Craig Berube impressed with Maple Leafs’ collective effort in OT win vs Avalanche

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was pleased to see his team’s collective effort en route to an overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

Going up against the NHL’s best team, which was entering the contest on a 17-game winning streak on home ice, was going to be a daunting task for a Leafs team that hasn’t had much success on the road. Instead of buckling as most teams have, they went toe-to-toe and were able to keep up with the Avalanche’s relentless speed.

Berube told reporters after the game that he felt his team did a great job rising to the occasion by competing hard and making the right plays.

“For me, it is puck management. I thought our puck management was really good tonight,” Berube said. “We made really good decisions with it. We moved it well. We kept our shifts short. We talked about how it is important to keep your shifts short here, and the guys did a really good job of it. We came away with two points.”

A performance like this against the NHL’s best team felt like a pipe dream less than a month ago, but the gutsy win was a testament to how far they come towards righting the ship. The win resulted in the Leafs climbing back into a playoff spot for the first time since early November and seven points back of the Atlantic Division-leading Detroit Red Wings. There is clearly still a lot of work to be done to secure their playoff positioning, but it helps that the team is clicking to the tune of an 8-0-2 run.

“I think it’s just overall team play and just playing the system,” Berube said on what’s been working for the Leafs lately. “Defensively, we have been a lot better, obviously, and that is a big part of the game. We are scoring goals, too, but as I said the other day, we have scored goals all year. Defensively, we are a lot tighter and a lot better.”

What makes the win more impressive is the fact that they did it while down a man for much of the game due to Nick Robertson leaving early with a lower-body injury. The rest of the forward group was able to step up in Robertson’s absence, none more so than Bobby McMann who scored a breakaway goal and was leaned on heavily by Berube as the game progressed.

The goal was McMann’s sixth goal and 10th point in his last 11 games, which couldn’t have come at a better time for the Leafs.

“Speed. A lot of good things. He has such great speed, and he uses it extremely well,” Berube said of McMann. “I know we lost Robby, so I ended up moving Bobby onto a bunch of different lines, which is nice. He can play anywhere, and he does the job. Defensively, he was outstanding with his stick and his speed. He broke some plays up. Overall, he had a really good game.”