Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks, which improved the team’s record to 45-25-4.
On the team’s performance:
The goalie was good. I thought the team competed hard tonight. I thought we were a little tired and gassed, or it looked like it, anyway. But we did a good job defending. We did what we had to do to win the game.
It was a big goal by our fourth line going out there with Stevey Lorentz tipping one in.
Overall, I was happy with our game. Our guys did what we had to do to win the game. We knew what type of game it was going to be, and I thought we handled it well.
On Steven Lorentz scoring his fourth game-winner of the season:
I don’t know. In a key moment, he does a good job. They were all around the net.
I remember the short-handed goal, but I don’t know if that was a game-winner. He is around the net. He is a big body who is good around the net. He tipped one in tonight. He does a good job of it.
He is a down-low player in the offensive zone who knows what he needs to do to be successful. He is around the net.
On the importance of depth goals in tight games like this one:
They’re huge. You need everybody in the playoffs, especially a line that can go out tonight against some of their top players in checking situations and on the PK. They’re driving the identity of your team.
On Mitch Marner’s individual effort on the 2-0 goal:
He is an elite player. I have always said that he has a great motor. He can go. It seems like he never gets tired.
On the team’s defensive effort, limiting the Ducks to one five-on-five goal despite 54 shot attempts against:
We kept things to the outside for our goalie. We blocked a lot of shots on the interior. Those are the types of things we did well tonight.
That team has skill and can make plays. They are going to move the puck. They do a good job of it, but I thought we came back to the middle of the ice and protected the middle of the ice while giving them the outside stuff.
On Joseph Woll’s comment that there is more detail and attention to shot blocking this season, and how much of it is the coaching staff’s emphasis vs. the players buying in:
It is both. We stress it a lot. I still think we can do a better job of it. We are going to need to do a better job of it.
It is a big deal. In the playoffs to win hockey games — tight games — you have to be willing to block shots.
I thought our D blocked a ton of them tonight.
