Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames, which improved the Maple Leafs’ record to 26-21-9.
On the team’s performance:
There were a lot of momentum swings in the game, I thought. Early on in the first seven or eight minutes of the first, we didn’t really grab control of it. They had control.
But we got control in the second period. We came out and built the 3-0 lead, and they got the quick two goals.
In the third, I liked our start, and then it was kind of like we were hanging on… Well, not hanging on, but we let them come at us too much late on.
There were some crazy bounces in the game, too — off the boards, off of people. But our goalie was really good. The guys competed; we blocked a lot of shots, and we had to tonight.
JT’s line was really good for us tonight.
On Joseph Woll’s strong performance in goal:
I mean, he had to make some diving saves and second and third-effort saves with some of the bounces going on. He was solid tonight for us.
On William Nylander’s impressive three-point night:
Early on, I could just tell. He was just engaged right away, skating and winning all of his puck battles. Defensive plays, offensive plays — he was dialed in.
On the team going another game without a power play:
Well, I don’t know. I saw penalties out there tonight. I saw a tripping penalty late in the third that wasn’t called.
It is what it is. You go through these stretches sometimes. I think it is three in four games that we haven’t gotten a power play.
I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for that. I do, but I am not going to tell you guys.
On what the team can take from a couple of wins in a row:
Definitely confidence, and having Willy back has really boosted our team a lot. Obviously, he is a great player in this league. Having him in the lineup makes us a much more dangerous team.
On the value of Troy Stecher, especially with Morgan Rielly out of the lineup:
All of the D tonight… The minutes were pretty spread out. McCabe obviously got the most out there tonight, but they do all of the things they’re good at — blocking shots, defending, and the little things they do well. Troy Stecher is one of them, for sure.
On Stecher’s four-on-four goal to make it 3-0:
It was a great four-on-four goal with the movement. You get at four-on-four, and it is man-on-man. He beat his guy to the net, and Willy made a great play to him.
He made a nice move on the goalie to put it in. You’re excited for him. He doesn’t score a lot, and it is a big goal at that time.
