Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach
Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach

Head coach Craig Berube addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 5-4 win over the Panthers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series. 

On the Sam Bennett hit on Anthony Stolarz:

Elbow to the head. Clear as day.

On the players’ response to the incident:

I mean… I don’t know… At the time, I think we handled it the way we should’ve handled it. I am not sure why there is not a call on it.

I get it. They miss calls. But it is clearly a penalty.

On the status of Stolarz after he vomited on the bench and left the game:

He is being evaluated. That is all I have for you on Stolarz. I wouldn’t keep commenting on it.

On whether the organization will bring up the Stolarz-Bennett incident with the league:

Well, they do their job. They will look at everything and decide what is necessary.

I know it is an elbow.

On whether Bennett deserves supplemental discipline despite the lack of a penalty call on the play:

Again, that is not up to me. It is up to the league. They will do what they think is necessary on that play. It is not for me to comment on. That is their job, and they will do it.

On his team imposing itself physically early in the game: 

That is what we said; we wanted to set the tone. I thought we did that in the first period with how we wanted to play the game. I was really satisfied with that side of it.

On the message to the group during the timeout after the Panthers made it 4-3 in the third period:

Just settle down. We were backing off too much and not being aggressive anymore, especially through the neutral zone. We kind of sagged back a little bit too much and let them get to their game too much.

Get on our toes again. Let’s get up, get our gaps up, and get our angles up. We did a great job in the first period of that, and a lot of the second, too, but I thought we sagged back too much.

On the players’ composure on the bench despite the momentum swing in the third period: 

Very good, even with the goalie switch and everything going on. I know we had a power play going on at the time, but I thought our bench was good tonight.

On Joseph Woll’s performance in a difficult situation:

It is a tough situation, for sure, especially in a playoff game of this magnitude. He handled it well. Listen, we got the win.

On Matthew Knies’ ability to rise to the moment as a young player:

I mentioned this morning to somebody who asked me what I was most impressed with by Knies. I said, “His hands.” He has great hands in tight. I didn’t know this coming in here.

You see the power in his skating and the physicality, but the hands are really good in tight. It was a great example of it tonight with the goal he scored.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR