Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which dropped the Maple Leafs’ record to 27-22-9.
On the team’s performance:
I thought we played a good, solid first period. We had three 2-on-1s in the first period and didn’t get a shot off. We have to execute those plays better.
In the second period, we were flat early, and they got a couple of goals. That is the difference in the game for me.
On the strengths of this red-hot Lightning team:
They don’t give you a lot of room out there, for sure. They have a lot of skill and can make plays, but I thought we did a good job, for a lot of the game, defending it, and making sure we had numbers and people back doing a good job.
In the end, you give them a couple of free ones, and they capitalize on them. We took four penalties tonight.
On whether the long break affected the execution level:
It does probably affect it a bit, but we have to get chances off of 2-on-1s, and we didn’t. We had our looks, and we didn’t score. Willy had a couple of chances on breakaways and other opportunities. We didn’t do a good enough job.
On whether the late push showed the urgency required:
It has to be for 60 minutes. It is something we discuss all the time. We played a good first period. We have to come out ready for the second. They had the better of the play for 10 or 11 minutes in the second period. We were in our zone too much and gave up two goals.
On Auston Matthews’ performance:
I thought he was fine. I used him a lot at the end, obviously, with the goalie out. They did some really good things with the goalie out. I didn’t sense he was tired or anything like that. He was good.
On video coaches Jordan Bean and Sam Kim flagging the two Tampa Bay offsides for goal reversals in the first period:
Huge. We saw them, too. I thought they were close. I wasn’t sure, for sure, but they took a look at them. They do a great job of recognizing that and calling them.
On the opportunity to get right back into game action tomorrow night against the Panthers:
We have a big game again tomorrow. We have to look at some things from this game, learn from it, and be better tomorrow.
Game Highlights w/ Joe Bowen: Lightning 4 vs. Maple Leafs 2