Craig Berube Deserves Major Credit Following Season Finale Against Detroit

In what could be considered a fairly meaningless game for the Toronto Maple Leafs, their season finale against Detroit ended up with a comeback 4-3 win in OT, and set Toronto on a course for a long run of success in the postseason.

But they need a healthy team to do that, and they really shouldn't have had a lot of their top stars playing too long, not only risking injury, but overworking them right before the postseason.

Which is why a lot of respect has to be given to Craig Berube, who understood the assignment and figured that while his best players need to see the ice, they really don't need to that much.

Toronto's top players didn't play more than 17 minutes on Thursday, and defenseman Dakota Mermis surprisingly earned the most minutes; no doubt earning it from his solid season debut, and giving him a chance to play after a rollercoaster season.

But we also saw Pontus Holmberg get 15 minutes, same with Max Domi, Calle Jarnkrok and Scott Laughton; huge increases over their previous ice time and surely gave them more confidence heading into the Battle of Ontario.

Matthew Knies barely skated over 14 minutes, and Nick Robertson surprisingly only saw 13:20 of ice time, but there's nothing to really be concerned about, and it was the other players who needed the extra reps to prepare.

It also showed that Toronto can still come back and win a tough game even with their stars not on the ice constantly. Combined with the previous performance against Buffalo, the bottom six is shaping up nicely and could be a huge X-factor going into the first round and beyond.

There's no doubt that the stars are going to be working overtime (no pun intended) when it comes to the playoffs, and will have their hands full with a hungry and motivated Ottawa team, who are also facing some questions of their own regarding their star players.

But you've gotta give credit to Craig Berube for his savvy lineup management, and making sure Toronto is best prepared for the series ahead. It's been quite the season for the first year bench boss, but so far it's been nothing but success.

So let's keep it going, shall we?