Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube couldn't help but crack a smile when he was asked what he took away from his team's 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in pre-season action at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
"I liked their 6 on 5s", he said. "It's one of those preseason games. I thought Montreal worked hard. You know, they played simple game, and we kind of complicated things at times. That's what you get sometimes in preseason games."
It certainly looked like Toronto had trouble executing. Maybe they just didn't want to get hurt, which is fair because the game has no meaning beyond the final horn.
Berube admitted these types of games are difficult to coach.
"They are, yeah, because it lacks intensity, I think, more than anything," he admitted. "And that can drive a coach bananas. But I understand. There was some good stuff, too. I was happy with some of the stuff. I look for structure stuff. I look for routes and just things like that that go on in the game, our systems."
Stolarz takes his lumps, avoids injury
Anthony Stolarz made his pre-season debut at Scotiabank Arena, making 15 saves on 18 shots. In the first period, Canadiens forard Laurent Dauphin came crashing into the net, colliding with Stolarz while taking a goaltender interference call.
After Stolarz missed much of the second-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers due to contact from former teammate Sam Bennett, it was a good sign to see Stolarz was fine after that contact.
"It's something you kind of get used to," Stolarz said about the contact. "We had the incident in the scrimmage as well. So as a goal, you know, you kind of know how to brace yourself and what to expect. So, you know, he's just driving the net, trying to make a hard play. And, you know, he runs into me, and he gets a power play out of it. So it's one of those things."
Stolarz was referencing a collision with teammate Dakota Joshua in a scrimmage where play halted, but everyone involved was ok.
Roy's pre-season debut
Nick Roy played in his firs pre-season game with the Maple Leafs after missing a portion of training camp with a lower-body injury. The Leafs have him and Dakota Joshua pegged as a shutdown pair, but neither were particularly impressive.
"It's a learning process, I guess the new system, legs were a little heavy first preseason, but I think as long as I felt better in the third than I did in the first, so that's a positive, that's what preseason's for. I'm going to give them credit, they played harder today, harder than we did, so I'm going to go for the next one."
Joshua and Roy were particularly caught on the PK but Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, who made an impressive move on a fake to clear Joshua away before beating Stolarz for a power-play go late in the second period.
"He's a hell of a player. He's really, really quick and agile, right? Joshua said of Hutson. "He keeps you guessing. So, yeah, that was good to see him out there tonight and, you know, a little bit better knowledge for next time."
Both teams meet again in the regular season opener on Oct. 8.
The Maccelli shuffle
Matias Maccelli has played in three pre-season games and has skated on four different lines. After starting training camp on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, Macelli also skated with Bobby McMann and David Kampf. On Saturday, he started on the wing of Joshua and Roy before shifting to the second line with William Nylander and John Tavares in the third period.
"I'm just experimenting, basically," Berube said of the moving around.
Maccelli, traded to the Maple Leafs from the Utah Mammoth this summer, seems fine with the moving around as Toronto tries to find a fit for the forward who struggled last seson with eight goals and 10 assists in 55 games.
"I'm kind of good with going all over the place, so it doesn't really affect my game yet," Maccelli said.
What's next?
The Leafs will take a day off before resuming practice on Monday. The club placed Travis Boyd, Vinni Lettieri and Benoit Groulx on waivers. The moves will allow the trio of players to report to Toronto Marlies training camp when it opens next week. Toronto should be getting down to one main group as they get ready to embark on a trip to Muskoka for a couple of days before their next pre-season game on Oct. 2 against the Detroit Red Wings.
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