Ahead of Saturday’s game, head coach Craig Berube discussed managing a game with only five defensemen, William Nylander’s recent ice time, Simon Benoit elevating his game down the stretch, and the final Leafs vs. Habs rivalry game of the 2024-25 regular season. 

Morning Skate Notes – Apr. 12

Do you intend to use some forwards on defense tonight with the team being a defenseman short? 

Berube: I don’t know yet. Maybe. I don’t have a lot of guys with experience who have played back there other than Mitch. I know Mitch has done it before and does it on the power play. He is capable, if needed, of giving us minutes there.

Scott Laughton was saying he played a whole game in junior on defense. 

Berube: Oh yeah? That’s a long time ago. I might have played D in junior, too.

How much can you use this as an opportunity to give someone like Philippe Myers more exposure and ice time?

Berube: For sure, with five defensemen, he is going to play more and in situations he’s probably not used to.

When you have five defensemen like that, our forwards are going to have to work tonight. They have to do a good job of helping out with hold-ups, killing plays in the neutral zone, killing plays in the offensive zone, and not allowing Montreal to gain our zone as much while helping out in the defensive zone. They have to help out tonight.

William Nylander hasn’t played the same number of minutes as usual in the past couple of games. What are you seeing within his game?

Berube: I didn’t even know he hasn’t, but he is down a bit?

It is just the game. In the back-to-back games, I was trying to keep the forward minutes down as much as possible.

Mitch and Matty get up there at times with penalties, right? They’re out there killing, and they’re over the boards first. They eat up a lot of PK minutes. That is where their minutes get high. If you look at five-on-five minutes overall, I think they are pretty close. I have been rolling four lines quite a bit lately.

In the faceoff circle, what has it been like to have two of the best faceoff players in the league on the team in Auston Matthews and John Tavares?

Berube: It is very important, obviously. Not only do you start with the puck, but there is the power play, penalty kill, and things like that that come into play. It is nice to have those guys. We have been a good faceoff team all year and need to continue to be one going forward.

I had the luxury in St. Louis, too. It was the same thing with O’Reilly and some other guys.

Where does the team’s game stand in relation to where you want it to be in a week and a half?

Berube: I think we are in good shape. You want to finish by playing good hockey down the stretch. That is important. We are fighting for our division, and that is important. At the same time, you’re managing everything. We are shorthanded tonight on the backend, so we have a couple of defensemen who are out.

What have you seen from Simon Benoit’s game lately? He appears to be elevating a bit.

Berube: I think he is playing aggressively and physically. He is getting in there and killing plays. He is hard to play against and is making the simple plays with the puck. At the same time, he is getting up in the play more and skating. He is a strong skater, and he has done some good things transporting the puck up the ice by himself, gaining the offensive blue line, and doing some things in the offensive zone with the puck.

Overall, he has been a really good penalty killer for us. His physicality really comes into play. He has been a physical guy back there for us, strong at our net boxing people out.

What stands out most about this Montreal team?

Berube: They have been playing really good hockey for a while now, in my opinion. As I said yesterday, their core group of young players have grown together here. Suzuki, Caufield, and these guys are turning into really good players.

Lane Hutson is an elite player back there who is hard to handle. He drives a lot of their offense. He is so good at transporting the puck up the ice and doing things in the offensive zone that you don’t normally see. He is a very elusive player.

There are a number of guys in the league now who do those types of things. They really put you on edge. It is hard to handle in the defensive zone with these guys who are so elusive. If you go out on them, they make a move, and they get by you to create time and space for themselves to make plays. He is an elite passer who finds people and is always looking to make plays.

You’ve talked a lot about what these rivalry games mean to you. It is Saturday night, Hockey Night in Canada, and the Habs are trying to clinch a playoff spot. It is the last Saturday of the regular season. Is this the type of stage you’ve been talking about relishing?

Berube: This is one of the best ever, going way back. It is what I watched growing up as a kid, these two teams playing on a Saturday night. To be able to be part of it is pretty special.

Montreal is going to give us a good game. They are going to come out ready to go. They are going to be excited and have a lot of energy. I know they played last night, but throw it out the window. It is not going to matter tonight. They are going to come in excited to play us here; they always are, and they give us a tough time every time we play them. I expect the same.

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