Maple Leafs' Craig Berube Explains Why Entire Playing Roster Didn't Take The Ice For Optional Skate Ahead Of Game Against Avalanche

For the first time this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs held an optional morning skate and nobody from the playing roster took the ice.

"I think it's a reflection of the schedule," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube explained when asked. "We had a skate yesterday, so I can see why. Back-to-back games coming up, that there's not many guys going out in the ice."

Max Domi did step on the ice, but very briefly. The only players who took part were David Kampf, Phil Myers and Anthony Stolarz. Apart from Stolarz dressing as a backup, none of them are expected to play.

Perhaps this is a way for the Leafs to build a playoff mentality while still playing regular season games.  Players don't take part in optional morning skates during the playoffs. 

The Leafs are coming off a 6-2 win against the Calgary Flames on Monday and are in for a tough test when they take on the Colorado Avalanche.

Berube discussed several other topics during his pre-game availability. Including: 

Q: Was your win on Monday a reflection of North-South hockey?

I think if you look at the first period and just the predictability and the directness of, you know, going south, going north, putting pucks at the net, recovering them, And, you know, not hesitating, moving it quick, shooting it again, recovering. We were on our toes. And, you know, we won a lot of loose puck recoveries, a lot of shot attempts. We didn't, you know, we went back with the puck. We moved it up, got it going north. You know, we've got to do the same thing tonight.

Q: What's the biggest adjustment you have to make compared to the game you played in Denver?

Well, I look back to the second period, and that's a good second period team, Colorado, as we are too. But I thought they three-quarter iced us in that period and put us on our heels for the period. And that's draining. That takes a lot of energy out of you for the third. And I didn't feel we had enough juice in the third. I know we had the lead, but we lost it. And, you know, we've got to do a better job of that tonight. And they do it. They're good at it. And we've got to make sure that we're doing a better job of that.

Q: You guys reached 40 wins the other night. How much did you say is what you brought? How much is that what you have to work with here that's made it?

Well, we've got good players, great players, you know, a lot of good players. I think really growing as a team, playing a real good team game, you know, defensively and, you know, offensively to power plays coming, coming. That's clicking. You know, our PK, you know, has slid a little bit, but been pretty steady all year, not the last month. But, you know, we've got to keep playing the team game. The checking side of things is really important. We know that. And just the predictability of how we want to play. As a coaching staff, you know, I think we brought in the predictability of how we want to play the game, the checking side of things and you know these guys they've scored goals pretty much their whole careers so they know how to score goals unlike me *laughts Eddie (Olyzyk, here for TNT broadcast) scored a lot of goals too

Q: You talk about the second period a lot. In your experience is a second-period team a good team?

I think second periods are really important i think it sets you up for the third if you look at our season as a whole I think if you look we've scored the most goals in the second period out of any period and going into the third we've got leads all the time and we've done a great job of hanging on to leads and finishing games out so you know for me second periods are important obviously put you in a good spot in the third but it's the mindset in the second period. It's playing fast getting pucks up. Catching people in bad line changes. All those types of things really go towards having a good second period.

Q: What's the key to slowing down MacKinnon?

Well, I don't know, but if you find out before the game, you can let me know. *laugh*. You know, you just got to try to stay on top of them the best you can. It's just like playing McDavid, right? They've got great speed and they're competitive guys with tons of skill. You know, it's about trying to slow them down, picking him up in the neutral zone, trying to get on top of him, denying the puck as much as possible, take time and space. It's all the same things that every coach says.

Q: We'll follow up on that. How do you do it with (Cale) Makar?

He's coming from the back end. Probably even more difficult. He's obviously a great player. And, again, it's a lot of the same things. Just trying to get above him as much as you can and trying to make him work in his own zone. I think, you know, tonight we've got to make this team play in their own end as much as possible. And then it's important when that's happening that we can get some good line changes and get fresh people on the ice and make them extend their shifts as much as possible.

Q: You faced Gabriel Landeskog a bunch in the Central. What do you make of this guy trying to come back and play after almost three years?

Yeah, I mean, he was a great player. You know, big guy, hard to handle, great net front guy, power forward. Did a lot of things for Colorado, obviously, and he's a competitive guy. He loves the game, and there's a reason that he wore the C. He's a leader. But he obviously doesn't want to give up, and he wants to keep trying to battle through it and get back and play and help out the team.

Q: Any special reason why Woll got this one?

I liked his last two games, so I'm going to go with him again tonight.

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