{"id":282730,"date":"2025-11-14T14:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T14:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282730\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T14:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T14:35:07","slug":"craig-berube-says-panics-never-going-to-help-as-maple-leafs-drop-fourth-straight-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282730\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig Berube says \u2018panic\u2019s never going to help\u2019 as Maple Leafs drop fourth straight game"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube<\/a> saw some positive signs.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs came out strong Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>. Toronto\u2019s head coach watched his team check and defend well on the way to building a deserved first-period lead.<\/p>\n

The rest of the game was a different story \u2014 and it\u2019s clear Berube still has plenty more work to do in sorting out a group that has fallen far below expectations with 18 games already chalked off the NHL season.<\/p>\n

Quinton Byfield<\/a> scored in overtime as the Kings erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 in a 4-3 comeback victory that stretched the Leafs\u2019 losing streak to four games.<\/p>\n

\u201cPanic\u2019s never going to help, but there\u2019s a level of urgency,\u201d Berube said after his team dropped to 8-8-2. \u201cIt\u2019s been there for a bit. But (I\u2019m) not going to panic. That doesn\u2019t help anything or anybody.\u201d <\/p>\n

That might be the case outside the locker room\u2019s four walls, but the temperature continues to rise in a hockey-mad market for a team that opened training camp with Stanley Cup aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you go out and expect anything,\u201d said Leafs centre John Tavares<\/a>, who scored twice to give him 11 goals on the campaign. \u201cYou gotta go out there and earn it. The type of team we have \u2014 a veteran team \u2014 we know we haven\u2019t been to the level that we expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a battle for us. We\u2019ve gotta continue to stay with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto, which watched captain Auston Matthews<\/a> (lower-body) and No. 1 goaltender Anthony Stolarz<\/a> (upper-body) join shutdown defenceman Chris Tanev<\/a> and depth centre Scott Laughton<\/a> on the sidelines, had a tough time finding its way after Thursday\u2019s first period.<\/p>\n

The Kings repeatedly hemmed the disconnected Leafs in their own zone as the home side registered just eight shots through 40 minutes. Toronto ended up with 15 total attempts on goal compared to 37 from L.A.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe give up that many shots because when we get pucks, we\u2019re not advancing up the ice and getting to the offensive zone,\u201d Berube said. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference in the game.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pressed into some hard service over the last week with Stolarz now out and Joseph Woll<\/a> continuing his minor-league conditioning stint after being away from the team for \u201cpersonal family reasons\u201d since camp, third-string netminder Dennis Hildeby<\/a> was under siege for long stretches Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrending in the right direction,\u201d said the big Swede. \u201cWe deserved more today, and it\u2019s definitely coming. Just gotta keep battling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bobby McMann<\/a>, who opened the scoring, said Toronto needs to stick to its script for that elusive 60-minute effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust that our abilities are going to carry us through,\u201d said the winger. \u201cTrust that if we continue to play with pace, play up the ice, move pucks quick, we\u2019re going to be playing in their end more. When we\u2019re doing that, we\u2019re a skilled team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leafs blueliner Simon Benoit<\/a> said the belief remains high.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all in this together,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody other than us can help us, right? The mental (side) is good. Everybody wants to win, everybody wants to work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tavares, like his coach, wasn\u2019t raising alarm bells late Thursday night in the bowels of Scotiabank Arena. But the clock on the 2025-26 season \u2014 and on the Leafs finally finding some semblance of cohesion \u2014 continues to tick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of hockey left,\u201d said the veteran forward. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean you take any game for granted. They all mean the same. More games that go by, there\u2019s less runway. <\/p>\n

\u201cStay together, stay composed.\u201d <\/p>\n

OLYMPIC DREAM<\/p>\n

Kings defenceman Drew Doughty<\/a>, who set up Byfield\u2019s winner and added another assist to give him eight points on the season, won gold with Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Games before battling back from injury to take part February\u2019s victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old is eager to get another shot at Olympic glory when the NHL returns to the showcase event in Italy this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my mind a lot,\u201d he said following the morning skate. \u201cI want to be on that team. Offensively, I\u2019m not getting the numbers that I want. But I\u2019m not going to make that team based on my offence. As long as I keep playing well defensively, which I have been, I think I\u2019ve got a good shot.\u201d <\/p>\n

Doughty is one of a handful of NHLers remaining in the game from when hockey\u2019s best men\u2019s players last touched Olympic ice. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that it\u2019s taken this long,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s some of the best hockey, the whole country gets behind (it) when Team Canada\u2019s playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope real bad that I\u2019m gonna be there.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube saw some positive signs. The Maple Leafs came out strong Thursday night against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-282730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}