Craig Berube believes Nikita Zadorov’s hit on Scott Laughton was a head shot

“It was a great response by Bobby. He’s sticking up for his teammate,” Berube told reporters following the game. “I thought it was a head shot, I have to take a closer look at it, but I will.”

Berube also confirmed following the game that Laughton would not play on Sunday against the Hurricanes for the second half of the back-to-back. He also didn’t have much of an answer for the seriousness of the injury.

“I don’t know yet. He won’t be playing tomorrow.”

Unlike the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, where the Leafs played quite possibly their worst hockey of the season in the first few periods before turning it on in the third period to scrape away with a win, Berube wasn’t totally outraged at their effort on Saturday. He chalked up the loss to timely mistakes that the team inflicted on themselves.

“I thought three of the goals, we brought the puck back into our zone when we didn’t need to, they ended up scoring on three of them,” Berube said. “I thought we didn’t execute well enough early on, some of these plays. I think we all gotta be better, including the goalie. Everybody.”

The theme of the press conference, and you could argue the entire season, has been consistency. Berube mentioned it in talking about his team’s defensive play, and also about Anthony Stolarz’s play. The goaltender was pulled for the first time this season after allowing four goals on 19 shots, the latest effort in what’s been an up-and-down season for the netminder so far.

“There’s a lot of good, but it’s also inconsistent, like our team.”

The Maple Leafs will look to put this effort behind them and respond with a win against the Hurricanes on Sunday to walk away with two points from the back-to-back.