Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins, which dropped the Maple Leafs’ record to 8-8-1.
On Nikita Zadorov’s hit that knocked Auston Matthews out of the game:
I think it is a penalty, personally, but I am not the referee. I don’t like it. I don’t like the hit. He was in a vulnerable position.
There is nothing I can do about it.
On Auston Matthews’ status:
We’ll see tomorrow. Right now, it is lower-body. We will just see tomorrow how he is.
I don’t know exactly. I really can’t give you guys a timeline or tell you how serious it is right now. I am not sure when he hurt, to be honest with you.
Auston Matthews went to the Leafs dressing room after taking this hit from Zadorov pic.twitter.com/MxVL6cyPNH
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 12, 2025
On the difference in the team’s play early in the game vs. later on:
Well, we took three penalties in the first period and got behind the eight ball. In the second and third, we competed hard and battled hard. We stuck up for each other and did a lot of good things.
We needed some kills tonight. We didn’t get them.
On the team’s defensive performance:
There are still things to clean up, but at least we were more aggressive and more physical in our defending. We were more competitive in our defending.
Now, there are a couple of plays where we need better reads, like the Pastrnak goal, where he got the breakaway, and a couple of other ones where he got behind us. Those are reads.
I thought the team responded and competed hard.
On the team’s pushback in the second and third periods:
We are going through some adversity right now, but I liked our response tonight in the game, which goes a long way. To me, that is playing team hockey, sticking up for your team, and competing for your team.
If we clean a few things up… You can’t go to the penalty box that much in a game. It is going to burn you eventually. We have to be more disciplined, especially early on in the game. And those were penalties.
Sometimes, you have to go through a tough spell, and we are right now. I liked the way we pulled it together as a group tonight in the game. That is a positive for me.
We’ll see. We are just going to keep battling and getting better. We’ll keep helping these guys out and get some confidence back in our game. We lacked a little confidence early in the game, but when we got down, we played; we played like we can.
On Max Domi’s third-period roughing penalty that led to the 5-3 Pastrnak goal:
I don’t know why he gave Domi the roughing on it, to be honest with you. I was watching the referee. He didn’t have his arm up or anything. I thought it was going to be five each for fighting, but he thought he did a little more than the other guy.
Max Domi (5'10") just went after Nikita Zadorov (6'7") 😳👊 pic.twitter.com/JTO6HUxnel
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 12, 2025
On Anthony Stolarz’s status:
I don’t believe it’s serious. I think he will be fine.
I think it was a play that happened in the first period. It was a battle at the net, and he kind of got a little bit stretched out. It’s something in the upper (body).
On whether Stolarz could be available for Thursday’s game vs. LA:
I hope so. We’ll see.
Game Highlights: Bruins 5 vs. Maple Leafs 3
