Craig Berube Makes His True Feelings Known About Leafs' Core Four Ahead of Game 6
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube wasn't too pleased with fans who criticized the Core 4, explaining that it was a team effort and not just their responsibility.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs still up 3-2 in the series, the onus is now on the players to not only finally push through and lock the series down, but to prove to the fans that they aren't just regular season successes and can pull through when it matters most.
But so far history hasn't been to kind, and this season hasn't helped things any. Up 3-0 against Ottawa, the team now sees themselves on the potential of a series tie, and anything other than a victory on Thursday is going to cause havoc in Leafs Nation.
A lot of the criticism lies on the Core Four of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares. While they haven't been awful by any standard, they certainly aren't picking things up like fans had hoped, and they are letting them know about it.
Craig Berube Furious Over Fans Singling Out Core 4
Which has irked Craig Berube a bit, as the bench boss took time to call out fans for only attacking the four players as opposed to criticizing the whole team if they are going to be negative:
I get it. It's all I hear around here is core, core, core. The core 4. But it's on everybody on the team. We're a team and you it's on the whole team not just four guys.
It gets to the point where there's a lot of past stuff I hear around here. That's fine, that's part of it all. But the only pressure they have is to their own teammates, in my opinion.
It gets to the point where there's a lot of past stuff I hear around here. That's fine, that's part of it all. But the only pressure they have is to their own teammates, in my opinion.
Craig Berube has a right to be upset at the fans who are mad with the Core 4's performance, and perhaps they can direct their frustrations towards some other players who have preformed below par.
Bobby McMann, Max Domi, Nicholas Robertson, Pontus Holmberg and Scott Laughton all need to pick things up. Domi has been the only one to do anything of note, but it's the only thing he's done this series.
Combined, the Core 4 have 24 points. The rest of the forwards have seven, and that includes Matthew Knies' trio of goals. They are horrible when it comes to secondary scoring, and fans need to get mad at that stat line instead.
Bobby McMann scored 20 goals this season, and has been all but invisible this postseason, and it's puzzling why he suddenly forgot how to score and a lot of attention needs to be drawn to that fact.
They are under an immense amount of pressure from their teammates to finally push through, but the fans are always first and foremost going to be the ones who end up with the final say.
It's going to be a resounding negative, but the anger will no doubt be directed towards Berube and everyone else unlike it is at this point in time.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 374 ANSWERS Craig Berube Makes His True Feelings Known About Leafs' Core Four Ahead of Game 6 Do you think Craig Berube should be mad at fans who criticize the Core 4? | ||
| Yes | 113 | 30.2 % |
| No | 261 | 69.8 % |
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