The Toronto Maple Leafs authored a thrilling comeback to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on home ice on Monday night — but it wasn't enough to satisfy their head coach.
The Leafs trailed 3-0 at the end of the second period and looked listless for long stretches, but scored four unanswered goals to steal two points away from the surging Pens. Still, that didn't fully erase one of the worst 40 minute stretches of hockey for the club in recent memory.
“It’s got to be better,” Berube said in his postgame press conference at Scotiabank Arena, per NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. “That’s the bottom line.”
And the bench boss wasn't the only one who felt that way, despite the victory.
“Forward William Nylander called it ‘terrible' and ‘unacceptable.' Captain Auston Matthews said the execution ‘just wasn’t good enough.' Stolarz said it ‘was just not up to our standard,'” wrote Zeisberger.
The Leafs trailed 2-0 after the first period and were outshot 8-5 in the opening frame. Things really fell apart in the second period; Toronto was outshot 17-3 and absolutely dominated by Pittsburgh from start to finish.
“Yeah, I think it was, in terms of holding onto the puck and executing and making plays and playing with speed,” defenseman Morgan Rielly said when asked if the second frame was one of the worst periods the team had played in recent memory. “There was none of that.”
Based on how things were going, it was a miracle that the Leafs were able to overcome and get the two points. But it was a resilient team that came out in the third period, one that didn't resemble the one from the first 40 minutes at all.
Craig Berube not happy despite victory
It's clear that, even though Toronto won, there is still a ton of work to be done to get this team back to the level that helped it win the Atlantic Division in 2024-25.
The squad is certainly missing Mitch Marner, although there seems to be a significant lack of identify in the early going. Anthony Stolarz hasn't been as potent between the pipes, the defense has been leaky, and the depth scoring, for the most part, has dried up.
“I have no clue,” Berube said when asked why his team wasn't able to put together a full 60-minute effort on Monday. “I have no answer for that right now.”
Now 7-5-1 and third place in the Atlantic, the Leafs could certainly be in a much worse spot the way they are playing. As it stands, Toronto has won two games in a row and four in five tries dating back to October 25.
The overall picture might not be very encouraging, but the results are still positive, and banking early-season points at this juncture of the campaign is critical.
The Leafs will look to make it back-to-back-to-back victories when the Utah Mammoth visit Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.
