Craig Berube addressed the media after his team’s 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders, which dropped the Maple Leafs’ record to 29-28-12.
On the team’s performance:
Special teams were the difference in the game. We gave up two PK goals in the first period. For me, we have to do a better job there on those goal-line plays. One was a lucky bounce, kind of.
And our power play didn’t create enough. We didn’t do enough on the PP tonight.
At five-on-five, it was a pretty even game. Pretty tight. But special teams were the difference.
On Morgan Rielly dropping the gloves vs. Kyle MacLean after MacLean bumped Joseph Woll:
It was a great job by him getting in there and sticking up for Joseph (Woll). Obviously, that message has gotten across.
Rielly vs MacLean Fight
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— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) March 18, 2026
On how Rielly has responded since he took accountability for the lack of a response to the Matthews-Gudas incident:
He is just playing. It has been a tough year for him. We all know that.
He took that personally (with the Matthews incident). But it is not just on Mo or any one individual. They all should’ve been in there right away.
They’ve obviously learned from it. There has been a difference now.
On the team’s struggles to generate offense:
Tonight, it was not enough. I look at our forecheck and how we got a lot of pucks back on our forecheck — we have to do more of it. We didn’t do enough of it tonight. We didn’t get to the net front, and that is the bottom line. That is where it all starts for me.
If that goalie sees the puck, he will stop most of them. We didn’t get to the net front to create chaos and second and third opportunities. That is the difference in the game.
On Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s performance coming off the new baby’s arrival:
He wasn’t at his best tonight, and that is normal. It’s 48 hours with his wife and the new baby. It is a tough game for him. But he wanted to play, and I want him to play, too.
On Steven Lorentz scoring his fifth of the season, his first goal in 29 games and his first point in 15:
Any time your bottom six guys score some goals and get a goal here or there, it boosts their confidence, for sure. We need secondary scoring. It can’t be on three guys on our team to score every night. We need secondary scoring; we need other people to chip in goals.
Lorentz 5th of the Season vs Islanders
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— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) March 18, 2026
On Bo Groulx helping to create the Lorentz goal:
He’s been very good since he’s been called up. He’s done a lot of good things — not just the points and the goals, but the other sides of the game. He is very smart and in position. He does a good job. He’s played extremely well for us.
On how well the team contained Matthew Schaefer:
I thought the guys did a good job tonight.
Other than the Barzal line getting that goal in the second period, I thought we did a good job with that line, too, and Schaefer. But that third goal is a tough one to give up at that point.
The guys did a good job on Schaefer. We kept him in check, for the most part.
On the team’s plans during two consecutive off-days:
These guys need to rest tomorrow, for sure, and then we have the practice on Thursday with the fans. We’ll have to figure out what’s going on with that.
