Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube called out his team’s leadership and sustained poor efforts during the third period, following a 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
On a night filled with star talent at both ends of the ice, it was the visiting team that had the kick in their step. Connor McDavid led the way with two goals and an assist, while Leon Draisaitl added three helpers and Zach Hyman found the back of the net. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares went scoreless for the Leafs.
Berube told reporters that he did not hold back when addressing his team after the game, but specifically pointed to the leaders to step it up, while excusing William Nylander’s performance due to illness.
“I talked to the team after the game, our leaders got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now,” he said. “To me, it’s all a mindset. Whether you’re down a goal or up in the San Jose game, you just got to have more urgency and being more direct on how we want to play. We didn’t do it in the third period, two games in a row.”
Nylander was a game-time decision going into the contest due to an illness, and Berube acknowledged that the winger was operating at less than 75 percent efficiency, partially explaining why he wasn’t on the ice for the last six minutes of the game. Berube was critical of the lack of hockey smarts from the team as a whole in the third after doing a mostly good job of handling the Oilers’ speed through the first 40 minutes.
“Third periods, it’s been two games in a row at home, where we’re flat,” Berube said. “That’s the bottom line for me. Whatever it is, we should’ve been coming out and dictating how we’re going to play that period and how we wanted to play it.”
After being up 2-1 at one point in the game, the Leafs allowed five unanswered goals before Dennis Hildeby was pulled in favour of Artur Akhtyamov, making his NHL debut. There is no doubt that Hildeby has done well at a time when the Leafs have desperately needed it with Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz both out for an extended period of time.
Berube could sense that this first taste of a heavy workload in the NHL was starting to get to Hildeby, which is why he didn’t blame the netminder for the loss.
“It’s been a lot for him. He probably was a little tired tonight, watching him, watching his puck-handling and stuff,” Berube said. “He played really well for us. He played well again tonight and gave us a chance to win.”
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