Craig Berube frustrated with Maple Leafs’ defensive zone coverage vs. Kings

Berube spoke to reporters postgame and there were two areas of his team’s game that he felt had the most impact on the outcome.

“We came out hard. I thought we played a hard game,” Berube said. “We were in the box a lot. We took too many penalties. But the penalty kill did a good job, and the goalie did a good job along with the PK. The power play was good,” stated Berube postgame after a wild back-and-forth affair vs. the Kings.

“In the third period, it came down to three shots from the high slot, where they scored three of them. They’re all defendable. We didn’t flex out quickly enough. We were there, but we weren’t close enough. That was the difference in the game.”

“There were a lot of shots, on the power play especially. As I said, he did a good job there. I’ll have to look back on it and see if there was something he could’ve done differently. Obviously, on one, he gave it away there, and that was a mistake. But that happens. I think he is obviously seeing something that he thought was available, and it wasn’t. It’s the way it goes. His effort was excellent. He saw a lot of shots.”

The Maple Leafs head home and don’t hit the ice again until Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals. With just five games left, it will be interesting to see how Berube handles his remaining postgame press conferences, considering he’s certainly on some thin ice to end this season.

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