Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 7-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, which improved the Maple Leafs’ record to 11-11-3.
On what a solid win like this can do for the team moving forward:
Confidence. We talked about puck possession and a little more playmaking, and we did that tonight. There were a lot more entries, and we were making some things happen. We got rewarded for it.
There was a lot of secondary scoring tonight, which is good for our team. We need that. It is not just on three guys or whatever. It is good that we got the secondary scoring.
I really liked the D tonight. They were very good. They moved the puck well and defended well. We protected our net pretty well. If they got shots, a lot of them were from angles and outside, which is good. We protected the interior of the ice tonight.
It’s confidence. They’re going to feel good about themselves, and that is good. We just have to build off it. We have to keep getting better, though. There are things we can do better, and we have to keep working on them. It is all part of it.
I liked the way we moved the puck tonight. It was better. We possessed the puck more tonight, which was good.
On Max Domi’s performance coming off the healthy scratch:
I thought Max was a lot better tonight. He made some nice plays, but he was engaged in the game. He was on some forechecks, taking the body, winning the battles. Defensively, he was working back to our zone and breaking plays up. He was good.
On Dakota Joshua’s performance:
I thought he had a lot better game in Washington, too. He threw a big hit early, and as I said, he scores his goals in tight. He got one tonight.
That line was good — a big, heavy line. They were good on the forecheck. They possessed pucks down low. They got two goals for us.
On William Nylander’s performance in his return after illness:
Overall, good. I thought that line did some really good things with the puck tonight. Cowan and JT made a lot of nice plays. They scored a nice goal.
Willy is a gamer. He is not going to miss too many games if he can help it. He gutted through it, and I thought he did a lot of good things with the puck tonight.
On Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s status after leaving the third period injured:
Upper-body. I am hoping he is fine. I don’t know yet, but we will evaluate him tomorrow. I think he will be okay, but we’ll see.
On OEL’s nine-game points streak:
He brings a lot. O is a versatile guy back there for us. He moves around and plays with different partners. It depends on the situation. Left or right.
He adds a variety of things. He plays physical, he has a good stick, and he provides offense. He has a good shot and can make plays.
On Dennis Hildeby’s performance in net:
The goalie was great. I thought he made a lot of good, big saves for us. He really looked calm in net. After not playing for a while, he looked really calm in the net and played the puck well. If he didn’t have an out, he ripped it around the wall.
He was good. He was solid and did a really good job in the net for us tonight.
On whether Hildeby is earning the confidence to receive more starts outside of back-to-back situations:
We will see where our goaltending situation is, but for sure. He is a young guy, but he has grown a lot in a year. Even coming into camp this year, I thought he had a really good camp. He has a good future ahead of him.
