Leafs HC Craig Berube makes his feelings known after loss to Capitals

By ARJUN B

Modified Dec 07, 2024 04:29 GMT

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Leafs head coach Craig Berube shared his candid thoughts after the Toronto Maple Leafs' 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena. The defeat drops the Leafs to a 16-8-2 record on the season so far.

On where the game slipped away from his team, Berube stated (Start at 8:18):

"I thought they were just more competitive than us. They played a harder game than us. They won more puck battles than us. They skated better than us. They were just better."

When asked if he views this as a one-off game to move on from or if there are larger lessons to be learned from the loss, Berube responded:

"We always look at things and go over it with our team in terms of things we have to do better and how we need to play better."

John Tavares netted the lone goal for Toronto while Nic Dowd, Connor McMichael and Aliakei Protas tallied goals for Washington.

Charlie Lindgren saved 20 shots for the Capitals. Anthony Stolarz stopped 23 shots in the loss.

Up next, the Maple Leafs will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Previewing the matchup, Berube stated:

"They are going to play hard. They have some really good players over there who are very good still. That is a team that is desperate and looking for wins. It is going to be a hard battle for sure."

Coach Berube clearly expects a touch matchup against Pittsburgh and knows his team will need to bring their best to get back in the win column on Saturday.

Leafs HC Craig Berube's on Connor McMichael's goal after the puck hit an official

The game-winning goal by Capitals forward Connor McMichael came after an unusual play.

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews tried to clear the puck around the boards, but it deflected off a referee and bounced right to McMichael in front of the net. McMichael quickly lifted the puck over goalie Anthony Stolarz for the score.

When asked about the controversial play after the game, Berube said (Start at 8:48):

“You're opening up a big can of worms there with that. On that play, the bottom line is instead of just going the other way with the puck, we brought it back. We did that too much tonight, from the first period on. It was the whole game. It eventually bit us and cost us the game."

Berube was not pleased with his team's effort, saying:

"We didn’t play a north game. We didn’t play fast. They were the better team. They deserved to win."

While the odd puck bounce led directly to the Capitals' game-winner, Berube put the blame squarely on his team's shoulders for the loss.