Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins, which improved the team’s record to 25-13-2.
On Auston Matthews’ return to the lineup:
He was solid. That line was really good, obviously. Overall, I thought he played a pretty good game.
I thought he was very smart tonight. He didn’t overexert himself or put himself in tough spots.
We managed his minutes pretty well, I thought. I used him a little more at the end of the game, obviously, but it kind of got to that point.
On the importance of keeping Matthews feeling as healthy and fresh as he looked in this game:
We definitely have to manage him and get him to a point where he is fully healthy. Whether that is minutes or a little bit of time off, I don’t know. I don’t have the answer for you right now, but we are obviously going to stay in tune with it and try to do what is best for him.
On Matthew Knies’ hat trick/five-point game:
That was a whole year (of production) for me (as a player).
He was a great player tonight. He was just challenging their D with his speed, directness, and shooting. I liked that he just attacked and shot. He wasn’t always looking for the other guys. He was playing his game, which was very effective.
The whole line was really good.
On Knies’ step forward in his second full NHL season:
Offensive growth and defensive growth.
He has become a real good penalty killer for us. He does a great job on the PK for us.
He made a great play at the end of the game — I don’t know if you saw it — where they tried a backdoor play on us with the goalie out. That was just a great read and hockey sense by him to drop down that low and take away that backdoor play, or else that guy scores.
His growth as a player is all around, but offensively, he has come out of his shell with scoring. On the other side, he has become a good 200-foot player.
On the team’s composure in one-goal games:
I mentioned it tonight after the game. What impressed me was that we were up, then we were tied, but our momentum and our game stayed the same. It didn’t change.
We didn’t go, “Oh wow, they tied it up. Now we are going to try some trick plays,” or whatever you want to call it.” We just stayed with our game.
That is growth by them. It is very important not to lose your composure in those situations. You will play good teams who will make plays and do things. You just have to stay composed and keep playing your game. It is a big deal.
On the play of his blue line:
Our defense was really good tonight. They were physical and moved the puck well. They battled at the net.
That team is as good as any in the league at getting to the net. They are hard. There are a lot of big guys. Our D battled hard at the net and broke pucks out. They were really good.
We didn’t give up odd-man rushes, so there were good reads by them coming out of the offensive zone.
On the defense scoring its first goal since November (via Jake McCabe):
I don’t look at it as a concern. We always try to figure out what we can do better to score with our D. We are trying to activate them a little bit more. They have been in the play more on rushes and things like that.
In the offensive zone, I thought our D did a really good job of activating to the backdoor. Caber scored, and we missed two other ones. We had a couple of good looks there.
