Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators, which dropped the Maple Leafs’ record to 15-14-5.
On where the game got away from the team:
I think that the late goal we gave up in the second period was avoidable. The third goal was avoidable.
Our team did a lot of things better with the puck. I thought we advanced the puck out of the zone and through the neutral zone.
Our decision-making has to be better with getting over the red line. There are plays we made where we kind of forced things too much.
Again, there were a lot of good things. We didn’t finish enough on some of our opportunities.
The goals they got were mistakes.
On why it was so difficult to hold onto the lead tonight:
I don’t know if it is difficult. We gave up a 4-on-4 goal with [under a minute to go] in the second period. There is no reason for that.
It is mental, for sure. We have to get through it. We have to get over that. We have to make better decisions throughout the game.
On the sources of positivity in the game:
Puck movement was a lot better, I thought. We broke pucks out of our zone, through the neutral zone, and made plays. There were some really good offensive-zone shifts where we possessed pucks and moved it around well.
I still think we have to shoot more. We need more shot volume. It is not enough.
But, as I said, there were self-inflicted mistakes.
On the look of the team’s new units on the one power-play opportunity:
They were fine. We created two or three grade-As off of it, and that’s a good PK over there. They pressure hard and don’t give you a lot of opportunities. I thought we handled it well. I saw good things out of both units.
On Matias Maccelli’s return to the lineup:
He was really good. He made plays, skated, and hung onto pucks. He was good tonight.
On why he decided to scratch Max Domi for a second time this season:
Those are just decisions. I have two extra forwards. Maccelli sat out a while. Jarnkrok has been out a bit. For me, I don’t know if it is game-to-game, but whatever it is, I have to make decisions on the lineup.
On whether there will be more lineup changes tomorrow in Dallas:
Possibly. With back-to-back games, we could see some changes. We have three fresh bodies out. We’ll see.
On the difficulty motivating the group right now:
I don’t have an issue motivating the team, looking at things, correcting, and being positive at the same time. That is my job. It is not difficult for me.
We have a game tomorrow, so we have to clean a few things up and go play a real good team.
Game Highlights w/Joe Bowen: Predators 5 vs. Maple Leafs 3
