Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, which dropped the team’s record to 6-5-2.
On the team hanging on in the game and earning a point off of special teams success:
Real good battle. The special teams were good tonight. The power play got us a goal, and we killed penalties well.
On the decision to run five forwards on the power play and what the goal might do for the units:
Well, confidence, right? It is one. We have to keep working on it. If you look at that power play, we shot a lot of pucks. There was a little more directness, which was good, and then a seamed opened up, and we hit it.
We have talked about [running five forwards] for a bit, and we decided to go with it today.
On the shot-blocking efforts of the defense tonight (15 blocked shots by the six D):
It helps a lot. Our D are doing a good job of blocking shots. A big part of the game is being hard in front of your net. We talked about it tonight. We talked about how this team uses their D a lot and get a lot of pucks through. We were going to have to be hard at our net. I thought we did a good job.
On Anthony Stolarz’s 31-save performance:
We were a little gassed in the third, you know? We killed a lot of penalties, and we were gassed, but he stood tall for us. It is a good point.
Auston Matthews: Power play goal “good for the confidence”
It is good for the confidence to see one go in. In the last couple of games, we have been moving it pretty well. It hasn’t gone in, and the execution maybe hasn’t been there, but it is good to see one go in. We only had a couple of [power plays] tonight. Hopefully, it gets us rolling, and we make it a big factor in our game.
