Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Addresses Media Following Critical Team Meeting
Photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs were badly beaten by the Colorado Avalanche in last night's game, and they held a team meeting during practice today to iron things out.
Last night's game for the Toronto Maple Leafs featured the debut performances of new Leafs players Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo, who were acquired by GM Brad Treliving at the end of the NHL Trade Deadline.
But instead of it being a positive night for the Leafs, disaster struck as part of a 7-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.
Craig Berube's Thoughts On Toronto's 7-4 Loss To Avalanche
During Sunday's practice, the Leafs held a team meeting ahead of their next scheduled game against the Utah Hockey Club. According to coach Craig Berube, the Leafs players are attempting to straighten out their costly mistakes that plagued last night's game against the Avalanche:
Guys spoke and trying to get this thing straightened out.
Following last night's game, he gave his honest assessment about his team's performance and pointed toward the mistakes they repeatedly kept making:
The second period wasn't great. We spent a lot of time in our zone, but we came out of it with a lead still.
I thought our third period was our best period, but we made two mistakes - the back-of-the-net goal goes in our net, and that shouldn't happen. And then we turned the puck over at the offensive blue line and took a penalty. They score and take the lead. It's just mistakes for me.
This is a tough place to come in and play. When you can hold a lead going into the third, we are right there to shut it down, and we have to clean up the mistakes.
I thought our third period was our best period, but we made two mistakes - the back-of-the-net goal goes in our net, and that shouldn't happen. And then we turned the puck over at the offensive blue line and took a penalty. They score and take the lead. It's just mistakes for me.
This is a tough place to come in and play. When you can hold a lead going into the third, we are right there to shut it down, and we have to clean up the mistakes.
It's a bit of an outlier for Toronto to play so sloppy considering how tight of a ship Berube runs. Whether it was trying too hard to get back into the win column, or the thin Denver air; the team looked very lost at points and were out skated at every turn.
The Leafs will hit the ice for the very 1st time tomorrow night at Delta Center, their inaugural visit to the venue since the Arizona Coyotes relocated and became the Utah Hockey Club.
It's a must-win game for the team, as another loss will make their Atlantic Division pennant quest a whole heck of a lot harder.
| POLL | ||
MARS 9 | 664 ANSWERS Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Addresses Media Following Critical Team Meeting Will the Maple Leafs get it right in their next game? | ||
| Yes | 534 | 80.4 % |
| No | 130 | 19.6 % |
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