Berube says Leafs played ‘extremely well’ in Game 4, expects response, very impressed with Knies, Nylander

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube met with reporters over Zoom on Sunday afternoon following his team’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in Game 4.

Berube didn’t appear to be too concerned about the process, and the Maple Leafs will be ready with a response on Tuesday, as the series shifts back to Scotiabank Arena. Toronto was presented with a golden opportunity in overtime to sweep the series as Ottawa’s Drake Batherson was assessed a four-minute double minor for high-sticking Chris Tanev, but it was all for naught.

“There’s a lot of good in that game,” Berube said. “I thought it was a real good hockey game to be honest with you, and I thought we played extremely well. There’s always things you can improve upon. Finishing, there are some opportunities where we could’ve finished on the power play. We had a couple of good opportunities. We had that four-minute power play, I think we could’ve generated more off of it, be a little more direct on the PP in that situation. Overall, like I said last night, it was a good hockey game, I thought we played well. Didn’t come out on top, but we’ll move on from that and get ready for practice and get ready for Game 5.”

Toronto is the more experienced side and have been the better team in the series, so it’s little surprise Berube is expecting a strong response entering Game 5.

“They’ve done a great job of that throughout the season for sure,” Berube said of his team’s leadership group, highlighted by captain Auston Matthews. “There’s up and downs throughout the season. Our guys have responded well. The leadership has really grown here. And that’s the key, the leadership and our leaders leading the way. I expect the same in Game 5. We played a real good hockey game, we didn’t come out on top. Our guys will be ready to go, it will be highly competitive for Game 5. The leadership has been very good and that’s the key. I don’t expect anything different.”

Berube was also asked about Matthew Knies and William Nylander, and was highly impressed with both players who form the Core Five — the Core Four may be outdated after Knies’ breakout campaign.

“Willy and I have a great relationship. It’s very open. Willy comes to me when he’s concerned about things, or things that are bothering him which is great. They’re open conversations, and I think that’s really healthy. It’s good for me and it’s good for him. Willy’s a competitor. He loves to score goals, we know that. You look at the game last night as the game got ramped up, he got ramped up. I thought he was highly competitive in the game and he did a lot of great things. I know he made a lot of great plays and goals, but with the puck battles and the second and third effort he showed in the game last night was exceptional.”