Leafs spent the night going the wrong way, Berube says.
Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube had every reason to unload on the officials. He wasn’t happy with the penalties called against his team. He wasn’t happy with calls he believes were missed with the game on the line.
And he certainly couldn’t have been happy that an Auston Matthews third-period rim shot around the back boards deflected off an official to the front of the net and, in a matter of seconds, was behind Anthony Stolarz. Connor McMichael’s gift of a goal was the winner in Washington’s 3-1 victory Friday night.
But Berube offered a coaching twist: The refs weren’t the reason the Leafs lost. The Leafs were the reason the Leafs lost.
“The bottom line is, instead of just going the other way with the puck, we brought it back (to our zone) too much tonight, from the first period and for the whole game and it actually bit us,” Berube said. “It cost us. We didn’t play a north game. We didn’t play fast.
“They were the better team. They deserved to win.”
In the tight-checking, close games — the kind the Maple Leafs like to play these days — the bounces can hurt you. The bad luck with Matthews’ routine cycling of the puck behind his net is an example.
“It happened so fast. It’s part of the game,” Stolarz said. “The refs, they’re not trying to do that on purpose. It’s just an unfortunate bounce. I just tried to swat it away, it hits their guy’s shin pad, goes right to (McMichael). They put it in for the winner.”
Nic Dowd opened the scoring and Aliaksei Protas added an empty-netter as the Capitals earned their first win on Scotiabank ice since Oct. 19, 2019.
The Leafs were grim-faced as they addressed the media following the loss.
“It’s a tough break,” said John Tavares, who had the lone Leafs goal. “They’re obviously playing really good hockey and they took a lot of our time and space away. I don’t think we played through that pressure well enough, or the way we’re capable of. I don’t think we were as quick as we needed to be.”
Defenceman Chris Tanev didn’t want to talk about his role in Tavares’s goal, a 100-foot pass that sent the star centre on a breakaway.
“Who cares? We lost,” Tanev said. “They outworked us tonight. They deserved to win.”
It was suggested that perhaps the referees should be allowed to blow a play dead if they feel their inadvertent interference gives one team a clear offensive advantage, as it did in the third period Friday.
“You’re opening a can of worms there,” Berube said.
Passing Wendel
It was a heads-up play, by both Tanev and Tavares, that tied the game. Tanev passed the puck from in front of Stolarz to Tavares as he hit the Washington blue line. Tavares went forehand-backhand on the breakaway to beat Charlie Lindgren and send the game into the third period at 1-1.
It took Tavares six seasons and part of a seventh, but he’s now among the top 20 scorers in Leafs history. The goal was his 442nd point for Toronto (196 goals, 246 assists), moving him past Wendel Clark for 20th place.
“Wendel, obviously, is an all-time great Leaf and I know how beloved he is here,” Tavares said. “I remember growing up watching him play. This is a tremendous club and organization with amazing history and tradition and players that have played here before. To be a part of that group is special. You don’t take that for granted.”
Mitch Marner (sixth), Auston Matthews (seventh), William Nylander (12th) and Morgan Rielly (15th) are also in the top 20.
Winning without Ovechkin
A team climbing to the top of the division while its superstar scorer is sidelined has a familiar ring in Toronto. But it applies equally to the Capitals, who were without captain Alex Ovechkin for the eighth game in a row while he recovers from a broken leg. They’re 5-2-1 during his absence.
“He goes out and I think it was a bit of a shell shock for us for a couple of games, and then we realized that we’re all good players and we all can hold our own,” Capitals centre Dylan Strome said. “We realized we’ve got to stick to what we were doing, and not try to change too much just because he’s not playing. That’s when we really figured it out.”
The Leafs went 9-2-0 without Matthews and are 3-1-0 since he returned. They play again Saturday in Pittsburgh.
“We have to be a little bit better executing,” Tavares said. “The way we skate and the pace we have to play with, I think there’s another level. We’ve got a great opportunity to get back tomorrow against a team that has been playing really well. A big chance for us to regroup.”
Milestone game
Connor Dewar, the Leafs’ fourth-line centre, skated in his 200th game, playing in place of the injured David Kämpf.
“(Dewar has) provided some real energy for us,” Berube said. “I’ve been happy with him and how he’s performing out there. He’s a good energy player. Skates well, gets on top of things, finishes his checks. He’s done a good job in the penalty-kill situation and at the end of games, trying to hold leads. He’s been very useful.”
Kämpf (lower body) hasn’t played since Nov. 16 and is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve Dec. 14 against Detroit.
Sandin returns
Former Leafs defenceman Rasmus Sandin said from time to time he relives Feb. 28, 2023 — the day the Leafs traded him. They were practising in Seattle when it happened.
“I remember the whole day pretty well,” said Sandin, starting a new five-year, $23-million (U.S.) contract in Washington. “We went to a Bruce Springsteen concert the day before. Went to practice and (was) called off the ice. The walk back to the locker room was probably 50 metres but it felt like it was three kilometres. Then obviously saying goodbye to all the fellow Swedes, it was a little emotional.
“It turned out to be a good thing for me. When you get traded, it’s a lot of emotions going through your head. I was p—-ed, I was sad and I was kind of excited as well to come down to a new team and accept a new challenge.”