Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ come-from-behind 5-4 overtime win over the Boston Bruins, which improved the team’s record to 36-20-2.
On the team’s performance over the 60 minutes:
It was a great character win. I thought our guys pushed in the second and pushed in the third. We did what we had to do in the OT.
We were aggressive in those two periods. We wanted to start the game that way, but we didn’t. They did a great job of battling back.
Our goalie made some big saves for us.
On the message after the rough opening 20 minutes:
It was more about getting more competitive for me. They had better pace than us and were more physical than us. My message was that we had to amp up our intensity not only at five-on-five but on the power play. Win more battles and compete harder.
On what the spike in offense from Nick Robertson and Pontus Holmberg, including important goals in the last few games, could do for their confidence:
A lot. Just talking about [Robertson] — he is scoring right now. He is working and competing. He is confident, right? It gives you confidence, the same as [Holmberg].
Great job by those guys. The other guys were out there and got tired, so it was a good change by those guys not overextending it. The other unit went out and got the job.
In the third period, we did a lot of that—good changes from the offensive zone, getting fresh guys out there, and rolling them. The guys did a good job of that.
On Morgan Rielly reaching the 500-point milestone:
He has been a great player in the league for a long time. He made a great play tonight on the Robertson goal, but he made a lot of great plays. This has been going on for a few weeks now, where he is way more involved offensively, more aggressive, and is making plays with confidence.
On Mitch Marner’s play since returning from 4 Nations:
He and Auston have been a little bit tired for me, but I thought they showed a lot of grit tonight. A lot of determination out of them. Willy, too, but Willy is a little more rested, right?
Mitch had a heck of a game. He played a lot of minutes — I overplayed him, but we killed too many penalties tonight, so he was used on the penalty kill. He was an excellent player tonight, I thought.
On whether there are TOI targets in mind for Matthews and Marner:
Since we got back, I have been rolling four lines pretty steadily. I cut it down in the third tonight and went to three lines for most of the third, but coming off of the 4 Nations, they are a little wiped out. I mindfully tried to keep their minutes under 20, which I think I did a good job of, but tonight, I didn’t.
On William Nylander’s apparent injury:
He just came back (to the bench), and something was bothering him. He didn’t go out in the overtime.
On Chris Tanev’s status:
He will be evaluated tomorrow. Upper-body. I don’t know. We’ll see.
On the meaning of Tanev’s potential absence:
He plays shutdown against all of the top lines. You miss a lot of things… The penalty killing, all the hard-working, gritty stuff he does on the backend, leadership. There are a lot of things you miss. He is a very important player for us.
