{"id":437694,"date":"2026-01-26T02:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T02:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437694\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T02:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T02:33:07","slug":"craig-berube-says-confidence-a-choice-amid-toronto-maple-leafs-latest-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437694\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig Berube says confidence \u2018a choice\u2019 amid Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 latest struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube<\/a> saw a team on the upswing.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> came off a successful road trip looking to make inroads at Scotiabank Arena in a congested Eastern Conference playoff race.<\/p>\n

Following a disastrous, uninspiring week, they\u2019re again searching for answers \u2014 and confidence.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Avalanche<\/a> got a pair of goals off the stick of Brock Nelson<\/a> inside the game\u2019s first eight minutes before grinding out a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon to hand the Maple Leafs a fourth straight loss on their ice (0-3-1) in what could be quickly turning into a season-defining stretch of the schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta to fix the execution part,\u201d said Berube, sporting a black eye and nasty gash on his forehead after a gym incident Thursday. \u201cAnd then the battle level. When you get down in the game, we gotta come together as a team, and we gotta fight through that. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s going to happen \u2026 I think losing at home here, it\u2019s worn on our team a little bit. But that\u2019s pro sports and we gotta all pull it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto occupied the East\u2019s first wild-card berth Jan. 12 on the heels of a 4-3 overtime triumph over the Avalanche in Denver. The Maple Leafs (24-19-9) woke up five points below the playoff cutline Sunday and sit 11th in the conference with a .548 points percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s a choice,\u201d Berube said when asked how the group can regain confidence. \u201cLike, come on. They\u2019re NHL players. You\u2019re paid to play in the NHL, you gotta go out and play. Confidence comes from just hard work. Confidence comes from just playing the system, being direct. Confidence comes from work and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell we\u2019re not playing with a ton of confidence,\u201d Toronto defenceman Jake McCabe<\/a> added. \u201cIt can be fleeting at times. You\u2019ve got to generate it when you don\u2019t have it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs\u2019 ugly homestand has included slow starts in 6-3 losses to the Minnesota Wild<\/a> and Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> that bookended a 2-1 OT defeat to the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> ahead of Sunday\u2019s setback against the NHL\u2019s top team. Toronto was coming off a 2-2-1 road trip and was 8-0-2 over its previous 10 contests before dropping six of its last seven (1-3-3).<\/p>\n

\u201cJust coming out flat,\u201d said Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews<\/a>, who started the month with 10 goals in 10 games before firing blanks across the last three. \u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like we had the energy that we needed to compete at a high level, and other teams did. We came out better (Sunday), we forechecked better in the first period. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then just mistakes and the puck ends up in the back of your net \u2026 you\u2019re just chasing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Toronto quite simply has been unable to put the pieces together at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t executed,\u201d Maple Leafs centre John Tavares<\/a> said. \u201cWe just have to raise our level of play and be more consistent. Whether it\u2019s our structure, whether it\u2019s our execution with the puck, all those things, it has to be at a high level, consistently.\u201d <\/p>\n

Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll<\/a> said despite the recent skid, belief remains high inside the locker room\u2019s four walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have good leaders,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little up and down \u2026 little more down than up than maybe I\u2019d like. But it really just takes one to get momentum. I trust this group to feed on that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The clock, however, is ticking with 52 games already chalked off and a huge Atlantic Division matchup with the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> on deck Tuesday \u2014 the Maple Leafs\u2019 final home date before the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about coming together,\u201d Berube said. \u201cNo individual is going to play you out of it. It\u2019s the team.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube saw a team on the upswing. The Toronto Maple Leafs came off a successful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-437694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}