch Marner gave the Leafs an early 2-0 lead before a 3-goal second period from the Predators washed away all the good they had done. Luke Evangelista added an insurance marker midway through the third before a Filip Forsberg empty-netter sealed the deal.
After the game, head coach Craig Berube didn't mince on his words and was as direct as we've seen him in recent memory. He was surprised at how the game flipped with how they started versus how they finished things off, as reported by the Hockey News' David Alter:
"It was a total flip," Berube said after the loss. "What we did to them in the first what they did to us in the second and we had breakdowns that cost goals. There was no reason for it.
I'm not sure if I'm surprised. These kinds of mental mistakes can happen throughout the year. However, I haven't seen mistakes like we made tonight in a while."
I'm not sure if I'm surprised. These kinds of mental mistakes can happen throughout the year. However, I haven't seen mistakes like we made tonight in a while."
To make matters worse, the Leafs lost a golden opportunity to leap over their divisional foes with both the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning losing their respective games. As of right now, Toronto is tied with Florida for 1st, but the Panthers hold the tiebreaker.
The Maple Leafs will look to get back on track on Tuesday night when they welcome the struggling Philadelphia Flyers to Scotiabank Arena. Until then, we can rest assured knowing that Berube won't let his team forget a loss like last night's and that practices will be heavily focused on cleaning up their mistakes.
| POLL | ||
MARS 23 | 2653 ANSWERS Leafs Coach Craig Berube Unloads on his Team After Unacceptable Performance With games versus Philadelphia, San Jose, and Anaheim to close out the month, how many will Toronto win? | ||
| 0 | 134 | 5.1 % |
| 1 | 343 | 12.9 % |
| 2 | 929 | 35 % |
| 3 | 1247 | 47 % |
| List of polls | ||
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