Apr 20, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube listens to a question from the media following game one of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a perfect 2-0 in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for head coach Craig Berube to keep his lineup the same as their first-round series against the Ottawa Senators shifts to Canada's capital.
So will he keep it the same?
"Yeah, probably. We'll see," Berube told reporters on Wednesday. "(I'm) still thinking about things and what we can do, maybe to improve, get better. We'll see. I haven't made a mind up yet on that."
The Leafs jumped out a 2-0 lead in Game 2, but the Senators pushed the game to overtime before Max Domi scored the winner for Toronto.
Berube addressed several topics before the team traveled to Ottawa including:
* Anthony Stolarz standing up for himself against Ottawa's Ridly Greig.
* Additional areas for improvement ahead of Game 3.
* The importance of the fourth line and how much Berube utilized them in Game 2.
Q: Guys talk about making a physical investment in a playoff series. Usually it's with hits. With Stolarz, what he did in the game last night, do you think that sends a message to the Sens about what's going to happen if they go to the front of the net? Or is there any impact there beyond what happened in the game last night?
No, I don't think so. It's just like he commented on it that, you know, it's in the heat of the moment, you know, type deal. And he's just protecting his crease. Which I don't have a problem with.
Q: Going into yesterday, you were talking about improving on the forward check, breaking the puck. You have that sort of thing. You see those areas?
In the first period, it was very good, I thought. Like I said, in the second period, I think, you know, we ended up getting pucks in our zone and didn't advance it. We kind of just threw it out, didn't make a play, you know, kind of give it back to them. and they three-quarter iced us a little bit too much in the second period. And there's plays available we can make.
Q: What's your thought process when you haven't done these things really to your liking too much, but you're still up 2-0?
Well, like I said, you're always looking to improve in areas throughout playoffs and throughout the season. We can be better here. Instead of just we're up 2-0, don't just hang on to the lead almost, you know, that kind of mentality. We've got to keep attacking. We've got to keep making plays and keep putting the pressure on them. Those are all things that you're going to keep trying to improve, keep working on, show the guys, just confidence, right?
Q: When you've got an opponent like (Ridly) Greig, what's the best approach, do you think, for your guys to take to going up against him?
Well, he's a good player. I mean, he's a competitor. He's got a lot of good traits, hockey traits, you know, in my opinion. You've got to play him hard. I mean, you've just got to keep playing. You've got to play him hard, and he's going to do what he does. And like I said, you can't retaliate. You know, it's important not to retaliate, But at the same time, we've got to protect, too. We've got to protect our goalie, and we've got to be strong at our net and not allow people to come in there and get involved with our goalie. That's important for sure. But at the same time, we can't react to things he does and go to the penalty box.
Q: When you're going into overtime last night, what's the message to your team?
Just keep playing. I thought our third period was really good. You know, we didn't give up a shot until that goal. I think we're playing a pretty good period. Those are going to happen in games, and you've got to reset. It's a quick reset in overtime. You know, you've got to quick reset, and nothing much changes. You keep going to play our game. Get back on the attack and throw everything at the net. Throw it at the net. You never know. And different people score in overtime because of that reason, right? You just throw things at the net and they go off people and anything can happen. So you've got to simplify and just put pressure on them.
Q: You won't have last line change in the next few games. What does that mean in terms of attention to detail? It has to be even more important?
Oh, for sure. Yeah, we're not going to have last line change. He's trying to get his matchups here at home too, like doing different things, changing guys on the fly and all that. That's all part of the cat and mouse game. But, you know, we're just going to go play. I mean, it's business as usual. And if we can't get matchups, we have guys that are capable of doing the job.
Q: With your run in St. Louis, you were known for how much you valued your fourth line. You started a lot of playoff games with your fourth line. You started last night's game with your fourth line. How important is it in terms of depth in the playoffs? You've always stressed that from day one here.
Yeah, I think it's highly important. You need everybody in playoffs. You need everybody to do the job. In 2019, our fourth line is very effective for us. Not only defensively and matchups and doing things like that, but they scored goals. And they scored big goals. and you need that in playoffs. Laughton's line has been very good for a while now and, you know, going to keep using them.
Q: Over 30 blocks for you guys last night compared to Ottawa having just six. Auston, Mitch, Willy, JT, all with multiple blocks. What does that say about the way that it was?
Well, you've got to do that. That's part of playoffs is, you know, you've got to really dig in in those areas and you've got to block shots when you have to. And we had to last night in a lot of areas and guys did a great job of it, and everybody's got to do it. It's highly important. I can look back on playoffs teams and, you know, look at the stats and all that, and if you look at a lot of teams that were successful, they blocked a lot of shots. You've got to block shots. That's a good team over there. They're going to get opportunities. They've got skill, and they've got a lot of good things over there, and they're going to get opportunities, And that's the desperation you need in playoff hockey is to get in front of shots.
Message to Nick Robertson after his high-sticking penalty in Game 2?
Well, he knows. You really got to manage your stick. And it just, his stick got a little high and caught a guy in the face, and you go to the box. So it's just discipline, right? You got to have him control your stick. That's definitely, you know, refs are calling that all day. Whether your stick's in the guy's hands or you slash a guy or whatever, they're going to call that stuff. That's 100% for sure they're calling that stuff. So control your stick. You got to control your stick.
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