Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers, which improved the team’s record to 26-13-2.
On Jake McCabe’s status:
Upper body. We will see tomorrow how he is. I can’t give you any news on it.
McCabe fights Hathaway – Full Incident pic.twitter.com/1cmRh8jAGb
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) January 6, 2025
On his thoughts when McCabe was dazed on the ice:
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like what I saw, I’ll tell you that. He is sticking up for his team and his teammate. We all really appreciate that, but I did not like seeing that happen.
On the concern level after McCabe’s concussion earlier in the season:
It is concerning, for sure. I don’t like seeing it. It is a tough one.
On Dennis Hildeby’s 30-save performance:
Very good. I thought he was a big part of the win. He made some key saves, and a couple of key saves in OT. He was pretty calm and cool in there. He played the puck well. He looked good. He looked solid.
On the team receiving a goal from a defenseman for the second straight game:
It was big. I give our defense a lot of credit tonight after going down to five men against a good team. They come hard. They grinded it out.
They did a really good job in their own zone breaking pucks out and defending — simple things like that. But getting two goals from them (the last two games) was huge.
On the team grinding out two points in a low-event game:
In the third period, we came out and gave up one scoring chance at five-on-five. That’s just really good hockey by us.
I thought it was a gutsy win. Philly is hard to play against. They are quick. They are fast. They play hard, and they had legs. It was a difficult game for us.
On the team’s physical play during the four-game winning streak:
We had some good hits tonight — physical hits that were really important in the game.
We battled. The team is battling. It is not always pretty. You go through stretches where you are not scoring a lot, and you may not be getting a lot of scoring chances, but we are finding a way to win.
On whether the current team identity reminds him of his 2019 Cup-winning Blues team at all:
To a certain extent. I think that team played with an identity every night. Our team is really starting to trend that way of playing with that identity every night, staying patient, and not forcing things too much.
We are going to have a lot of difficult games where it is not easy hockey. It is only going to get more difficult down the stretch, in my opinion.
On the upcoming mentors’ trip:
It is great. We had them in there for the meeting.
It is for the players, the coaches, the trainers, and whoever wanted to bring a mentor. It is exciting.
It is great for those guys. They love it. They love being in the meetings to see how we talk and show video.
It is a special trip, whether it is a father’s or mother’s trip. This is my first time being on a mentor’s trip.
On Auston Matthews bringing Joe Thornton as his mentor:
It is great to see him. Special player, obviously, and a great player in the league for a long time. He is pretty close to a lot of our guys from playing here. It is great to have him with us.
