Berube sends message to all Leafs by holding Matthews accountable

The Maple Leafs practiced at Ford Performance Centre on Friday before travelling to Boston. 

---

Craig Berube gave Auston Matthews an earful when the star centre returned to the bench after the third St. Louis Blues goal on Thursday night. 

"It's just accountability to everybody," the new Leafs coach explained. "That's all it is. It's nothing personal. It's just me being a coach and doing what I think is right at the time."

"It's hockey, you get yelled at sometimes," Matthews said. "Coach yells, you just kind of take it as it goes. There's obviously an impact. We obviously all respect him and his presence and everything on the bench. It's not anything you take personal."

It's also not something we've seen much of during Matthews career in Toronto. Even when he's not scoring, Matthews is usually a reliable two-way force. Last season, he was a Selke Trophy nominee for the first time while scoring 69 goals. 

But during Toronto's two-game skid, Matthews has gone from Selke to sloppy. He was minus-three during Tuesday's 6-2 loss in Columbus. Again, he was minus-three in Thursday's 5-1 defeat to the Blues. It's the first time that's happened – consecutive games of minus-three or worse – in his career.

On the play that earned a rebuke from Berube, Matthews received a pass from defenceman Jake McCabe in the slot. It seemed to handcuff him and he steered the puck back into the corner where Pavel Buchnevich won a battle for the puck with Matthews and McCabe before tapping it to Jordan Kyrou who fed an open Alexandre Texier in the slot. Texier wired a shot past Joseph Woll. Leafs winger Mitch Marner, a Selke nominee a couple years ago, seemed to be anticipating a transition rush the other way and couldn't get back in time.  

"Just communication was off," said Matthews. "Covering the middle of the ice is obviously very important. We didn't have that covered and they made us pay." 

Berube described the sequence as "lazy hockey."

"We need to be more direct with that puck," said Marner. "It wasn't the prettiest of plays out of the five guys on the ice."

On the first Blues goal, Marner got pulled out of position and wasn't in the lane to deny a point shot by Blues defenceman Philip Broberg. Matthews was at the net front but failed to block the shot while inadvertently screening Woll. 

On the second Blues goal, Matthews was out of position during a penalty kill, which allowed Dylan Holloway to get in all alone on Woll. 

Like Matthews, Marner was minus-three in each of the last two games. Like Matthews, it's the first time that's happened to him in the NHL. 

"Just a little loose in some areas," Berube said of his top line. "We looked at that stuff today and talked to those guys so they'll be better." 

What needs to change? 

"Just cleaning up our little touches in D zone, cleaner exits," Matthews said. "Making sure that we're holding firmly in the slots so when there are breakdowns or little plays that maybe don't get executed the right way the middle of the ice isn't open for the other team there in the slot."

---

William Nylander turned over a puck on the play that led to the fourth Blues goal by Jake Neighbours early in the third period. 

"Obviously my play was stupid there," Nylander admitted. "Gotta be better."

Nylander is usually sure-handed when he has the puck high in the offensive zone, but the winger took an unnecessary risk. 

"I was going to put it under his stick and then I would've had him beat," Nylander said. "But at that point in the game, 3-1, 17 minutes left, there's still a lot of time. If that would've been two minutes left in the game and we're down 3-1 that would've been a different situation. That's got to be better situational awareness on my part. Bad play."

Nylander was among the first players on the ice at Friday's practice. He was the last one off. 

"We've sure taken a dip," he said. "That's on me and everybody else on the team to pick it up a notch."

---

The power play failed to take advantage of three chances on Thursday. The Leafs have now converted on just 11. 1 per cent of their opportunities (3/27) which ranks 27th overall entering Friday's games. This comes after the top unit faded down the stretch last season (12.2 per cent in the final 25 regular season games) and went 1/21 in the seven game playoff series against Boston.

Still, the team is sticking with the same forwards – Matthews, Marner, Nylander and John Tavares – on the top unit. Why?

"Well because what I'm seeing in the last four games is the chances are creating," Berube explained. "Now, in saying that, you gotta produce and it's gotta go in. A lot of times you just switch it up to switch up, but I see progression in the right direction."

New assistant coach Marc Savard, who oversees the power play, took time to have some 1-on-1 chats with the members of the top unit on Friday. The message was positive. 

"Talking to him after practice, like, last couple games, last four games or whatever, if you're an analytics person, you know, there's been some good numbers in different areas," Matthews said. "Shooting percentage isn't good."

"Analytic-wise, we're doing a lot of great things," Marner said, "so just be patient with it, know it's coming, not try to get away from what we're doing."

That said, there are areas that need to improve. 

"Just be a little cleaner on our entries, a little cleaner with our puck play, be a little more direct," Marner said. "Those second opportunities, we have to be better around those."

"We can get pucks into the good area of the ice a little bit more and create some second and third chances," said Berube.

The power-play work at practice consisted of a small-area game with a line drawn down the middle of the zone separating the two units, who battled against only two penalty killers. Does Matthews like the drill? 

"I do and I don't just because the nets aren't in the spots where they'd usually be," Matthews said. "So I feel like visually it's off a little bit. But I think it's a good drill just to move the puck around, snap it around, move it quick, and it's a smaller area so you gotta make plays a little quicker." 

Saturday's opponent, the Boston Bruins, allowed three power-play goals during Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. 

---

Midway through Thursday's game, the Leafs shuffled their top two defence pairs. Morgan Rielly played with Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

"Just trying to match up some of our top-end players with puck movers a little bit more," Berube explained. 

Rielly set up Ekman-Larsson for Toronto's only goal against the Blues. 

"Mo made a really, really nice play to me so I was just shooting it, and we had some traffic there too around the net," Ekman-Larsson said. "He's very easy to play with."

Marner stressed that the forwards will need to be ready to fill in for Rielly and Ekman-Larsson if they decide to activate. 

"We gotta be supporting them and sitting a [forward] up high and making sure we're filling in that spot," said Marner. "We've been giving up a lot of odd-man rushes and that's when stuff really gets bad."

"We just got to get back to defending hard," stressed Ekman-Larsson. "That's where it starts. We know that we can score goals, so get back to that grind game again."

Chris Tanev, who started the season with Rielly, linked up with Jake McCabe. The new-look pairs remained in tact at Friday's practice.  

"McCabe and Tanev, it's a good shutdown pair," Berube noted. "They're both good defensively and physical and hard to play against."

McCabe and Tanev also play together on the top penalty kill unit. 

"We've spent probably too much time on the penalty kill this year but, with that being said, there's a lot of familiarity just in kills together," McCabe said. "So I feel like our 5-on-5 play was pretty easy to play together. He's always in the right spot, it seems. Veteran, he talks a lot, and I feel I do the same for him."

McCabe, a lefty, is now back on his strong side. 

"Honestly, throughout a game even, I'm hopping back and forth from right to left," he said. "It's pretty seamless at this point."

Ekman-Larsson, a lefty, is now playing on the right. 

"He's played the off side before and he's a good puck mover so I don't foresee it to be an issue," Berube said.

---

Woll, who missed the first seven games due to groin tightness, allowed four goals on 26 shots in his season debut. 

"I thought I settled in a bit," he said. "I thought our guys looked good in front of me and I maybe would like to have one or two back. Unfortunately that's a difference in the game."

"First game in a long time," said Berube. "He made some big saves on some of the plays. On the first one, he was screened. He couldn't see it. We let a guy stand right in front of him and screen him. We didn't clear him out in front of the net. On the second goal, the guy is right on the doorstep all alone on the PK."

It was Woll's first game action since the pre-season finale on Oct. 5. The 26-year-old from St. Louis was facing his hometown team for the first time. 

"It was a little surreal," Woll said. "When the anthems were playing, it was kind of a cool moment looking across at the team I grew up watching."

Anthony Stolarz was the first goalie off the ice at Leafs practice and is expected to get the start on Saturday in Boston. As the back-up for the Florida Panthers last season, Stolarz got a front-row seat to what the TD Garden can be like in the playoffs. Although Stolarz, himself, has never played against the Bruins. 

"Exciting for sure," the 30-year-old said. "Obviously have a little bit of a history last year just being able to see the atmosphere, that crowd and the team they have."

The Bruins are expected to start Jeremy Swayman. 

"You look down there and you want to match [his] play," Stolarz said. 

---

Saturday's game will be the first time the Leafs play in Boston since last year's heart-breaking Game 7 overtime loss. 

"Certainly ramped up emotions, especially given our last couple games," said McCabe. "I think that's more of a focus than last year. Just [about] getting this season back on the right track here."

"It's a big hockey game," Marner agreed. "We're not happy with our game right now. We need to turn it around or else it's going to be ugly."

The Bruins are also scuffling at the moment having lost four of their five games.   

"It's always a physical, emotional game, especially in Boston," Matthews said. "We need to have a good response and have a good start tomorrow and make sure everybody is on the same page, and just be ready to compete and work and get back to what was making us successful the previous six games."  

---

After missing Thursday's game with a lower-body injury, veteran winger Max Pacioretty returned to practice on Friday. He didn't take reps on a regular line, but worked with the second power-play unit. 

"We'll see how he is after today's practice and make a decision on that," said Berube.

With Pacioretty out, Steven Lorentz moved up to the third line with Tavares and Nick Robertson. 

"It's a hard-working guy for Johnny in the offensive zone," Berube said. "He's a very good player down low in the offensive zone and around the net and things like that. He's played pretty well, Stevie, he's got speed, big size, I thought that line was good for us last night." 

---

Lines at Friday's practice: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner
McMann - Domi - Nylander 
Lorentz - Tavares - Robertson 
Holmberg - Kampf - Reaves
Dewar, Pacioretty 

Rielly - Ekman-Larsson
McCabe - Tanev 
Benoit - Timmins 
Liljegren - Myers 
Hakanpää

Stolarz
Woll 

Power play units at Friday's practice: 

PP1 
Ekman-Larsson, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares 

PP2 
Rielly, Domi, Robertson, Pacioretty Knies