Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 1-0 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens, which improved the team’s record to 49-26-4 and increased their lead in the Atlantic Division to four points with three games to play.
On the team’s performance:
We talked about playing really good defense tonight and keeping it tight. I thought our team did that. We helped our D out. I thought we didn’t spend much time in our defensive zone. There was nothing off the rush. The forwards did a really good job of getting above people tonight, and I thought our D were really good.
On whether a situation like having five defensemen heightens the players’ focus on the details in their game:
We talked from the morning on about how we needed to play this game tonight, protect our defense, and avoid extended zone time. We had a couple of shifts (of that still). It tires our D out, and we had five of them.
They did a good job. There was definitely an awareness to be above people and check tonight.
On the shifts Mitch Marner played on defense:
He was fine. Not a lot happened with it, but he was on D in overtime, too. He is a smart player. He knows how to play the position and understands the game extremely well. He was fine.
On Anthony Stolarz’s consistently strong form of late:
Very good composure with his structure, tracking pucks, and playing the puck. Really good composure right now.
On clinching home-ice advantage for the first round:
It is great. It is a great job by our guys. It is important to have home ice, but we are not done yet. We have games yet. We have to focus on the next one, but it is a great job by our guys.
On whether any of Jake McCabe, David Kampf, or OEL will travel to Carolina:
Probably not.
(Dakota) Mermis will play tomorrow.
On Patrick Maroon playing the final game of his NHL career tonight in Chicago:
Patty is a winner. He is a winner, and he is a great teammate.
I texted him, and those are the two things I told him. I don’t think there is a bigger complaint than those two things as a hockey player.
He is what he is as a player. There are times when he scored goals in the league and did a lot of different things as a player, but he is a well-rounded guy who accepts his role and does it.
He is a hell of a teammate and a great locker-room guy who understands the game and does a lot of different things out there. He will do what Max Domi did for us tonight. That is what he does. He takes care of his teammates.
I loved coaching him. I coached him as a young kid in Philly when he came into the league, and then I got an opportunity to coach him again in St. Louis. He was a big part of our team winning.
On Maroon’s ability to go out on his own terms despite his down-the-lineup energy role:
It is rare, but when you win as much as he did, you get opportunities to play longer. He is a great locker-room guy, a great teammate, and he wins. You want to bring guys like him into an organization because they’re good for the organization. That is why his career extended and extended, maybe longer than he thought. I am not a GM who is out signing people, but I think it is a big part of it.
