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Maple Leafs Coach Points Out Core Four's Main Flaw After Game 7 Loss

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated May 19, 2025 6:20 AM ET

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube didn't hide from the reality of what happened at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night.

The Maple Leafs fell 6-1 to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of their second-round series, marking their seventh consecutive Game 7 loss and extending the franchise’s Eastern Conference Final drought to 23 years.

Toronto’s Core Four of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares combined for zero points in the Game 7 loss.

Asked whether the team’s repeated failure in high-stakes moments came down to not knowing how to deal with pressure or a lack of quality, Berube gave a clear answer.

"For me, it's all between the ears. It's a mindset."

Craig Berube talks about his team following a Game 7 loss to the Panthers pic.twitter.com/fZKKkmc6p6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 19, 2025

“For me, it’s all between the ears,” Berube said during his postgame press conference. “It’s a mindset.”

Berube led the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup in 2019 and joined Toronto this season.

The coach also said the Leafs showed they were capable of winning big games earlier this postseason by taking Game 6 on the road against the Ottawa Senators in the first round.

“We went to Ottawa and won Game 6, and won a series. We went to Florida, won Game 6 to make it a Game 7,” Berube said. “These guys are capable of doing it.

”You just got to execute and we didn’t execute it. We didn’t execute it in Game 5 and we didn’t execute it in Game 7.”

After a scoreless first period, the Leafs unraveled quickly and furiously.

Florida scored three goals in a 6:24 span during the second and never looked back, with the Maple Leafs fans attending the game leaving early and tossing jerseys onto the ice.

While the Leafs head into a summer of uncertainty, the Panthers advance to their third straight Eastern Conference Final. They’ll face the Carolina Hurricanes in a series starting Tuesday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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