Craig Berube on the Leafs playing with five defensemen vs. Montreal on Saturday: “Our forwards need to help our D…  Not spending extended shifts in the defensive zone and tiring the D out will be a big part of the game”

After Friday’s practice, head coach Craig Berube discussed the injury status of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe, Jani Hakanpaa, and Max Pacioretty, shifting Calle Jarnkrok back onto the Tavares-Nylander line, and the challenge against the Canadiens on Saturday night.

Practice Lines – Apr. 11

Leafs practice lines

Knies – Matthews – Marner
Jarnkrok – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Domi – Robertson  
Holmberg – Laughton – Lorentz
Pacioretty

Benoit – Tanev
Rielly – Carlo
Hakanpää – Myers

Stolarz & Woll

vs Habs tomorrow @TSN_Sports

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 11, 2025

What is Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s status? What will you do if he’s out — play a defenseman short?

Berube: He’s out (for the game ) and day-to-day. He’ll be evaluated. You never know. He is a tough guy, but he won’t be playing tomorrow.

Maybe I’ll suit up and play back there. I wasn’t sure about it. But yeah, five defensemen.

What kind of challenge does a full game with five defensemen present?

Berube: Well, it is always challenging, but we have played games where we lost a defenseman early in a game, and you play with five.

It is important that our forwards do a good job of helping our defensemen out tomorrow night and make sure they get back quickly for breakouts and things of that nature. Make the game as easy on them as much as possible. That is a big thing. Not spending extended shifts in your defensive zone and tiring your defense out will be a big part of the game tomorrow.

Do you expect Jake McCabe back before the end of the regular season?

Berube: Yeah, I am, but not tomorrow.

Are you expecting Max Pacioretty and Jani Hakanpaa to be available in the playoffs?

Berube: That I don’t know. I don’t have the answer for you. They are still working their way through things. That is all I know about it.

With the team’s physicality, which is more than just dropping the gloves, where do you stand in terms of the way the team plays and handles physical games?

Berube: It has been good for the most part. You have games where it is not as good as it needs to be, but I just look at the Tampa game and the competitiveness we played with on a back-to-back night against a very good team, with the puck battles and physicality we needed to play with to get out of there with two points. It’s about blocking shots and all of that kind of stuff. The guys were committed to doing it.

I didn’t like it in the Florida game. I didn’t think we did it enough. That was the difference in the game for me. But they responded and did it the next night.

Are they more physical now at this late stage in the regular season compared to where they were at the beginning of the season?

Berube: I don’t necessarily think so. I think we have been pretty consistent with our physicality all year. It is not just taking the body on a guy; it is being hard at your net front and boxing out, puck battles, and blocking shots. I think we have done a pretty good job of it for most of the year and have been pretty consistent.

Why have you decided to go with Calle Jarnkrok on a line with John Tavares and William Nylander for tomorrow?

Berube: In the last game, with their lineup the way it was, I wanted to get the Domi line back together. Hopefully, with the matchups going the way they went, I could get them to provide a little offense there. They had some opportunities in the first period and didn’t capitalize on it. I went back to that line numerous times this year; they do a good job off of the rush, and they have speed.

Jarny is a Swiss army knife. He can move around, work with different lines, and do different things for us.

I just tweak lines sometimes, but that was the reason I did it in the last game.

Jarnkrok has come a long way to be playing games regularly again after his injury. Where do you think he stands with his progress toward returning to the player he can be?

Berube: I wasn’t here last year, but he is working extremely hard out there and doing a lot of good things that might go unnoticed to the viewer and many people. He does a lot of little things out there night in and night out.

He is still working to get his feet going underneath him. He had been out a long time. He gets going for a bit, and then there is a little bit of a setback maybe, but he is working his way through it. I think he is doing a good job of it.

I expect him to get to another level yet.

It is a busy week of games to close out the regular season, but how early do you start prepping for the playoffs in the coaches’ room?

Berube: I think you look at things even now with opponents we could face. We still don’t know who it is yet, but you are always looking at it, and we have people looking at things, too. We’ll prepare so that when we need it, it is ready to go.

What was the thinking behind running Tavares-Matthews on the first shift of overtime in Tampa Bay?

Berube: Faceoffs.

And when Matthews changed off first afterward?

Berube: Matchups.

That’s it. Faceoffs and matchups. That’s pretty much it. JT was hot in the draw circle all night. I wanted to get that draw, and I wanted to see what they came with. I wanted to get the matchup I wanted.

What have you noticed about the turnaround the Canadiens have achieved this season to sit solidly in a playoff position?

Berube: Their young players are growing. The core of their team is growing together. They have had pretty solid goaltending down the stretch, which always helps. They’re a good team with a lot of fast and skilled players. They play a solid game.