Berube chews out Leafs stars on the bench: "Lazy hockey"
When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired head coach Craig Berube this past summer, the message was pretty clear: he’s got no time for messing around.
Whether it’s “hard-nosed,” “no-nonsense,” or an “old-school” approach, Berube earned a reputation during his time as head coach of the St. Louis Blues of expecting a lot out of his players, and not necessarily being nuanced if they weren’t performing up to the task.
But in Berube’s first game against his former team, that wasn’t exactly the case.
Berube was fired up at his team during last night’s 5-1 loss to the Blues, showing particular fire towards the top line, led by star players Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, following the Blues’ third goal of the evening to make the score 3-1.
Berube chewing out Matthews and Marner. And so it begins #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/MGvwXzdIV6
— Torchs (@mtorchs) October 25, 2024
“Again, the third goal is just not doing things right. It was lazy hockey on the goal. That is the bottom line,” Berube said postgame of the incident.
When Matthews was asked about the incident postgame, he appeared to not have the best recollection of events.
asked about that, he says ?????? i don't remember ššš https://t.co/wqYAPXqn8E pic.twitter.com/a0RUqLWTHJ
— resting mitch face (@34sixteen) October 25, 2024
“I don’t remember exactly what happened or what was said,” Matthews replied. “I think the message was pretty simple to the whole group that we need to be better.”
On social media, reaction to the clip was, well, spirited:
Not one of the three was listening to a word BĆ©rubĆ© saidā¦ #LeafsForever https://t.co/AhSXAZSAiL
— J (@PropDr_) October 25, 2024
new voice behind the bench, same old attitude from the core. Maybe itās the players not the management? I remember keefe giving it to them and they didnāt bat an eye.
— Alex (@AlexNg91) October 25, 2024
Wonder whatās going to happen when they tune out on Berubeā¦
— Mika (@KostaMika) October 25, 2024
It's ok, he really grilled into them keeping them together. https://t.co/h5iNDm7BKS
— GrebenKwn (@KwnStorm) October 25, 2024
Then change the lines?? Idk. Just me. https://t.co/MNhQhgocSi
— Nick (@Leafsssssss34) October 25, 2024
New…Coach…Same…Team.. maybe even worse.
— Jerzy (@jerz3399) October 25, 2024
After a 4-2-0 start to the year, Toronto has now dropped back-to-back games by a combined 11-3 score.
“We are going through some adversity right now. We went into Columbus and got beat, and we got beat here at home tonight. We have to look at the tape,” Berube said. “For me, we are giving up too many odd-man rushes right now. We have to nip that in the bud. That is number one. Before the last two games, we were pretty good in that area. We have to fix that. That is a problem right now.”
The Leafs head to Boston tomorrow night to take on divisional rival the Bruins.
“You are going to go through tough times like this throughout the year. You have to find a way to dig out of it and get the guys better. We all have to be better, myself included. We all have to be better,” Berube added. “We will get to the work tomorrow and get ready for Boston.”
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