Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators, which dropped the team’s record to 42-25-3.
On where the game got away from the team:
In the second period — the odd-man rushes against, the 2-on-1s, and the 3-on-1 we gave up — we kind of got disconnected. The bottom line is that we didn’t defend well enough.
We had a real good first. They came out and looked more hungry than us in the second period. They didn’t give us a lot of room, but we didn’t fight for it, either.
On a disappointing end to a good road trip:
We had a good first period with a lot of good stuff. I liked our energy. I liked our directness. Our shot attempts were good. We had 14 shots or something like that in the first. And then it was a total flip.
They did what we did to them in the first. That is what they did to us in the second. We had breakdowns that cost us goals.
It was 2-2 late in the second period, and we got caught in a 3-on-1. That really explains it right there for me.
On Joseph Woll’s performance:
I thought he was fine. I am not sure what he can do on any of the goals, to be honest with you, when I look at it. Maybe the second one — the short side one — but he made saves. On the third one, Tanev slides, and it ends up going into the goalie. He got out of position, but there was nothing he could do about that.
We can’t have breakdowns like that in the game. To me, that is mental.
On whether the Matthews-to-Marner faceoff goal is drawn-up play or something they improvise together throughout a game:
There are plays that are designed, but they come up with their own stuff, too, and what they feel they can make work in a game. A lot of the time, it is Auston who is going against O’Reilly all night. Maybe there is something there with the draws. He has a tough opponent in the faceoff circle all night.
They’ll come up with things and plan things on their own.
On whether it is surprising that the mental mistakes are happening at this time of the season or if it is just all part of a long 82-game season:
I don’t know if I am surprised. There are things that happen throughout the year — mental mistakes — and it could be a number of things. I haven’t seen the mental mistakes like we made tonight in a while.
We will look at it. We’ll discuss it with the team and go over things. We’ll go over how we looked in the first period, too. Like I said, it was a flip of the switch there.
Chris Tanev: “The last two periods are not how we want to play hockey”
Tanev: In the second, we started giving up odd-man rushes, and they took advantage of our mistakes. We didn’t do a good enough job of regrouping, staying patient with our game, and doing the right things.
The last two periods are not how we want to play hockey. We need to get better, learn from our mistakes, and move forward, but also remember what happened here.
