Craig Berube on moving away from the five-forward power play: “It’s not that I don’t like five forwards, and they do some real good things… I don’t like when it goes the other way… We’ll keep trying new things”

Ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Vancouver, head coach Craig Berube discussed the injury rehab of Jake McCabe and Anthony Stolarz, starting Dennis Hildeby in net vs. the Canucks, the OEL-Tanev pairing, and Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews’ minus-six game versus the Hurricanes.

Morning Skate Lines – Jan. 11

Lines at Leafs skate

Knies – Matthews – Marner
Pacioretty – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Domi – Robertson
Dewar – Kampf – Lorentz
Reaves, Holmberg

Ekman-Larsson – Tanev
Rielly – Myers
Benoit – Timmins
Rifai

Hildeby
Woll@TSN_Edge

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) January 11, 2025

Do you have an idea of a timeline for Jake McCabe’s recovery yet?

Berube: He is doing well. He skated this morning. I don’t have a timeline. Hopefully, it is not too long. We will see how it goes, but he feels good. He is doing well. That is the best update I can give you on him.

Do you anticipate Anthony Stolarz will join you soon on the ice?

Berube: Yeah, I do. He will be on his own for a bit, but I expect it soon — maybe this week, I hope — when he can get on the ice and do some things. As far as [practicing] with us, I am not sure yet on that one.

What led to the decision to start Dennis Hildeby in goal?

Berube: Woll has played a lot, and I was thinking ahead to Dallas coming in. I liked Dennis’ game in his last start. There was the mentor’s trip, travel, and travel home. That is why I went with Hildeby.

How does Max Pacioretty receive it when he is healthy scratched?

Berube: He is good. That conversation came up before he was signed — situations might come up where he is not going to play all the time. He is an at age as an older player, but he is very good about it. He is a good pro.

What have you seen from the Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Chris Tanev pairing when they’ve played together?

Berube: They have been good together. Both are responsible defensively, have good sticks, and kill plays low. OEL has a little more freedom to get up in the play and do his thing because he can get up in the play, make plays, and get involved offensively.

They are a good shutdown pair, in my opinion. They need to do a good job on their guys tonight. [The Canucks] have some good players over there. We are going to have to be aware of it and shut them down.

Do you see a big difference in OEL on the left side compared to the right?

Berube: Well, it is easier for him, for sure. It is easier for any defenseman. Playing your offside isn’t an easy thing. He has done a good job for us on the offside.

Definitely, puck movement through the neutral zone and on breakouts is easier on your normal side.

It looks like the experiment with the five-forward power play is ending for now. Are you hoping to find the top unit that works by the stretch run? 

Berube: I think it is working. The percentage has gone up quite a bit from the start of the year.

As I have told you guys before, I am not opposed to something different on it. I went with five forwards in the Philly game. We scored; we actually scored two because we scored one when the clock was up. We got scored on the other night, and I told you guys about that — five forwards are tricky, and teams are going to look at it and attack all the time on it. That will be the mindset on the penalty kill.

It is not that I don’t like five forwards. They move the puck well in the zone and do some real good things. I don’t like when it goes the other way.

We are just going to keep trying new things, which is not a bad thing. It is not a bad thing to move people around and find new spots for them. It frees up some guys a little bit more. I have done this before. I don’t think it is a bad thing.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were a minus-six against Carolina. Do you talk to them about it, or is it just an anomaly? 

Berube: I talked to Matthews. One is a shorthanded goal. One is an empty net. Sometimes, you are out there, and you are a minus-five or whatever, and you have nothing to do with it. There were a couple of line changes where they were just getting out there. There is a lot that goes into it.

They just have to move on from it. They have to be better, too, though. There are plays that we talked about and went over today where we have to be tighter. We have to have better sticks and better awareness of positioning and people on the other team in the defensive zone.

How can you take advantage of a Canucks team that is tired and traveling for this game?

Berube: Well, you just kind of focus on us and our team. I get it. It’s tough travel for them after playing last night. I get all that, but let’s just throw that all out the window. Let’s focus on us. We are going to focus on what we need to do better from the last game.

Check. Play defense. Keep the puck out of our net. We didn’t do a good enough job of it last game. We had plenty of chances to score, and we scored goals. But we gave up too much in the game.

You’ve known Rick Tocchet for a long, long time. What is it like coaching against him?

Berube: He is a very good and smart coach. He is a guy who, matchup-wise, will do some different things. You have to be ready for it. He is not just going to match head-to-head with the top players all the time. He is going to throw other players against your top guys and try to mix it up and get his guys loose against other lines.

He is a very good coach. He has done a lot of great things in the league.

What does the Indigenous Heritage Game mean to you?

Berube: They’re great and very important. I grew up in the town of Calhoo and was around a lot of Indigenous people in my town. I was very involved with a lot of people outside of my town growing up through sports. It means a lot to me. I think it is great to celebrate.