Maple Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Points to Key Weakness as Reason for Disappointing Loss vs the Canadiens

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Tom Banks
October 10, 2024 (1:26 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs stumbled out of the gates with a 1-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, and now Head Coach Craig Berube identifies why that happened.

After an off-season of change with the additions of Craig Berube and the captaincy of Auston Matthews, optimism was very high for the Maple Leafs heading into their season opener on the road against the fierce rival Montreal Canadiens. It wasn't a pretty win for the Canadiens, and the Maple Leafs certainly didn't do a whole lot wrong, at least according to Berube, who had praise for the most part about the way this team played.

"A lot of good things. A lot of shots. I thought the execution was off, whether it was the shot or the passing. It just wasn't clean enough at times, the power play included. But there was a lot of good stuff. When you almost get 50 shots on net and you don't scoreTheir goalie played well, but I was happy with our effort. The guys battled and worked. Stolarz was really good in net. A lot of good things, but we have to find a way to finish better."

However, there was one area that stood out to Berube in the worst way, and it's surprisingly one of the team's biggest strengths from a year ago, as he pointed out the lack of effectiveness on a powerplay that went 0-4 on the night as one reason why they lost.

"Not direct enough. A little outside for me, you know? We didn't look to attack right away, get shots, and get pucks to the net to look for some rebounds. We were just moving it around on the outside too much. I don't want to call it 'too cute,' but we have to be more direct. That, too," said Berube on the PP.

With superstars like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the powerplay, it wasn't often the team went 0-4 last season, and given the play of Sam Montembeault in net, they can be forgiven for a poor start, but if it continues it won't be long before Berube looks to address the situation.