Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, which dropped the team’s record to 21-12-2.
On whether the attention to detail he spoke about before the game lapsed again tonight:
Yep, in the third period, there were two of them.
On where he wants to see the team improve in the transition defense:
Details. I get the one (Jets goal). Mitch is shooting the puck, it got blocked, and we are backchecking on that play. They played it pretty well. I would like to see Woll over there on that one.
On the one in the third, it is just a neutral zone transition by them. Our forward was sleeping on the weakside. They made a backdoor play.
On the fourth goal, we have to have stick details there. It is just details.
On whether the slip-up in the details is a byproduct of a long season and tough stretch of schedule:
For sure, you get worn down and tired. It’s a lot of hockey and a lot of back-to-backs. It has been a tough schedule for us, but I am not making excuses. We are in the NHL. It doesn’t matter. You have to be sharp.
We get the three days to get some rest. We should be ready to go.
On his impressions of the team through 35 games as they enter the holiday break:
I think the team has played some real good hockey overall and has done a lot of good things. We have made a lot of strides in the right direction, and we will again. In these last two games, we’ve slipped.
I think we played a real good first period. We took a penalty and they scored on the power play, but I thought we were the better team.
Even in the second period, I liked our game, but we have to clean up the mistakes and details. The game is right there. We created enough. We didn’t score enough goals tonight, but we did a lot of good things.
We checked well, but we have to clean up some things with these details. We have to clean them up.
On how the team can increase its offensive output coming out of the break:
I think the offense has been coming. We have been scoring more at five-on-five as of late. The power play got us one tonight first.
We miss the net a lot, and we missed the net a lot again tonight. I think it was 23 times.
On William Nylander’s four-plus minute shift in the second period:
Willy knows he can stay out for the full power play. At that point, I would have to look at the tape and look at why he didn’t come off and what the situation was at the time, but he was obviously trying to score.
On whether he thought Joseph Woll had the puck covered on the 4-1 goal:
From where I saw it on the bench, I thought he did, but it was behind him. I couldn’t see on the bench from that angle. Our video guys looked at it. Otherwise, if it was, I would’ve called a challenge.
